What a week to be an investor. The S&P 500 closed Friday at **7,126** — a fresh all-time high — and the Nasdaq just logged its **13th consecutive winning session**, its longest winning streak since 1992. The Dow also flirted with 50,000. This rally has been one for the record books. And the catalyst? Peace optimism. President Trump said the Iran war "should be ending pretty soon," with Iran reportedly willing to make key concessions it wasn't open to just two months ago. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah added fuel to the fire. For those of us who held the line, or better yet, **bought the dip**, this week felt like a payoff. **📊 My portfolio is up 8% YTD.** And honestly? It's not because I did anything clever. It's because I stuck to the plan: ✅ Bought the dip when the market got ugly during the early war panic ✅ Used covered call income to keep cash flowing and redeploy during volatility ✅ Kept investing for the future with growth positions riding the recovery This is exactly why I talk about the 3-Bucket Framework so much. When markets sold off, my income buckets kept generating cash. That cash went back to work buying more shares at lower prices. And now the growth bucket is doing what growth does. You don't need to predict the market. You need a **system that works in any environment.** What's interesting is that even with this historic rally off the March lows, investor sentiment is still broadly negative. The AAII survey has shown more bears than bulls for **9 straight weeks.** That's actually a good sign for further upside. The wall of worry is still very much intact. The people who panicked and sold near the lows are now chasing this rally. The people who stayed invested, or leaned in, are sitting on gains. Stay the course. Keep your income working. Keep investing. How is everyone's portfolio tracking this week? Are you seeing similar gains, or still working your way back? Drop it in the comments 👇

This one flew under my radar for a while, but it's worth talking about. OVL (Overlay Shares Large Cap Equity ETF) is a covered call ETF with a twist. Instead of holding individual stocks or using a synthetic strategy, it actually holds VOO, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, as its core position. Then it sells short-dated puts on 75–100% of the portfolio to generate income on top of that. The result? A 10.49% yield with a 0.79% expense ratio, and here's the wild part, since inception in 2019, it has actually outperformed the S&P 500 in total return. Most covered call ETFs sacrifice upside for income. OVL is trying to give you both. The distributions are also mostly return of capital, which means tax-advantaged income for many investors. That's a big deal. I'm still doing my homework on this one, but it's caught my attention, and I wanted to bring it to the community because this is exactly the kind of fund worth discussing together. Drop a comment below 👇 Have you come across OVL before? Is a 10% yield on top of a VOO core something that interests you?

Retired last year (65) and my wife (58) is retiring in one month. We're in the process of selling our home and will rent in the next 2-3 years as we wait for our youngest to finish college. Attached is a test portfolio investing some of the cash from the sale of our home. Portfolio Lab in Snowball Analytics shows $500,000 invested in this portfolio will earn $6000+ in monthly income. I understand this is a higher risk covered call etf portfolio strategy, purpose is pure income as we have much more diversified assets invested in other portfolios. Dividends will not be reinvested as we want the income to offset rent and expenses but also thinking of reinvesting some of the dividends as ETFs fall 1-2% below initial investment. Looking for feedback/suggestions.

This is the first stop for every new member. Drop a comment below and tell us a little about yourself. Don't overthink it — just answer these four questions: 1. Where are you based? (You don't need to be specific — country or region is fine) 2. Where are you at with investing right now? Just getting started, building your portfolio, already generating income, or somewhere in between? 3. What ETFs are you holding or watching? SPYI, QQQI, SCHD, QQQ, VTI, something else? No judgment — we all start somewhere. 4. What's the one thing you're trying to figure out right now? Income replacement, covered call strategy, how to build a portfolio from scratch, tax treatment — whatever's on your mind.

My portfolio was up 8.84% last week, and a big part of that came from buying more ETFs during the recent market downturn. When prices dropped, I kept adding to my positions rather than sitting on the sidelines, and moments like this are a good reminder of why that strategy matters. That said, we are not out of the woods yet. There is still a lot of uncertainty around whether a trade agreement will get finalized, and the market could swing either way from here. I'm staying the course and continuing to build. It's a good week, but the long game is what matters. What about you? Did you take advantage of the dip and add to any positions? I'd love to hear what you've been buying.