u/Can_Has_Shenaniganz

Hi all! Looking for some "current" guidance as it seems things have changed since I first learned of all this.

Some background first, if you care...

I purchased a DS920+ (because of hardware transcoding) years ago with plans of self-hosting many things eventually. It took a while for me to get started, several years actually, as my initial attemps were full of frustrations and failures. Lost count how many times I failed at getting Pihole to work, even with all the guides and YT videos out there.

But, last year, I hunkered down and decided that enough time had passed, and I REALLY needed to take advantage of the NAS. Started with Pihole, and got that mostly working. Then continued adding useful apps slowly, Paperless, Jellyfin (yup, the main reason for getting the 920, and not the "newer" model), LMS, etc. and enjoying the benefits.

That is, until I got to Immich. I've been using Synology Photos for standard back-ups for a while. But I finally got to a point where I was able to turn off Google Photos! Which, of course led to some frustration because, well, Synology Photos isn't great when it comes to scrolling a feed. Super slow, for some reason. Which led me to Immich.

Loving Immich, but BOY, it's that ML container is a resource HOG! It has already caused my stacks to drop several times now. I've taken to disabling the ML container, and only running the jobs interactively, every so often.

Which leads to this post...

I remember when I was researching what NAS to get, I saw videos and read posts that you should increase the RAM to "max" AND get an SSD installed to create a volume to run Docker containers. I also remember several folks talking about sites and spreadsheets with confirmed RAM that works, and what amounts.

So, yes, in this horribly expensive RAM market, here I am! Looking for advice on:

1. What RAM options/modules/size should I get for my poor DS920+? This is probably the most immediate and important need at the moment. As I've reached a natural cap and cannot continue adding more "apps" until I fix this.
2. I, for the life of me, can't seem to find any guides on using an SSD to create a volume for Docker and what size is recommended. Was this patched out, or something, and all these old videos and blog posts just get deleted or archived??? The ones I've found all talk about caching, which, really doesn't serve much of a purpose in my environment.

And, before anyone advises this... Yes, I am considering getting a 2nd device so that not everything is running on the NAS. Possibly a Rasp-pi, or an old laptop, or something else. Heck, I seem to remember seeing a post somewhere where someone used an old Android phone to host stuff?!?! (Not here, btw. I thought I saved that post but was wrong. Should be easy enough to find, I hope) But for now, that's not really an option.

Anyway, hoping some of you power users here can point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all! Apologies for the awkward repost here, but it appears that r/MiddleClassFinance does not allow cross-posting. Regretfully, I didn't really receive the advice I was hoping for, and thought that I'd try here. Hopefully someone can share some insight!

Original post:

>Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster.

>My niece's sweet-sixteen is coming up soon. So, my partner and I were talking about what to get her. Knowing that the norm usually is money, the conversation transitioned into several topics.

>First, we know that if we give her cash, she'll buy some widget that will bring her some joy for a bit before being forgotten.

>Which led to remembering hearing a story, a long time ago, of a girl that was gifted a "bond" (I think), by her grandma when she was a tween and by the time she was 21 she would be a millionaire and never have to work in her life, or something like that.

>Which let to us talking about how we would do things differently if we knew then what we know now.

>We started investing late in life, and although we are in a good trajectory and making better decisions, we talked about how much easier it would've been if we had started early.

>Hence me posting here. I'm looking for advice on what we can gift her that would have the same effect of that story we heard long ago. Not sure what our options are since we are still pretty new to investing and pretty much don't know all the options that are out there.

>One thing I want to make clear. Since the story was so long ago, I don't remember the full details. I am POSITIVE, that the story was way more nuanced than that. I know there is no magic bond/stock/mutual fund/ETF/etc., that you can buy one of, and be a millionaire by 21. Well, at least I think I know that!

>What most likely happened is her grandma's gift got her interested in investing and it seeing the interest gained created positive feedback loop in her that paid off. Probably helped that she was under 18 (or 21?) and mom nudged her in the right direction to reinvest as her parents would've had been the ones to close the account.

>One item I do remember clearly was that the girl said that she made a conscious decision each year, when the term was up, to reinvest, which help her create that positive habit. So, we're definitely interested in doing something like that.

>Any advice, thoughts, guidance, would greatly be appreciated! Bonus points if anyone remembers this story!!!

>Thanks in advance!

Additionally, I want to make clear a few items, because it seems I caused some confusion. And I'm aware that I'm repeating information, but I wanted to be as clear as I could.

• Heard this story YEARS ago, in the mid-to-late 00's probably. I have tried, and tried, to search for it, and every result I get is "recent" and not this particular story.
• This was NOT a 529 account (kids have them already), and I am pretty certain it started with some sort of bond. Because I remember thinking that it was odd that she would have those returns with a bond.
• I'm also pretty certain that there was more nuance than that, which I have forgotten. I believe the bond was what sparked her interest in investing and she continued the journey herself with positive habits she developed, reaching such a milestone. After all, if "anyone" could do it, it wouldn't have been newsworthy.
• I am definitely NOT interested in achieving some sort of unrealistic pipe-dream of making my niece a millionaire by 21! I understand how interest works. Our hope is that this gift will get her thinking about her finances/retirement early and hopefully instill some good habits in her that will serve her well in life. Think of it as, if I was able to give my young self some advice, type thing and, although we hope to be around for a long time, be part of her future if we can't be here physically. If she ends up being able to retire early, that is payment enough for us!
• Looking to spend modestly. Only about $100 to start, can push a little more than that. But parents would probably be extremely uncomfortable if we spend too much. If this works out as we hope, then the thought is possible milestone gifts at 18, 21, college graduation, wedding, etc.

Again, thanks all! Hope we can get some guidance.

Hi all! Long time lurker, first time poster.

My niece's sweet-sixteen is coming up soon. So, my partner and I were talking about what to get her. Knowing that the norm usually is money, the conversation transitioned into several topics.

First, we know that if we give her cash, she'll buy some widget that will bring her some joy for a bit before being forgotten.

Which led to remembering hearing a story, a long time ago, of a girl that was gifted a "bond" (I think), by her grandma when she was a tween and by the time she was 21 she would be a millionaire and never have to work in her life, or something like that.

Which let to us talking about how we would do things differently if we knew then what we know now.

We started investing late in life, and although we are in a good trajectory and making better decisions, we talked about how much easier it would've been if we had started early.

Hence me posting here. I'm looking for advice on what we can gift her that would have the same effect of that story we heard long ago. Not sure what our options are since we are still pretty new to investing and pretty much don't know all the options that are out there.

One thing I want to make clear. Since the story was so long ago, I don't remember the full details. I am POSITIVE, that the story was way more nuanced than that. I know there is no magic bond/stock/mutual fund/ETF/etc., that you can buy one of, and be a millionaire by 21. Well, at least I think I know that!

What most likely happened is her grandma's gift got her interested in investing and it seeing the interest gained created positive feedback loop in her that paid off. Probably helped that she was under 18 (or 21?) and mom nudged her in the right direction to reinvest as her parents would've had been the ones to close the account.

One item I do remember clearly was that the girl said that she made a conscious decision each year, when the term was up, to reinvest, which help her create that positive habit. So, we're definitely interested in doing something like that.

Any advice, thoughts, guidance, would greatly be appreciated! Bonus points if anyone remembers this story!!!

Thanks in advance!