I have been using Apple products almost exclusively since the mid-90s. Now and then, I engage in debates about the pros and cons of Apple products compared to their competitors, especially regarding the price difference. And of course, the question arises whether minimalism and using Apple products even go together. It creates an ambivalence between design culture and the contradiction of consumption.
Continue reading “How do minimalism and Apple products go together, when Apple is so expensive?”Long-term experiences with Estateguru: 30 percent of the investment amount has defaulted.
My last blog post about Estateguru was less than two months ago. In early February, 21.9% of the loans had defaulted, and now, at the end of March, the figure has risen to 29.87%. The number of defaulted loans has increased from 43 to 63. The proportion of repaid loans hasn’t risen as much, going from 78 to 91. So far, not a single one of the defaulted projects has been auctioned. It could take years before I get my money back. But let’s slow down a bit—what exactly is Estateguru?
Introduction
EstateGuru is a European peer-to-peer platform that specializes in real estate financing. Here, investors can invest in real estate projects and potentially achieve attractive returns. However, like any investment, there are risks involved with EstateGuru. Please note, this is not investment advice, but simply reflects my personal experience. What are the risks?
Credit Default Risk
Credit default risk is one of the main issues with any P2P platform, and EstateGuru is no exception. If a borrower fails to meet their obligations and the loan repayment does not happen, there is a risk that investors could lose their invested capital. EstateGuru mitigates this risk by conducting thorough due diligence and using real estate as collateral. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that a borrower will not default, and credit default risk remains present.
Loss of Collateral
The collateral used by EstateGuru when granting loans is real estate. In times of crisis or a significant drop in property values, the value of the collateral may decrease and may not be enough to cover investors’ claims. In such cases, investors could lose part or even all of their invested capital. Since I have yet to see anything happen with a single defaulted loan, I’m slowly coming to terms with the idea that I may not see some of my money again.
Platform Risk
As with any P2P platform, there is also the risk that the platform itself may experience financial difficulties or even go bankrupt. In such cases, investors may not be able to make new investments, and it is uncertain whether they will recover their outstanding claims. To minimize this risk, it is important to carefully assess the financial stability and business model of the platform. Although the collateral is supposed to exist independently of EstateGuru, how exactly do I claim it? And how do we, as investors, organize ourselves, especially when we don’t even know each other?
Liquidity Risk
Investors in P2P platforms like EstateGuru must be aware that their investments are typically tied up for the duration of the loan. Although EstateGuru offers a secondary market where investors can sell their investments early, there is no guarantee that they will find a buyer for their shares. Liquidity risk can mean that investors are unable to withdraw their funds as quickly as they would like. And that’s exactly what is happening to me right now. It’s not that I urgently need the money, but based on the current pace of recovery, it could take years before I get my money back.
Regulatory Risks
As EstateGuru operates in different countries, changes in legislation and regulatory frameworks can impact the platform and its investors. Possible regulatory changes could affect the platform’s operations, the tax treatment of investments, or the requirements for investors. In extreme cases, regulatory changes could lead EstateGuru to suspend its operations in certain countries. I have no idea what would happen to the loans in such a case.
Conclusion
EstateGuru offers investors an attractive opportunity to invest in real estate projects and benefit from higher returns. However, like any investment, there are risks that investors should be aware of and consider. These include credit default risk, loss of collateral, platform risk, liquidity risk, and regulatory risks.
Careful due diligence and a diversified portfolio that spans different projects and countries can help minimize these risks. Investors should also stay informed about the latest developments in the industry and closely monitor EstateGuru to adjust their investment decisions according to changing conditions.
Overall, EstateGuru remains an interesting option for investors who are willing to accept the associated risks and carefully manage their investments. The biggest problem might be one’s own greed, as where else can you find 10% or even more returns with such “security”? My mistake was thinking that the real estate market in Germany was safe, but about 80% of the outstanding sums are from German projects. In some cases, there was a bonus for investing a certain minimum amount, and since things felt too slow, I invested an unreasonably large sum in a project instead of the usual 50-100 euros.
Now, I no longer deposit money onto the EstateGuru platform each month; instead, I withdraw funds as loans are repaid, and I no longer reinvest this money automatically. I have already withdrawn 5% of my funds, 27% have defaulted, and are waiting for successful recovery. The interest and bonuses earned so far have not yet compensated for the effort involved.
Experiences with EstateGuru: Caution! Is Passive Income Really Possible?
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Less than 3 months ago, I last wrote about my experiences with EstateGuru, so why am I writing again so soon? Because a lot has happened, and unfortunately, nothing positive. While there were 3 projects pending a few months ago, there are now already 43!
That’s quite a lot, and unfortunately, also a significant amount of money. Yes, (almost) everything is secured by a first-ranking entry in the land register, but as experience has shown so far, it can take an eternity for a project to be auctioned and for you to get your money back. To be precise, I don’t even know, because not a single project has been auctioned yet; all are stuck in an endless loop. This is actually quite concerning.
I have initially stopped all new investments until I see that money is actually being returned. At the moment, I wouldn’t recommend EstateGuru for this reason.
Eternal November: Will Mastodon Suffer the Same Fate as Usenet?
Mastodon and the Fediverse had maintained a niche existence for many years until they were thrust into the spotlight by Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and the ensuing turbulence. Since then, the Mastodon community has not been growing like a hockey stick, as it’s called in investor jargon, but like a rocket. This is a big win for those who champion open-source principles. However, this rapid growth might also become a curse, and for several reasons.
Continue reading “Eternal November: Will Mastodon Suffer the Same Fate as Usenet?”Why I Will Return My Kindle Scribe
I was actually really excited about the Kindle Scribe I ordered, because it seemed to solve two problems I have with using my reMarkable:
- I don’t like writing my notes at the edge of a PDF, if there is even enough margin, because my work notes are the preliminary version of the final notes that go into my Zettelkasten. Simply highlighting something is not very useful, as some studies also suggest. I need to be able to write my own thoughts on a text, and that’s something the reMarkable 2 doesn’t allow me to do.
- Light 🙂
Light is available, but otherwise, the Kindle Scribe has been a very disappointing experience for me. Of course, I don’t really want to throw money into Amazon’s pockets or store my data in their cloud, but the topics of “working through paper” and “reading” are of great importance to me. Since I don’t jot down anything confidential… one must choose the lesser evil. Perhaps someday there will be a solution that works without the cloud. But how good is the Scribe really?
Continue reading “Why I Will Return My Kindle Scribe”One Year of Not Buying Anything: October Report
October was basically a good month. I bought a T-shirt for my youngest, a party barricade tape, but unfortunately, I ended up buying a new iPhone. I was actually very happy with my switch from the Max Pro to the Mini, but the poor quality of the camera bothered me a lot. In September, I was in Padua and had a rare opportunity to photograph the anatomical theater. Unfortunately, it was very dark there, and the photos turned out terribly. Was it an absolutely necessary expense? No.
Experiences with EstateGuru during the crisis
Start – Blog – Experiences with EstateGuru during the Crisis
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice! You can sign up for EstateGuru through this link, which will give both you and me a small commission, but this is still not a recommendation!
In March, I introduced EstateGuru, and a lot has happened since then. At that time, I had invested in 90 projects; now, it’s 247. Back then, nearly 95% of the projects were on schedule, but now only about 85% are.
Three projects of mine are in default, which in banking terms means they are “defaulted,” and the debtor is bankrupt. The projects are located in Estonia, Finland, and Germany. I had written that one should not worry because the debts are registered in the first lien position, meaning the project will simply be auctioned off and you’ll get your money back, as the entire value of the project isn’t collateralized. Allegedly, the process takes, on average, just over 10 months. The statistics can also be verified on the EstateGuru website. Since the entire time since the platform’s inception is shown and I joined later, my numbers, of course, look different. In one project, I’ve been waiting nearly a year now, and the auctions are constantly being repeated. Apparently, selling the project isn’t as easy as expected.
Interestingly, EstateGuru has now written twice in quick succession (see here and here) about what happens when loans are in default. There was also a message saying that in the coming months, more projects will be seen with delays. This is no surprise, as construction materials have become extremely expensive, and some projects will falter.
Am I worried? No, but I’m a little annoyed with myself because, in one project, I was simply too “greedy.” Normally, my investment per project is a maximum of 250 euros and 50 euros per stage. Here, I manually invested 500 euros. In some projects, you get a bonus if you invest more, and an expected return of 11% sounds great, right? Also, I knew the building in Finland.
Now I have listed the project on the secondary market to see if anyone is willing to take the risk. I would lose 7 euros in that case. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait. Even if this project had to be completely written off, I would still be well in the plus with a current return of 9.57%. Since the LTV (Loan-to-Value Ratio) of the projects I invest in is always below 70%, usually at a maximum of 60%, a project would have to lose 30-40% of its value before I would face a total loss. Still, this has been a lesson for me—I will no longer buy manually, even if there’s a bonus.
And of course, it would be nice in terms of a FIRE strategy to invest enough money so that passive income is generated every month. But even though EstateGuru does everything to ensure you get your money back eventually, it doesn’t help if you need the money now, at the time when it should have been repaid. The calculation of investing 60,000 euros there and having 500 euros in passive income per month at a 10% annual return is not realistic. Also, there aren’t enough projects available, at least not according to my investment criteria, to invest that much, even if I wanted to.
Does EstateGuru still make sense for me? Yes, definitely, as part of a mix with other investments. But it is absolutely necessary to implement a strategy that you feel comfortable with. If the situation in Europe escalates further, there could be a larger default, and that is something you have to be aware of.
If you sign up for EstateGuru through the following link, you and I will both receive a small bonus.
1 Year of Not Buying: September Report
September was essentially a good month. The only new purchase I made was a pair of fingerless gloves, as it sometimes gets a bit chilly in the office. However, I didn’t want to turn on the heating just yet.
Then there was the Braun Atelier investment, which I had already written about and am still very pleased with.
However, there’s also an order I placed in September, which won’t arrive until December—the Kindle Scribe, which I might exchange for my Remarkable 2. Is the purchase necessary? Certainly not. I could print any article I want or need to read, and use a paper notebook. Can I work better and faster with paper tablets than with paper? Definitely. What I hope to achieve with the Scribe, I have already described in the article. If the Scribe doesn’t meet my expectations, it will go back. My reMarkable has very low usage costs since I use it multiple times a day. In the end, it’s about considering beforehand whether a technology actually improves something, or if it just serves blind consumption.
Braun Atelier – Hi-Fi from the 80s
I haven’t submitted a minimalist report for September yet, but one purchase from September is shown above: various components of a Braun Atelier system. The background is that sometimes I like to listen to something in peace on my headphones, but that’s not possible when a movie is being watched, since the same amplifier is used for both. However, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a new system, especially since today’s devices can do everything except what I actually need. For example, our NAD c700 is really great, but it doesn’t have a headphone output. Yes, you could connect AirPods to it, but as I mentioned above, if a movie is being watched, that doesn’t help me. So, I started searching for something used.
The Braun Atelier system caught my eye because it is also a classic. I don’t know how much influence Dieter Rams had on the design of this system, but it looks very much like it’s from the 80s and not as timeless as much of his other work. However, the system fits perfectly on a Vitsoe 606 wood shelf with the 36 cm depth. In the 80s, you only saw this system in movies, among the wealthy. The parents of my friends didn’t have such a system. It was available in black and a light grey that was very unusual for stereo systems at the time. What was special about it was that you didn’t see any cables because they were covered at the back with flaps. The stand and the cable sleeve in the photo below also show the simplicity that this design concept was meant to convey.
Another well-thought-out detail is that the functions you use frequently are immediately accessible, while special features, such as Dolby on the cassette deck, are hidden.
The search for a used system proved to be difficult. Many sellers are aware that their parents spent a fortune on the system, so they often try to get four-digit sums for it. That doesn’t work, at least not with me.
So, I started small with the receiver R1, the cassette deck C2 (both shown in the photo above), and a turntable P2 (not in the photo). The Braun P2 is a semi-automatic turntable without a quartz drive and is considered an entry-level model between the P1 and P3. To give you an idea of what these components cost back then:
- R1: 1,250 DM (1981, today around 1,430 euros)
- C2: 1,300 DM (1982, today around 1,400 euros)
- P2: 800 DM (1982, today around 860 euros)
With the system, I received some speakers, unfortunately not original Braun, but very good CANTON GLE60, which were badly scratched. The potentiometers (volume controls) on the system were scratchy. A back cover was missing. However, the sound is great, except for a hum when idle. The system had been completely overhauled. The components, by the way, are incredibly heavy; I could barely carry them alone. And the thing you see at the top of the photo, I would never have been able to lift it.
Shortly after, I was offered the P4 turntable, a fully automatic model with some fun features, such as the ability to move the needle without lifting the lid. The turntable was sold from 1984 to 1990 and cost up to 1,550 DM, today around 1,400 euros. I sold the P2 within two days.
Then there was also a cheap CD4, originally priced over 2,000 DM in 1986, which I bought used. The CD player is still top-tier today. By the way, both the P4 and the CD4 now show that the power button is no longer green but black with a green ring.
My system, as seen in the photo above, would have cost nearly 6,000 euros today, accounting for inflation, etc. Crazy, right? I paid 780 euros, after buying and selling components. It’s a lot of money for an old system, but in terms of sound, it holds its own against the NAD c700. It can’t stream, but it’s ready to go as soon as you turn it on (unlike the NAD, which I never keep on standby). By the way, it’s also still hard to find old manuals. They aren’t available for download and are instead offered at high prices on eBay or as copies.
At the moment, I’m still looking for a Braun A2 amplifier to replace the R1. The R1 doesn’t have a CD input, and the A2 comes in two versions: one with two phono options on the front, and one with both a phono and a CD option. I’m specifically looking for that version.
Amazon Kindle Scribe versus reMarkable 2
Update: I have now tested the Kindle Scribe, and you can find the full report here!
I had one of the first Kindles in Germany and even wrote an app for it. I also had one of the first reMarkables and now own a reMarkable 2. Apparently, I’m susceptible to tech gadgets, especially when I hope they could potentially boost my productivity. Now, Amazon is entering this market with the Kindle Scribe, directly competing with companies like reMarkable. Here’s the introduction video from an Amazon event:
With the reMarkable, I became critical when they suddenly introduced a subscription model. While this didn’t affect me, since early buyers could keep the Connect subscription “for free” for life, reMarkable clearly realized that they weren’t getting good karma points for this move and changed their model. With the Kindle, I got one of the devices that had a built-in SIM card for which you didn’t have to pay any fees worldwide. That was really convenient, being able to read my newspaper every day no matter where I was in the world.
Will the new Kindle Scribe replace the reMarkable? I haven’t yet received a Kindle Scribe for testing, but already a few interesting aspects are noticeable. Both devices offer a tremendous advantage: focusing on the essentials. I’m not familiar with the current Kindle devices, but my old Kindle displayed books wonderfully, and it only had a web browser for Wikipedia—pure focus. Annotating texts was easier on my Kindle since it had a keyboard. But, of course, it wasn’t as simple as writing a note with a pen. However, I could easily export these notes using my tool.
Let’s take a closer look at the specs:
- Price: The Amazon Kindle Scribe is cheaper. While the reMarkable “only” costs 349 euros, that’s the price without the pen. The cheapest pen variant costs 79 euros, so under 400 euros you can’t get anything. The Kindle, on the other hand, currently costs 369 euros for the cheapest version with the pen.
- Storage: The Scribe is available with 16, 32, and 64 GB. The reMarkable only has 8 GB. The 32-GB version of the Kindle automatically includes the premium pen, which is the version I ordered.
- Pen: Both systems use pens that require nibs. Not much is known yet about the Amazon Scribe pen, but I suspect it works similarly to the reMarkable pen. It doesn’t need power, and there is a premium version that offers a virtual eraser. Unlike the colleague here, I don’t expect the pen to need charging.
- Dimensions: The reMarkable measures 187 × 246 × 4.7 mm, while the dimensions of the Scribe are not yet known. The Scribe appears to be larger despite the smaller screen, as its bezel is wider, especially on the left. We do know that the Scribe weighs 433 grams, which is 30 grams more than the reMarkable 2.
- Display: The reMarkable has a 10.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1872 x 1404 (226 DPI), while the Scribe has a 10.2-inch screen with a resolution of 300 dpi. The reMarkable uses an E Ink Carta display, although they say their Canvas technology is only partially based on it. The Scribe has a glare-free Paperwhite display. The Scribe also has a light that adjusts to the ambient brightness, whereas the reMarkable does not. I’m not sure if I would like the light, as I bought the reMarkable partly because I wouldn’t get more awake in the evening. But sometimes it’s annoying to have to find a light source.
- Charging: Both devices charge via USB-C.
- Battery Life: Initially, Amazon claimed the Scribe’s battery life was “months,” whereas the reMarkable lasts about a week for me. Amazon has since walked back that claim.
- Document Storage: Documents are stored in the cloud, and there is no software available yet for the Scribe.
- Document Editing: On the Scribe, it will be possible to edit Word documents. However, I don’t expect integration with Dropbox and Google Drive, as with the reMarkable. Overall, managing documents with the reMarkable is a bit cumbersome. You can send files via email, but otherwise, you always need the app.
What interests me about the Scribe? Over the last few months, I’ve been exploring Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method and now have such a system at home. With the reMarkable, it bothers me that I couldn’t get the notes I wanted to make, not the permanent notes, but my working notes. So I always carry index cards with me, which is pretty unwieldy with the reMarkable. Writing on virtual index cards would be possible with the Scribe, as you can attach a note to a text snippet and export it later. For me, that’s the killer app. I also hope that importing and exporting documents will be easier. I’ll test it and report back here.
For reMarkable, Amazon’s entry into the market means this technology will reach the masses, but reMarkable won’t benefit from that. Quite the opposite. Because Amazon offers a convenient way to access content through its store, and its awareness campaign will convert potential reMarkable customers.
The question for power users will be how convenient it will be to manage notes and books on the Kindle Scribe. reMarkable offers folders that can also be created and managed on the desktop. The tags functionality, which reMarkable recently introduced, is really good, but unfortunately, it only works on the device itself. On the Kindle, the software on the Mac is, at least, a disaster; there’s no recognizable organization.