thunderbird1100

re: Are wages increasing? Not at my company.

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/27/26 at 11:15 am to LSUSUPERSTAR

80% sounds great for a bonus

Working for a PE owned company our corporate team was getting about 30-40% at best of bonus for last year because didnt meet goals so only got individual ones.

Every company is different how they do raises, the ones that just a flat amount across everyone are doing it very wrong. Previous company did merit increases based on performance. Maybe the pool was 3% for everyone but top performers would get 5% and lower performers 1% and the like. At this company our corporate structure is pretty small though, I got an 11% raise going into this year without even arguing for it but i didnt get one last year (started working here in Oct 2023), so didnt have a raise for about 26 months.

They have kept employee only healthcare cheap (well, its free for HDHP), but family/spouse went up a bit, but employee only pays 20-30% of total premium so hard to complain

re: State Farm declares a $5 billion dividend for auto policy holders

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/27/26 at 9:46 am to bigjoe1

I switched from State Farm to Allstate back in 2023 because State Farm wanted to raise my wife and I's 6 mo premium from $2k previously to $3.2k...almost a $1,200 (or $200/mo) uptick on the same 3 vehicles we always had with no new tickets

We went to Allstate for $1.3k/6mo at the time

We'd probably be over $3,500/6mo with State Farm at this point

Enjoy your $100 though :lol:

re: Harold Perkins didn't participate in any drills at the NFL combine today

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/27/26 at 8:21 am to The Pirate King

People need to understand this usually isnt the decision of player, rather what their agent advises and it could be due to a number of reasons

Maybe they arent 100% and dont want to hurt their draft stock by running a slow 40 or not testing as well as they could

Maybe they are further up the draft boards than mocks think and feel like they arent gaining anything by do the workouts at the combine

Maybe the agent just believes he will perform better at LSU's pro day so tells him to skip the combine workouts and just do that

Maybe you're an undersized player than bulked up 10-15 lbs for the combine measurements and such but sacrificed your mobility as a result and would rather just not show that

It's always a number of different reasons why, but its not the player typically making the real decision there, just doing what an agent advises. In theory most agents WOULD know better as this is their job to maximize draft position and signing bonus (therefore their cut as well), but obviously they sometimes get it wrong as well.

re: NC State insiders are concerned about Will Wade returning to LSU

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 2:04 pm to chinhoyang

quote:
Don't let the media reports (which are click bait) fool you. Wade is NOT coming back to LSU. Never. LSU will not rehire that charlatan. Even if he was a good coach, how often do you see former coaches rehired?

Hired his former president from McNeese

Verge on the phone with him weekly trying to get him to come here

Prepare thy anus

re: I have not watched a second of basketball since the Gen. Wade has left. Am I the only one?

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 1:52 pm to Islandboy777

I watched plenty the first couple years under McMahon, probably didnt miss many games at all

Then last year was brutal, absolutely lost me somewhere in SEC play.

This year I watched a few game sbut realized it was looking like more of the same and havent watched more than maybe a few minutes of SEC play

It's crazy how interest in the program is at an all time low as long as I've been watching. Literally like 1k fans show up to the games now, pretty sad

I watched through the Trent Johnson and Johnny Jones eras, but would rather watch some random youtube videos at night at this point than watch McMahon's team play

re: CMM is getting one more year...

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 1:36 pm to EPORE

quote:
CMM buyout goes from 8M to 4M in one year.

This is not accurate

His buyout is 80% of his remaining contract his salary is $400k/yr, he has $2.6M $2.7M and $2.8M in his last 3 years as compensation on top of that.

If he is fired after this season it would be about $7.44M; it would only go down to about $5M after next season. This is all paid out over the remainder of his contract term, so cash flow is extremely minimal different doing it now vs. next year.

There is no real difference in the grand scheme of things.

You are hearing the things certain people want you to hear to drum up more $ support for the next staff. His buyout is peanuts in the grand scheme of things, but they want donor support for the next coach and staff to obviously go out and get a good roster because its going to be a heck of a cleanup job from the current roster.

Even this week multiple insiders/big donors on premium boards have said he is cooked and will be gone after this season. They have to wait till April 1 or after to announce Wade as thats who they really want, thats when his buyout is reduced by $2M from that end.

re: I hope this is not the future of LSU men's basketball.

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 1:16 pm to chinhoyang

quote:
chinhoyang

This guy absolutely never knows when to cut his losses and move on

Him talking about people fawning over Wade is the "worst reason" if he came back when he did this for YEARS with Johnny Jones is absolutely full circle. The dude was full on cuck mode defending Johnny Jones for a decade damn near (Well after he left)

:lol:

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 11:42 am to TigahsOnTop

quote:
During a real sell-off, you would get completely wiped out. Luckily we haven't seen one since you started using this strategy, but don't mistake that for "limiting downside risk".

I simply wouldnt trade and close any open position I have, again limits any long term downside to this...something you dont have just buying and holding and then suddenly need the money after big downturn.

I closed a position last year that was down over $300 on the day, so yes, certainly have seen a sell off in a day before on this.

During this week

The S&P lost 10% in 2 days there, I chose not to trade during that week knowing the extreme IV/volatility of what was going on. My big loss came the following week, but it was $300, not 10% of our savings (or $6k-$7k), vaporized.

Again this is NOT long term investment account money, it's savings, meant to stay liquid, and continually go up with maybe small down swings in very short periods. If things get crazy, i just sit on the sideline and collect the interest, once its not as crazy, sell way out the money put options to gamblers effectively.

Again, also well aware the S&P has rallied a ton since April of last year when that happened and "I would have been better off just leaving it in the S&P 500". I am purposely limiting my upside to also limit my downside to collect way more than a typical "savings" account would but keep it liquid without any big long term losses when we could need that money at any point.

Also I've sold options for the better part of 5+ years now, well through big downturns like 2022, this strategy is just newer with XSP as its a newer index (on RH at least) where premiums are taxed 60% long term which I am taking advantage of for tax purposes.

re: Former LSU coach hits rock bottom

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 9:15 am to LSU=Champions

quote:
It was always difficult to like Paul Mainieri, but it was clear he was done several years before he was pushed out from LSU.

I dont about several, we made the championship series literally in 2017 and most of us were still riding quite high then.

Then 2018 was a bit of a letdown being sent out to Corvallis for a regional where OSU absolutely emasculated us 2x. Not the end of the world after being in the title series though the previous season.

In 2019 we had a good season, had a home regional which we fairly easily went 3-0 in...then FSU came to town for a super and we lost 2 super close games....pretty disappointing end to the season but the program still looked to be on decent footing I'd say despite losing a home super in 2 games. Certainly the roster wasn't exactly where we'd want it, but losing a couple close super games is not a bad season overall.

2020 happened and obviously the year was cut short, but the cracks were starting to really show even in that shortened season. We started 12-5 with losses including Indiana, Baylor, Nicholls and Eastern Kentucky none of which looked particularly good. We just seemed kind of incapable of putting together really good offense most games. 3 of those 5 losses were 0-1, 0-2 and 2-4. Imagine a Jay Johnson LSU team in OOC play scoring 4 runs or less in 7 of his first 17 games of the season :lol:

2021 comes along we have a disappointing season going 13-17 in the SEC, got sent to Eugene as a 3 seed...actually pulled off winning that regional after losing the 1st game only to get sent to Knoxville for a super and get completely emasculated out of the tournament 6-15 in our final game. We ended up 0-5 against Tennessee that season. I guess nice pulling off a regional championship as a 3 seed but the creaks were just way way too noticeable at this point and the program just seemed headed in the wrong direction like we couldnt compete with the best the SEC had to offer and just had completely fallen behind there....it was time to move on pretty obviously at that point. About to go into the NIL era coming up we needed someone who could navigate that and it wasn't going to be Mainieri.

re: Former LSU coach hits rock bottom

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 8:56 am to Upperdecker

quote:
What has happened to USCar? They were so good in baseball in most of 2010s

Ray Tanner retired from coaching to become AD.

He then hired Chad Holbrook who was under him when he was coaching, it didnt work out, 2 of his last 3 years at USCe he didnt make the tournament; in 3 of his last 4 years there he didnt make a super even. He went over to College of Charleston where he has yet to make the NCAAT the last 8 seasons (1 was covid year). CoC had made the tournament quite a few times before he got there as well, just not a good coach.

Tanner then hired Mark Kingston from USF who didnt really have some fantastic history. He made a couple regionals in 3 seasons at USF but had a real bad year sandwiched in there. He failed to make the CWS after 7 years at USCe, made a super twice, but the first time was his first year. So last 6 seasons the further they got was a Super once. Neither super was at USCe either. Kingston was fired, went over to Creighton to be an assistant last year and is their HC this year and is 2-4 to start the year.

Then Tanner hired a 66 (almost 67) year old retired Mainieri, why? Nobody really could tell you. But certainly looks like strike #3 in baseball coach hiring for Tanner. The dude retired from coaching when he was only 52 to become the AD at USCe and most would say he's failed pretty badly in that role not just for baseball but other sports as well at USCe.

He should just can Mainieri after this season and go back for a few years for a farewell tour coaching the baseball team. USCe fans wouldnt even care about the results, just happy to have him back for a little bit :lol:

-2

re: Former LSU coach hits rock bottom

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 8:24 am to Indefatigable

quote:
I thought consensus was that he stepped away on his own.

I think he was ready to step away but was also encouraged to go ahead and pursue that as well, ie I dont think if he told the admins he was thinking of retiring they put up much attempt to "save him"

re: Former LSU coach hits rock bottom

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 8:21 am to Demonbengal

quote:
I liked Paul Manieri, but it was clear he was done when he retired from LSU. If he had decided to go to a smaller school in south Florida I could have seen it. He is getting overwhelmed with what is needed to compete now.

It really never made sense for him to come back in this kind of environment in baseball. USC just wanted some stability (not like they were expecting championships or CWS with him necessarily) and they might have somehow gotten even worse now under Mainieri.

Here are Queen's games last year against power conference teams:

@USCe = 2-7 L
WVU = 1-7 L
WVU = 7-11 L
WVU = 1-11 L
WVU = 3-17 (7inn) L
@ MissSt = 3-9 L
@ MSU = 2-10 L
@ MSU = 3-9 L
@ TN = 3-14 L (should have been 8inn run rule guess they didnt agree to that)
@ UGA = 1-21 (7inn) L
@ UNC = 3-14 (8inn) L
@ Duke = 2-12 (7inn) L

I mean, wow

re: NC State insiders are concerned about Will Wade returning to LSU

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 7:30 am to ForeverLSU5

quote:
My guy is still holding strong that we aren't firing CMM bc boosters don't want to pay the $. It was a complete 180 from everything he has said in the past (that Wade would be coach next year). I really hope he's wrong this time. That being said, if the boosters change their tune and pony up to fire CMM, Will Wade will be the guy.

Pretty much every insider/booster on the premium boards are saying he is without a doubt gone and they've been targeting Wade for months

I think the people relaying (media, some people you might hear) he might stay another year are just trying to drum up more $ support, it's not a matter if he's staying or going, he's gone. The money to buy him out is very minimal in grand scheme of things. They want more money for the next staff to go get a roster.

re: Post your most recent natural gas bill

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/26/26 at 7:28 am to Crescent Connection

Ours jumped from about $35 to $40 in the past several months

Only thing gas we use is oven/stovetop.

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 5:44 pm to TigahsOnTop

quote:
Maybe this is the point I’m fundamentally misunderstanding. Isn’t the entire point of selling a put that you agree to absorb the downside (aka, you are insurance for the market tanking). This seems like the exact opposite of what you’d want from “savings”.

I'm selling typically well out of the money options expiring same day, again only lost 5 times out of 200ish trades. If I was being riskier I could shoot for stuff much closer to that its trading at and earn much higher premiums, im fine with $20-$30 premiums on things that have a very very high chance of winning and I monitor things closely as to not have many super "blow up" days as I've had just 1 of those so far ($300ish loss). The other losses I had were easily made up within 2-3 days of trading again. Whole point again is offering decent upside (capping it - yes) while remaining liquid and not having any big downswings really. It's easy to step back and let super high IV days just got sometimes to avoid any potential blow ups as well. I'm not chasing max yield here, just safe steady return typically.

Again, if I left $70k in the s&p back in 2022 and let it ride, then needed a large chunk of that end of year, my $70k turned into $57k. I'm just mitigating that risk by capping upside but limiting downside in a big way as well. I'm earning my 3-4% interest as if its in HYSA then banking some bucks on top of that from way out of the money options premiums to bring it to around a 10% return staying extremely liquid. Whole point is keeping it all liquid and limiting any real long term downside.

It's also nice 60% of net earnings on the premiums are taxed at 15% and not 24% federally with index options like XSP. Doesn't sound like a ton but on $5k profit its $450 in tax savings.

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 4:05 pm to TigahsOnTop

quote:

And it’s actually worse than just owning the S&P 500. If you own the index, you get unlimited upside and can ride out drawdowns over time

As I said previously, this is savings, not long term investments. This cash goes up and down from drawdowns and contributions on the regular. We might need a large sum at any point quickly...the S&P has done great recently but if I just set it and forget it in there and we need a large sum in a year it dives 20%, well that sucks. The whole point of the strategy is just to boost savings return and keep it extremely liquid with not much of a chance of any real downturn. The upswings in s&p are great but downswings can be huge too. You forgot to mention im capping my downside as well, which is the main point on something like liquid savings money you typically want to have.

On top of that, this is just fun for me.

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 2:55 pm to bayoubengals88

quote:
When does that happen?

March 9

quote:
Effective on or after March 9, 2026, Robinhood is updating its program to pay interest on cash held as collateral for eligible options strategies—such as cash-secured puts, credit spreads, and iron condors—for Gold subscribers.

From a youtube on announcement they did

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 2:54 pm to Craft

quote:
What happens on those 5 trades you lose? You said you don’t get assigned, do you just close out the trade for a loss?

It just settles for cash, no assignments.

So if my strike was sold at 680, and it ended at 679, it deducts $100 from my cash balance, i keep the original premium still.

quote:
Seems like one bad day due to macro events could wipe out months of premium grinding.

This isnt a passive thing completely, which is part of only 5 losers over the last year-ish or so. 1 loser was bad $324 net of my premium (tariff day!), the others were less bad around $50 or less lost net of premium. All in all I am around $5k annualized net before interest is added.

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 9:50 am to bayoubengals88

quote:
So you're selling several thousand contracts every morning? Around which Delta?

1 contract, it trades just under 700, so 1 contract for a cash secured put needs just under $70k to cover it

I aim to make $20-$30 each day, it usually falls in their 85-90% range of "chance of making a profit" so delta around .15ish?

Just obviously depends on the IV at the time. I've gotten deals as close to $40 on super high IV days, and about $20 on lower volatility days

Monday was a pretty wild day I saw a weekly (expiring Friday 2/27) for almost $200 (effectively $40/day) and was way way way out of the money, like $667 strike when XSP was trading $683-$684 I think that morning (up to $692 right now). That same option is now worth like $21-$24 :lol:

This is why I like moving to weeklies or monthlies once they pay interest on that cash balance still because could have closed that trade to secure $175-$180 and opened a Friday expiring one today for another $90-$100 that was like a $679 strike still. Win both of those and thats an easy $265-$280 for the week (on top of interest earned on the cash at 3.35% which is what another $40-$50 or so). That would be a nice week making over $300 on just our savings :cheers:

re: Options premiums plays

Posted by thunderbird1100 on 2/25/26 at 9:37 am to bobaftt1212

For our savings ($70k+) which is sitting in RH brokerage making 3.35% I sell daily 0DTE cash secured puts on XSP (S&P 500 mini index) which is an index options fund.

The tax treatment on it is 60% Long-term capital gains/40% STCG even selling dailies/weeklies/monthlies, etc...always settles for cash, you never get assigned since it's european style. So the premium I collect is taxed at 15% (LTCG) instead of 24% (federal) on more than half of it which is nice.

So basically I sell the option, it expires (or I close it before) end of day, keep the premium I made (~97-98% win rate doing this for almost year now, lost on 5 out of 200-ish trades) which is usually between $20-$30 per contract, and then make the 3.35% interest on the balance in the account from interest on RH since its cash sitting there at the end of the trading day. Basically just a way to supercharge the savings a bit while being pretty safe on the options I am picking.

RH recently announced starting next month they will still honor interest on cash secured puts (or cash cover spreads) that are on-going too. I will probably switch to weeklies or monthlies on XSP to save a little on the fee side (its 39 cents per trade) while still making the 3.35% on that cash.

It all comes out to about a 10% rate of return annualized which I can live with on our savings :lol: