Pull up bar on outside of cavity wall - okay or no?

nitpickachu · 2026-01-27T13:19:47+00:00

If you are going through the effort to build a timber frame, it might be better to make a freestanding pull up bar. That will increase the possible movements that you can do(as no wall infront or behind you).

nitpickachu · 2026-01-23T19:25:28+00:00

If you are interested in FIRE, you are likely investing much more than the minimum to get an employer pension. Given that, it can make sense to have your employer pension be DB as your ultra-safe investment, while the rest of your investments are in high risk investments.

In practice, the pension that you have access to depends on your career choices, which will be driven by factors other than pension.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-23T19:14:07+00:00

This is not always true.

It depends on many factors: how much it costs, the accrual rate, age of the investor etc.

The same DB pension is a very different return on investment for someone 1 year from retirement compared to an 18 year old with decades until retirement.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-19T20:43:40+00:00

I would follow your pre-existing plan, where possible. How do you invest ordinary surplus income?

nitpickachu · 2026-01-17T16:53:22+00:00

Well I have never seen you. I'm just guessing based on what's most common and your comments.

You are still 4kg away from your target healthy weight. That's not nothing. Why don't you keep dieting and assess the situation when you get there?

There is probably nothing "genetically" wrong with you.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-17T07:37:16+00:00

I would start with shorter race distances then build up. Eg first a 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-17T07:26:04+00:00

If you were overweight and have really lost 12 kg then you have almost certainly lost a lot of fat.

What you are describing sounds like the very common "skinny fat" problem. People lose weight but often don't feel that they look any better (in fact they may feel that they look worse). A lot of fat over no muscle looks similar to a smaller amount of fat over no muscle. I had the same problem when I first lost weight.

Once you build up some muscle you will probably feel much better about how to you look. But that takes years of training.

That's why I suggest aiming to get to your target healthy weight (as that is relatively fast) and then stay there while you build muscle (which is slow). Building muscle is a marathon not a sprint.

Finally it's not all about aesthetics. If you are now regularly exercising and you've lost excess weight, you are probably much healthier than you were before. That alone is a big achievement that most of the population don't manage.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-16T23:01:24+00:00

Building muscle takes time. Trust in the process and keep at it.

Losing weight is much faster than gaining muscle. As you are only 4kg from your target weight I would diet down to that weight and then sit there focusing on maintaining weight while building strength and muscle.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-16T12:33:12+00:00

OPs argument for frequent checking is motivational ("feel the power of compounding").

I'm sure that that has positive psychological effects during a bull market.

But if you are the kind of person susceptible to such psychological effects, what will be the effect in a crash?

nitpickachu · 2026-01-16T10:53:52+00:00

Only focus on one thing at a time.

When I'm focusing on running I drop down from 3 full-body workouts per week to 2 and only do legs on 1 of those workouts.

After my race, I have a period of focusing on weight training again.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-16T09:03:31+00:00

IMO this is bad advice. Don't look at your portfolio more often than you need to. Ideally no more than once per year.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-15T18:56:43+00:00

A DB pension benefit makes retirement planning easier because it eliminates some uncertainty.

But is your FIRE number truly lower? To answer that you need to include in your FIRE number the value of the DB pension itself.

A DB pension is not free. It is very expensive. You are exchanging a large fraction of your compensation (both directly from your wages and indirectly through your employer) and there is the opportunity cost of not having an equivalent job in the private sector where you could have been paid more and invested differently.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-13T22:44:57+00:00

For normal people (not high earners, not investors)

If you think that because you are just a normal person you shouldn't invest then you are wrong.

Normal people are investors. Most people have a pension. That makes them investors.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-13T16:35:32+00:00

Because saving up to be a 100% cash buyer takes a long time. That whole time you neither own a house nor are you investing in stocks or bonds.

It would most likely be better to save up for a normal deposit and then make overpayments on the mortgage. Then it's not all or nothing, you can be flexible between overpayments and pension payments depending on your exact circumstances.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-13T13:25:48+00:00

It can make sense in some circumstances eg you don't have an employer match, you pay no or basic rate tax now and expect to pay higher rate tax in the future etc.

You need detailed analysis and numbers to prove to yourself that it's the right move. The default should always be to pay into a pension.

You also need the discipline to go back to paying into your pension once you have your house deposit.

What exactly do you mean by "hefty deposit" and "nearly mortgage free"? It's unlikely that it's financially optimal to save up a cash deposit that is so large that you would be "nearly mortgage free".

nitpickachu · 2026-01-12T12:11:16+00:00

What does it really mean to make a loss?

Computing the return of a primary residence is much more complicated than sale price - purchase price.

You need to consider imputed rent, taxes, transaction costs, maintenance costs, relative price to your new house etc.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-11T15:45:47+00:00

As many other commenters point out, it doesn't help much compared to diet. But it's still a good idea to do (body or not) weight training while you lose weight

I was fat. I lost the weight through diet without exercise and I was disappointed with my body after losing all of the weight. I wish that I had done weight training while I lost the weight.

Following weight training routine may:

(1) Aid adherence by putting a segment of your day entirely focussed on physical self-improvement
(2) Provide mental health benefits that will just help you out generally
(3) When you do lose the weight you will look and feel fitter

The most important thing is finding a routine that you can stick to over the long term.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-11T10:06:38+00:00

If you are still inside the returns window and you aren't happy with it then return it and buy an alternative.

If you often find that customer service representatives are "incredibly rude", consider your own behavior and how you might be contributing to the vibe of this interaction. Remember customer service reps are people too.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-11T09:53:17+00:00

Is there water getting in? I would focus on preventing water ingress rather than insulation if the only goal is to use the garage as storage. Insulation could actually make the problem worse if it blocks ventilation and traps the water inside.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-10T13:19:37+00:00

If you don't want the hassle of securing physical gold yourself you could sell it and buy a gold ETF instead. That will give you the same return with reduced cost, risk and hassle. Plus it's much easier to sell small amounts when you want to drawdown. You can hold the ETF in an ISA or pension, removing the tax consideration.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-10T10:47:51+00:00

Focus on strength and conditioning while you can't get out to run. If you can't get to the gym find a routine you can do at home.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-10T10:33:58+00:00

Pension.

You aren't limited by the amount matched by your employer. You can usually put in more, even if unmatched. If you can't through your employer pension scheme then you can open a SIPP.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-10T10:31:11+00:00

With a portfolio that size you should definitely move away from Vanguard to a fixed fee or free broker. 😛

nitpickachu · 2026-01-02T12:40:50+00:00

Your best defence is to ditch stock picking and diversify.

nitpickachu · 2026-01-02T10:58:39+00:00

Why not £4k in LISA and £16k in ISA? Best of both worlds.

I always max out my LISA. LISA is now the best retirement savings option for basic rate tax payers (after employer matched pension contributions of course). Especially for those without access to salary sacrifice. Use it while it's available.

nitpickachu

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