As I was walking back home after dropping my daughter to school, I saw one of our new neighbors now has a second, smaller, mini scooter. They moved in with a baby infant and a 4 year old. Now that baby can ride a scooter. Life keeps going, no matter how busy work gets. Need to stop and appreciate life once in a while.

Less than a year ago, I shared that this blog would go through a reboot switching from writing about crypto to personal financing. Well, it seems that post was quite prescient: 

Today's stock is Alphabet (Google). I opened a new relatively large position of about 550 shares at an average price of $182 / share.

I'll write an in-depth article soon on why I like Alphabet, but as Soros used to say "Invest first, investigate later". 

I sold Intel just a few days before the U.S. government announced their investment. It was sold via a covered call, which I thought was a fair price at the time. 

My thesis was that Intel being the sole national champion of semiconductors would never find itself facing bankruptcy and that the U.S. government would do whatever it could in its power to support it. I never imagined that the government would become an equity investor, though. My holding period was quite short, at around six months. 

The lesson I learned is that it takes a long time for a thesis to play out, especially for a capital intensive business like Intel. I should not have exited after making only a 20% gain if I had conviction in the stock. Drunkenmiller said it best: Position size matters. In this case, it wasn't a massive position but when I sold, I felt a bit of validation that I was "right" and made some money.

A Rolex is a nice watch, but when you add factory-set gems onto, it takes it to a whole new level. Take for example, this latest offering from Wind Vintage: 

It's an incredible watch. What makes it extra special is that it wasn't locked up in a safe, but was actually worn. Watches are meant to be worn. It serves a purpose. If you can't manage to wear your watch, then it isn't for you. To me, Drake's watch is extra special because you can tell from the scratches and nicks that this was a watch that loved and worn.

So the time has finally come: Tim Cook is retiring later this year and has named his successor, John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. I liked that someone in hardware is going to lead Apple in its next phase in this new AI paradigm. I've been trying to find a Mac Mini the past couple of weeks; the Apple Stores have a backlog until July and all the marketplaces (Craigslist, Facebook, Swappa, eBay) have Mac Minis or M1 Max Macbooks priced quite high relative to their pre-OpenClaw prices.

Given the successor announcement and my difficulty in locating an affordable Mac Mini, I decided to place a small buy order of AAPL today. I opened a small position of $10,000 to start tracking the stock. From my research, I've noted that the Apple hardware differs from Windows in that the memory is unified (or shared) across OS and GPU. What that means in practice is that the memory can be used flexibly across CPU and GPU which is a powerful combination. In the Windows world, which I am most familiar with, my computer RAM and Nvidia GPU RAM (aka Video RAM or VRAM) are separate. 

When loading up local AI models, I'm limited by my GPU's RAM. Since I have an Nvidia 5080 that means my max VRAM is 16GB which is not that much; I can accommodate a model that is has about 13B parameters or so. Whereas a Mac with 32GB can use a much more powerful model. 

In my experience as a consumer trying to run AI models, my first preference would be use a local model since my costs are fixed. I don't see a massive market for on-demand inference where consumers are paying for tokens. People like Netflix and YouTube because the costs are known upfront. Given the pace of open source AI models, I expect that Apple silicone is going to be able to power ever more powerful open source models within the next 3 years. That will create demand for Apple hardware. Of course, cloud inference will always be around but will mostly be used by enterprises.

I'm excited for Apple. Having a hardware guy at the helm is the exact type of person they need to lead the company now. 

Back in 2021, during Covid, I purchased an Artem RM-style deployant hoping to pair it with my IWC Big Pilot. But, alas, I couldn't get the fitting just right and the deployant required a tiny flathead screwdriver which I didn't own at the time.

Fast forward ~5 years later I finally found a screwdriver that fits the screw. I had it all along and never thought of using it until now. I actually bought an eyeglass screwdriver kit off Amazon for $4.50 but the flat edge was too thick so it didn't work. Of course, I was 3 days past the return window so now I have an unused, brand new screwdriver kit for whenever someone's eyeglasses' screw comes loose. 

The deployant is actually quite easy to install once the pin screw is screwed in. If makes a secure fit, much better than simply using a spring bar.

Here is the final result, which I quite like. The buckle is quite thin so it doesn't feel bulky. One thing that was surprising to me was that the deployant adds a bit of length so I actually had to size down. I'm now using the last strap hole. Shoutout to Holben's Watch Strap  for selling me the Fluco Alcantara watch strap for $45. You can get a coupon for signing up as a new customer.

I'm not usually a day trader, but I couldn't help myself when Trump and his team informed the public earlier this week that the President is going to make a speech to the American public on Wednesday at 9 pm ET. 

Leading up to the speech, Marco Rubio released the following 2 min video:

His tone made me feel less than 100% confident in the administration's plan, so I decided to follow my gut and place an order to buy two put options on $QQQ at $575. In other words, I'd only make money if $QQQ traded below the strike price of $575; the stock closed April 1 at $584.31, which means it would have to dip 2% before I make any money.

Here's the Trump speech:

This morning, I saw that $QQQ was trading at or just below $585, so I immediately placed a market order to close my position. I pocketed nearly $400. It feels good to make money and even better following my gut. However, as Drunkenmiller has said, it doesn't matter that you're right: You need to be right AND have conviction (by putting up a big position). It's fine to lose (a little bit of) money and be wrong, but not that great if you're right and made only a few bucks. 

Thankfully I sold in time (hey, making money is still making money) as $QQQ has since recovered from this morning's low:

Over a sufficiently long period of time, VTI has always had a positive return. There's something to be said about a buy and hold mentality and the American economy's innovative spirit. If you have the patience, the power of compounding even works in your favor because of the dividends that are paid that generate a return when reinvested. Bet on America.

On the other hand, buying single stocks and holding may not necessarily get you any returns. In this case, I've held Disney for over a decade and actually LOST money. Who would have thought that Disney, known for its parks and movies, could have negative returns after holding for a decade??

I bought this jacket over the summer (absolute steal on eBay), BUT the issue is that the jacket is snug. I can only wear a t-shirt underneath. Also, the cuff is too tight for me to wear a wrist watch, so I leave the cuff unbuttoned. I wasn't sure if this is considered faux pas for a jacket this nice. Did a quick Google Images search, and turn out that most people do leave the cuff button undone. Vindicated!

Replaced a traditional NATO with a stretchy NATO strap. 

What I did:

1/ Cut the strap so there's less material

2/ I burned the end with a small candle to ensure the material doesn't fall apart as easily

3/ Inserted the metal clasp

I quite like this new strap. I'll try it for a couple of weeks.

Since buying a vintage Rolex submariner, I've been eyeing various bracelets to swap out the OEM one to an aftermarket one. The reason is simply I want something different.

Some options that I'm considering:

1/ Staib Milanese bracelets

2/ Forstner's Rolex bracelets

These are very high quality bracelets (read: $$$) and before pulling the trigger, I asked Manus to help imagine what they would look like on a Sub. Here are the results (including some that I passed on):

After looking at these results, I may just stick with the OEM bracelet. It's hard to imagine anything else fitting a Sub, frankly.

You can't expect people to understand how to use AI without holding their hands. A lot of my work involves using AI to enhance my productivity. AI has helped me save lots of time, such as brainstorming ideas, preparing call scripts in advance of an important meeting, formatting data, transcribing text from an image, etc. I work with a lot of young people (aka "the iPhone generation") who are just starting to use AI. 

At work, we encourage everyone to use AI as much as possible. But without specific direction on how to use AI, it seems that these young people have no idea what to do with AI. For example, we are preparing a year-end review post for the general public. My team member has for the past year written a weekly newsletter sharing the latest updates in a specific industry. When asked to prepare an outline on the key milestones that occurred this year, he was completely stumped on how to do it. He showed me a YTD stock price performance chart that ends in June and thought it might be relevant; hello, we're now in December!

So I simply asked him to copy and paste the financial and key highlights from each newsletter into a Google Doc, then we'd discuss it together in the afternoon. My plan is to show him that once you have all the data collected in a central document, you can then provide AI with specific guidance to create a blog post. Otherwise if you simply ask AI to generate a post without clear directions, all you'll get is AI slop. I need to show him step-by-step on what to do. 

Although AI is extremely capable, technology without critical thinking is useless. If I gave you a computer but you don't know how to use a keyboard and mouse, what good is that computer to you? That's how I think about AI: you need to know how to use AI in order to really get value out of it. Otherwise it's just a fancy piece of technology that sits idle, much like my home gym equipment.

I usually drink a cup of French pressed coffee each morning, but today I decided to make myself a pour over coffee. It's incredible how much more flavor there is with a pour over. I like a pour over because it avoids overbrewing the coffee, which can lead to poor flavor. The trick to making pour over coffee is having the right amount of coffee grounds. If there's too little grounds you get a weak brew and vice versa. I'm not a coffee expert and eyeball all my brews, that said, I really enjoyed my morning coffee with a splash of lactose free milk.

With bitcoin testing a floor resistance at the $82K level, I figured I'd dive into the various preferred stocks that public investors like you and me can invest in. I ran a bunch of AI queries using this prompt: 

Explain all the strategy (ticker MSTR) public securities available for public investors to trade. Such as $STRK, $STRF, $STRD, $STRC, and $STRE and also $STRC. Explain what they are, how they are different from each other, how does the investment make money, and are the risks, etc. Think through the lens as a potential buyer of these securities and determine what you would need to know to make an informed buying decision.

Starting today (July 17, 2025), this blog will refocus on writing about personal finance and stocking picks that I find interesting.

Today's stock is Alphabet (Google). I opened a new relatively large position of about 550 shares at an average price of $182 / share.

I'll write an in-depth article soon on why I like Alphabet, but as Soros used to say "Invest first, investigate later". 

I'm going to take a break and think of a better / new way to share my performance. 

For the first time in it's decade plus history, bitcoin surpassed $100,000 this year. Amazing!

Heads up that starting in 2025, I'm going to change this blog a bit. I want to write posts that has more substance rather than just posting my positions. Stay tuned. 

Since the election of Trump, Microstrategy has been on a regular cadence of issuing convertible bonds to purchase more bitcoin. I previously wrote about it here but didn't quite articulate it as well.

The current premise is that Microstrategy is:

1. Issuing their convertible bonds to get USD 
2. Using the USD to buy bitcoins
3. Watching their stock price go up
4. Realizing that the convertibles bonds are in-the-money that can convert into stock 

We talked last month about MicroStrategy’s plan here, which is pretty straightforward. MicroStrategy is essentially a pot of Bitcoins: Currently it owns 331,200 Bitcoins, and Bitcoin is trading at around $91,000, making MicroStrategy’s pot worth about $30 billion. It also runs an enterprise software business but that hardly seems relevant. MicroStrategy’s market capitalization is about $84 billion, meaning that it trades at well over a 150% premium to the value of its Bitcoins. So it can sell $1 worth of stock, buy $1 worth of Bitcoin, and add $2.50 of market capitalization. It can create value out of nowhere.

The natural response to discovering this magical phenomenon is to ask “well, okay, but how much of this can we do?” That was MicroStrategy’s response — it would absolutely be mine! — and it hasn’t found the limit yet. It did $4.6 billion of stock sales, and $4.6 billion of Bitcoin buying, last week. Its stock was up, Bitcoin was up, and its premium to Bitcoin also went up modestly.[1]

Bitcoin seems to have found it's footing at the ~$90k level. Stocks retreated Wednesday after Federal Reserve officials dampened expectations for a December rate cut, suggesting they need more economic data before committing to easing monetary policy. I'm thinking about buying Q2'25 earnings (July / August) puts on the Nasdaq on Monday to hedge for a weaker economy once Trump's economic plans gain more clarity.

Bitcoin has surpassed a new all-time record high of over $84,000:

This is on the heels of Trumps' presidential win and the expectation (hope?) that America will become the crypto capital of the world. 

Following the bitcoin bull run, Microstrategy today announced that it was acquired 27,200 BTC worth just over $2 billion:

I dug into what BTC Yield, because even as a finance pro, I haven't heard of this term before. Here's how Microstrategy explains it in today's press release:

"BTC Yield is a key performance indicator (“KPI”) that represents the percentage change period-to-period of the ratio between the Company’s bitcoin holdings and its Assumed Diluted Shares Outstanding. Assumed Diluted Shares Outstanding refers to the aggregate of the Company’s actual shares of common stock outstanding as of the end of the applicable period plus all additional shares that would result from the assumed conversion of all outstanding convertible notes, exercise of all outstanding stock option awards, and settlement of all outstanding restricted stock units and performance stock units. The Company uses BTC Yield as a KPI to help assess the performance of its strategy of acquiring bitcoin in a manner the Company believes is accretive to shareholders. The Company believes this KPI can be used to supplement an investor’s understanding of the Company’s decision to fund the purchase of bitcoin by issuing additional shares of its common stock or instruments convertible to common stock."

As a Tesla shareholder, this has been an incredible week. Look at that gain! Just a week ago, I opened a LEAP (expires Dec 2025) with a strike price of $300. We've clearly surpassed that already and it's not even Dec 2024. Whoa. I've already 2x my Tesla purchase but because I sold calls, my upside is capped to $300 (though, I did gain $55 in option premium, so my breakeven is closer to $355).

With this week's impressive run-up in the broader market, let's see if it holds into next week. 

After soaring the past few weeks, tech rebounded back to Earth. This week we saw a big reversion for Tesla and Microsoft, as earnings either met expectations or slightly missed. Thankfully, my Tesla covered call counter-balanced the negativity and put me back in the green. 

We're only a few days away from the Presidential Election. All eyes are on Tuesday November 5.

This isn't meant to get political so I just want to focus on the potential financial gains part. Also, this is not financial advice, do your own research, I am not your financial advisor, etc. 

Based on the latest public polling data as of today, it's essentially a coin toss on who wins the presidential election (note: the polls are based on the public vote outcome). Robinhood recently launched a feature where you can now bet on outcomes. I got access to it earlier this week and figured, why not try it out. Very simply to use, in fact, way simpler than buying a stock or option. Only 2 clicks to fields to confirm your quantity and price, then swipe up to place the bet.

Assuming there is in fact even odds for either candidate to win, it seems to me then that Robinhood's Kalama bet of $0.42 is a good trade. Again, based on today's polls, it's a 50/50 outcome, so the contract should cost $0.50 but it's currently trading at $0.42 -- a potential gain of $0.08 per contract. 

In terms of the actual payout, we'll find out on the night of November 5 which is less than a week away. I haven't been more interested in the presidential election than now (all thanks to Robinhood!). 

This is not financial advice. Do your own research. Consult a financial advisor. I am not your financial advisor.

I opened an options position today by selling 1 call with a strike price of $300 and expiration date in Dec 2025 (more than a year from now). The option premium was $51 when TSLA's current price is $267. At almost 20% upside, this felt like a good low risk trade.

In all of Tesla's history, it has traded above $300 only for a short period of time. There's a chance I could get assigned but given the upside and history, it seems unlikely. Even if I do get assigned at $300, with the options premium and strike price I would make 1.9x my money which is pretty good for a 2 year hold. With this week's runup, thanks to a great earnings call, I think the stock is temporarily overbought so I want to monetize some of that euphoria. That being said, I do plan on holding Tesla for at least a decade.