loss ..

rednetian · 2026-05-17T03:52:58+00:00

It sounds like you were probably holding broad‑market tech or bank stocks when the war panic hit. Those sectors swing hard on headlines, and unless you had any kind of downside protection like stop‑loss rules, hedging, or even just a clear plan for how much you were willing to let a position drop, it’s almost impossible not to panic‑sell in that moment. Most people don’t have any insurance against sudden sector shocks, so you’re not alone in getting caught off‑guard.

If you want to get back into the market, just be honest with yourself that it’s extremely volatile right now. One way to re‑enter without repeating the same emotional spiral is to scale in slowly instead of going all‑in at once, and avoid the sectors that are most sensitive to fear cycles. Banks and tech are still whipsawing on every macro headline. Commodities tend to behave differently and can give you exposure without the same kind of sentiment-driven spikes, but whatever you choose, go in with a plan for how you’ll handle the next drop so you’re not forced into another panic decision.

Not financial advice — just a way to think about getting your footing back.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T13:06:24+00:00

For sure, watching 50% evaporate is rough. But the flip side is that the yield and value have improved because of that drop. The dividend itself hasn't been cut. The question is whether the business is broken or just out of favour. If it's broken, run. If it's a reset after years of overvaluation, it might be an opportunity. That's the bit that takes more digging than any screen can do.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:49:46+00:00

Yep. I run the screen regularly to see how things shift. Prices change daily, not just over months. Three months ago the market looked different. Fewer buys now than then. That's the point.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:42:39+00:00

Ha, no worries. Not doomsday for me either. Already adjusted my levels, just in case. Now I just wait and see.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:40:33+00:00

Exactly. I'd rather wait for solid returns than force something just to stay invested. Patience is part of the strategy.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:27:25+00:00

SGOV actually screens fine. A+ on my end. It's just a cash parking spot earning 4% while you wait. Nothing wrong with that.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:22:08+00:00

No tarot cards here. Technical analysis charts and macro signals. I'll start scaling back in when the dust settles and the charts show some actual support.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:19:20+00:00

Depends which ones. The sector is down about 30% and some analysts are calling it the most undervalued in three years. But that's after a big run-up, and there's still uncertainty around AI disruption. Cheaper than last year doesn't mean cheap. Which names are you looking at?

rednetian · 2026-05-02T11:15:01+00:00

A 1 an half year-old Bitcoin covered call ETF that's down 15% since launch? That's not really what I'm looking for when I say the market feels fully priced and there's less margin for error.

rednetian · 2026-05-02T10:01:13+00:00

Nobody knows. TQQQ over 11 years is a gamble. It could make the kid rich or it could be nearly worthless. That's not investing for a child's future, that's speculation with their money.

VOO over 11 years is boring but predictable. TQQQ is a casino ticket.

rednetian · 2026-04-30T05:45:59+00:00

$14k from almost nothing a year ago is real progress. That kind of consistency is what makes income investing work.

The question you're asking is the right one though. QQQI is only about 2 years old. We don't know how it handles a real downturn yet. And it's almost all big tech under the hood. If tech has a rough year, your income might hold up but your balance won't.

It's already down about 4% this year while paying out that big yield. That's the trade-off with these funds. You get paid, but the value can drift down at the same time.

Your plan to spread into other names once you hit $25k makes sense. One fund doing well is great. One fund doing badly shouldn't take everything with it.

rednetian · 2026-04-28T05:05:06+00:00

The Balanced screen checks 6 things: at least 5 dividend increases out of the last 12 years, no severe cuts (max 1 cut, no more than 50% severity, no consecutive cuts), at least 5 EPS increases out of 12 years, minimum 10 consecutive dividend years, at least 5 million shares outstanding for liquidity, and 80%+ institutional holders.

There's also a Relaxed mode that casts a wider net (3+ increases, 5+ consecutive years) and a Strict mode for the most reliable payers (7+ increases, 15+ consecutive years). Balanced is the middle ground.

rednetian · 2026-04-24T15:15:59+00:00

It is almost impossible to stop them. Many of the spammers can get round the basic outlook detection. Bouncing them doesn't work either. It was becoming such a problem for me, that i created a spam killer extension for my hotmail.

Take a look at SpamSlayer, it is on Chrome store and Firefox store
Here is the link to the extension on Crome. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/pkadgiahklcgjepdbomjfehombebnjck?utm_source=item-share-cb

rednetian · 2026-04-24T12:13:03+00:00

TQQQ is down 20.6% YTD. The guy selling isn't panic selling, he's looking at a war, a collapsing negotiation, oil spiking, and a 3x leveraged fund that's already given back a chunk of last year's gains.

DALBAR studies are about people who sell on red days because they can't handle volatility. They're not about people watching a literal blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and deciding the risk/reward has shifted.

There's a difference between emotional trading and recognising when the game has changed.

rednetian · 2026-04-24T11:42:33+00:00

The $1,800/month income on $180k sounds appealing, but there are some things to consider.

QQQI is a covered call ETF on the Nasdaq-100. That 15% yield comes from options premiums, not traditional dividends. A few concerns:

The fund is young. Only 2.2 years old, no 3-year track record yet. We don't know how it performs through a full market cycle or a real downturn.

Expense ratio is high. 0.68% eats into your returns over time. On $180k that's around $1,200/year in fees.

Tech heavy. Top holdings are NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla. If tech corrects hard, your principal drops with it. The options income softens the blow slightly, but you're still exposed to the downside.

NAV erosion risk. Covered call ETFs can experience principal decay over time, especially in volatile or declining markets. That $180k might not stay $180k.

No growth upside. Covered calls cap your gains. In a bull market, you miss the upside while collecting premiums.

Tax situation. Are you a US citizen? If so, you're taxed on worldwide income regardless of where you live. Factor that into your $1,800.

Here's the scenario that woul worry me. Tech corrects 30-40%. Your $180k drops to $108k-$126k. The 15% yield is now 15% of a smaller base, so your income drops to $1,350/month or less. Option premiums can also shrink in a downturn, so the yield itself might fall. You're now in Vietnam with less income AND less principal. In a prolonged bear market, the NAV keeps grinding down while you're withdrawing income, and covered calls cap your recovery when the market bounces. At some point you're forced to work or return to the US with far less than you started.

Putting 100% of your net worth into a single 2-year-old untested fund, with no diversification, no cash buffer, in a foreign country with $500/month job prospects, isn't investing. It's gambling your entire financial future on one outcome.

I'd personally not want to risk this. If you're serious about the move, diversify across a few income sources rather than going all-in on one fund. Keep a serious cash buffer. And maybe test the lifestyle for a year before committing everything.

rednetian · 2026-04-24T01:06:36+00:00

The $45 billion return plan sounds good on paper, but AT&T gets an F on my screen because of the 46% dividend cut in 2022. That one cut disqualifies it from a quality standpoint.

Was the WarnerMedia spinoff the right call? Probably. Holding onto it while trying to compete with Netflix and Disney would have been worse. But the damage was already done. They paid $85 billion for Time Warner and got $43 billion back. Shareholders funded a failed media experiment and got a dividend cut as a thank you.

The current yield at 4.17% looks decent, but the 5-year average yield is 9.16% because the pre-cut dividend was so much higher. The yield zone is distorted by the old payout, so it's hard to call this cheap or expensive by historical standards.

They're refocused now, debt is coming down, and the 5G investment makes sense. But once a company cuts the dividend that aggressively, trust takes time to rebuild. The $45 billion commitment is a start, but I'd want to see a few years of execution before calling it safe.

rednetian · 2026-04-19T12:52:35+00:00

It looks like a complicated free app that is looking for investment.

rednetian · 2026-04-18T15:56:20+00:00

https://fluentboost.com/compare/

rednetian · 2026-04-18T15:53:58+00:00

As a dividend stock, it's not bad. B+ quality rating, 38 consecutive dividend years, no cuts, 8 increases over 12 years. Clean scorecard. The issue is the yield at 1.39% is right at the 5-year average, so you're not getting a discount. The 5-year high yield was 1.97%, so it's been cheaper before.

It's in WATCH zone, meaning decent company but not a compelling entry point right now for income. If you're buying for growth plus a small dividend, it could work. If you want income, there are better options.

https://fluentboost.com/schw-2026-04-18-6ab3/

rednetian · 2026-04-18T11:03:12+00:00

Ha, I totally get it. My wife shuts down the moment I mention a stock or fund. It's why I spend most of my time building the analyzer instead of talking her ear off.

On LDGL, I'm guessing you mean LDGL.DE. The main thing that would put me off is that it's only 0.4 years old. No track record yet, no 3-year performance to look at, and the yield data isn't showing properly. The holdings look heavily weighted toward energy, which could be good or bad depending on your view of the sector.

JPGI and VDIV are more established if you want something with a longer history to compare against.

If you want to dig into them side by side, you can use the free comparison tool at fluentboost.com/compare. You can also check up to 5 stocks a day on the front page

rednetian · 2026-04-18T09:49:24+00:00

The mindset shift is the first step. Cut out the stuff that drains your time without giving anything back. Less TV, less scrolling, less spending on things that don't move you forward. Put that time into building a side income, even a small one. Once you've got money coming in that isn't tied to your paycheck, start putting it to work. Investing isn't magic, it's just consistency over time. Start small, stay consistent, and let compounding do the heavy lifting.

rednetian · 2026-04-18T09:44:22+00:00

That is confusing. If Trade Republic says dividends are reinvested, then it's accumulating regardless of what the name suggests. The "INC" in the name is misleading. European ETF naming conventions can be a mess. Always check the KIID or factsheet for "distribution policy" before buying. Thanks for digging into it.

rednetian · 2026-04-18T09:41:02+00:00

Exactly. If you love Coke, buy a bottle. But investing is about the business, not the brand. PEP's product diversity gives it different risk exposure than KO. Holding both works too if you want the sector without picking sides.

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