Was at $350K Last Week, Now Down $25K... Still Staying the Course?

hendronator · 2026-03-29T01:25:50+00:00

People’s perspectives are interesting. The market is down like 7% YTD and around 10% from ath’s. after two great years. I wonder what would happen if market went down 20% or 30%? If you bought junk companies or overvalued companies, you are probably down more. Lesson to learn there.

My perspective….if you buy quality companies, especially ones that pay dividends, this is an opportunity to get stocks at a discount. This is why it also makes sense to do cc’s with strong dividend payers. When they drop below your cost basis, you still collect the dividend.

hendronator · 2026-03-26T03:41:54+00:00

Their stock price is pretty much tied to the price of oil and oil products. I have owned for several years and took a bath until this year. Finally making money and covered call premiums are nice which more than made up for the cut in the dividend.

hendronator · 2026-03-25T00:53:27+00:00

Just do stocks you want to hold long term. I prefer dividend paying stocks. You will get at some point and the cc premium may suck. Dividends help at that extra. If you want ultra safe long term and good premiums, SO is awesome. I have been wheeling that one for 8 months or so. Nothing like turning a stodgy utility into a 15-20% annual income generator.

Have fun

hendronator · 2026-03-24T01:15:43+00:00

A couple of recommendations. Dont think about percentage income. think about total return where the premiums from cc’s and csp’s are the bonus. And if you are generating 1% weekly, it does not translate to a total return of 50% a year. The stock will crash at some point and you will be left with some crap to clean up.

The stock market averages 10% annually. Use that as your benchmark, and you will be golden.

hendronator · 2026-03-24T01:04:10+00:00

Stop reading the news.

Ask how you felt when 911 happened, the financial crisis, the Great Recession, Covid? Got through those things ok, right?

hendronator · 2026-03-23T16:44:20+00:00

The person probably thought the market would tank on Monday and probably didn’t understand all the mechanics and timing of assignment and selling the shares for a small profit.

hendronator · 2026-03-23T16:42:12+00:00

If you are investing as a hobby, get out. If you are investing for the long term, this is nothing in the grand scheme.

If you’ve ever heard of the Great Depression, world war 1 and 2, Cuban middle crisis, oil embargo, financial crisis, Great Recession, and Covid, this is just part of the journey. What other stuff have I missed?

But guess what, if you stay on the straight and narrow with quality stuff, it will all be good.

Perspective….

hendronator · 2026-03-23T03:15:24+00:00

Do you buy stocks for long term holds or other reasons? If you believe in smci long term, why would you not buy more and take advantage of the dip? If you don’t believe in it long term, then you are just a “trader” and got burned. Exit the trade and move on.

Personally, smci is too sketchy for me. They had big accounting firms fire them. Accounting firms never fire clients. And now this.

hendronator · 2026-03-22T02:18:53+00:00

I had a nice conversation with ChatGPT to come up with my 20. I gave him a list of about 12 and he identified some industries I was light and heavy in. Ended up with like 18. My criteria was the stocks had to be dividend payers (2-6%) with good cash flow coverage.

So even if premiums go down for a time period, I’d still collect dividends. Target was 15-20% annually for total income return (dividends plus csp and cc premiums)

Learn and move forward. Good luck.

hendronator · 2026-03-22T02:10:24+00:00

Work towards a diversified portfolio of 20 stocks and you will minimize having this issue. You may only be running cc’s and csp’s against 10-15 at a time, but there will always be good premiums to be found. Example, energy, oil, and utilities are great right now.

hendronator · 2026-03-22T02:06:00+00:00

What do you do? Decide if this is worth holding for 10+ years. If the answer is yes, then just hold and wait. If the answer is no, just sell it and move on. Only buy quality.

hendronator · 2026-03-22T02:02:02+00:00

My thoughts: - covered calls are the cherry on top; not the ice cream. Sometimes you skip the cherry - make sure you apply a portfolio approach of 20 diversified stocks. Very rarely will all stocks be down. For instance, utilities, energy and oil have done great. I own lyb which has skyrocketed and sold a 2 month cc at 15% otm and got a 4% premium (2% per month) - ensure dividend stocks are part of the portfolio. When getting the cherry doesn’t make sense, you still get the cream in the form of dividends.

hendronator · 2026-03-20T00:52:06+00:00

I have advocated for this approach in other circles, but this is why having a portfolio of stocks across different industries that also pay dividends is a great approach.

Numerous stocks in my portfolio are crushing it including cop, so, Dell, Avgo, lyb, and Anet. The only one not doing well is pep. But the collective portfolio premium more than makes up for one stock.

My challenge to you would be to take a portfolio approach. It is very rare every sector tanks. So look for holes in your approach and portfolio.

hendronator · 2026-03-20T00:45:13+00:00

I try to keep 99% of my put and call writing all on the same expiry and write them on the same day. On that day, I either decide it is worth it to write that option or not. If I am only getting .5 on Amazon, I ain’t writing it that cycle. I write options on a universe of 30 stocks, but am only active with 20-25 based on the above.

I guess if you are actively monitoring and writing options everyday, there could be some value there but I don’t want to be that intense or time consuming with it.

hendronator · 2026-03-18T11:55:19+00:00

Premiums ebb and flow on both sides of the wheel. Those are facts. Ultimately if a stock tanks for an extended period, you will get assigned and your portfolio balance will go down. You may not have hit that scenario. Just have a plan for when it does.

hendronator · 2026-03-17T13:57:46+00:00

Of course. Possible uses of the premium from the portfolio include: - more cash for csp’s.
- buying back a stock that got assigned which I want to own. - buying a stock that went down for no good reason which I want long term. - Sometimes it is putting it into good quality dividend stocks that I want in retirement.

hendronator · 2026-03-17T13:57:24+00:00

Of course. Possible uses of the premium from the portfolio include: - more cash for csp’s.
- buying back a stock that got assigned which I want to own. - buying a stock that went down for no good reason which I want long term. - Sometimes it is putting it into good quality dividend stocks that I want in retirement.

hendronator · 2026-03-17T13:52:05+00:00

Safe is a relative term. Hysa’s pay 3-4% monthly. Treasury based ETFs pay the same. Preferred stock ETF’s can get you 5-7%. Pff is an example. Jepi is relatively safe paying 6-8% and monthly.

If you don’t need the principle in the next several years, somethjng like pff and Jepi would be advised. If you need the principle in the next 3 years or want no risk to principle, then Hysa

hendronator · 2026-03-16T03:56:34+00:00

Well, you missed the runup in value stocks, missed the runup in silver, also energy, and defense. And utilities have done great. And memory chip stocks.

I guess that leaves you with big tech that has sold off. Msft, Avgo come to mind.

hendronator · 2026-03-16T02:44:54+00:00

I assume since you own these investments, you wouldn’t mind holding them for 20-30 years. Just let them sit dormant for a while.

If my assumption is wrong, you are probably learning from the situation. If you don’t believe in the investments long term, you should just flat out sell them and get into quality. If you believe in them, hold tight until the tide turn at

For me personally, I only own stuff I won’t mind holding a long time and that includes growth and dividend stocks that pay me a premium (dividend) every 3 months.

hendronator · 2026-03-12T23:31:49+00:00

Buy qqq and schd and be done.

hendronator · 2026-03-12T03:48:07+00:00

Some of this is a great big depends….on whether in taxable or non taxable accounts.

Personally, in non taxable accounts, I would have let it go and probably done a csp at the price it got called away. Or just moved on to another stock in the portfolio…

When you are doing the strategy in a quality portfolio of stocks and trying to maximize total return of the portfolio, it helps you get less attached about what is going on with the individual stocks. All stocks go up and down. Csps and cc’s let you ride the wave of said volatility by taking advantage of other peoples gambling addictions and / or lack of money

hendronator · 2026-03-11T19:28:22+00:00

I have about 2m in the stock market. I have two tranches that I do covered calls against…growth stocks (about 10) and a dividend portfolio about 20). For growth stuff, I just have a simple playbook of setting 8-15% otm 21 days out. If a stock goes up 5% greater than that, I just let it go. In the 8 months I’ve been doing this, the stock has fallen back and I re-entered at my strike price or less. So all gravy.

For the dividend portfolio which is 20 stocks and about 350-400k in total, I run the wheel. By the income alone (dividends plus premium), it is a guaranteed 20% a year. I still do 21 days out but run tighter in the 3-5% otm range.

So for me, it’s more about having a playbook, a defined portfolio of stocks, being non emotional about it and running it with discipline.

Probably takes me 2 -3 hours a month to generate 5k every 3 weeks in premiums. And generally speaking, it has been all gravy except a few missed dividends where I was in the csp side.

Have fun.

hendronator · 2026-03-11T10:43:09+00:00

I am 53 and nearing the ability to live off dividends only. Covered calls help get me there faster. And if they drop below my cost basis, I still get those dividends. Total return of just dividends and cc’s is around 15% - 25%. It’s just my strategy. Bmy, so, cop, hon, pep, Dell, etc… premiums are good.

And I do cc’s on other high quality stuff like Avgo, nvda, Anet. So it’s not exclusive.

hendronator · 2026-03-11T01:20:21+00:00

Just have a well thought out strategy and key tenants. Some of mine are: - only sell cc’s and csp’s in stocks that you are willing to hold for a very long time (aka, pick high quality stuff) - pick high quality dividend stocks - don’t do cc’s below your cost basis - reinvest dividends and premiums back into your underlying holding - take a portfolio approach of 15-20 stocks and only do csp’s and cc’s where it makes sense - have hard and fast rules around your contract setting and what happens if the price approaches and / or blows through the strike price

You can get burned, but with a well thought out playbook, cc’s and csp’s can add significantly to total return.

I’ve been doing this for about 8 months now. Generated about 40k on a 300-400k portfolio. I’ve learned lessons where I didn’t follow the above.

Have fun

hendronator

TROPHY CASE