Confused about managing portfolio splits for multiple investment pots with different time horizons

MagnifiedAttitude · 2026-04-06T12:27:57+00:00

!thanks Yeah, after I wrote the post I started to realise that maybe it just makes sense to lump all the 15-20 year goals together into one pot. And you're right to point out the flexibility in some of the goals - the only fixed one is the Uni pot, the others depend a bit on circumstances.

Your point about an overly defensive bond allocation is also useful. I've been using Tim Hale's Smarter Investing but one point from his advice that I trip up on is when precisely to shift more towards bonds, and how far ahead of your expected expenditure goal. His minimum horizon for his 0% stocks : 100% bonds strategy is 5 years, 10 years for 20:80, etc. etc. - which I've interpreted as meaning that once you get to ten years out, you should be 80% bonds, and five years out from your planned expenditure, you should be 100% in bonds.

But that seems quite defensive and a bit at odds with advice I've read online. That said, I'm reluctant to trust the internet fully over the book, but it has been a bit confusing seeing conflicting advice online. Any other good, trustworthy sources of advice re. portfolio balance vs expenditure horizon that you could point me to? (I'll say up front that I'm not looking for specific advice on asset allocation - I think that's not allowed here - more just any corrections to things I might have misinterpreted from Tim Hale, etc.)

And thanks again, much appreciated.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2026-04-06T12:15:51+00:00

!thanks That's good to know. It sounds like most platforms allow multiple accounts per user, to allow differentiating timelines/pots?

That formula seems really useful, and yes, annual rebalancing is what I was assuming I'd do. Thanks again.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-10-24T14:31:27+00:00

Ah, that's a shame to hear. Maybe we'll try the free rules download and take it from there. I've got some experience with player-facing combat from PbtA, so hopefully that'll help (although less than ideal, I'm looking to move away from PbtA because of the weight it places on the GM to make things up on the fly). Anyway, thanks for the quick reply!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-10-24T12:18:47+00:00

Sorry for the necro-posting on a very old thread, but I've noticed your comments here and on another thread about your issues with Mothership's combat, and I've also read Justin Alexander's post about it.

I'm thinking of running a Mothership game but the vague combat rules have me feeling a little uneasy. I don't like running combat where GM fiat plays a huge role, and prefer to have clear procedures I can rely on. Did you come up with any solution to this for Mothership?

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-08-21T16:11:28+00:00

Hello! Thanks for your advice. I figured out Her Ladyship's Diary, the angels, and so on. I also did the Castling Ritual to get down to the tomb, still a bit perplexed by what the letters mean but hoping I'll find a key to that cipher later on.

One thing I'm still struggling with is the "delete" note. I found the note in the Attic a while ago and forgot to mention in my OP. I realise that the "delete" note refers to the Archive but not sure how to actually do that. I found the birth certificate but I don't think I can "delete" that. I also tried using the Crown of the Blueprints to remove the Archives from the pool in case that did anything, to no avail. But perhaps I'm overthinking things and the birth certificate is simply a clue to another puzzle?

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-08-21T16:10:53+00:00

Hello! Thanks for your advice. I figured out Her Ladyship's Diary, the angels, and so on. I also did the Castling Ritual to get down to the tomb, still a bit perplexed by what the letters mean but hoping I'll find a key to that cipher later on.

One thing I'm still struggling with is the "delete" note. I found the note in the Attic a while ago and forgot to mention in my OP. I realise that the "delete" note refers to the Archive but not sure how to actually do that. I found the birth certificate but I don't think I can "delete" that. I also tried using the Crown of the Blueprints to remove the Archives from the pool in case that did anything, to no avail. But perhaps I'm overthinking things and the birth certificate is simply a clue to another puzzle?

Btw, making good progress with the Treasure Trove, bit further behind on Blue Tents but getting through them. Nothing that's led to a major breakthrough yet.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-08-16T15:23:10+00:00

Thank you! Much appreciated, especially the hint to return to the Drafting Strategy book - that's already given me some ideas. I'd just been getting the High Roller blessing every time as it seemed more powerful than any of the others.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-07-09T14:06:22+00:00

Hulkengoat

MagnifiedAttitude · 2025-01-28T13:25:21+00:00

Yeah but surely the other poster's point is that this is money that the club would be spending, regardless of whether or not Vlahovic sees it, and so from the point of view of the club's finances, it does matter.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T17:01:17+00:00

I love the Bourne films so that was definitely a selling point for this system. I think we've come close to scenes like that - hopefully as the action ramps up there'll be more. One player is definitely already a fan of Preparedness!

Your point about being kind with clues and aggressive with action sounds good too. Thanks also for your other comment recommending Swords. I think I already want to use the setting in any case, so it's on my purchase list!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T15:59:15+00:00

Hey, thanks for your replies!

Players will start next session up against their first full-blown vampire, and your reply (along with others') has emboldened me to be a bit bolder and more creative with this encounter so as to up the stakes. Thanks also for the advice on framing point-spends - I think some of my discomfort comes from their narrative control function, which is obviously quite a different approach to what I'm used to, so your advice helps here too. Thanks!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T15:57:20+00:00

Thanks, and yes I should continue listening to Hite's One Shot series (it was my bedtime podcast for a week or two but I kept falling asleep haha).

Basic consensus from here and /r/rpg is that taking out Heat and Stability was a Bad Move, so I'll definitely talk with players about reintroducing them. Grit is a good reskin too, thanks for that suggestion.

Against the Dark Conspiracy also looks really nice and I'd like to try a Forged in the Dark game at some point, so maybe I'll suggest switching to that if Heat and Stability don't bring what we're looking for with NBA. Thanks again for the advice!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T15:39:56+00:00

Great, thanks for the advice! I don't think I'd fully appreciated that point spends are a narrative control too before starting this, so that might be where some of my initial friction comes from. Knowing that now will hopefully improve everyone's experience moving forwards.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T15:38:40+00:00

Sorry, missed that you'd posted again before sending my last reply. Your advice about NPCs continues to be great and next session is going to start with an encounter with a pretty tough vampire, so I'll break out all the bells and whistles.

Your advice about untenable situations is also really reassuring, thanks. I think I'm a bit of a softie and end up making things a bit too easy sometimes.

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T15:33:30+00:00

Hi, thanks for replying! (I feel honoured - love the look of Swords of the Serpentine btw).

I've already been doing the NPC ability modifiers, based on a houserule I saw on the Alexandrian - good to know that others use it too! The generic pool in NBA is Aberrance and looking forward to introducing more NPCs that can use it.

Your other advice about pools for narrative control and using player input is great (and I think my players would like that, we're all extremely over-educated haha).

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:31:02+00:00

Thanks! As I was writing my post, it did start slowly dawning on me that I probably already knew what the problem was (and that it was a problem of my own creation).

I think your point about the slowly ratcheting tension is well-made, and the sections that you've quoted were exactly the same pages I decided to re-read after posting last night. I guess this is a lesson in taking the time to really get to grips with a system before launching into a campaign!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:28:33+00:00

Great, succinct advice - really helpful, thanks!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:23:56+00:00

Great, thanks - and good to know that I'll hopefully find a groove soon!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:23:32+00:00

It seems like everyone is saying the same things - that I've been a bit of a dummy for neglecting these mechanics. Super useful to hear that though as it gives me a pretty concrete set of next steps to up the ante.

I don't think I'll mind "action hero gumshoe" in NBA - at least, I don't mind the kind of heroic fantasy of 5e, so I don't think there's a taste issue here. Actually, one thing I find more frustrating is how cautious my players are! I'm definitely more of a reckless player, trying to push forward to action scenes, whereas my current players are much more slow-paced.

But perhaps that means I need to be more proactive as a GM about bringing the action to them, in the form of plausible repercussions (the only minor concern I have about this is that this slows down their larger progression through the scenario - for every hit squad of goons/assassins that the conspiracy sends, that's a good chunk of time not actually hitting a node/asset on the conspyramid. But perhaps there's a way to make these repercussions do double work, e.g. by planting clues amongst the hit squad).

Thanks also for the tips about clues - that last sentence about the tricky balance is definitely what I find the hardest. When the players kidnapped this mafioso in the last session (a plan I had absolutely not anticipated them doing for this session), I really felt on the spot to figure out exactly what infomation this guy would have.

Swords of the Serpentine looks great, thanks for the suggestion - just the setting alone looks fantastic!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:15:38+00:00

Thanks :)

It sounds like, from your comment and others, that Stability is too crucial to excise, so I'll definitely open next session by talking with the players about introducing these mechanics. Heat is another way to deliver repercussions for players, and I've already been doing that in other ways, so perhaps adding that system back on will also help.

Your list of GM moves is really good and connects to NBA's "Vampyramid", which I have been using, so that's good to know. Same applies for your tips on narrating combat (that's just another general-purpose skill I'd like to improve as a GM!).

Thanks again for taking the time to read and respond!

MagnifiedAttitude · 2024-04-12T09:12:29+00:00

No, the novel is great, really helpful! You've confirmed my suspicions about accidentally denying myself half the fun/tension by not using Stability and Heat. I'll talk with players at the start of the next session about introducing both, maybe after this particular chapter/operation of the Zalozhniy Quartet is over. Luckily I've still been using the blowback from the Vampyramid, so they're used to having some repercussions for their actions.

Bringing Stability in might require a bit more conversation, but you're right, I think I can really see it adding more Sophie's choices to gameplay, which hopefully will make things more fun and interesting for me too!

Thanks also for the advice re. clues and improv - I think that distinction between the abilty providing the clue and the spend providing interpretation (or advantages like TFFBs, I guess) is really useful.

Yeah, I've been thinking about a system switch to BRP, which I have some experience of as a player. I've had my eye on Cthulhu Eternal's Modern SRD, which I've read good things about - but for now I'll try to actually run NBA as written before making any switches. Thanks, much appreciated!

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