u/Amnz98

Hi! I am 28 years old and looking for some advice on my current portfolio setup. I currently have around 30k euros invested (I know 30k is not a huge amount, but saving money in Spain right now is extremely difficult).

Right now, 90% of my capital is in an automated robo-advisor index fund portfolio (0.42% total fees). I know it is better to manage index funds by myself to avoid these platform costs. However, I am just starting out, and this is currently the easiest way for me. This portfolio is 80% stocks and 20% bonds. It includes global diversification through the S&P 500, MSCI Europe, and emerging markets. The remaining 10% of my money is split equally, with 5% in gold and 5% in bitcoin, both through ETFs.

I am thinking about selling all my gold and bitcoin and putting all that money into my robo-advisor index fund. Gold and bitcoin can be good, but with my current portfolio size I wonder if this money would just get better returns in the long run if it was invested in the index fund instead.

Should I simplify and put everything in my index portfolio? Or is it better to keep these alternative assets for long-term risk protection?

Hi! I’ve been going to the gym for a few months now trying to lose weight, and I’ve been following a 3 day PPL routine. On my pull day, one of the exercises I do is lat pulldowns.

Over time I’ve slowly increased the weight I can use, but I’ve never fully felt my back during the exercise. Another thing I’ve noticed is that as the weight gets heavier, my grip starts failing before my back does. The bar basically starts slipping out of my hands even though I still feel like I could keep doing more reps. From what I understand, straps could help with that.

Before trying straps, I wanted to experiment with the different attachments/grips my gym has to see if maybe another one would feel better and help me engage my back more.

Normally I use the standard long lat pulldown bar that basically every gym has (photo 1). Out of all the attachments I tried, the one I liked the most was this one (photo 2). The picture isn’t very clear, so I also found a similar one online so you can see what I mean better (photo 3).

Using this attachment, I actually feel my back working much more during the movement and overall the exercise feels way more comfortable and natural for me. My grip still slips a bit, so I’ll probably still try straps eventually, but this attachment feels significantly better than the regular bar.

What I find strange is that I almost never see people using this type of grip for lat pulldowns online. I mostly see it used for cable exercises, especially for bicep curls.

I’ve only seen maybe 1 or 2 people at my gym using it for pulldowns, so it made me wonder if I’m doing something weird or wrong. At the same time, it’s literally in the attachment rack next to the lat pulldown machine, so I assume it must be fine to use there.

Is it actually correct to use this type of attachment for lat pulldowns? Why does it feel so much better for me compared to the standard bar? What are the actual differences between this grip and the others? Would you recommend sticking with this one?

Thank you!

28yo with 30k (90% Index, 5% Gold, 5% BTC): Should I sell Gold and Bitcoin for a simpler portfolio?

Is this grip meant for lat pulldowns?