John Montalbano

@augustagarei @Jacob_Naviaux In most asset classes, your first loss is your best one. I am sure Jacob knows this

@Aja53john @Jacob_Naviaux Kind of my thought as well

Okay you guys motivated me with all the comments. I messaged the tenant Friday that a technician was coming Monday 5/11 to service the HVAC and would be accessing with a key if no one was home. Tenant asked to reschedule to Thursday. I told her we’ve been more than amenable trying to schedule this for over 7 months now, so it was staying on the schedule. She responded: “The space is not accessible so nobody can get to it so if you want to send someone it’s pointless, and will STILL NEED TO BE RESCHEDULED.” I didn’t bother responding. Told my handyman (who also happens to have an HVAC license) the full situation. He swung by my place to pick up the key and a notice I drafted for him to post on the door in the event they refused entry. He knocked, said he was there to service the HVAC. Someone in their late teens answered and let him in. He went to the lower level and changed out the filter which was disgusting since it hadn’t been changed since Jan 2025. Then he took these pics. Total hoarders. That’s why they didn’t want us accessing. He tried to go upstairs for some recon, but the teenager told him her mom said he had to leave and couldn’t go through the rooms. He said the upper level looked pretty hoarder too, just not as bad as the lower level. My guy didn’t notice anything else wrong other than the insane amount of junk everywhere. What would you guys do in this situation? It’d be pretty much impossible to do a worthwhile inspection with all the junk around.

@Jacob_Naviaux @augustagarei It may be worth it to take the loss and rid yourself of this hopeless stroke. Do yourself the favor

@augustagarei 10k turn and $2195/mo in lost rent. Big house that I know is going to be to be completely painted which is alone going to cost me ~$4,500. Would be blown away if it wasn’t 10k to turn it.

@BoomerDivvies person 2. They need to change things quickly, but higher income with some lifestyle adjustment gets them to where they should be, and beyond

Person 1: Age 45 $3.5M net worth $140k household income. Paid-off house No debt Person 2: Age 45 $800k net worth $650k household income Large mortgage Two financed cars Which financial position are you taking?

@BoBbyPleWniaK for sure! you do u, and u are doing it well

@Aja53john Relate?

$TSLA covered calls reality check Me: 10,000 shares total. I sell calls on 6,000 of them (60% covered). This caps some upside but I’ve pulled $200k–$400k per year in premium since 2021. That’s real cash that funds our life. My high-conviction buddy: 150 shares, zero calls. Stock rips to $1,000. My outcome: • 6,000 shares called away → $1,000,000 realized gain • Still own 4,000 shares with $2,400,000 in unrealized gains Buddy’s outcome: $90,000 total gain This is exactly what my life on X looks like — people telling me I’m stupid for selling covered calls. I’d rather make hundreds of thousands in premium every year, sleep well at night, and still participate in the massive upside with the uncovered portion than pray for a moonshot with a tiny position. Different strokes for different folks, but the numbers don’t lie.

@Jacob_Naviaux Well done

At our peak, my wife and I were netting $120k per month after business expenses. We did that for 12 months straight. Then the Fed started raising their rate from near-zero in Jan 2022 to 4.25% by December. Mortgage rates skyrocketed. Transaction volume began drying up. Since then, our wholesale volume has dropped roughly 90%. We adapted — flipping, lending, still wholesaling. We’re doing well. Just nowhere near where we were. Wrapping up finishing touches on getting our house ready for sale. Photos tomorrow. Hitting the market next week. Plan is to take the 7-figures+ in equity and buy the next home cash. Grateful we didn’t take on a bunch of dumb debt during the good years. The mortgage on this place was the only personal debt we took on. Looking forward to being fully debt free on the personal side soon.

@BoomerDivvies It will not make u a better person, but it sure will solve many problems

The internet loves pretending rich people are secretly miserable. Meanwhile wealthy people I know: Travel Have beautiful homes Outsource chores Have control of their time Turns out money solves a shocking number of problems. Do y’all even know any rich folks?

@zzSwim @KurtSupeCPA Never heard of this… I thought it is how u name the beneficiaries and what percentage.

@KurtSupeCPA For IRAs & 401Ks, the new spouse inherits 100%, regardless of what's written in a will or trust. The "Spousal Consent Form" is the boss -- if you want your kids to inherit a portion of your IRA/401k, you MUST get your new spouse to sign off on that form. Good luck with that talk!

Name a worse retirement decision than naming your spouse outright beneficiary on a $2M IRA in a second marriage with adult kids from a first marriage. I've been doing this 30 years and I can't think of one. Drop yours in the replies.

@Dcpcooks crazy! can't wait to leave here and try something else!

@Aja53john Yes they are brutal That was a big reason we downsized. That and utilities were crazy in the old house. We were paying 3k a month in just taxes and utilities.

Just got my property tax bill today The two big line items are schooling and we do have great local schools but I’m personal friends with the prior HS superintendent and that person is receiving 80% of the last salary in pension and they ramped up salary paid dramatically in the last two contracts to ensure they got the same or higher pension than the reasonable salary for the position I’m actually surprised it didn’t rise more YOY

@Dcpcooks The property taxes in this state are obscene

@Aja53john Old house is 25k now

@Dcpcooks Good move. Nothing wrong with less of a home, as in less turns out to be more

@Aja53john We downsized in 2018 and caught the market before it spiked

@2StefanMoore Hello!

Feel like I’m invisible on X. If you see this, please say hi 👋🏻

@_TraderLarry Amazing! well done Larry

Finished April 2026 with my largest monthly gain since I started trading @ +$71K and 61 years of age. ~95% of my trades are scalps with hold times under 1 minute, which is not a style for most people. Still learning things to this day as the market goes thru cycles and always provides new, changing opportunities. Adapting and making adjustments along the way has been a big help for me over the last few years. I am leaning towards 'finally' adding swing trading in to my playbook, which will be a major change for me.

@SandstoneStox Congrats!

As CEO, I am very pleased to announce as of today May 1, 2026, Sandstone Capital has BEAT THE S&P 500 Year to Date! 🥳🎉 📊S&P 500 5.31% vs 📊Sandstone 10.67%

@LindaCKBL @CDatrio26831 agree

@CDatrio26831 Im not even watching The Derby this year. Im going to my grandson’s baseball game and I’d prefer that. No faith left for this so-called sport.

While everyone is getting ready to celebrate the Kentucky Derby this weekend, there is a small group of us in overdrive trying to save thoroughbreds in the slaughter pipeline. WITH NO HELP FROM THE INDUSTRY! Right now, the number of horses is far too great for us to help. The pens are full of them. We are all struggling, donations are simply not coming in - for us in the organizations - or for the horses we are trying to save. Is it ok for these horses to just ship and be slaughtered? TAA has announced that changes are coming. In what year will we actually see this happen? The Jockey Club and TAA are in slow motion. There is no urgency and they have no problem with these horses being “collateral damage.” When will it end? When will the funds be provided? Any time this year or next? How many times do we have to ask for help? Folks - this won’t change without your help and unless you speak out. We are all exhausted. Dog tired. (This post will more than likely be ignored - once again.) @RepoleStable @PatCummingsNTA @westlakeracing @EclipseTBP @ThoroughbredRA @PastTheWire @AnitaMotion @RACEFund @jonathanstettin @jockeyclub @BreedersCup @louisianabred @lahbpa @AronWellman7 @TheBridgeSanct1 @MargaretDammit

@BoBbyPleWniaK @Jed_Bratt great story Bobby, thanks for sharing

Traders story: how it started and how I got to where I am today with $tsla. Wild story how this all played out. @Jed_Bratt I never traded options until my account crossed $2 million. Never paper traded either. Everything changes when it’s real money anyway. Not my personality wasting time on fake games or trades. I can see the benefit but not something I was interested in. Flash back to late 2019. Fresh off a divorce, I get a $200k settlement check. I’m six months single and just starting to date my now wife. Corporate sales are on fire 125k base plus 20 - 40k quarterly commissions. Cashflow is strong. Total investable money hits around $350k. I start moving cash from checking into Fidelity. On a golf trip one guy is killing it swing trading so I jump into NIO FCEL and a couple other. $be was one funny enough but I could buy more FCEL shares so I bought it. I fall in love with FCEL. Keep buying 1k then 10k at a time until I’m holding 50k shares by year end. Covid hits March 2020, I sell everything else and go all in 150k shares at under $1.25. No options just conviction on the new CEO bonus and green energy. Corporate commissions keep rising so every extra dollar goes into $FCEL. Biden wins late 2020 green energy squeezes. I sell my initial $400k at breakeven and let the rest ride. Late December I cross seven figures then mid January I hit $2 million. That’s when I started researching FIRE on YouTube and come across covered calls. My wife was in a masters program taking a derivatives course and her dad had her selling calls as a teenager. I started selling covered calls on FCEL exited the rest 15 23 from a 1.88 cost basis and the account sat at $2.6 million. Moved into dividend kings but premiums sucked. Then mid 2021, I go heavy into $TSLA. The premiums blew my mind. I pulled $800k in gains and premium by end of year. Figured I could make 10 - 20k a month consistently. After a sailing trip I submitted my resignation and retired at 33 right at the market peak. I knew sequence of return risk was the killer so I stayed 100 percent cash selling puts 20 percent out on $TSLA. Super relaxed making steady income. Then bought the 2022 dip hard all the way down to $150. Took the 55 percent drawdown gut punch but recovered strong. Since then it’s been the same cycle. Big drops, recover, trim and regroup. Each year I get better. That’s the real journey, no fluff. From zero options knowledge to where I am now 5 years later. I’ve done it all during this period. You name it, Ive done it. Some success and lots of failures. More 50% drawdowns anyone should ever experience in 5 years. I’ve had a lifetime of them crammed into these years. Now I’m dialed into what works for me and I do my best to focus on that. Ultimately the underlying has to come though. I’ve picked my horse and riding it out until I’m satisfied.

@jslats99 @TheKardiac_Kid he did get the big money, gotta give him that

@Aja53john @TheKardiac_Kid Maybe. We'll see. Would certainly make the selection process much easier for the number one QB. LOL

Who Shedeur? He’s 100% not starting game 1 if Watson is fully healthy.

@paxtrader777 @John_Kass @CWBChicago @ChicagoContrar1 good grief. what a way for a man to lose his life, just awful

@Aja53john His Auntie is Deputy Superintendent Yolanda Talley. I am SURE he used her name and clout to get out of a TON of Jams. She is BAD BAD news. @John_Kass @CWBChicago @ChicagoContrar1

Lord have mercy on his soul and rest him. Holy Spirit make haste to comfort his family. St Michael the Archangel protect every member of CPD and all police. St. Michael the Archangel,  defend us in battle.  Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.  May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,  and do thou,  O Prince of the heavenly hosts,  by the power of God,  thrust into hell Satan,  and all the evil spirits,  who prowl about the world  seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. .