Red Lion

I actually increased my exposure to APO by selling more puts than I sold shares just to be clear. I just want to take advantage of the weekly options premiums to roll these in my tax deferred account. Still very much bullish long term on APO it’s my largest position. But with market turmoil I can see short term downside and increased volatility (for all the alts) which lets me earn 75% IRR in barely otm options. Also interested in using this strategy with KKR.

Sold APO/GOOG/AMZN/CPT/MAA in my 401k. I'm still bullish on all of these, but I'm switching this account over to a strategy of selling weekly cash secured put options since it's a tax deferred account. CPT/MAA were relatively small positions. I used the proceeds from these sales to write April 4 put options on GOOG/AMZN and March 28 options on APO. All barely OTM.

@LC I feel like you could also buy a call option on day 50, wait until day 81 to sell under this scenario.

Would the strike price make a difference in determining whether it was a like security? I feel like I read something about this years ago, but don't remember the conclusion.

Interesting approach. I feel like this would make a lot of sense inside tax deferred accounts especially if one was close to retirement age. I've been thinking of doing the inverse to this in my retirement accounts which would be to sell off stock holdings and then write weekly OTM put options on some of my larger underlying holdings (that have weekly options) and possibly using indexes for the remainder or just holding onto my smaller cap/foreign investments.

Too true.

I’ve actually gone the opposite direction with a lot of capital moved towards FFH/JOE/APO/GOOGL/AMZN/CP mostly after the sell off this year.

On the VAT subject, it seems like a really decent approach to even out the US tax system as part of a tax bill, it's a shame we are going down this tariff path.

Small add to CP with 401k contribution.

If mass deportations ever end up materializing I think that could make an even bigger impact. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/sites/default/files/research/council_empowering_texas_-_immigrants_contributions_to_the_construction_industry_2024.pdf I don't know if this source is to be believed, but it's saying about 25% of the construction work force are illegal immigrants.

GOOG

Cutting the electricity would be a great way to get more interstate pipelines approved in the USA. Or more lpg facilities. The USA is easily energy independent but has a lack of infrastructure in places that have relied on Canadian imports. I don’t know who else Canada is going to sell to, but it seems like data centers north of the border could certainly be a good use for cheap energy. We only need so much hydroponic cannabis as a society.

Correct. I mean what states do traditionally support the Trump agenda? Tariff war GOP is a new development in my lifetime, in fact the closest I've ever heard was from pro Union Clinton era democrats, and it wasn't that close. Although most of these big tech companies have been pushing hard towards Florida/Texas/Tennessee/Nevada etc. so I don't really know how the tech bro political groupthink runs.

I'm very opposed to the whole trade war with Canada in particular, so please don't take this the wrong way. But I think you're significantly overplaying the role here. Biggest client? Hell no. Biggest purchaser of goods, sure. The USA is an exporter of services and that's not only where we generate huge numbers but massive profit margins. I think the biggest client metaphor totally misses the point on the USA's actual economic model since it misses the lion's share of the margin. I'm doubtful that Canada is going to be able to buy high end tech services from Europe. I'm sure our farmer's feel the elbow to the face, but let's face it, they don't really impact the economy in a huge way.

I've been wanting to add Google as well. I bought a bunch of GOOGL and LEAP options back in the $80-$100 range a couple years back (same time FB was in on the ropes) and been thinking it looks like a good relative value here. Since I'm doing this inside a retirement account with limited funds I've been trying to decide whether to lighten up on some CPT/MAA.

New position in AMZN. Talk about being late to the party.

Thank you!

My only loss would be JOE, I can't deduct the loss since it's in a retirement account, so I'm hoping there wouldn't be any wash sale, I checked investopedia and they seem to indicate like @Spekulatius that the only wash sale issue would be selling a loser in a taxable account and buying back in an IRA, at which point you can't deduct the losses from the loss. I suspect this may have happened in my prior year's mishap.

Thank you. I didn't think there was a wash sale rule for retirement accounts, but felt like I had got hit with one in a previous year where I had retirement/taxable accounts at the same brokerage. I can't seem to find this transaction though, and I might just have a misapprehension about the prior year wash sale. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something, because I'm planning to transfer some long term holdings to taxable, and then use the freed up funds to sell cash secured weekly puts/calls (if I get assigned) inside the retirement account, which has been an effective strategy for me before, but I want to avoid short term capital gains on the options activity and I need cash to secure these puts.

I'm the worst at keeping up with wash sales rules. I have several stocks in my retirement accounts sitting on gains. I'd like to sell them and buyback the shares in a taxable account. Is this some sort of wash sale even though the gains would be realized in a tax deferred account? Would I still be able to use the higher cost basis from purchase in the taxable account? I also have a larger position (JOE) where I'm sitting at a loss. Would this be a wash sale? Would my new cost basis still be the lower cost basis in the taxable account?

Bought back some OWL, still not fully topped off on this one.

APO and CP

I wish we had debates like this on national television in the US.

Agreed on the dip from politics. I think maybe he needs to smoke another joint, and go create a functional Optimus prime robot. Thanks for bringing this up, I'm not a MAGA supporter, and I even reluctantly voted for Biden in 2020 and came to regret my decision. But literally this is the lie that Biden based his entire campaign on. The reason he "decided to run" and I still hear people today talk about how Trump called the Nazi's "fine people". Completely agree with you on this point. He always says the most absurd things, and some people can't seem to get over it. I think this is his rhetorical style, and I certainly don't take it seriously anymore. I think he did OK his first time in office on MANY issues, the whole January 6 debacle and undermining the election results were the rock bottom. By the end of the Biden administration I was definitely seeing Trump as the lesser of two evils. I'm still giving him the benefit of the doubt. Fair point.

Well it seems like everything is now spun by the "LEFT" and the "RIGHT". I don't even know how everyone finds themselves on the same page on every political issue. For example, the typical progressive of 2025 (following my progressive social media friends) apparently believes that Elon Musk was dropped on his head one too many times, but nevertheless because of his dad's emeralds and slave labor, and stealing IP from poor inventor's he has seen wild success. These same progressives were driving Tesla's mocking conspiracy theorists 2-3 years ago. So it doesn't need to be spun. But it will, one way or the other. Trump could bring world peace, and lasting economic success, and he would still be the next Adolph Hitler to 35% of the country. Same with Kamala or Joe Biden with another 35%.