Help with structuring my crypto-currs and get an overall feeling for crypto

Hey y'all.

Quick intro:

I was owning a quite big (in regards to the niche) online forum in around 2009. At this time we used Paysafecards and Ukash for online payments. BTC was worthless and I remember like yesterday when I downloaded the first wallet and we threw them BTCs around just for fun. The attribute of total privacy seemed interesting, but no one could imagine.. Furthermore we were the only community in Germany using it.
At one point I had a few hundred of them, members send me BTCs like italians would throw tomatoes at the stage of a bad opera performance.
Since real donations were made with PSC and Ukash it was meand more in an ironical way..
After the boom I searched for my old hard drive, found it, but it was broken.. I could recover some things (also the bitcoincore.exe- the first BTC wallet software) but was unable to recover any BTCs.
From that day on I decided to stay as far away from Crypto as possible.. :-D

Well,.. now it shows.


I hope someone can answer me a few questions (maybe that's basic knowledge - I dunno *shrug*) :

First off, I already downloaded Coinbase, Binance, Trust Wallet, Atomic Wallet, Exodus and Monero by Cake Wallet.
I don't know if it's my ADHD, my age or if it IS really as chaotic as it seems. However, now I got a few cents everywhere and I'm still overwhelmed by the terminology..
Staking, decentralized, non-custodial, dApps, Web3, this via that network yadda yadda..
At least with cash and bank accounts I can enjoy the illusion of having a stable and secure possession of something valuable.
But since the government wants to get rid of cash, it's back to the privacy attribute of crypto and many demand this payment option nowadays,

I'd like to send & recieve Monero, Tron (TRC20 and ERC20 - because I was told that I can't recieve TRC20 with my ERC20 address :'-( ) and Bitcoin. Maybe Ethereum.
BUT all in one place.
I often read about Hardware Wallets.

Would that do the trick?
If so, which one should I buy in terms of multi-currencies and in terms of a future-orientated investment - like,.. I don't want to buy a new version in one year, because the other one is outdated.
Is it like a USB stick that is only usable after plugging it in a Computer with internet connection or is it connected to WiFi directly?
Is there a GUI?
After I got one of those, can I delete all the apps I mentioned above? - Sometimes I read something about "needing electrum to sign.. bibbidibobbidiboo"
Is there a limit?
Where will the crypto go if someone sends money to me and the stick is not in my PC? Will the payment stay pending until I insert the hardwallet into a device?
Can I buy crypto with it?
Can it be damaged just by lying around? - like HDDs
Will the only fees then be transaction costs determined by the network of the currency?
Is it faster then, for example, Relai? - or same, 'cause also determined by the network?





I'm ashamed by the amount of questions.. If someone can answer me at least one of these, I'll be more than happy (and a little smarter than before).


Kind regards
Focus

Since you’re only looking to mainly use a handful of cryptocurrencies I’d suggest trying out a Ledger hardware wallet, it supports all of the above coins you mentioned (and more). It has both a mobile application and an easy to use desktop client.

It never connects to the internet, which is what makes it secure, it only signs transactions which you initiate through your device. I’m using it on both my phone and laptop and it’s easy to use.

The only thing you should be worried about when creating a wallet is your seedphrase, it’s basically the password of your wallet. Anyone that has access to your seed has direct access to all of your funds. As long as your seed is secure, your coins are as well - even if your wallet somehow breaks, or you lose it - you could simply import the seedphrase into a new wallet.

In terms of receiving crypto, you only need your wallet address for that particular coin. As you’ve mentioned, you can’t receive TRC20 tokens on an ERC20 wallet. Make sure you understand different networks since all transactions with crypto are irreversible.

Hope this helps a bit.

"BUT all in one place." I would question whether you actually want this. It could be the wiser move to have your assets split across many places and wallets so you can't lose everything at once in a worst case scenario.