InvestingWithBrandon

Retail investor: I always take profits when I'm up 25%. Lock in the gains.
Me: On your best companies too?
Retail investor: Especially those. Don't want to get greedy.
Me: So you sell your WINNERS... the elite companies with great EPS growth still at good valuations that are actually carrying your portfolio?
Retail investor: I mean, a gain isn't real till you sell, right?
Me: & then it triples after you're out, you pay taxes on the sale, & you're sitting in cash wondering what to buy next...
Retail investor: ...I've literally done that.
Me: I never sell my winners just to sell them... I often

Quit staring at the greeks.
Delta, theta, vega, all of it.
People act like the answer is buried somewhere in those numbers.
It's not.
The greeks don't tell you if a stock is little to go up or down.
Get the company right. Get the price right. The greeks don't matter near as much as the gurus want you to believe.

The first $100k is the hardest money you'll ever make.
Not because of the math...
Because of YOU.
$10k in the bank? "Let's book the Caribbean."
$50k? "Time for a new car."
That stuff is easy to buy and produces NOTHING.
Once you can stare at $99k and NOT blow it, you've already won the hardest battle.
After my first 100k, every 100k after that came easy.
Stop trying to make $100k.
Aim for your first million.
You'll think completely differently about how to get there.

The first $100k is the hardest money you'll ever make.
Not because of the math...
Because of YOU.
$10k in the bank? "Let's book the Caribbean."
$50k? "Time for a new car."
That stuff is easy to buy and produces NOTHING.
Once you can stare at $99k and NOT blow it, you've already won the hardest battle.
After my first 100k, every 100k after that came easy.
Stop trying to make $100k.
Aim for your first million.
You'll think completely differently about how to get there.

You get rich when the world panics.
STAY READY

Bull market? I win.
Bear market? I win.
Flat market that does nothing for a year? Still win.
This isn't a flex. It's just how my portfolio is built.
Appreciation or buying at a discount.
Ratios always in check to be fine in a DEEP crash.
Because guess what... it will eventually happen.

Imagine a guy who knocks on your door every single day offering to buy your house.
Monday: "I'll give you $500k!"
Tuesday: "Actually... $420k."
Wednesday: "MARKET'S CRASHING. $340k, final offer!"
Thursday: "Never mind. $550k."
Same house. Nothing changed. He's just manic.
You'd never let that lunatic decide what your house is worth...
But that's EXACTLY what people do with stocks.
The price on your screen is just Mr. Market's mood that day... not what the company is worth.
The earnings decide what it's worth. His panic prices are just offers.
& when he shows up terrified offering me a great co

Retail investor: I buy weekly calls. Small cost, huge payoff if it hits. That's just smart leverage.
Me: What's $Q doing next Thursday?
Retail investor: How would anyone know that?
Me: Exactly. Nobody knows. Not you, not me, not the hedge funds with a billion dollars of computers. So walk me through the trade again... you're putting money on the thing nobody on earth can predict?
Retail investor: But when it hits, it pays 5x, 10x...
Me: Sure. Options magnify whatever you point them at. That's all they do. So you're magnifying... what exactly? A guess. A coin flip. You have no clue if it's gonn