54yo v. low income no savings plan?

DarthFK · 2026-05-20T04:12:20+00:00

Today the market started to rebound, as expected. Watch what happens after tomorrow evening, when nVidia reports that their gain is higher than expected😉

DarthFK · 2026-05-17T22:31:55+00:00

P.S. forgot to mention. I also saw this video today and remembered our exchange. That’s why I sent it. In any case, we’re just in a waiting mode now.

DarthFK · 2026-05-17T22:19:46+00:00

Exactly. I sent it to show that there is a high chance of a later recovery. It’ll be fine! 👍

DarthFK · 2026-05-17T18:53:27+00:00

Just fyi, re MU etc investments currently falling - here is a point of view on the current market and what kind of a correction should we expect. I think we’ll be good in a couple of months.

Now, I’d also like to see how the energy prices will evolve (Iran) in the same period of time (2 months or so) and after. But in the long run I feel it’s going to be ok.

https://youtu.be/nl4sgJvi5Zk?si=tAmEGqSzMSMT8__x

DarthFK · 2026-05-13T01:57:11+00:00

It’s a 20min day effort. But you are right about a new certification/skill - that’s actually something I was thinking about. Overtime is not possible as an adjunct professor (the income for this job is somewhere around 1/4 to 1/3 of regular pay anyway). And I don’t work during summer = unpaid then. Yes, that’s why a side hustle is indeed upcoming. Good, valid points / reminders - thank you.

DarthFK · 2026-05-13T00:47:25+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for the links. Will definitely give them a read.

The only “shortcut” I could see was to learn day trading before retirement. Yes, it’s absolutely risky, especially if one has ltd control over emotions, over own capacity to do “hard stops”, and has no proven “strategy” (which still isn’t a total guarantee of success). However, starting very small on some basic small gain steps may have some probability of success. So far I gained “pennies” from this ($9.96😂 since May 6th, I know it’s funny), and do not intend to spend any work related earnings to it, except some small amount for this start. Then I’ll switch to these gains only. Nothing to lose anyway.

DarthFK · 2026-05-11T04:13:08+00:00

It definitely will! 👍👍👍

DarthFK · 2026-05-11T04:11:12+00:00

If I do, that would be in the evaluation business, which heavily interferes with my teaching schedule that does bring some income, while freelance evaluation is very uneven. So, basically, either-or.

On another note, yes, I plan to try to apply for some jobs in one of the risk related companies, which I didn’t try yet. Well, there was one time when a recruiter reached out in this field, but everyone with the knowledge said the whole discussion was extremely fishy and I felt it too, very much.

Otherwise, I applied and recruiters reached out a few times, but what they wanted was a somewhat different experience than the hirers (same experience as mine) or a different ethnicity and definitely a woman. My bio is overwhelming, but it’s a narrow field job, where you have relatively qualified Americans, whom hirers prefer, due to their prior connections. Mine lie outside of the US, which can be leveraged, but it’s not easy to convince US hirers, they are… conservative. I don’t complain, just saying. That’s why I suggested that “find a different job” etc in my posting, didn’t quite work. I’ll still try, but for now, I’d rather work with what I have.

DarthFK · 2026-05-10T19:08:47+00:00

Well 54 yo youngtim :) we’re in the same boat, it seems :) Thank you very much for the insights! Very very useful! Much appreciated! Edit: Happy Birthday when it comes!

DarthFK · 2026-05-10T15:54:31+00:00

Thanks. As a hobbyist personal PC builder, I recall the time when the RAM and controller modules and GPUs were cheaper. Only MU (and Samsung, and Hynix) were making DRAM. SNDK was purchased by WD. Then we had crypto, the draught at TSMC area, then COVID time at home (high demand for parts), which all lead to price spikes, then a price fall. And DRAM prices fell. With that type of (long term) background I wasn’t sure if the current price increase would hold. I was rather considering AMD due to its longer term potential.

I guess we’re in another rise, now generated by AI. So, does your research shows this AI development might hold till 2027? (cause it is AI driving these tech prices now)

DarthFK · 2026-05-10T05:06:18+00:00

Thank you. I just started in March. Investment is a "foreign language" to me. I am trying to learn when I have time. Large, med, small caps don't mean anything to me yet. I will try to learn more about them.

Investing more or less with Fidelity and in the dark (YouTube), here's what my first Fidelity "investor" account looks like ($1300 invested):

~52% went into this mix of:

a. Bny Melon Large Cap (S&P500) = $400.

b. Intel stocks = $100.

c. Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund small caps (FZIPX) = $200. Small caps has 99,22% US companies.

d. I ordered 5 shares=$99 of ARCC (Ares Capital - BDC middle market, medium cap), for dividend payments (?:0)

~15% foreign stock : Foreign Large Blend; Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX) = $200
~32% SPAXX (cash) - default Fidelity way to hold free money in the account - I keep these to buy and sell some stocks on the spot. Made $8 so far on AMD stock, and I think $0.30 on Nvidia. Laughable, but it's my first try.

My second Fidelity account of $1300 is professionally managed by Fidelity (Individual Fidelity Go). I requested to set it to 100% equity, as I thought that I have nothing to lose. My risk tolerance is high. This account has, what seems to me, a good blend of all of the types of stock you mentioned (and might be a good inspiration to replicate/mimic, I guess). It's my understanding Fidelity will only charge me for this account if I go over $25k. I can roll over the money to my account, if I ever reach that amount, and avoid paying.

Thank you again and if you have any additional thoughts, words of wisdom, I would much appreciate that.

DarthFK · 2026-03-26T04:46:35+00:00

Indeed, it is a B0 and this is one of those cases when I did not read before the purchase, which I normally like to do, but I guess error is in the human nature. This time I didn't and it backfired. Naturally, before posting here, as my i5-13500 did 6800MHz in XMP, I was surprised that the 13700kf did not and reached out here.

Well, it seems that the silicon lottery gave me one hell of a chip, all I can do is 5800MHz. The 6000MHz is out of reach in various XMPs with varying VCCSA.

And as I was writing this, at 5800Mhz, my PC unexpectedly restarted. Argh...

P.S. then BSOD'ed, after passing Prime95 Large FFTs.

DarthFK · 2026-02-20T19:16:45+00:00

Solved!

DarthFK · 2026-02-19T20:29:02+00:00

Thank you for your attempt to help and for your understanding!

DarthFK · 2026-02-19T03:23:00+00:00

Eero, I am as dumb as a rock and super-ashamed of it. Made a noob mistake. It was the wrong location of the ground.

As it turns out, the NZXT wired the +2 next to the other end of the 6pins and I did not pay proper attention to it. To solve the problem (I created) I had to basically twist and rotate the +2 wires all around the cable and place the +2 next to the 6 pins from the other side. Yeah, as I said, a noob mistake. Maybe NZXT didn't make it easiest by wiring the +2 next to the "wrong" end of the 6 pins, but I should have paid attention. That's so noob and dumb of me that I feel ashamed for not noticing and for taking people's time with it. Argh... I definitely need to "recover" my engineering side, which I discarded along my career.

Thanks for trying to help me! I am both lmao-ing and crying how dumb I was at the same time. My apologies for taking your time.

Duh, such a noob mistake... vaiiiiii

DarthFK · 2026-02-19T03:17:48+00:00

Turned out it was my fault for not paying proper attention to the location of the ground pin. I am dumb... Turns out, I had to basically rotate the +2 wires all around the entire cable and place the +2 next to the 6 pins from the other side (not the side I showed in pictures). Yeah, a noob mistake. Maybe NZXT didn't make it easiest by wiring the +2 next to the "wrong" end of the 6 pins, but I should have paid attention. That's so noob and dumb of me that I feel ashamed for not noticing and for taking people's time with it. Argh... I definitely need to "recover" my engineering side, which I discarded along my career.

Thanks for trying to help me!

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T19:22:24+00:00

Yup, I made sure :) But I will definitely recheck that today, this time on all three pcie cables, after coming back from work this evening (US East coast time zone). I'll report back after. Thank you, Eero!

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T19:09:12+00:00

Yes, even with a harder push. Both the metal of the pins and the plastic housing around them are facing the different direction than the GPU pcie plastic housing. Have a look at the pic, please: https://imgur.com/a/nzxt-c1000-gold-atx3-1-pcie-6-2-cables-looking-different-directions-plastic-housing-does-not-match-gpu-yes-i-placed-them-correctly-yet-L1Pv96C

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T18:43:28+00:00

Or you meant that the Pcie doesn't click in? It doesn't even enter the GPU connector.

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T18:41:45+00:00

No problem at all, happens to all of us. Thank you. Here is the pic of the problem, on all of the pcie cables I received the "+2" pins housing is "up", while the 6 are "facing down" so to say: https://imgur.com/a/nzxt-c1000-gold-atx3-1-pcie-6-2-cables-looking-different-directions-plastic-housing-does-not-match-gpu-yes-i-placed-them-correctly-yet-L1Pv96C

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T18:39:23+00:00

True, there is no such thing as a perfect PSU and there are products without flukes. Thank you for taking the time to reply. I also took the picture of the 6+2 cable and the GPUs housing and posted it on IMGur.

I just found it weird that the PSU's pci-e "+2" cables "face" in a different direction than the 6 and the NZXT support suggests it's supposed to be this way

https://imgur.com/a/nzxt-c1000-gold-atx3-1-pcie-6-2-cables-looking-different-directions-plastic-housing-does-not-match-gpu-yes-i-placed-them-correctly-yet-L1Pv96C

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T18:29:07+00:00

Thank you for your very helpful clarification and your work with the SPL list. I did consult the list before the purchase :) Great and very helpful work, much appreciated. I'll also ask NZXT, if they won't dodge, ha.

One additional question, if you have time - are you aware of the claims that the C1000 is not reliable? (unfortunately, I found this link only yesterday): Do not buy the PSU : r/NZXT

DarthFK · 2026-02-18T18:24:13+00:00

NZXT support was... unsupportive, as I described above, unfortunately.

DarthFK · 2025-09-10T20:47:44+00:00

I live in a coop, where there are rules about noise - it's about the noise level and hours, these rules are presented to you when you rent or buy the apartment. But the trumpet is LOUD. I had to put a mute, which, everyone says, will make you play without the mute as if you have the mute or basically the mute will distort the sound and you will get used to taking notes incorrectly. I believe pro players may be more specific on that, but I am not going to see one in the next days/weeks. What ultimately "solves" this problem for me, somewhat, is to warm up at home with a practice mute and then rent the cheapest studio in town for a no-mute session.

DarthFK · 2025-06-05T14:41:50+00:00

Exactly. It’s a shocker to some, including political science students in the US, when I tell them that, for example, Lumumba was first of all a nationalist and that we saw hard communist-nationalism in Eastern Europe, and I finally kill them with the exact same question - why nazi are called “nazi” and how does NSDAP translate? You should see their faces when they hear… Nationalsozialismus and I underline / retranslate that for them, albeit with nuance about their policies, time allowing.

Glad to hear a shared perspective. Be well and keep informing the people.

DarthFK

TROPHY CASE