All things STOCKS

Gonna lighten the load on SOFI next week as it tends to do a shake off when it passes $30. RUN tends to behave similarly when above 20.

Going with SEDG and ONDS for the week's options play.

I’ll take a look at shorting SOFI puts today if the pressure on the shares doesn’t ease too early in the session. They’re kind of saying nothing substantial about how they’d use the $1.5B from floating more shares - meanwhile the shares take another hit. Future growth or something. Propping up the balance sheet for future investment in the platform.

The current crypto meltdown is also a bad look for their strategic vision. But making a quick profit on the options looks very doable. Plus longer term they might have a solid business plan as a backstop if an options trade goes haywire and shares are assigned.

I already have HOOD and I’m not sure whether to swap some of that investment capital to SOFI, leave it alone, or perhaps sell some covered calls.

Probably go for a wheel trade on SOFI at this point. Long term I’m not sure. The forward p/e is projected to go up quite a bit, but there’s nothing shocking when growing company bottom lines come under pressure.
 
I’m thinking about completing a wheel option strategy round trip with CRWV today. Went long/assigned at $82 after it fell from about $115. But it dropped all the way down to below $70. Now at almost $88 in extended hours trading. All of that share price chaos in the last 30 days.

$43B market cap. Losing $2.5/share. AI and cloud platform exposure. But it’s tied to NVDA which has slowed up.
 
I’ll take a look at shorting SOFI puts today if the pressure on the shares doesn’t ease too early in the session. They’re kind of saying nothing substantial about how they’d use the $1.5B from floating more shares - meanwhile the shares take another hit. Future growth or something. Propping up the balance sheet for future investment in the platform.

The current crypto meltdown is also a bad look for their strategic vision. But making a quick profit on the options looks very doable. Plus longer term they might have a solid business plan as a backstop if an options trade goes haywire and shares are assigned.

I already have HOOD and I’m not sure whether to swap some of that investment capital to SOFI, leave it alone, or perhaps sell some covered calls.

Probably go for a wheel trade on SOFI at this point. Long term I’m not sure. The forward p/e is projected to go up quite a bit, but there’s nothing shocking when growing company bottom lines come under pressure.

Lol dodged a bullet on not running it in my wheel this week. I scooped up shares this morning. Last time it diluted, it recovered quickly.

You're learned in the market... why would they announce it Thursday afternoon instead of this afternoon? They had to know it was going to blow up the options chain.

A lot of retail investors think it's being added to sp500 today, but I would be surprised if thry were added before March. They check the boxes, but there are better companies for inclusion right now (VRT for example).
 
I'll add that the lack of specifics on why they did the offering could signal preparations for a macro **** storm in the fintech sector next year.

SOFI has a better reason announced than MSTR which is also issuing more equity. At least SOFI just omitted specifics from their plan to expand. It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume it will be CapEx spending to roll out their platform. MSTR on the other hand is using their cash infusion to pay the dividend on their preferred shares. That’s concerning, but it would be directly related to the lost value in their crypto holdings.
 
Lol dodged a bullet on not running it in my wheel this week. I scooped up shares this morning. Last time it diluted, it recovered quickly.

You're learned in the market... why would they announce it Thursday afternoon instead of this afternoon? They had to know it was going to blow up the options chain.

A lot of retail investors think it's being added to sp500 today, but I would be surprised if thry were added before March. They check the boxes, but there are better companies for inclusion right now (VRT for example).

I’m still an newbie with options, but other than not violating compliance rules and regs, I doubt that companies worry too much about the options market with their news releases. That’s a risk that options investors and traders take on. At least the industry sponsors and stock brokers are transparent about upcoming dividend declarations. Public companies have a much greater responsibility to those that have bought their shares. Not so much to the options traders other than keeping it legal.

Companies have to be careful with all of their news drops. Options can be pretty sleepy investments. Not a lot of volume for most listings. It’s easy to spot the insider trades.

It’s weird to search through the often small open interest on listed options. I frequently see my orders without having to use a sophisticated trading platform.
 
SOFI also probably just wrapped up the details with the underwriters and needed to get their release published quickly. Otherwise only a select group would have the information and there would be abuse (trading on insider information).

SoFi Technologies, Inc. Announces Pricing of Public Offering of Common Stock
December 4, 2025
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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFI) (“SoFi” or the “Company”) today announced that it has priced its previously announced underwritten public offering of 54,545,454 shares of its common stock at a price of $27.50 per share, for total gross proceeds of approximately $1.5 billion, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by the Company.

In addition, SoFi has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 8,181,818 shares of its common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

The offering is expected to close on December 8, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. All of the shares of common stock in the offering will be sold by SoFi. SoFi intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including but not limited to enhancing capital position, increasing optionality and enabling further efficiency of capital management, and funding incremental growth and business opportunities.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, BofA Securities, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities and Mizuho will act as the underwriters in the offering. An automatic shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (Registration No. 333-289046) (including a base prospectus) (the “registration statement”) became effective upon filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 29, 2025. Before investing, prospective investors should read the base prospectus in that registration statement, the accompanying prospectus supplement (the “prospectus supplement”) and the documents incorporated by reference therein for more complete information about the Company and this offering. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus supplement and an accompanying base prospectus. The prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus relating to this offering will be filed with the SEC and will be available for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Copies of the prospectus supplement, when available, and the accompanying base prospectus relating to this offering may also be obtained by contacting: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, Telephone: (866) 471-2526 or via email: prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; BofA Securities, NC1-022-02-25, 201 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department or via email: dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com; Citigroup, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, Telephone: (800) 831-9146; Deutsche Bank Securities, Attention: Prospectus Department, at 1 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10019, Telephone: (800) 503-4611 or via email: Prospectus.Ops@db.com; or Mizuho, Attention: Equity Capital Markets, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10020, Telephone: (212) 205-7600 or via email: US-ECM@mizuhogroup.com.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
 
Regulation FD. Companies are required to get the news out quickly.

Key Rules & Requirements:
NYSE/Nasdaq Timely Disclosure: Listed companies must promptly release any news that could affect their stock price (material news).
Pre-Release Alert: Notify the exchange at least 10 minutes before releasing material news between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET.
Trading Halts: The exchange can halt trading to ensure orderly markets after news release.
Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure): Prevents selective disclosure of material information; if a company tells one person, they must tell everyone (via press release, etc.).

FINRA Rules (For Brokers):
Fair Dealing (Rule 2210): All communications must be fair, balanced, not misleading, and provide a sound basis for evaluation.
Conflict of Interest: Brokers must have policies to identify and mitigate conflicts, ensuring recommendations aren't biased by firm interests.
Research Integrity (Rule 2241): Requires clear labeling of research and insulating analysts from investment banking pressure.
Insider Trading: Brokering or trading on non-public, material information before its release is illegal for everyone, including journalists and company insiders.
How It Affects Brokers & Investors:
Brokers: Must ensure their communications (research, recommendations) comply with fairness rules and that clients aren't acting on non-public info.
Investors: Benefit from faster, wider dissemination of crucial company info, leveling the playing field and reducing the risk of being exploited by insiders.
In essence, these rules create a transparent environment where market-moving information is shared fairly, preventing an informational head start for some at the expense of others.
 
Regulation FD. Companies are required to get the news out quickly.

Key Rules & Requirements:
NYSE/Nasdaq Timely Disclosure: Listed companies must promptly release any news that could affect their stock price (material news).
Pre-Release Alert: Notify the exchange at least 10 minutes before releasing material news between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET.
Trading Halts: The exchange can halt trading to ensure orderly markets after news release.
Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure): Prevents selective disclosure of material information; if a company tells one person, they must tell everyone (via press release, etc.).

FINRA Rules (For Brokers):
Fair Dealing (Rule 2210): All communications must be fair, balanced, not misleading, and provide a sound basis for evaluation.
Conflict of Interest: Brokers must have policies to identify and mitigate conflicts, ensuring recommendations aren't biased by firm interests.
Research Integrity (Rule 2241): Requires clear labeling of research and insulating analysts from investment banking pressure.
Insider Trading: Brokering or trading on non-public, material information before its release is illegal for everyone, including journalists and company insiders.
How It Affects Brokers & Investors:
Brokers: Must ensure their communications (research, recommendations) comply with fairness rules and that clients aren't acting on non-public info.
Investors: Benefit from faster, wider dissemination of crucial company info, leveling the playing field and reducing the risk of being exploited by insiders.
In essence, these rules create a transparent environment where market-moving information is shared fairly, preventing an informational head start for some at the expense of others.

Thanks, TGO!
 
Hey @BigOrangeMojo or others,

Two serious questions (a rarity from me on herruh):

1. In Tennessee, in a living trust (with "....Living Trust, Dated xx-xx-xx" in the title), is the Tax ID # the same as the grantor's SSN? I need to help mom put her life insurance into the new living trust she created. And as the co-trustee, would I also have to provide my SSN if my name is not on the name of the trust?

2. On RMDs, mom now has changed ownership of one of dad's "traditional IRAs" so that it's in her name....it's not a yuge amount of money, but they just sent her a check....and the guy today told her she had 10 years to withdraw it (she's 89, and dad was also, so this year's payment check was sent to him and we got that taken care of today)....my question is does she have to receive the entire amount in the account in there, or only the amount of pre-tax income he put in there (leaving accumulated interest in therruh)?

Today, I told her to just roll that into a promotional 6-month CD at First Horizon until we could decide where to put it. Dad always kept that IRA in CDs. She's 89 and uber-conservative on investment types, and the guy today said he could not roll it into one of the Fidelity MM funds (which are a little less than 4%). However, my Fidelity account shows that the MM funds can be used with traditional IRAs.

TIA
 
The idea of the RMD's is that you'd empty it. Empty empty. Same thing with the IRA of a dead person (10 years you empty it.). If she wants to donate money from that IRA to a Charity instead of taking the RMD's you need to get on that. Otherwise, somebody is gonna be paying taxes on it.
 
Hey @BigOrangeMojo or others,

Two serious questions (a rarity from me on herruh):

1. In Tennessee, in a living trust (with "....Living Trust, Dated xx-xx-xx" in the title), is the Tax ID # the same as the grantor's SSN? I need to help mom put her life insurance into the new living trust she created. And as the co-trustee, would I also have to provide my SSN if my name is not on the name of the trust?

2. On RMDs, mom now has changed ownership of one of dad's "traditional IRAs" so that it's in her name....it's not a yuge amount of money, but they just sent her a check....and the guy today told her she had 10 years to withdraw it (she's 89, and dad was also, so this year's payment check was sent to him and we got that taken care of today)....my question is does she have to receive the entire amount in the account in there, or only the amount of pre-tax income he put in there (leaving accumulated interest in therruh)?

Today, I told her to just roll that into a promotional 6-month CD at First Horizon until we could decide where to put it. Dad always kept that IRA in CDs. She's 89 and uber-conservative on investment types, and the guy today said he could not roll it into one of the Fidelity MM funds (which are a little less than 4%). However, my Fidelity account shows that the MM funds can be used with traditional IRAs.

TIA

For #2, she can take RMDs for the next 9 years but she will need to empty it in full by the 10th year.

I'll get back to you on other question.
 
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For #2, she can take RMDs for the next 9 years but she will need to empty it in full by the 10th year.

I'll get back to you on other question.
Not 100% sure on question # 1, but think the answer is 'No'. Been a few years but dealt with the same scenario. Thinking the Tax ID # was not the social security number.


I'm not positive
 
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For #1, tax ID should be her SSN (if its irrevocable, a new tax might be required). There are a few other exceptions. Many times, the local bank doesnt know any different and they will ask for a new tax id...

Unsure about second part, I wouldnt think your SSN is required but not 100% sure about that...
 
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Every dollar withdrawn from a traditional IRA is going to be taxable unless, as mentioned above, it is given directly to a charity.

Other than having to cash out a First Horizon CD and being hit with the early withdrawal penalty, I don’t understand why it couldn’t be rolled over into a Fidelity money market fund.

If tax rates are likely to increase in the future, it might make sense to withdraw more than the RMDs each year. The biggest consideration could be the current tax rate of the account holder and how much bracket creep might come into play. First Horizon usually has a financial advisor available for their customers at no charge. Perhaps they could assist with tax planning, but it seems like most of them defer to tax preparers.
 
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Every dollar withdrawn from a traditional IRA is going to be taxable unless, as mentioned above, it is given directly to a charity.

Other than having to cash out a First Horizon CD and being hit with the early withdrawal penalty, I don’t understand why it couldn’t be rolled over into a Fidelity money market fund.

If tax rates are likely to increase in the future, it might make sense to withdraw more than the RMDs each year. The biggest consideration could be the current tax rate of the account holder and how much bracket creep might come into play. First Horizon usually has a financial advisor available for their customers at no charge. Perhaps they could assist with tax planning, but it seems like most of them defer to tax preparers.
yeah I had a small traditional IRA that I was able to roll into one of the Fidelity gvt MM funds....it's not much, but it's getting about 4% the past 3-4 years.

The guy at First Horizon said it had to do with the way dad set up the traditional IRA as to why it couldn't be rolled into a Fidelity. ??? I wasn't talking about cashing out the CD. I was talking about taking the after-tax RMD and putting it into a Fidelity fund. They withheld some taxes (20%) on the RMD, and that is what I told mom to just stick into a CD for right now. I think it was 2.65% for six months. Everything she does will have to be brick and mortar where she can walk in, which means she's not gonna get a very good rate. The charitable deduction might be worth a look for sure. She won't do anything like Fidelity and Vanguard, although I explained to her there's a Fidelity branch in Johnson City.

Edit: She's 89, so she's 110 percent risk averse. I'm getting about 3.6% on a small amount I stuck into an Ally MMA, and supposedly they will guarantee that rate for 90 days. We shall see.
 
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A little concerned First Horizon is putting their interests first and not you and your moms...

My mom was in a similar situation in 2011 when FTN gave self serving advice.

Not huge spreads and amounts here but just an observation
 
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A little concerned First Horizon is putting their interests first and not you and your moms...

My mom was in a similar situation in 2011 when FTN gave self serving advice.

Not huge spreads and amounts here but just an observation
I mean the first thing I asked was if he was fiduciary, and he said he was.

Edit: Her attorney is $450/hr, so I'm trying to do some of this without having him answer an email or text. <- truth
 
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Is your mom living on these amounts or is this intended for an inheritance?
not living on them....it's intended for her estate and inheritance

we finally got all the legal paperwork done for her trust, but each account had to be treated differently with regard to beneficiaries

she's very fortunate they had enough in social security, as well as savings/MMA accounts with a couple of different banks

the only way she'll ever touch either of her traditional IRAs is if she ends up in assisted living...she's really doing all of it for me and my daughters and wants it to be right to avoid probate
 
Arguments against:

Whole Life Insurance. Instead buy term life and buy shares in index funds with the difference. Insurance is not an investment.

Investment real estate. This one was interesting since it creates positive cash flow. Most of that comes from being a tax shelter though. Taxes. Insurance. Basic maintenance. Major repairs. It costs a lot to own.

Gold. Not an income generating asset. Plus there are costs to own it.

Actively managed investments. The fees destroy investment returns.

Crypto. It’s not being used very much as a productive asset. Wealth creation is basically finding somebody else to pay more for it than you did.

Bonds. Taxes and inflation cause bonds to deteriorate in value. If inflation is 3%, interest on the bonds are 4%, and taxes are 30%… check the math. Interedt after tax is 2.8%. With inflation at 3% you’re losing 0.2% of value per year.
This may be real, but there are so many AI videos these days it sickening. This one being published four weeks ago is a red flag. I haven't watched this one you linked, but I've seen a couple show up on my timeline recently that were definitely AI.
 

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