As we enter the final stretches of 2021, we reflect on the past year of investing. There were ups, there were downs, there were surprises and misfires. Mostly we’re disappointed in NAK not coming back above $0.50. There’s still time, but let’s be realistic.

This week, we almost did a theme, but really we just wanted to buy into Visa, V.

1. V - Visa. The credit cards. $200 a share, and a 5% dip just happened so we expect it to trend back upwards. Honestly if you just guess what the historical graph of V would look like, then you look at what it actually is, it’s probably exactly what you expect.

   
   We feel this is a safer store of value than purchasing gold stocks or gold ETFs. Also, options trade weekly. We won’t be writing covered calls anytime soon, as no one here has $20,000 just lying around. The premiums are pretty underwhelming, as well. Not as underwhelming as the dividend, though.
   

2. PYPL - We’re surprised the price has gotten down to $193.61, and would like to take advantage of this opportunity to buy up a few shares. Depending on our budget we may have to make some tough decisions.
   
   Near-the-money CSP’s are looking tempting. Not really the % we want, but if were going to dump $20,000 into a stock we might as well run some form of a wheel. (Rolling puts until assigned/selling calls until assigned, back and forth in perpetuity).
   

3. FATBP - $21.25 a share yielding 9.48% annually. $0.17/month per share. If you couldn’t tell, this is a preferred stock. Cumulative, our favorite. (It means if they miss a dividend for some reason, they still end up paying it to you eventually). Without looking up to see if it’s actually callable or not, the call price would be $25. ($25 is the typical price, at least initially, for preferred shares).
   
   The common stock pays a dividend, as well, I believe.
   

4. WEAT - This is an ETF that is pretty much just wheat futures. The company has a larger fund, TAGS, which encompasses four of its commodity funds (wheat, sugar, corn, soy). We only care about wheat right now. It’s $8.01 a share.
   

5. PROG - $4.95 a share. This trades options weekly and has benefited from being fairly volatile, but seems to be settling into the $4.50-$5.00 range. We’re not ready to YOLO, but it’s an affordable CSP or covered call with a decent premium.