After hearing it once by Emanuele, a colleague, saying “sheeeet I could have saved 2% if I purchased the forniture for my new house with American Express, over 3k that’s quite a bit”. My cheap AF brain went in the mode “shit I’m missing a huge opportunity, I must spend 5-10 hours to understand what’s the best credit card and exploit this huuuuge opportunity”.

But this was something like six months ago, I fortunately waited a week for the dopamine effect to fade. I processed the fact that American Express (Amex from now) is nowhere close to the acceptance rate of Mastercard and Visa, and it’s just not worth going shops and seeing transactions fail in front of a tired-as-f Aldi cashiers.

This is until Daniele and Riccardo, my ex-flatemates, came up with a screenshot of a 600 euros purchase with a whopping 6 euros cashback on a Mastercard. And here we go again with another dopamine hit. I’m a serious addict.

Now

So let’s see my current status. I’m now using Revolut as only card account I use in shops and online. Their multi-currency card, together with the perfect app has never failed me. When paying in Italy and Switzerland I don’t have to worry about forex commissions, and everything else about their service is free. The perfection until now.

I even went so far to purchase their gray beautiful card. [Please, I’m aware, it’s a worthless piece of plastic. Thank you for letting me notice. But it’s beautiful. Stop judging.]

The point here is that Revolut has no cashback for basic accounts, and this is typical for Swiss banks. In this country it seems like the cashback is reserved for credit cards only, meaning that there is no debit card that offers cashback on no-maintence-fee accounts.

p.s. before you ask, Trade Republic, the large digital bank that competes with Revolut is currently not available for residents of Switzerland.

Credit card

Gut gut. So now let’s compare the December 2025 credit card options. These are all the credit cards which are offered at Swiss residents, comparing the cashback for each one. Again, these options are restricted to no-management-fee accounts only.

*American Express as circuit has no direct option for cashback cards. You have to pass through a card provider.

All the companies are converging to converge on the same numbers. They have cashback of 1% for Amex, 0.25% for Visa / Mastercard, and 0.33% for grocery stores.

As mentioned before, Amex is not for me. I don’t want to check each store if it is accepted. It’s not worth the effort. → My choice is a Visa or Mastercard which is accepted in the whole world, with a little cashback.

Impact on me

Good, but now let’s see the impact it would have on me monthly. I assume a best case scenario of 1% cashback on all transactions, including physical like groceries, and digital ones like trains and Amazon. Since in Revolut I have a monthly average april to november 2025 of 600 chf-equivalent per month, the 1% would accrue to a whopping 6 CHF.

Let’s put this in perspective:

• Physical goods. This amount of money per month, would not even buy a full sandwitch in the cheapest bar of Milano centrale central station. [Byw, kind of nice sandwiches. Approved by a starting Marco in endless trips back and forth in Chioggia.]

  

• Time. If I’d consider the additional hours spend for yearly accounting costs, at my current net hourly rate, I probably wouldn’t inside the cashback returns.

CHF only

Yeeeeeaaah, I might have written until here forgetting a huge detail. From a Reddit comment:

I would advise you to NEVER use regular credit card like Certo or Poinz outside Switzerland. They have an insane bad currency exchange rate. Instead use Neon or Revolut

Searching a bit more carefully, there is no equivalent to multi-currency credit cards like Revolut, since in Switzerland credit cards are CHF-billed. Gemini and gpt both strongly agree on this.

So, this additionally means:

• I would need to think each time I make a transaction if it’s in CHF or EUR and use the appropriate card, and
• My considerations about savings should be adjusted to around 300 CHF since I would’t be using use the card in Italy :(

Conclusions

In conclusion, the cashback alone is not a good reason to have a credit card. Under these conditions I would worry about “Am I paying in CHF, or EUR? Should I use the credit card or Revolut?”. Just not really my thing to save ~1 CHF per month.

The only benefit that’s coming up to mind is to have a separate credit card for car rental deposits. Buuuuuut I’m tired of writing. Ye, I know, it’s a few sentences, but still took 3+3+something hours somehow. I just want to publish. The car rental deposit is another analiziz paraliziz spiral I will get in, in the future.

Thanks. Bye.

P.S. A wise me a few days ago:

CHFC first. One hugh point to not forget is the the 2.5% yoy expected return I have on CHFC (standard five percent yoy, then split in two). Always favor long term gains compared to the short term savings.

Shit if I was wise to calculate that.

P.S.S. Nah, for now I’m not explaining what it means. I might in the future. Bye for real now 🧡.

Past dream. Looking back at the past videos from Copenhagen, Sweden, and the Netherlands, the pattern is clear: I always prioritized Zurich compared to any other city in Europe. Even when in the Netherlands shit started going downhill, I filled the city ranking of cities I wanted to get a job in long-term, and the first was already Zurich, while Helsinki was in the non-considered section. I recall very clearly that my objective was to find a job in an international city, and Lugano I can definitely say is everything except for being international.

Posting quantity. Let’s get some numbers: when I was in Copenhagen, 60% of the positions I applied for in Switzerland were in Zurich. The point is that there has always been a part of me which tries to maximize the chances of getting a new position and wants that missing 40%. I’m always thinking “well, if the company is good or the job is particularly good, I could stay there in that city for a while, right?”, and when asking my mom, she agrees with me. The problem with this approach is that by never narrowing down the amount of cities I’m applying to, I’m spending way more time applying to positions which are not in Zurich, and it’s time that I could potentially spend getting informed about companies in Zurich which I could join.

Dream. Let’s picture the dream I have now. Picture if I’d move there, let’s say I am lucky enough to apply to a job, and next summer I’ll be there enjoying my summer weekends in the Zurichsee with Alberto and Federica. Will it feel good? Well, shit, thinking in this way it would be damn wonderful. Think of going out with their friends from the startup and meeting an Indian friend who is as motivated as you are in development. Think if I’d go out with them and I meet some girl whom I get along with. She doesn’t need to be my potential girlfriend, but just having a female girl with whom I’d go out from time to time with a group of friends would be wonderful. Think it even a level further, meeting some of the nerdy friends of Alberto and getting along with their group, drinking beer in the lake, playing volleyball in the fields, and just feeling like you are part of a group, and when you arrive they scream in Miran’s style “éeeee Marrrcoooo”. It feels like a kind of dream which you have been missing since Aalto, but it’s not that farfetched. I just need to find a good-ish position in Zurich regarding data science and I would feel like making some long-term investments in regards to relationships.

Stability. Looking from that angle, going to Zurich compared to other cities would feel like a destination more than a stop. I’d feel like I can make a larger investment in terms of effort to find new friendships, a house, and activities. Of course I will feel like I want to change the job the first day I get there, but it’s inevitable, and I’d rather feel like I need to get a new job in the city I’m comfortable saying “I want to stay here for some years” compared to a city that, yet again, on day one, will feel like a stop.

Now. You got to think long term. Go to Zurich, find a job which is fine, and feel for the first time like it’s your destination. Just damn learn all the possible companies in Zurich and make a small effort to contact 1 person of a company which is offering a job you are interested into, and ask him what he is working on. This is not to find a new job, but by listening at their experience you will get to know if you like and don’t like. Remember that you are in the period of your life where you have to dare to ask others for help. Probably most people will ignore you; at the end of the day, you are asking for the most expensive resource of this world: time. Eventually, you will get someone who shares their experience, and I’m definitely sure, after talking to them, I will picture me, Alberto, my sister, and some nerdy startup friends all together close to the beach volleyball fields, with Alberto, who explains some weirdass new paper he is writing, and I’ll feel part of something. During the Via Francigena this is what the Uruguayan girl said to do: do the impossible. This is impossible, and I’ll do it.

The idea came when back in May I read the analysis by [earlyretirementnow] about gold allocation which he advised at 10-15%. Despite this advice he noted that he didn’t see enough pros in gold and remained 100% in equities. Like a real pro, I decided that after seeing the reddit post of the gif that compared the S&P and GOLD trend in the last 20 years I went all in. No one can change my mind. Gold is definetly the way to go.

reddit-sp500-vs-gold-1990-2023.mp4

And here I am, four months later, researching evidence to back my gold allocation. This time instead of looking in the last decade I wanted a larger horizon. Of course, what I found was overwhelming evevidence of exactly the opposite of that. This is perfectly summarized by [WisdomTree]:

Gold and stocks serve fundamentally different roles in a portfolio, and history makes their contrast crystal clear.

Over the past two centuries, gold has been a relatively stable store of purchasing power, offering real returns of just 0.8% per year—barely ahead of inflation. It’s inert by design: it yields nothing, it doesn’t grow, and it doesn’t compound. Its primary function is wealth preservation, especially in times of political upheaval, monetary disorder or inflation shocks. In contrast, stocks represent dynamic claims on real assets—productive enterprises with reinvestment, growth and innovation embedded in their structure. From 1802 to April 2025, a diversified equity portfolio delivered real returns of nearly 7% annually, compounding purchasing power exponentially over generations.

But sure, let’s look at the opposite side. There is the paper [The role of gold in investment portfolios, Wagner, 2024] that like in the [earlyretirementnow] advises 17% gold, but they are doing it on a 60/40 equity/bonds portfolio where their target audience seems to be the average american which can pull out all their investment from a moment to another… I am 100% equity… What was I thinking.

Stagflation: Btw, given the low profile audience the terminology was super easy and I finally get to learn what stagflation is, after hearing it many times in Ben Felix vidoes. It’s basically the situation where GDP falls and prices raise.

This word even though sounds super bad, it’s not as bad as deflation. Deflation is bad. Deflation happens very rarely (2% of the time) compared to stagflation (12%), and Wagner writes:

Deflation is a destructive situation in which economic activity and prices are falling. Japan serves as a modern case study of the deleterious effects of this environment. Governments generally attempt to avoid this situation at all costs, even if that means printing money and risking an overshoot into higher-than-desired inflation levels.

Interesting. At least I feel stupid for buying gold and intelligent for knowing a new word I can show off to my coworkers.

This is the new allocation, less go with stockss. I’m sure americanz know what they are doing and the market will grow to the staz and beyond.

Tried out LoFree Flow for 3 days now and from the first moment I received it I was underwhelmed. My priorities have definitely changed:

• Sound: it seriously sounds super wood-chopping-like in Stardew Valley. The switches are too silent, Tatiana even said it’s more silent than the office keyboard. I figured out I have a soft touch and can handle switches that can make more noise. The Nuphy Air v3 seems to be louder and a better choice.
• Blueooth 2-5 sec sleep recovery time: Bullshit, the LoFree flow reconnects immediately. I don’t even have the time to click one key that it has already reconnected.
• Programmable: Huge issue with LoFree Flow at the office is that I need to have the “Meta + hjkl” keys for the arrows. Moving right hand to the arrows in the office keyboard was intuitive since there was a gap between the main part of the keyboard (the rectangle from Ctrl to Del), and the four arrow keys. On the other hand with the contiguous keys in the 75% keyboard smash together the arrow keys with the ctrl and shift keys and make it much more difficult to have the muscle memory to click them.
• Black vs white: the first keyboard was black I had with RGB backlights you can’t really see the backlighting easily, I’d rather try out the new white + shine through keycaps. Plus, I started this whole rabbit whole from “I want a beautiful white keyboard” and I should stick to it, not defaulting back to black as always.
• Shine through keycaps: they are a must. Seriosly, today they are a must. Yesterday I didn’t care about them but today I can’t live without them. This morning (it’s 8:35, shit it’s early) I fell in love after seeing that the LoFree Flow v2 in white with white backlights, and shit if it looks good. Since today is the last day I give myself to buy the keyboard I will just take them. Fuck it, I got money, I need to spend them too.

Conclusions:

• I bought from the official website the Nuphy Air75 v3 with the white shine through keycaps (which yesterday were not available, it was destiny). I hope I don’t regret it since I spent 175$ after discount on it. Shit if it’s a lot of money.
• Only thing I’m afraid is that, like the LoFree Flow, it will be underwhelming when I’ll receive it. In the picture and youtube videos it looks so damn good, then you receive it and looks like an average keyboard with a metal frame. Let’s hope I won’t have that feeling.

Requirements:

• Beautiful.
• Low profile
• Silent: e.g. linear switches
• 75%, 84 keys
• Color: fully white (if possible)
• Price: max 150 euros
• 2.4 Ghz usb dongle to avoid 2-5 sec sleep recovery time (mentioned below)

Options by company:

• Lofree: most well known brand in youtube, they make by far the most beautiful keyboards

  • Flow: most beautiful of them all: alluminium, beautiful edges, but unadvised to buy really an older model given the market is improving very quickly for low-profile keyboards.

    

  • Flow v2: horrible 2cm right edge, was better the v1 design. Relased in kickstarter in Aug 2025, and despite being super new, the right edge has everyone asking “why, just, why?!”

    

  • Flow lite: plastic which makes it 10% lighter, 20 euros cheaper, released in Sep 2024. Plastic makes it much less beatiful, for 20 euros less I don’t feel poor enough to buy it.

    

• Nuphy: the most recognized brand with Lofree.

  • Air75 v3: loved among the reddit community which hates Lofree for lack of transparency (whatever it means). But seriously, I don’t need to handle to zoom on the top right of the keyboard.

    

• Keykron: company seen as competition for the first two, at half of the price. Around $80 instead of the range $120-$160.

  • K3: similar to what Bozzo had in FBK and looking much less like “professionally mac-looking beautiful white” and much more “I’m a computer scientist that types in the 10 keys method”.

    

Lofree Flow overview:

• Switches overview:
  • Flow (white version): Ghost linear switches
  • Flow lite (every color version): Specter switches, very similar to the Ghost switches
  • Purchase separately: Hades switches, much more silent than the Specter/Ghost, compatible both with Flow and Flow lite.
• If Ghost Linear Switches switches are too loud in the office I can buy for 60-70 euros the Hades switches. I highly doubt the noise is a problem given the noise Gabriele makes when typing and during the calls, and people from the other team scream a lot without anyone even complaining. But still good to have a silent keyboards for future offices.
• Bluetooth reconnection issue: after 10 minutes of inactivity the keyboard enters sleep mode and reconnection takes 2-5 seconds (some users say 1s, some 8s). This could be fixed by the 2.4 Ghz dongle which the Flow lacks, and only solution is to use the cabled connection at all time. Pro is that when it’s reconnecting the keys are remembered.
  • Bluetooth mode my perspective: the keys are remembered when it’s reconnecting. For example, if it goes to sleep after I loked the screen, I’ll be typing the password in ~3 seconds, by the time I hit enter the keyboard has waken up and in than instance it’s definetly usable.
  • Cabled mode my perspective: even if it looks less shiny, keeping the cable plugged at all time may seem a reasonable tradeoff for its beauty. If I’m changing desk I’m anyway not taking the keyboard with me and that wouldn’t be an issue.

Conclusions:

• Lofree Flow is a no brainer after I found it for 144 euros on amazon fr that ships in Switzerland. Even considering the bluetooth connection issues, the first-sight love is still standing strong. Every partner has it’s flaws.

Thesis — Paper

📜 Aalto Publication 📜 Twente Publication (mirror)
📜 Download PDF (mirror)

Presentation

🎤 Slides

GitHub

🧑‍💻️ LightRiver-Cache

🧑‍💻️ LightRiver