Retirement Raise

Retired investor. My portfolio is my paycheck. Dividends only give half the story — I write the other half: options income. Real positions, weekly. Not advice.

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

Last week the market took 600 shares out of my accounts in one morning.

Sounds like a disaster. It was the plan working.
I knew it was coming. I'd already been paid. I'd do it again tomorrow.

Why getting "called away" is a paycheck, not a punishment: 🧵👇

https://t.co/su3MwiLWe1

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

Financial freedom means never working through lunch — unless you're trying to lose weight, then never mind!

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

Three Options Trading Principles I Live By:

1. Keep it small — 1-4 lots vs 10 or more.

2. Win consistently — settle on 2 to 3 winning risk-appropriate strategies and get good at them.

3. Hedge like crazy — set up one or more risk mechanisms.

Happy Trading!!!

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

SOXL is the live wire I keep choosing to touch.

I don’t “own” it. I “wheel” it. The same ridiculous volatility that makes a 3x semiconductor fund a bad long-term houseguest is what makes the options premium so tempting.

But lately, the swings have gone from “spicy” to “stand back.” Double-digit down days are no longer theoretical, and assignment risk is getting harder to ignore.

So, I’m scaling down: smaller size, more room, same discipline. Less pretending I’m smarter than leverage.

If you sell premium on SOXL, where are you now: still wheeling it, sizing down, or stepping away?

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

I sold a lot of my YieldMax funds a while back.

Most of them earned their reputation: big yield, but a lot of NAV bleed. The income looked good at first, but the total return told a different story.

So, I surprised myself when I bought GOOY again — and then added more.

Honestly, I’m not buying because I think the erosion problem is suddenly gone. Since launch, GOOY has badly trailed GOOGL. That’s the built-in cost of the income first strategy.

But lately, the NAV has looked more stable, and the distribution keeps coming. That caught my attention.

So, this isn’t a blind yield chase. It’s a position I’m watching closely.

And the question is simple: does the NAV keep holding up, or does the old pattern come back?

I’ll share what happens either way.

That’s the whole point of watching it in public.

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

We bought groceries on a credit card for years.
Last year I retired early.

The bridge wasn't a raise or a windfall.

It was 1% pulled out before the paycheck ever hit checking — then escalated every raise.

You can't spend what you never see. The goal was never a bigger pile. It was options.

New free post 👇

https://t.co/ohP0SLxxiU

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

I retired last year.

This year my portfolio has paid me $350,625 in cash — more than last year — and I haven't sold a single share to do it.

My whole investing philosophy comes down to one rule most income investors get backwards. 🧵👇

https://t.co/jA9iECON2t

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

~$15,600 net income last week across four accounts.

But the number wasn't the story. I took three positions to zero — including two that were making money — and built a defensive sleeve with the cash.

Why sell winners? Full report 👇

https://t.co/Oe7NRrxCia

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

"What happens to your portfolio in a 30% crash?"

I stress-tested mine. Result: ~26% drawdown and a hard truth — 90% of my "income portfolio" was equity beta in a costume.

So I bought the asset class income investors hate most.

The full reasoning, free 👇

https://t.co/XOrUfRzlbV

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

I retired twice. The first one failed.

October 2021: quit with a healthy IRA and a 4% withdrawal plan. The market fell, I sold shares into the decline, and I watched sequence-of-returns risk eat my principal in real time. Back to work in January.

That failure changed everything. I stopped asking "how much can I safely sell?" and started asking "how much does the portfolio pay me?"

Over the next three years I rebuilt: from index funds to dividend growth, from dividend growth to income funds — CEFs, covered-call ETFs, REITs — plus an options overlay I refined trade by trade. Made mistakes along the way (YieldMax NAV erosion taught me an expensive lesson) and kept what worked.

Mid-2025 I retired again. This time the income exceeds my old paycheck, it arrives weekly, and I've never sold a share to fund it.

Just published the full journey — the broke years, the Boglehead decades, both retirements, and every wrong turn between. It's free:

https://t.co/ltzoaENYjl

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

New 6/22/2026 income report: ~$8,300 net across four accounts.

Not a five-figure week. This one was plumbing:

• Exited one CEF entirely
• Redeployed into 5 funds
• 1,700 shares put to me — covered-call inventory now

Details for paid subs 👇
https://t.co/ayG245VKqb

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

Week of 6/15/2026 income report:

• 58 separate dividend payments
• Wheel turned — 5 ETFs put to me, 2 called away
• SPX ladder: 3 rungs closed, 6 fresh ones laid

Five figures total. Dividends weren't the biggest line.

Full numbers for paid subs 👇
https://t.co/OVBeWEI8py

[Retirement Raise @RetirementRaise]

I retired in 2025 and gave myself a raise.

My portfolio pays me every week — more than my old paycheck — and I've never sold a share to fund it.

No credentials. No stock tips. Just a real portfolio and the reasoning behind it.

First post is live 👇
https://t.co/4nYQC8p4FM