I think I'm finally ready to take the plunge and actually put some meaningful savings into Bitcoin...
But I have no idea how to do that with my own node, and I refuse to leave my sats in the hands of some marketplace :/
Discussion
Perhaps consider an investment in a decent hardware wallet or signing device, like a Foundation Passport, a Jade, or a ColdCard.
Once you have the hardware wallet, you can use software, like Sparrow, to manage the process of stacking bitcoin, while securely storing the keys, used for spending, offline, on the hardware wallet.
You can connect Sparrow to your node to keep your queries to the blockchain private.
Once you've purchased from an exchange (like Coinbase or Swan), you can easily withdraw it by providing a cold storage address (given to you by Sparrow).
Since the keys are securely stored on the hardware wallet (with the seed backed up on paper or steel), all of the bitcoin you stack stay nice and frosty in cold storage.
If this is a little overwhelming, combining Blockstream's Jade and Blockstream's Green wallet software (available on desktop and mobile) might male it a little more streamlined and intuitive.
Similarly, Foundation's Passport and Envoy wallet software serve a similar purpose.
First of all get a signing device such as Seedsigner or Coldcard, purchase BTC, and move it right away into cold storage.
Then you can use software such as Sparrow with your own node to manage your stacking, I suggest doing it in steps as digesting all the information at once can be a lot.
You could use the core wallet, but if it's a meaningful amount, you should get a hardware wallet. nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev #bitcoin