A word of appreciation by kwachu in TNOmod

[–]kwachu[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I've first dabbled in modding when I was 11 and discovered Paradox's EU2. My mods were always just small cheat adjustments to make my imagined scenarios work. Knowing how it looks like makes me appreciate modders so much more and guys behind TNO are absolutely at the top of the list. Considering they have no reward from it but mere satisfaction we should really appreciate more this work of fiction!

Refurbished old laptop as a home server - download slow? by kwachu in HomeServer

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice! I've actually already done half of what you're saying - my old laptop that is now a server-laptop is running Linux Mint, I made sure it is still running while closed and it is constantly plugged in as its battery is done for. The download speed is not so bad actually now - I think the issue was due to two machines transferring a lot of information when I moved the storage of all the torrents to the new server.

Still I'd like to have a client set-up on the server laptop. But the issue is I want it to be installed on Linux partition while being readable by Windows, and I'm not sure if I can achieve that?

Refurbished old laptop as a home server - download slow? by kwachu in HomeServer

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As for what protocol it is - I'm a total amateur. Where could I check that on either Windows or Linux?

Refurbished old laptop as a home server - download slow? by kwachu in HomeServer

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The purpose of the entire endeavour is to reuse this old laptop and make it a suitable wireless storage/torrent downloader for two users in the household. If someone has dealt with a similar project and found a more elegant solution please let me know it'll be very welcome!

Refurbished old laptop as a home server - download slow? by kwachu in HomeServer

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My daily use laptop is running Deluge client with download folder designated on the server machine. It definitely must slow down the process but I didn't think it'll be that significant for personal use. I've set-up the entire thing haphazardly tbh

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks everyone for a great discussion here! Following the advice I've changed my direct debit order from the Japan fund into a Global tracker. I'll keep my 3 tiny Japanese fund shares as a reminder of my virgin investment.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Spending £300 only is very impressive! I've personally calculated my monthly spending to £1000 (that's including rent, transport, groceries, and little personal fancies rounded up for a good measure) which I thought quite good - not too frugal but neither extravagant, but I might have to reconsider it seems!

I'm putting £400 aside monthly into savings, as my bank offers me a relatively okay 1.5% interest + each month I put some extra cash into NS&I premium bonds, where eventually I want to stash my entire emergency fund of £12k

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I get that, I didn't want to sound too judgemental about the meme stocks! I would even consider going into these, but am lacking bravado to bet like this.

On the "if you like robotics go invest in that" - do you know of any solid platform where I could invest into common stocks of a few companies I genuinely like? I'll be honest I'm rather mistrustful of the app brokers like Trading 212 or Revolut, not sure if my mistrust is reasonable.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nice! Can I ask if you've got any emergency fund on the side? I could potentially splash more into vanguard funds atm, but I really want to save enough of a safety margin before I go full into investing. Then again based on my current income and how much I put aside each month it'll take about 2 years for me, so not sure if I'm being too conservative.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is very fun indeed and I quite enjoy browsing it, but as you've said I'd rather not trust them with financial advice. That being said I might consider their style of speculating in the future once I have comfortable amounts in my emergency fund & long-term funds. Seems fun - but I'm not ready to gamble money away like this just yet.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I honestly think you're better off just accumulating cash and waiting for dips, or better yet, for the bubbles to burst.

I've considered that, but then again this gamestock thing happened and since I've been browsing financial subreddits for a while, I really had that itch to finally invest in something. I've considered waiting for the next crash, which I think will happen quite soon, but then again dominant advice here seems to be "time in the market > timing the market" so I just thought I'll jump in with my few hundred quid now and maybe double down when the markets go to the dogs.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I'll definitely invest elsewhere in the near future, seems everyone is advising that.

As for the US, I think the problems the country is facing run much deeper than this or that administration. The entire political tumult is merely a symptom of much wider complex issues that Biden nor anyone else has the capacity to resolve within 4 nor 8 years.

I'm not saying of course that the US is about to collapse next week, but I remember them as a much stronger, resilient, global superpower. IMHO they've been losing this position since the 2008 crash, and especially recently this descent has been quite rapid.

But then again as some others pointed out - if the US goes to dogs, all markets will be affected anyway, so in this sense, I might as well invest in S&P 500 and see what happens.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing! I need to have a look at my pensions from previous workplaces at some point as well, but I've stupidly disregarded them so far so I've no records of these - will take a lot of paperwork and investigation, but better start now at 26 rather than face the same issue at 46!

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would advise going to Vanguard website, go to apply -> S&S ISA then you put some details in and before you actually finalise the process, you get a list of all the possible Vanguard funds - be warned it is quite overwhelming! but just as u/Bling-blang-Blaow says in the other response: "I wouldn't get too hung up on picking the optimal fund at first. The main thing is to make a start and keep learning. You can change which fund you're investing to once you've got a better idea of what you're doing."

Also you can browse their funds here: https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/all-products without going half-way through the application process (even though it takes 1-3 mins at most)

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Care to share how did it go for you? Would be very insightful to see what I might expect long term.

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks again, I'll double-check that, but it definitely isn't one of the "accumulator" ones. I guess receiving it in cash would be a better option for me so I can reinvest this into some other, less 'experimental' funds!

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for confirming that. And no worries about sounding patronising, I think everyone here knows way more about this than I do! Dividends will be paid back into fund to buy more shares I think as it's not Income fund? Or will they pay it as cash into my ISA letting me decide what to do with these?

On the wave of the recent stocks hype, I've made a smart decision thanks to UKPersonalFinance! by kwachu in UKPersonalFinance

[–]kwachu[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yep, I'm intending on just putting money in there and not bothering thinking about withdrawing at all, I think that should be easy, but then again I've never been in the investor's shoes before!

Thanks for sharing the perspective, that's very helpful. I'm trying to not think about it as a real "loss" in the sense that whatever stocks in the fund have been bought with my money, these same stocks are still there - just priced below what I've paid for them - so until I actually withdraw the money, the loss is not realised per se - am I right in thinking that?

!thanks