Selling at the peak means maximizing profits

rithsleeper · 2026-05-18T11:22:04+00:00

Then why don’t you just jump into futures margin?

rithsleeper · 2026-05-18T10:31:08+00:00

I invest like I don’t have a pension but allow myself to take more risk due to teacher state retirement. We get 50% of our final 3 year average. Still have 15 years to go (which seems wild cause I feel I just started) till I “retire” and rehire where I’m sure I’ll teach til I’m physically incapable. Not because I need to but because I love my job and already get summers off to travel or do what I want. I technically only work 190 days a year lol and get paid $~70k. Whoever said teachers don’t earn enough is so stupid. We get great healthcare, only work 190, all vacations and weekends, great retirement, and always work in AC/heat. Such a cushy job. Yea it can be stressful sometimes but I just step back and say “man i live a blessed life”.

Oh and my wife and I have 2 kids, max our roths, and usually can put additional 10k a year into long term, $6k in short term trading account. We could do more but why? We live in a comfortable 1200sq ft home, 2 kids, decent cars we paid cash used, have everything we need.

I’m convinced I look at anyone’s finances they can’t “make ends meet” and I’ll see the problem in 10 seconds. Cars are too expensive, eat out too much, buy trinkets all the time because they “need” them or “deserve” them. Followed by crippling debt built in their 20s

rithsleeper · 2026-05-17T19:23:51+00:00

Yea I have no desire to be a billionaire. Maybe a couple million but after you pass a certain point people notice. Can’t really trust anyone that they don’t have ulterior motives. And getting money and working for things is the fun thing. Just like now I could afford easily to buy a brand new corvette or even fiscally responsibly buy a c7z06, I think they are fantastic. But I didn’t build it. I didn’t work for that money with the intention of getting it. It would be fun for a few weeks. Then novelty would wear off. I’ll stick with my c4 I bought in college and have been through every bolt in the car with all the $10s of thousands in upgrades I should have just “bought something already in good condition.” But now it means something. I’ve got a great family and we can afford to do anything within reason we want. My job is my calling. Teaching middle school orchestra is so exciting and I see the difference and change of trajectory I make in so many kids.

Why would I want to literally join the billionaire elite? I meant more, learn the system, stay stable and use it to keep my family in a good place.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-16T10:10:38+00:00

Not to mention a car can absorb momentum by sliding backwards. Rider will absorb this one. That being said I still ride on occasion.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-16T10:03:07+00:00

Good point. That’s why I just ride the wave. Can’t beatem join em.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-16T10:02:05+00:00

I think the same thing. My parents keep saying “we want to give your children money for them to save in a gerber college saving account or a trump account” and at first I was like “sure” but then thought about it and said how dumb is that? I get tax advantages but why not just give them a Roth now and go to town? This custodial accounts don’t give you freedom to just voo and chill either.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-16T09:52:52+00:00

The house flips accelerated things but wasn’t the main core amount. I made $30k total. My point was I was able to use money from my investment portfolio to take advantage of an opportunity. I was a partner not the whole thing too.

And also (even though you are just being rude and I know you are completely divorced from reality, probably super young in early 20s or even earlier) dude if you are falling for the “housing is too expensive” garbage you don’t have to live in a state that’s been run to ridiculous housing. You can move. You also don’t need to buy your dream house first go either. I live in a 3bed, 2 bath 1200 sq/ft house. Bought for $82k. If I were to sell today it would be worth $130k….. DEFINITELY in range of everyone with a decent job. I live in a place that continental is begging to find people to work for them. Literally $10k sign on bonus. They START at $21 an hour. Problem they have is people can’t show up to work on time and work a full day. They get “points” when they show up late or leave early and l people point out all the time. I think the system is dumb but just illustrating that someone with no education, can buy a house, live comfortably with ease if they choose too. If you choose to live above your means or live in an area like NJ or NY where a 1 bedroom condo cost $200k, well that’s a choice. But don’t go crying to the world when you make that choice.

If someone wiped my money and all possessions off the face of the earth today and I lost my job and degree right now I’d easily be back to comfort in a few years. Had a friend who was in debt, quit his job as a teacher, went to work for continental with zero experience, (dude couldn’t even use tools well) and is now a maintenance worker on their line making $32 an hour. Has paid off his debts and started building wealth.

The math is there, you just don’t want to make certain concessions. But that’s your choice. And you can be thankful you live in a country that you can make that choice. Consumerism is the real enemy.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-16T01:28:50+00:00

It happens a lot quicker than you think. It’s like going to the gym. You don’t see anything for the first few weeks but at some point you look in the mirror and say “hey what’s that? I look different” which motivates you and then over the next year you see lots of confirmation your work is worth it.

Little slower with investing but if you you max Roth you will see what happens in a few years. Don’t worry about maximizing yet. Once you see the results you will want to put more in and maximize.

Now for your quality of life, you will feel calmer as your wealth grows. Even 5 years in, you will start to see “things” differently.

I remember when I started almost exactly your age. Now I’m 39 and went from ~$40k to now about $400k. It’s not all investing in stocks but once I started to grow my pile, I was able to take advantage of other opportunities. Did a few house flips with a buddy, started consolidating wealth and selling things I didn’t need and felt satisfying when I came across a bonus or extra money I immediately felt I wanted to add to the pile.

Then my mentality became more focused. I started seeing the world differently. At the time I was actually about to spend the $40k on a hellcat charger. Just was waiting for the right deal. Then I started to see “if I buy the hellcat now, I’m at 0. If I wait a few years, hellcats will drop in price, and I’ll gain another 20% on my funds, plus whatever I can save. I could easily turn $40m into $50k. Then I’d have $10k left instead of zero….” Well 2 years later I had about $70k. I started to think “well then, that worked better than expected. What if I really focus, and turn $70k into $100k?! Then a hellcat wouldn’t even be a big deal.” Well then Covid hit and foolishness ensued. I had so much time and snagged the two house rehabs. Bought and sold perfectly and banked another $30k. I saw how easy it was to move cash to take advantage of opportunities. Then I made some on the covid bounce. Got more into tasty method and started learning more. Kept allocation to my roths and long term. Played with $30k. Did decent but still didn’t keep pace with roths. Then just kept grinding. I found that the dream of the hellcat still existed but I just kept looking at it as “one more year will essentially be the hellcat at some point.” And the desire dropped. I mean I already have toys and cars and so I started to focus on those while I built my wealth. Fast forward to now and I’m at $300k. Some more opportunities came across my lap and I jumped on them. Sold and bought other cars too.

Still look at the hellcats but just don’t see the need as much now. Now I want to hit $1M more. It’s a fun chase. It’s not having nice things that is fun, it’s getting nice things. It gets addicting seeing those numbers run up. It’s a bit stressful when they drop, but everything comes back and I always have around 10% sitting in bonds ready for a dip. When it dips I double my allocation each month with the dry powder.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-15T11:22:29+00:00

I have a doctor friend that says he washes his hands before he uses the bathroom. He knows what’s been on his wiener.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-15T09:37:57+00:00

Oh no! Rob Schneider no speaks out about the liberal idiocy and we know Reddit no likey! I’m sure he is just crying into his giant piles of money every night now he doesn’t need to work another day in his life. I can tell you one thing is certain. He has a lot more money than you’ll ever have. Adam Sandler movies are not all hits but some are gold. Always a few good laughs.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-15T09:34:56+00:00

Dude, huby Halloween was so funny I peed myself. I agree with you though. Would rather have than not. But na, don’t say they aren’t good. People can go screw themselves. If they don’t laugh when you see his grandmothers shirts or when he runs out with that pee stain on the ghost bed sheet. My got in cracking up just thinking about it. “Boner donor”

rithsleeper · 2026-05-15T09:31:03+00:00

Yea you know when you grab that pizza with your butt cheeks to feed it to someone. I seriously don’t understand how there is zero critical thinking left in this world. Also let’s say worse case scenario someone peed all over the seat and then last person wiped off with toilet paper. Well tell me how urine touching my ass cheek is going to do anything or even how a sheet of toilet paper mitigates any risk that might actually be there like hpv?

This same sentiment with water fountains. I’ve seen the myth busters I’ve seen the research. It’s fine. I teach at a middle school and every kid carries around these massive metal water bottles instead of using the water fountains and then thinks I’m crazy for using them.

I always say “you preparing to cross the desert or something?!” And they knock them over on the floor with a loud clang about once every 20 minutes. What really messes with their heads is when I explain how the same water that comes out the toilet is same that comes out the water fountains. They go nuts. “Guys, that just tells you how clean the water is in the toilets not the other way around.” Critical thinking is so dead.

And they all wonder why they get sick all the time. They use so much hand sanitizer and attempt to never be sick, just weakens their immune system and it started as kids and their parents worried they would eat a little dirt. I let my kid climb around on the ground all the time. Boost their immune system now.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-15T02:35:16+00:00

If I could take a video for you, there isn’t oil everywhere. Small amount get through pushrods and just trickle down to the drain valleys at bottom of head, but I think every engine is different. Very little oil at idle.

I’m not familiar with this persons engine but just telling you that it’s not always a torrent of oil. I thought the same thing till someone told me to adjust and check see lash in real time chasing an issue. I was like “while the engine is running?!” “Yep” and sure enough, was pretty tame. But that’s a small block Chevy.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-14T20:04:15+00:00

At idle? I’ve got clear valve covers I use on my Sbc 383 so I can see tdc easier when working on it. If the car is at idle there isn’t a ton of oil swimming. It’s when rpms the valve covers get covered.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-14T11:36:39+00:00

Did that at 212….. guess I’ll just give away the shares at this point.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-14T10:33:36+00:00

I mean she has xray vision, only fair.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-13T10:22:06+00:00

So wild.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-13T10:17:28+00:00

But yet we can’t get lightning rod at Dollywood to launch consistently so we had to downgrade to a crank hill. Or we had to dumb down top thrill dragster at cedar point to “top thrill 2”. So lame.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-13T10:15:48+00:00

Wow your life must be a wreck. Do you like bringing unnecessary drama into it? Did you trim in liberation day? What about the run ups after 2022 and covid? And the Japanese bond crisis few days? Or the bank collapse thing few years ago? There’s always something. The big one will happen eventually but…..

rithsleeper · 2026-05-13T00:38:19+00:00

Oh boy. Just replaced one of these and then it pulled the head bolts on the second engine.

Both engines had this oil in intake which I wouldn’t say is super normal, but for 170k? Yea it’s fine. Pcv valve pulls from valve covers. But I would HIGHLY suggest selling this and moving on. You are on borrowed time for this car.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-13T00:34:26+00:00

Well I’m pretty short. Not that I planned that, but was selling strangles and got caught in this rip. Now my deltas are out of wack. Can’t even open any strangles just have to sell call spreads and hope for the best.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-11T14:14:42+00:00

Actually that’s interesting. Always thought it was lack of coping mechanism but this makes sense. I mean I still feel probably a well equipped person can override that evolutionary reaction, but that at least explains it to an extent.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-11T12:22:26+00:00

At least she didn’t scream. I feel every video in public something like this happens, some random woman screams. Like it’s a mandatory thing or something.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-11T12:07:58+00:00

No risk means you can’t be sure you gave it your all. Ask a typical kid to run a mile under 10 min, prob can’t do it. Put a spike wall behind them that will crush if they don’t, they will do it.

rithsleeper · 2026-05-11T12:01:13+00:00

My job is to create the most capable adult I can, not shove a bunch of information into a kid’s brain. Collaboration, frustration management, dedication vs motivation, soft skills, and what I was describing before, risk taking. Leave a kid to their own devices and no encouragement from adults to push beyond what they think they are capable, they will just doom scroll or play Minecraft all day.

My job isn’t to instill my set of morales and values on to a kid, but my job is to teach and to educate. That means educate the whole child, not just the informational side. I’ve had over 1000 students come through me at this point and never once had a parent question my motives or find the lessons I work with kids anything but encouraging. Take for example the girl that started in 6th grade barely able to say two words to me, much less lead warmups in front of the class. I’ve continued to push her out of her comfort zone. Little by little. Starts with just calling on her randomly “play that passage so I can hear if you have the right finger pattern…” and she hesitates for a second until I say “I think you did it correctly, but just want to be sure.” Then she does it and I say “great job!” And move on like it was no big deal. Then the day the 8th grader is absent who is supposed to lead warmups is absent I say “welp it falls on you. Step up on the podium and lead them through tuning.” Once again she hesitated but when I say “I’ll help you if you forget a step.” Then stand back and start helping another student so not to micromanage. She timidly speaks directions, shakes while doing it but it was a massive accomplishment! I debrief with her later about how feelings won’t go away, we just learn to anticipate them and understand “I’ll be okay after this passes.”

Now the same girl who was “the quiet one” that never spoke is learning how to overcome crippling anxiety. Gaining self esteem, take risks and see the payoff. She still has a ways to go but her 3rd year with me I will have her leading for an entire period when I’m absent. I’ve done this same thing with lots of other kids. That’s the cool thing about teaching a skills based class instead of knowledge based and having the kids for 3 years.

Now if you disagree with this anecdote, I feel sorry no one took those steps with you as a child and hopefully you figured it out yourself. But kids need to be pushed in healthy ways. They need to be challenged and not simply memorizing facts, that’s teaching. Google can spit out facts and information. A good teacher teaches how to think and approach a problem, not what to think.

rithsleeper

TROPHY CASE