InvestingWithBrandon

Retail investor: I sell calls against my shares to lower my cost basis. Smart, right?
Me: On companies you actually want to keep?
Retail investor: Yeah, my long term holds.
Me: So you're collecting pennies to "lower your basis"... while risking your best long term company getting called away the second it runs higher?
Retail investor: ...I do get nervous on big green days.
Me: That's the key thing... You're sabotaging the exact companies you wanted to keep, for a tiny discount on your basis to feel smart.
Retail investor: So lowering cost basis isn't worth losing the shares?
Me: Never on compa

Retail investor: When a put I sold is winning I close it fast. The losers I just hold & hope.
Me: So you bank tiny wins quick... but let the bad ones sit & bleed?
Retail investor: I mean, I don't want to lock in a loss.
Me: That's backwards. You're capping every win small & letting every loss run wild.
Retail investor: ...so I've got it flipped?
Me: When a put goes against me on a great company, I've got a plan: roll it, take the shares, or buy it back. I don't just freeze & hope.
Retail investor: So hoping isn't a strategy?
Me: Hope is what you do when you sold puts on companies you didn't ac

$500 per month
30 years
3 different strategies
1. S&P 500 only (10% avg): $1 million
2. Base + portfolio secured puts (20% avg): $9 million
3. Base + puts + LEAPS (25% avg): $61 million
Same $500/month. Same 30 years
The only variable is your system
That gap from $1M to $61M is not luck
It is the free loan double dip as I call it
Money in two places at once
Shares appreciating + sold puts generating income + LEAPS magnifying conviction
Ratios ALWAYS in check to be fine in any deep crash

The most detrimental thing you can learn RIGHT NOW is how to calculate the future cost of your current actions.

How to sleep well at night:
Bull market? I win.
Bear market? I win.
Appreciation or buying at a discount.
Ratios always in check to be fine in a DEEP crash.
Always ready to capitalize in panics.

There will be a point in your life where you realize...
Going to work at your day job is actually costing you money to be there.
You'll realize your time is much more valuable than your hourly rate and you can produce MUCH more money investing or simply doing something else...
Don't limit yourself.

🟢How to fix your portfolio for 2026 & beyond:
NO Day trading
NO Swing trading
NO Covered calls
NO Cash secured puts
NO BS
INSTEAD, DO THIS:
- Build base portfolio.
- Sell portfolio secured puts (not cash secured)
- BUY shares with the premium from sold puts
- Buy calls with the premium from sold puts
(all options durations are 1+ year long)
(much safer, easier, profitable, & reproducible)
Simple wins.

Here is the brutal truth about the stock market right now as we come to the end of June…
(I know you may not wanna hear this... but you kinda need too)
YTD the nasdaq $Q & SP500 $VOO have absolutely ripped higher & it's a little too much...
I personally think we are a little disconnected from the fundamentals & the market is about 5 to 10% over valued.
Some single stocks are "worse"
So when we see the market not making a huge move up or even trending down, it should not shock you one bit. Things are a little hot and the market just needs time for EPS to catch up before we can take the next leg

Retail investor: I just buy and hold index funds. Slow and steady.
Me: Good. Seriously. That's the base. I do the exact same thing with $VOO and $Q
Retail investor: Wait, you hold index funds too?
Me: Of course. The only difference is I don't let them just sit there. I use them as collateral and sell puts against them for another 15% ish on top.
Retail investor: So you're not replacing index investing… you're stacking on it?
Me: Exactly. You're doing step one perfectly. You just stopped before step two.
Retail investor: What if he market crashes with he portfolio secured put?
Me: Ratios are al

If you own a big house, drive a Lambo and wear a Rolex but you work a job you hate.
You're still poor.

You want to beat 99% of options traders?
You don't need a better indicator.
You don't need to be smarter.
You need to be willing to be BORED.
Sell a portfolio secured put. Wait a year. Collect. Reinvest. Repeat.
No screens all day.
No 0DTE adrenaline.
No monthly garbage wheel strategy.
No "what's it doing right now."
Most people can't handle that.
They NEED the action.
So they trade themselves into the ground chasing dopamine.
Boring scaled me to millions & Warren Buffett to billions

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.

Want to know my real edge? It's not the trades I make.
It's the 90% I DON'T.
I look at a setup.
Below intrinsic value?
Real moat?
Pricing power?
Durable edge?
Macro thesis intact?
All five pass → I allocate via shares/options
Even ONE fails → I walk.
Every time.
No exceptions.
No "but it feels right."
Everyone obsesses over what to buy.
I made millions obsessing over what to skip.
Saying no to 95% of trades isn't being picky.
It's the entire strategy.

I want nothing but the best for everyone but I know a lot of ppl got SMOKED with covered calls.
I have been very LOUD about this.
They are a trap!
They cap upside and don’t help much in downside.
If you are bullish enough to hold the shares in your account why would you wanna immediately bet against yourself.
The cashflow you pick up is peanuts and you are missing the big move…
They work 9 out of 10 times.
But that 1 time, it will wipe out what you did the other 9.
They don’t work.
Stop with the garbage retail strategies done by ppl that don’t beat the market.

Most people "trading" check their phones probably 200 times a day.
Every red candle feels like a punch in the gut.
You lie in bed at 1am running scenarios you can't control.
Some weeks you'd be up. The next week you hand it all back.
But it doesn't have to be like that...
Because hey... We are all here to make money right.
This is why the name of the game is the long game.
Buy great companies for less than they are worth with great EPS growth.
Then ONLY use options to magnify ultra bullish plays.
It's that simple.
That is how I scaled to millions & beat the market for over a decade.