InvestingWithBrandon

Most people get destroyed buying calls because they have no actual thesis.
They buy because the stock is going up.
(that is really it!)
Buying calls are really just a "magnifier"
They magnify a stocks move.
If you have no conviction they multiply the loss just as fast.
Only buy LEAPS on companies that are ultra compelling at great valuations.
& fund these leap calls with the put premium so they cost you nothing out of pocket.

Most people watch share price and think that is what moves their options contract.
It is one of six things:
1. Share price.
2. Implied volatility.
3. Market sentiment.
4. Duration.
5. Strike.
6. Contract demand.
The edge is understanding all 6 and using them together.
When the market crashes IV spikes.
That means put premium gets fat.
That is your signal to sell them on great companies with 1+ year durations.

Selling portfolio secured puts is the biggest hack in investing that nobody teaches. (until now)
- Zero cash tied up.
- You use your existing base portfolio as collateral.
- You stay fully invested in the market & collect premium & the same time.
- Then you take that premium & buy more shares & LEAP calls.
- Keep ratios in check & you'll be fine in any crash.
This is how I have beating the market for the last 10+ years. It's VERY simple, but boring.
But hey, I am here to make money.

Covered calls are the most popular TRAP in retail investing.
You own the shares. You are bullish.
Then you sell someone else the right to take your upside the second the stock runs.
You collect $300 in premium.
You miss $4,000 in upside.
Do that every month for 10 years & wonder why your account never grows...
Stop capping your own upside.
Own the shares & let them run.

As I always say, be prepared to win in upside and downside.
Keep ratios in check and do longer duration options.
Volatility is not risk
Volatility = Opportinity to capitalize when Mr Market gets nervous.
Buy great companies at good prices and only use 1+ year options to magnify ultra high confidence plays.
I sleep well at night.
You should too.

People underestimate what real compounding looks like over time.
A dollar at 11% annual returns becomes $8.94 in 20 years.
That same dollar at 20% annual returns becomes $53 in 20 years.
Keep going to 50 years and the gap becomes obscene.
Now imagine doing that with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Adding options income on top of that every year.
Reinvesting all of it.
The number at the end is not something most people let themselves actually believe is possible.
It is.

Let me break down why selling puts is one of the most misunderstood strategies out there.
You get paid today to agree to buy a great company cheaper in the future.
If the stock drops you buy it at a discount plus you already collected premium.
If the stock stays flat or goes up you keep the premium and move on.
The only way you actually lose is if you sell puts on garbage companies with no moat and no valuation discipline.
Stop doing that...
Sell puts on companies you actually want to own at prices you actually want to pay.

Most people never get rich because they are too busy looking rich.
Nicest car in the parking lot.
Newest sneakers.
Restaurants every weekend.
Posting the lifestyle before building the foundation.
The people I know with real wealth drove boring cars for years.
Cooked at home.
Put every extra dollar into assets that compound.
Sacrifice is temporary.

If you are hating 5 days out of every 7 you are not living you are surviving...
Waking up dreading Monday.
Spending Friday night relieved.
Spending Sunday dreading it again.
That is not a life. That is a trap with a paycheck attached.
Investing is the way out.
Not day trading. Not gambling on options.
Building a base that compounds for decades.
Selling options the right way to generate real income.

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
Most people have no idea what the difference is.
They buy because the stock is going up.
They sell because the stock is going down.
That is the opposite of how you build wealth.
When a quality company drops 30% it did not get worse.
It got cheaper.
That is not a warning sign.
That is a green light if you did the work to understand the business before it fell.
Intrinsic value is the only thing that matters. Everything else is just price noise.

Mature investor sees a 20% drop and calls it a correction.
Amateur investor sees a 5% drop and calls it a crash.
That gap right there is the difference between people who build wealth and people who stay stuck.
The market will always have volatility.
Companies that grow earnings will always recover and make new highs.
Your job is not to predict the drops.
Your job is to be structured well enough that you do not have to care when they happen.

Selling puts is not complicated but most people do it completely wrong.
They sell cash secured puts...
Which means they are bullish on the stock but bearish on deploying capital.
They are sitting in a pile of cash collecting 5% while the stock they are supposedly bullish on runs 40%.
Stop doing this.
Sell portfolio secured puts.
Let your existing assets serve as the collateral.
Stay fully invested in the market.
Collect the premium.
Keep ratios in check.
That is how the math actually works in your favor.

There is more risk in a raging bull market than a bear market.
I know that sounds backwards...
But in a bull market people FOMO in at the top.
They overpay. They overbuy. They overleverage.
They feel smart right up until they do not.
In a bear market quality companies get cheaper and safer.
You are buying real value at a discount.
Fear is not risk. Paying too much for something is risk.
Remember that the next time the market is green every day and everyone is a genius.

Let me tell you what most people are actually doing with their money..
They are working 50 weeks a year at a job they hate.
Taking 2 weeks off to recover.
Then going back to do it again.
No portfolio. No system. No plan.
Just a savings account losing to inflation and a hope that something changes.
Nothing changes until you change the structure.
1. Build the base. $VOO and $Q.
2. Sell portfolio secured puts on companies you actually want to own.
3. Reinvest the premium into more shares and LEAPS.
4. Now you are building something real while everyone else is just "surviving"

The Nasdaq $Q taking a breather is very healthy!
Valuations were a little stretched & are now coming back to earth before the next leg up.
Use this volatility to capitalize.

There are not 500 high conviction opportunities in the market every year.
Stop pretending there are.
The best investors make 5 to 10 really good decisions per year.
That is it.