InvestingWithBrandon

Unpopular truth about options traders:
The ones who NEED the action are the ones funding everyone else.
More trades. More strategies. More screens. More dopamine.
Iron condors on Monday. 0DTE on Wednesday. A butterfly by Friday. Busy, busy, busy... & broke.
I do a boring thing: My base is $VOO & $Q. When great companies get cheap, I sell portfolio secured puts & buy LEAP calls.
When it's expensive, I get careful & wait.
That's it.
& I'd bet that my boring systems ROI beats any "action junkie's" account over 10 years.
The market transfers money from the impatient to the patient.
Pick your side.

ANALYSIS PARALYSIS IS COSTING YOU MORE THAN ANY CRASH EVER WILL
You've watched 100 videos. Read every book. Still haven't made a single trade.
Here's the truth... staying at your 9-5 till you die is the REAL risk. Not the market.
You'll never feel 100% ready. At some point you take your shot.

Retail investor: I saw a hedge fund manager on CNBC saying the market's about to crash. Thinking about selling everything.
Me: Did they mention what positions HE's holding?
Retail investor: ...no. Why?
Me: Half these guys go on TV talking down the market while sitting on massive shorts. His "warning" pays his trade.
Retail investor: Wait, so the interview IS the strategy?
Me: That's the key thing... everyone on financial TV has an agenda. The network wants your clicks. The guest wants his trades to print. Nobody's there for YOUR portfolio.
Retail investor: So who do I actually listen to?
Me: T

Retail investor: I'm in this trade because the technicals show a bullish divergence on the 4-hour with a golden cross forming...
Me: Stop. Explain the trade to me like I'm a third grader.
Retail investor: ...what do you mean?
Me: How does the company make money? Why is it cheap? Why will it be worth more later? Third grader simple.
Retail investor: I... don't actually know. The chart just looked good.
Me: That's the key thing... if you can't explain the trade to a third grader, you don't have a trade. You have a guess...
Retail investor: So every position should have a dead simple reason?
Me:

Retail investors pick strike prices completely wrong.
They open the options chain.
They look at delta.
0.32 delta.
32% chance it goes in the money.
"I'll take those odds."
Here is the HUGE problem...
Delta does not factor in:
EPS growth rate.
Revenue trajectory.
Whether the company has a moat.
Whether the market is a bubble.
Whether the Fed is about to hike.
It factors in 4 things and calls it a "probability" but excludes so much of the true needle mover stuff...
Here is how I pick strike prices.
Market/stock is cheap.
Moat/pricing power/competitive advantage/good valuation.
I sell puts 10% be

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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

HOW TO INVEST $100,000 RIGHT NOW IN 2026:
(works on any amount though)
$40k $VOO
$40k $Q
$20k individual companies
Sell 1 year puts portfolio secured, not cash secured on companies that meet this criteria:
1. Must be below intrinsic value.
2. Must have a moat.
3. Must have pricing power.
4. Must have a durable competitive advantage.
5. I must be ok to hold for the long run in the event I get assigned shares, I can use the wheel strategy and patiently "get rid" of the shares if I want.
Key Notes:
- Portfolio secured, not cash.
- I keep ratios in check so if I ever get assigned, my base portfoli

"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...

Funny thing I've noticed after over a decade in the market...
The people doing the CRAZIEST option strategies are almost always the brokest...
Iron condors. 0DTE. 5 Screens. Wheel. Busy all day.
Meanwhile Buffett is worth a couple hundred billion & makes a few trades a YEAR
Complexity isn't sophistication
I buy great companies below what they're worth, sell 1+ year portfolio secured puts, & magnify the best setups with LEAP calls
Boring, simple, & it's beaten the market for a decade

Everyone thinks selling 2 year puts means your money's stuck for 2 years
Here's what actually happens
I sold 2 year puts when the market got cheap.
Collected fat premium up front
4 months later the stock ran, sentiment flipped... & those contracts were up 75%
So I closed them. 75% of the profit in 4 of the 24 months
Freed up the collateral & went hunting for the next setup
The weekly sellers grinded out pennies that whole stretch
I made one decision

Retail investor: You sell puts on margin?? That's how people get wiped out.
Me: I have margin ENABLED. I'm not actively ON margin. Huge difference.
Retail investor: ...what's the difference?
Me: When I sell a put, I'm not borrowing anything. I'm SELLING something & collecting cash. My portfolio just backs the promise
Retail investor: So you pay margin interest?
Me: Zero... It's like having a HELOC on your house approved but never drawing a dime... except this one PAYS me premium
Retail investor: So the scary "margin" part never actually happens?
Me: That's the key thing... my ratios stay in ch

Retail investor: This guy on X turned $2k into $80k in a month. I'm following his trades now.
Me: How many of his losing months did he post?
Retail investor: ...I've only ever seen the wins.
Me: Exactly. For every screenshot, there's a graveyard of blown accounts nobody posts. You're seeing the highlight reel...
Retail investor: So the feed is just survivorship bias?
Me: yes... if his strategy really printed like that he would compound $80k to billionaire status in a few years. It doesn't happen.
Retail investor: So what actually works?
Me: The boring stuff nobody screenshots. Great companies

The bull market is lying to you...
Your account is up
Your calls are printing
You feel sharp
But ask yourself one honest question
Are you up because your STRATEGY works... or because the tide lifted every boat?
Because when the tide goes out (and it always does) that's when you find out who built something real and who was just along for the ride.
I built my strategy to win on the way UP and survive/capitalize the way DOWN.
Most people only built half of that.
They just don't know it yet.

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.