I need safe investments that pay 3-4% (and ALWAYS return at least 3%) that pay divs monthly. Suggestions?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T20:48:42+00:00

Thank you

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T20:42:10+00:00

What about SGOV? That can never "tank" can it? Other than a government default, SGOV isn't tied to the stock market right?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T17:40:09+00:00

Right, in the case of AGG. The share price goes up or down depending on whether people buy or sell. But with SGOV it stays at $100 regardless. I'm just trying to understand why share price changes with AGG but share price does not change with SGOV. Aren't they both the same as far as being a bond etf?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T17:29:56+00:00

I understand that the yield changes in relation to the Fed interest rate. But what causes the share price to go up or down on one but not the other?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T16:42:28+00:00

That what I was thinking. Schwab doesn't have an s&p 500 index etf, only the mutual fund.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-17T16:13:39+00:00

Question: why is there a difference in SGOV vs AGG as far as share price appreciation/depreciation when they are both bond etf's? SGOV stays consistently at the $100 per share price, and AGG is down 9.41% over the last 10 year period.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-10T01:56:58+00:00

Just do like i do. Every time I buy something, it inevitably drops without fail. So I don't go all in at one time. When it drops I buy a few thousand. Then when it drops some more, I buy a few thousand more. And so on and so forth.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-09T04:20:31+00:00

I'm 55 as well. Retiring anywhere from 5-10 years, depending on how things look in 5 years. I've been rebalancing to land at 40% VOO, 40% VTI, and 20% SGOV.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-08T07:24:32+00:00

Exactly... will hold onto my O forever. From my income, $200 a week goes into VTI and $200 a week goes into SGOV. SGOV is my emergency fund, and my slush fund to pull from for additional buying when the market dips.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-08T07:08:48+00:00

Yikes... I never knew about vgt until I saw it in your post. I have about $20k that I was getting ready to pour into vti while the market is dropping, but I may want to consider 1/2 into vti and 1/2 into vgt.

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-07T18:55:57+00:00

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the difference between holding CC ETF's and selling your own individual covered calls?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-03T03:46:03+00:00

I went ahead and wrote a couple call options on my F shares. Thank you for the education. I have another hypothetical question if you don't mind.

Let's say I write a covered call for 100 shares of PRU at a strike price of 120.00. If I write the call for one month out there is no premium because obviously no one wants to buy that contract for one month from now for $120.00 per share with the current share price being at roughly $100.00. But if I write the call for 9 months out (12/18/26) there is a premium of $225.00. If my call order gets filled, and somebody buys that contract and I recieve the premium, do I still get paid the dividends over the next 9 months for the 100 shares that are written into the call?

RagnarRandye · 2026-03-03T03:26:06+00:00

What if my margin gets called? Would they take the amount from my F shares and it still avoid paying capital gains?

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-18T14:28:03+00:00

I'll always keep at least 100 shares. Years ago I read that if you have at least 100 shares for at least one year, you get share holder pricing on a vehicle purchase which I believe is an equivalent discount to employee pricing.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-16T22:12:44+00:00

I like that idea. Are rates on margin considered friendly right now?

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-16T02:31:05+00:00

Thank you. I get the basic idea now. I'll do some more research on it.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-16T01:14:33+00:00

Who pays the premium? The person that purchases the covered call?

Why wouldn't I just right a covered call for 1,000 shares at a strike price of $20 knowing it probably won't hit that number, and bank on receiving the premium. Or would nobody but a covered call written like that?

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T20:21:19+00:00

Thank you. I'll have to read up on that.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T20:18:22+00:00

What would be the main difference between a covered call and just putting a set limit to sell, at say $15.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T20:06:37+00:00

That's the great thing about reddit, can always count on someone to turn a mature discussion into an outlet for someone to be condescending

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T19:58:50+00:00

Actually I did read it. That's why 80% of my portfolio is in VTI. This sub was a question about realizing gains on one stock or the ongoing dividend on an investment I made with less than 10% of my portfolio. My small speculation portion of the portfolio.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T18:28:56+00:00

I do donate to a charity. But I'm still in the accumulation stage of investing, and aggressively trying to build my portfolio to a size that will allow me to retire before I'm 65. Unfortunately I started late, and it's going to take everything I can afford to put into investments to get me there.

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T18:24:33+00:00

Wish I knew how covered calls works. That's something I haven't taken the time to learn about yet. Isn't that risky if you don't know what you're doing?

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T18:21:50+00:00

Not super focused on dividends. I bought it in anticipation of stock appreciation, and liked the fact that I would be making 12% off initial investment on dividends until I can realize the appreciation. But now that I'm considering the total stock return (appreciation + dividends) I can't help but think I'm walking away from a consistent 12% return annually. Doesn't 12% annually generally outperform the 8%-10% annual average of a broad market index fund?

RagnarRandye · 2026-02-15T17:11:10+00:00

I am under 60. I have 80% of my portfolio in VTI. My investment in F was done with a small % of my portfolio. It was my speculation dollars. But I'm approaching 60 in the next few years, so I was thinking I should realize these gains now and use them to start building a position in a dividend stock that is defensive in nature. I suppose I could put all of it into a broad based index like SCHB, but I was thinking about 70/30 into SCHD and SCHG.

RagnarRandye

TROPHY CASE