What an interesting week this was. To those in America, I hope your Thanksgiving went well. Mine was a peaceful day with way too much good food. It was an interesting week in the markets with the markets being closed Thursday and a short trading session on Friday. As seen in the image above, all of the markets were down considerably for the week. On Friday, the markets seemed to fall off a cliff dropping over 2% on the short day of trading. My accounts were down as well, but not as much as the markets. It was an active week of trading for me. On Friday I tried to take advantage of the down market and “buy the dip”. Let’s check out the details for my week of investing!
Dividends
No dividends were received this week. This does not happen very often but will from time to time. Some dividends will show up in the accounts next week.
Buys/Sells
The following buys were made in the Traditional IRA this week:
- Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) – 2 shares
- U.S. Bancorp (USB) – 1.178 shares
- Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) – 1 share
- Brookfield Renewable Corp. (BEPC) – 3 shares
The following buy was made in the Roth IRA this week:
- Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN) – 0.85 shares
The following buys were made in the taxable brokerage account this week:
- Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) – 0.17376 shares
- Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) – 0.22189 shares
The following sell was made in the Traditional IRA this week:
- NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) – liquidated the entire position
The following sells were made in the taxable brokerage account this week:
- Twist Bioscience Corp. (TWST) – liquidated the entire position
- Zillow Group Inc. (Z) – liquidated the entire position
- Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc. (IOVA) – liquidated the entire position
- Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) – liquidated the entire position
- Spotify Technology (SPOT) – liquidated the entire position
- Exact Sciences Corp. (EXAS) – liquidated the entire position
- Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend ETF (DIVO) – liquidated the entire position
- Snap Inc. (SNAP) – liquidated the entire position
- Fate Therapeutics Inc. (FATE) – liquidated the entire position
- Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) – liquidated the entire position
- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (KTOS) – liquidated the entire position
- Proto Labs Inc. (PRLB) – liquidated the entire position
- Tesla Inc. (TSLA) – liquidated the entire position
Options Trading
The following options trades were made in the Traditional IRA this week:
- Verizon (VZ) – sold a cover call at a strike price of $54.00 expiring on December 23, 2021 for a premium of $12.32 after fees.
- Smith & Wesson Brands (SWBI) – bought a closing transaction on a cash secured put at a strike price of $20.00 expiring December 17, 2021 for a premium of -$49.02 including fees. The trade was held for about 28 days and produced a total profit of $53.30.
- Genius Sports Ltd. (GENI) – sold a cash secured put at a strike price of $10.00 expiring on December 17, 2021 for a premium of $110.32 after fees.
- Verizon (VZ) – bought a closing transaction on a covered call at a strike price of $54.00 expiring on December 23, 2021 for a premium of -$31.02 including fees. This trade was held for about 4 days and produced a loss of -$18.07.
- Verizon (VZ) – sold a covered call at a strike price of $54.00 expiring on January 7, 2022 for a premium of $46.32 after fees.
- Kroger Co. (KR) – bought a closing transaction on a covered call at a strike price of $44.00 expiring on November 26, 2021 for a premium of -$3.02 including fees. This trad was held for about 21 days producing a total profit of $34.30.
- Kroger Co. (KR) – sold a covered call at a strike price of $46.00 expiring on December 17, 2021 for a premium of $81.32 after fees.
- Genius Sports Ltd. (GENI) – sold a cash secured put at a strike price of $10.00 expiring on December 17, 2021 for a premium of $129.32 after fees.
- Hyliion Holdings (HYLN) – a cash secured put at a strike price of $7.50 expired in the money on November 26, 2021 resulting in 100 shares being assigned.
The total options premium received this week was $296.54.
Account Updates
The Traditional IRA finished the week at about $118,640. This is down -$1,445 from the previous week.
The Roth IRA finished the week at about $1,330. This is down -$23 from the previous week.
The 401k finished the week at about $9,786. This is down -$169 from the previous week.
The taxable brokerage account finished the week at about $347. This is down -$13 from the previous week.
The little bit of bitcoin that I have finished the week at about $26. This is down -$1 from the previous week.
The total amount invested is now at about $130,129. This is down -$1,651 from the previous week. All of the positions in my portfolio can be seen by clicking on “Portfolios” in the menu or clicking here.
Wrap Up
The total amount of dividends and options premium received was $296.54. As stated above it was an interesting week. This was one of the few weeks of the year that I did not receive any dividends. Early in the week I changed up my taxable brokerage account selling off several positions and adding VTI and QQQM. This move is designed to bring some stability to this account. The account is down for the year and has trailed the market by a significant amount. I had been contemplating selling out of my NEE position for awhile now. The proceeds from that were used to “buy the dip” on Friday. I was also very active trading options this week. One options trade that I made this week was ill advised. I should not have closed out the VZ trade. I took a small loss on that trade but I will chalk it up to a learning experience. I was trying to make moves to take advantage of the market conditions on Friday and pulled the trigger on this trade before thinking it all the way through. Even with a down week in the markets and my accounts I still feel good about the week. If I did the math correctly, the total amount I have invested dropped about 1.25% this week. While this is not good, my accounts did not drop as much as the market did so I will take that. That wraps it up for this week. Thanks for following along!
On a side note, I have added a Recommended Resources in the menu. It currently is a work in progress. It will contain blogs and YouTube channels that I enjoy as well as some sites that I use. I hope you take the time to check it out.
*Disclaimer – I am not a financial professional. The information shared here should not be considered financial advice. I am just a factory worker sharing my experience as I strive to achieve financial freedom. Before investing or making any financial decision do your own research and due diligence or consider seeking the advice of a financial and/or tax professional.
Here are some of the businesses that I use that I thought some of you might be interested in.

Lolli has a variety of stores that it is affiliated with and offers rewards for shopping at these stores. I use Lolli when I shop on Chewy and I get bitcoin as a reward. Who doesn’t want free bitcoin! If you are interested in Lolli and want to help support the blog here is my referral link: https://www.lolli.com/share/XP7gxDgqC4

I use M1 Finance for my taxable growth account. M1 Finance offers promotions for signing up. At the time of writing this post, the promotion is for $50. These promotions vary from time to time but is usually a $10 bonus. If you are interested in M1 Finance and want to support the blog here is my referral link: https://m1.finance/ktIiFeOI5zDr

Varo Bank is one of the banks that I use. From time to time the bank will run promotions. Currently, you can earn up to 3% on your savings with Varo, if you meet certain requirements. If you are interested in checking it out, here is my referral link: https://bank.varomoney.com/signup?r=William360

I use the free version on trackyourdividends.com. This is a quick an easy way for me to track my estimated annual income from dividends.
If you use the referral links listed above I could receive compensation. Please take the time to read the terms and conditions before signing up.
Even with the VZ trade it looks like you had a good week with options and just a few dollars from the $300 mark.
Yes, it was a good week of options trading for me. It is shaping up to be a really good month for options. The plan is to use options as a source of income in retirement, so the more I can learn now and develop solid strategies the better.