InvestingWithBrandon

Retail investor: I buy weekly options for the leverage. Small money, big moves. That's the whole point of options, right?
Me: Options magnify a return. So tell me... what return are you magnifying?
Retail investor: Whatever the stock does that week?
Me: & what does the stock do that week?
Retail investor: ...nobody knows that.
Me: Right. NOBODY knows. Not you, not me, not the CEO of the company. So you're taking the one thing in the market nobody can predict... the next 5 days... & magnifying it.
Retail investor: When you say it like that it sounds insane.
Me: A magnified guess is still a gues

Retail investor: The wheel gives you the best of both worlds though. Premium from puts AND premium from calls. It's the complete system.
Me: Walk through what each half actually does.
Retail investor: Sell a cash secured put, collect premium. If assigned, sell covered calls until the shares get called away. Repeat.
Me: So phase one... your cash sits dead for months earning nothing while you wait. That's the CSP problem.
Retail investor: Ok...
Me: & phase two... you get assigned the shares, usually after they DROPPED, & now you cap the recovery with self calls. The stock bounces & your shares l

It takes many people YEARS to realize the wheel is a trap.
On paper it sounds perfect.
Sell puts, get assigned, sell covered calls, repeat. "Income machine."
Here's what actually happens:
You sell puts on garbage you don't want.
You get assigned.
Now you're stuck selling covered calls that cap your upside on the rebound.
So you make pennies while the good companies you SHOULD have owned run without you.
We are all here to make money... RIGHT?
This isn't the way.

Retail investor: Options are gambling. I stick to real investing like Buffett.
Me: You know Buffett sometimes sells puts, right?
Retail investor: ...no he doesn't. He's a value investor.
Me: He's collected BILLIONS in premium selling puts on companies he wanted to own cheaper. Coca-Cola back in the 90s. It's documented.
Retail investor: Wait, seriously? Why does nobody talk about that?
Me: Because "Buffett the patient genius" sells better than "Buffett collects premium like an insurance company." But that's literally what he does... & his whole empire is built on insurance float. Collect money

Retail investor: I don't need options. I just buy TQ... 3x the market, way simpler.
Me: What happens to TQ in a choppy sideways year?
Retail investor: ...it 3x's whatever the market does?
Me: Nope. Market chops up 10%, down 10%, ends flat... TQ ends DOWN. The daily reset bleeds you. It's built for streaks, not years.
Retail investor: Wait, so I can lose money in a flat market?
Me: & in 2022 it dropped ~80%. You need a 400% run just to get back to even. One bad year can eat a decade.
Retail investor: So how do you get leverage without that?
Me: LEAP calls on great companies when they're CHEAP..

Retail investor: 5 years in the market & I'm negative overall. Meanwhile the Nasdaq $Q is up huge. I think I'm just not built for this...
Me: 5 years of doing WHAT though? Walk me through it.
Retail investor: Bit of everything. Short term options plays, some meme stuff, day trading for a while, crypto in there too...
Me: So 5 years of trying many different ways to get rich fast. That's not 5 years of investing. That's 5 years of gambling with different games.
Retail investor: Harsh but... yeah, probably fair.
Me: Here's the thing that should actually give you hope. You said the index is up hug

"But what happens when the market crashes 50%, Brandon?"
Nothing.
My ratios are ALWAYS in check. I never sell more puts than my base portfolio could comfortably cover, even after a massive fall.
So a 50% crash doesn't margin call me. Doesn't force me to sell. Doesn't wipe me out.
You know what it actually does?
Puts every great company on sale & makes put premiums the fattest they've been in years.
The crash isn't what kills people.
Being over leveraged with no plan is...

"I need to make $5,000 in options income every month."
That one sentence has blown up more accounts than any crash.
Because the good setups aren't always there.
When you FORCE a monthly number, you start selling puts on garbage at bad prices just to hit your quota.
I only sell when the setup is ELITE.
Some months I sell a lot. Some months only a few.
Need cash to live on? Sell a few shares from your base.
NEVER sell a put just to sell a put. That quota will bury you.

Retail investors have been fed crap their entire lives about how to make it in the stock market.
Do more trades
Get more screens
Draw more lines
Get more indicators
Take on more leverage
Get your timing better
Do more complex options strategies
All to realize... it was all a waste.
The disgust you will eventually feel will be like nothing you ever experienced before.
You poured your heart and soul into trading and didn't make it.
Just like almost everyone else...
And at that point, you will give up and think the stock market is not for you.
But the hard truth that took me many years to realize