The GTX 1050 Ti is a very good card, also for gaming, if mining isn't interesting for you anymore.
Just to check out the technical side of mining, I also started also with a GTX 1050 Ti (type ASUS Strix OC) last year.
Now I use the card for gaming in my second PC.
There are no real weaknesses for that price. 4 GB of RAM, enough shaders, low power consumption, very quiet if there is a good cooler mounted. Furthermore, there isn't a 3,5 GB "bug" like the 970 has.
If you are just interested in profits and ROI things, it is a bad time to start now - but I don't think so, because you write you want to do "long-term HODL". From that point of view - why not?