InvestingWithBrandon

Retail investor: I've been investing 5 years & I'm barely up. Starting to think this doesn't work.
Me: What have you been doing?
Retail investor: Bit of everything. Swing trades, some options, a few stocks people were hyping.
Me: So 5 years of trying to beat the market by being "ACTIVE."
Retail investor: Yeah pretty much.
Me: & what did plain $Q do over those same 5 years?
Retail investor: ...way better than me.
Me: So the market worked fine. The activity/strategy is what didn't.
Retail investor: That's kind of depressing.
Me: It's actually the good news. You don't need more skill. You need to

Retail investor: I've got $300k in the Nasdaq $Q. Honestly that feels like enough. I just let it ride.
Me: You're ahead of almost everyone. You should be proud of yourself!
Retail investor: Then what are you doing that I'm not?
Me: Your $300k does one job. It grows. Mine does two.
Retail investor: What's the second job?
Me: Securing puts. I promise to buy great companies at a discount & someone pays me cash today for the promise.
Retail investor: Do I have to sell my index funds to do that?
Me: Not a share. They keep compounding exactly like they do now. They just also back the trade.
Retail i

Retail investor: I bought $Q right before COVID & panic sold when it crashed. Still makes me sick.
Me: I bought $Q in January 2020 also. Look at those lots.
Retail investor: ...those are all up over 200%.
Me: Yea... just the ones in this screenshot made me about $40,000
Retail investor: So the only difference is I sold.
Me: That's the only difference. You didn't pick wrong. You didn't time it wrong. You just reacted when it made sense to do nothing & actually even allocate more...
Retail investor: It felt like the world was ending.
Me: It always does at the bottom. That's what a bottom feels l

Retail investor: How much cash do you keep on hand to secure all your puts?
Me: Here's my cash balance.
Retail investor: ...that can't be right. You make $25k a month selling puts.
Me: That's right. Cash isn't what secures them.
Retail investor: Then what does?
Me: My shares of $VOO + $Q + Elite companies. The broker just needs to know something covers the sold puts. Shares work.
Retail investor: So your shares are compounding AND securing the trades?
Me: Every day. Cash secured sellers park a mountain of money that earns nothing for months... if not years. This is where the portfolio secured

Retail investor: I could never hold through a real crash. I'd fold.
Me: You know $META fell from $382 to $89, right? Late 2021 to November 2022.
Retail investor: I remember. Everyone said the company was finished.
Me: 77% down. "Zuckerberg burned it all on the metaverse." Headlines were brutal. & at $89... would YOU have bought?
Retail investor: Honestly? No shot. It felt like it was going to zero.
Me: That's the thing. It was still printing billions in profit at $89. The fundamental BUSINESS value wasn't down 77%... the share price was. Very different... Price fell way below fair value.
Retai

Imagine a guy who knocks on your door every single day offering to buy your house.
Monday: "I'll give you $500k!"
Tuesday: "Actually... $430k."
Wednesday: "MARKET'S CRASHING. $350k, final offer!"
Thursday: "Never mind. $520k."
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

I started buying $Q in January 2019.
Here's what those shares look like today.
Every lot here up between 236% to 362%.
I didn't sell in the COVID crash.
I didn't sell when Q fell 36% in 2022.
Every single lot says Long Term. Not one share sold. Not one dollar of tax paid on these gains.
& these shares aren't just sitting there. They're the collateral behind the portfolio secured puts I sell every month. They compound AND they work a second job.
Doing nothing is the hardest skill in this game. It's also the one that pays the most.

Retail investor: Your $META call is up 135%. You're taking profits right?
Me: Why would I?
Retail investor: Because it's up 135%. Lock it in.
Me: The percent doesn't tell me anything. It just tells me what already happened.
Retail investor: Then what tells you when to sell?
Me: One question. Is META still compelling? Great business, still at a price that makes sense? If yes, I'm holding. If no, I'm selling.
Retail investor: So it could be up 300% & you'd still hold?
Me: If the company's still compelling, yes. & it could be up 20% & I'd sell it if the setup/thesis broke for whatever reason.
Ret

🟢How to fix your portfolio before 2027:
Retired at 31. $3M+ invested. $25k+/mo from options. Here's the exact setup.
NO day trading (99% lose over time)
NO swing trading (guessing short term moves nobody can predict)
NO covered calls (caps your upside, barely protects your downside)
NO cash secured puts (your money sits dead while the market runs)
NO BS
INSTEAD, I DO THIS:
1. Build a base portfolio. S&P 500, Nasdaq, & a few elite companies. Never sell it.
2. Sell portfolio secured puts on great companies below fair value. The base secures them, NOT cash.
3. Use the premium to buy more shares.

My screen time on my brokerage app last week: 28 minutes.
For the whole week.
I make about $29k a month with options & I barely open the app.
People assume real money means watching charts & screens all day.
WRONG.
For years... most do exactly that. Six screens, alerts going off, checking every red candle. & end up losing money the entire time vs the SP500.
Every trade I have open is a year or more out, on great companies below fair value, with ratios that survive EASILY in a 50% crash.
There's nothing to check. A red Monday doesn't change anything.
If your screen time on your trading app is m

Headlines this year: A war in month 7. Oil over $100 a barrel. Inflation running out of control. The Fed chair hinting at RAISING rates more. Ai going to end all humans. Market is a bubble.
The market is on track for its fourth straight annual gain up 12% YTD.
This is the part nobody internalizes.
The market doesn't trade on how bad the news sounds. It trades on how much companies EPS grows (earnings per share)
Every single year of my life there's been a reason to sit out. Every one.
The people who sat out are still sitting out. They're waiting for a year without scary headlines & that year ha

Retail investor: I take profits every time I'm up 25%. Lock it in, never go broke taking gains.
Me: Look at that 5 year chart. How many "25% moves" are on it?
Retail investor: A few... but they kept going after.
Me: Right. So every time you locked in 25%, the thing kept running & you were out. Then you paid taxes on the gain, so you need your next pick to work just to catch back up to taxes paid.
Retail investor: I mean I have to sell sometime.
Me: Do you? Here's what the wealthy actually do. They don't sell their best shares. Ever. They get their cash a different way.
Retail investor: Which i