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I always say try not to be married to our jobs.
This is because if we spend our lives working and doing nothing else, if we should one day be retrenched or if we must stop working for whatever reason, we would be lost.
This is why so many people say if they retire, they would die faster.
For me, I have always thought of work as a means to an end which is to achieve F.I.R.E.
Of course, back then, there was no such acronym.
I was just thinking about being able to retire earlier from work or being able to stop exchanging my time and energy for money.
Anyway, having been a retiree for about 8 years now, I have been spending a lot of time on something that I really enjoy and that's video gaming.
Now, I have to take my own advice but with a twist!
Don't be married to any one hobby!
Recently, my gaming laptop has been a bit wonky.
The video card is probably on its last leg.
To be fair, I work it very hard as I use it for 8 to 14 hours daily.
I have been thinking of getting a new gaming laptop for some time but I decided to wait for prices to come down.
During the pandemic, the prices of computers shot through the roof as people were buying them to work from home and also because they had more free time, online video gaming activity also sky-rocketed.
So, I kept waiting until now.
I took advantage of the 11.11 sale going on now and bought a new gaming laptop, also from ACER.
Still a Nitro 5 which is a value for money gaming laptop by ACER but this is an upgrade with 16G of RAM and a RTX2050 graphics card.
For sure, it isn't top of the line but it is already an upgrade to my current Nitro 5 with 8G of RAM and a GTX1050 graphics card.
Well, my current laptop is 6 years old.
Oh, the new NITRO 5 will also have a SSD that is 4x bigger than what I have now.
However, what is really amazing is how I am paying only $1,100 for my new Nitro 5!
When I paid $1,349 for my current laptop back in the day, people told me it was a good deal.
So, the new laptop is better and cheaper than my old one!
That makes me happy.
Of course, if you have been following my blog long enough, you would know that I am not just talking about my recent purchase.
This blog post is more allegorical.
Think about having contingency plans.
Think about delaying gratification.
Whether stocks or socks, we like to buy better products at lower prices.
Related post:
Spent money and will spend more time.
Spent money and will spend more time.
Bloggy Award
12 comments:
It's always good to enjoy a bit of fruit from the labour of Mr Market.
That's why the dividend/coupon collected, reinvested 80% of it. Really 80% only? thats the benchmark only. Most of the time, it is all plus a top-up for the next round DRIP
I am still using my 9-year-old MacBook Pro 13" retina. The battery was replaced last year ($108) and MacOS, was updated recently via a patch (OpenCore Legacy Patcher) and apple official library. Not a pasar malam copy of the OS.
Sure, it is no fight in computing power vs the current M3 chipset of MacBook. But for my websurfing, streaming music & videos - sufficient la.
Hi SnOOpy168,
If I were just doing blogging and watching videos online, I could stick with my current laptop which is still good for those purposes.
Unfortunately, I have an "expensive" hobby.
Need more RAM, better video card and bigger SSD. (TmT)
Reinvesting 80% of your dividend is very admirable.
It is a much lower percentage for me.
I had bad experience with Acer for my first laptop, which was about 20 years ago...
For laptop I am sticking with Asus, the last one last me 9 years+
Hi Daniel,
I have heard good things about ASUS.
A friend told me he had bad experience with his ACER NITRO 5 and he switched to ASUS.
For me, I have used 3 ACER laptops before and never had any trouble.
However, I work my laptops hard and had to replace them every 5 years or so.
The current one, my 3rd ACER, a NITRO 5, was purchased because I became serious about online gaming and I needed a better video card and more RAM.
This latest purchase would be my 4th one, and it is arriving today. Crossing fingers. ;p
My worst experiences were with SONY and HP laptops which lasted for only 18 months or so. :(
The price of graphic card shot up also because of crypto mining.
I'll be blunt. When it comes to gaming nothing can beat a gaming Deskstop with a powerful graphic card. So....laptop is always a no no no for me. Gaming can inflict quite a lot of punishment on the hardware. The hardware performance starts to fade when the engine gets overheated. You gonna need a alot of fans to keep those engines running for long hours without getting overheat. My gaming Desktop average lifespan is usually 4-5 years, the harddisk always the first one to die.
Just assembled a new one last year. Hmmm I think I overdo this time, I can see 5 fans inside. Well, its meant to run from morning to night anyway. :)
Hi TDT,
You are right about desktop being better than laptop for gaming. :)
I thought of getting a desktop this time but I just don't have the desk space. (TmT)
Fortunately, I am able to get a good deal during this 11.11 sale.
Everything on SSD this time too which is much better than a HDD, of course.
Ah, so, it was the HDD that was dying. I thought it might have been the graphics card.
Anyway, my old laptop was running on a GTX 1050 and it was time for an upgrade.
RTX 2050 is not the latest but already a big upgrade for me.
I have been delaying gratification. ;p
4 to 5 years is the average lifespan for a gaming machine?
That makes me feel better since my old laptop had been laboring for 6 years or so.
Which brokerage does AK use?
Does AK has all his stocks in CDP or in some custodian brokerage?
What is AK's comments on those Moomoo and Tiger whereby their brokerage is 0.03% which is super cheap. but the stocks will be held in their custody?
Hi ZhuKoLiang,
I am old fashioned.
I use local name brokerages which have been around for a long time.
No strange farm animal noises or fierce animals for me. ;p
Hello AK, T-bill yield 3.8%. Not too bad lah. :P
Hi HH,
My estimate was for 3.88% p.a.
3.8% p.a. is decent. :D
Upcoming 6 months T-bill cut-off yield expected to be 3.88% p.a. or so.
Hi AK, seems like market now a bit complacent...people like going back into equities. Demand for T-bills seems lower than previous months. Buy T-bill when not many people want buy for me.
Hi HH,
Mr. Market will do what Mr. Market will do. ;p
I am just sticking to my strategy of building a larger cash position for now.
Quite happy that my non-competitive bid application is 100% filled. :D
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