InvestingWithBrandon

"But Brandon, what if the stock tanks after you sell the portfolio secured put?"
I have three outs. Most people don't know about a single one:
1. Roll the contract DOWN and OUT & buy myself another year or two for earnings to grow. (stocks follow earnings)
2. Take the shares on a company I already wanted to own cheaper.
3. Buy the contract back — often still keeping most of my premium.
A losing options trade only wipes you out if you have no plan.
I always have a plan. That's why I sleep fine through 40% drops.

Everyone's terrified of getting "assigned" with options
Dumb...
I've sold puts for 10 years and been assigned exactly 4 times.
And every time... it wasn't a big deal.
Here's why:
I only sell puts on companies I'd be THRILLED to own at that strike.
So if I sell a put 10% below a price I already think is cheap, and I get the shares... I just got paid premium to buy a great company even cheaper.
This is also portfolio secured not cash secured... So NO cash draw like CSPs
If you're scared of assignment, you're selling puts on the wrong companies.

Where I set my strike when selling a put:
~10% BELOW the current price.
But only when the company is already below intrinsic value.
Think about what that does:
The stock is already cheap.
Then I give myself another 10% cushion under that.
Then I go 2 years out to give EPS time to grow.
THEN I collect premium on top.
For me to lose, a company I think is undervalued has to fall another 10%+ and stay there for 2 years...
Margin of safety on top of margin of safety.
That's how you beat the market.

"Valuations are elevated" does NOT automatically mean "head for the hills."
People hear it & instantly panic sell everything
Yes, I think the market's a little hot right now
No, I'm not calling for a major crash
A hot market can stay hot for a long time. It can also reset.
I don't try to predict the unpredictable
I just keep my ratios in check, never over leveraged, & stay positioned to win either way
That's the difference between investing vs doing what most retail investors do...

You can beat 99% of people...
Without being smarter than them.
Without being luckier than them.
You just have to be willing to endure discomfort LONGER than they will.
The market drops 30%. They sell. You hold.
A company goes quiet for 2 years. They give up. You keep buying.
The patience nobody wants to have is the edge everybody's willing to use.

What ACTUALLY moves an options contract's price:
(it's not just the share price)
Share price
Sentiment
Implied volatility
Demand for the contract
Duration
Strike
Most people only watch #1 and then wonder why they keep getting smoked.

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.

If you're selling cash secured puts, you're making a MAJOR mistake.
Think about it.
Selling a put means you're BULLISH.
So why would you let a giant pile of cash sit there doing absolutely nothing?
You wouldn't.
Secure the put with your base portfolio instead.
Now your collateral is COMPOUNDING while you collect premium on top of it.
CSP leaves money on the table. Every. Single. Month.

95% of retail investors underperform the S&P 500 in the long run.
That's not me being negative. It's just a fact.
Being a genius the last 3 years means nothing.
Everyone wins in a bull market.
The real question is how did you do through a BEAR market?
Through the COVID circuit breakers?
Through 2022?
That's the stuff that actually matters.

Most people do options completely backwards.
Market drops. Everyone panics and buys puts.
That bids put premiums UP.
So they're paying the MOST for protection right when stocks finally got CHEAP.
I do the exact opposite.
When quality companies get cheap, I'm SELLING portfolio secured puts and getting paid to buy great companies at a discount.
Be greedy when they're scared. It's that simple.

Walk into a bank with $100k.
Buy a CD, collect your 4%.
Then ask to ALSO use that same $100k as a down payment on a rental property.
They'll laugh you out the building. "You can't have your money in two places at once."
But that's exactly what I do every single month.
My shares (VOO/Q) sit there compounding ~10% a year.
Those SAME shares secure the puts I sell for another ~15%.
Same money. Two returns. Never on margin. Ratios always in check.
That's how 10% quietly becomes 25%.
And 25% is the difference between $1M and $61M over time.
Portfolio secured puts will change your life.

When trading Stocks & Options:
Always think about how the CEOs are incentivized in the companies.
What is their job?
1. More Revenue
2. More Efficiency
3. More EPS
All of that translates into higher share prices with time.
So when you align your plays with that, you have a major tailwind at your back! (meaning 1+ year expiration dates)

🔴You will NEVER get rich selling covered calls.
🟢You CAN get rich selling portfolio secured puts & taking that cash flow to buy additional shares.
Let those shares compound for many years & you will be happy.
Rules:
Only sell puts on companies with a moat, pricing power, durable competitive advantage, ok to hold for the long run, & trading near intrinsic value.
There is not always deals out there, but when there is, capitalize in a meaningful way.

Many people over complicate investing... LIKE BIG TIME.
You don't need 48 chart patterns & guess which one your company might be tracing...
NO.
What you do need is to find great companies at good prices.
Companies with a moat.
Companies with pricing power.
Companies that have a competitive advantage.
Companies that you are ok to hold long term.
While you can make money with complex short term strategies, 99.9% of people will not beat the SP500 in the long term doing it.
So why not buy the SP500 instead?
Well... The same reason Vegas is Vegas.
The herd loves the thrill of having the odds stacke

I haven’t met a single person that beat the SP500 doing the wheel strategy in the last 10 years as their primary strategy.
NOT ONE.
What does that tell you?

MARKETS DO NOT NEED TO CRASH JUST BECAUSE THEY LOOK A LITTLE HOT.
People hear “valuations are elevated” & instantly jump to “bear market is coming, head for the hills.”
I do think valuations are hot now, but I am not calling for a MAJOR crash (possible though).
The market can trade sideways for a long time while earnings catch up. It does not have to drop 15% just because fair value might be 15% lower. Short term price action is irrational more often than not.
Here is the part most investors miss.
Waiting for the "perfect" crash usually destroys more wealth than volatility ever will. You might

🔴RETAIL INVESTORS SIMPLY DO STOCK OPTIONS COMPLETELY BACKWARDS...
(Let's run through an example)
When the market is falling.
Retail investors want to buy puts.
That bids up the put premiums.
That makes put more expensive.
They are buying puts as the market is getting cheaper and safer (falling)
We will use this to our advantage.
Instead of bring like the herd & buying puts when things are falling and becoming cheaper/safer.
We will sell puts usually with a duration of a year other than longer. (MUCH SAFER AND EASIER TO REPRODUCE)
We will collect max premium and reinvest that back I to the com