InvestingWithBrandon

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🔴Your crappy strike price is why you get smoked with options...
(how to fix it right now)
Most retail investors sell puts with a strike price 5% ish below the current market price to "build a margin of safety"
They usually do this with monthly contracts.
Here's the BIG problem.
5% is not a good enough margin of safety, especially with a 1 month contract where you have no tailwinds of growth behind you.
(as EPS climbs, the stock will follow that up)
The solution is to sell 1+ year puts.
You can pick a strike price 20% below the money, get great premium, build a MUCH better margin of safety, ha
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So many people think more trades = more money.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
Think about Warren Buffett at $BRK.
He's one of the most "boring" investors of all time yet he is viewed as the best investor of all time.
Why?
Because he buys great companies at good prices & simply waits.
Does nothing.
Let's the revenue grow.
Let's the EPS grow.
Doesn't panic over every single headline.
& over the course of years, the stock will flow the fundamentals.
This again is why I NEVER do short duration plays, especially with options.
You don't have the tailwind of growth behind you... Don't make
When the market "CRASHES"
Everyone says "Buy the dip"
But do you know what it feels like to actually buy during a "meltdown" as an average retail investor?
- Your portfolio is red.
- The news says the world is ending.
- You second guess everything.
- You end up panic selling... at the exact wrong time.
HAPPENS EVERY CYCLE TO MOST RETAIL INVESTORS.
Smart investors will:
- Buy shares while they are on sale.
- Buy calls when nobody wants them. (cheaper)
- Sell puts when the herd is paying top dollar for them. (selling for max premium)
I always say the emotional aspect of investing is what crushes
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Please... Just STOP.
Stop selling CSP's
Stop selling covered calls on bullish stocks
Stop day trading
Stop doing short duration options trades
Stop getting emotional with your investments
Stop following the broke herd
Instead, do this:
- Build base portfolio
- Sell portfolio secured puts
- Use cash flow to buy more shares & some LEAP calls.
- Know what you own and why
- Accept volatility as opportunity
- Do 1+ year duration plays because they are easier
- Keep ratios in check
- Be patient
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HOW TO INVEST $100,000 RIGHT NOW SEPTEMBER 17TH 2026:
(works on any amount though)
$40k $VOO
$40k $Q
$15k individual companies
$5k leap calls
THEN:
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.
- Ratios in check to be just fine
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🟢Before I sell ANY put.
All 5 MUST be a YES. No exceptions.
1. Elite company... moat, pricing power, competitive advantage
2. Valuation must be good
3. Strike ~10% below that. Discount on top of discount
4. A year+ duration... so EPS has time to grow
5. Ratios in check... my base could cover all assignments even after a 50% crash
This checklist is boring. It's repetitive. It's also why I've never been wiped out in 12+ years & actually beat the market... while the "exciting" traders restart from ZERO every 18 months
What's the difference between RIGHT NOW & the 2000 Dot Com crash?
Then the PE ratio was 100
Now the PE ratio is 21
Yes... we will experience volatility.
Yes... Iran, oil, rates, bond yields, fed, Ai, inflation...
ALWAYS something to worry about.
but right now is very unlikely to be a bubble like it was in 2000.
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Retail investor: I got a raise & I'm not sure what to do with the extra money.
Me: What'd you do with the last one?
Retail investor: ...honestly? It just kind of disappeared into life.
Me: That's the most expensive thing that happens to most people & nobody notices it happening.
Retail investor: Lifestyle creep, I know.
Me: Here's the thing... You were fine on the old salary. So the entire raise is free money you've already proven you don't need.
Retail investor: So put all of it in?
Me: Look at that chart. Every raise you've ever had could've gone in there & you'd have never felt it missing.
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Retail investor: I jump out when things get scary, then hop back in once it's safe.
Me: You know the best days almost always come right after the worst ones?
Retail investor: ...they do?
Me: Miss just the 10 best days over a couple decades & your returns get cut nearly in HALF... & those days cluster right in the middle of the panic you're running from.
Time in the market > timing the market
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UNPOPULAR BRUTAL TRUTH...
We will ALWAYS have something "bad happening" & something to "worry about"
Iran, Oil, Hormuz, Inflation, Fed, Trump, ect...
But the "this time is different" saying has yet to be correct 1 single time...
Continue to buy great companies for less than they are worth and only do 1+ year options to magnify ultra high confidence setups.
& guess what... the future is likely to look like the past. VOLATILE.
STICK TO THE PLAN.
I don't day trade... 99% of them lose. (see chart below)
I don't sell covered calls... they cap the exact upside.
I don't sell cash secured puts... I'm not parking six figures in dead cash.
I don't touch weeklies... nobody knows what a stock does in 5 days.
I don't run spreads... I'm not paying to bet against my own trade.
I don't watch screens all day.
Here's what I actually do:
Build a base of $VOO + $Q
+ Elite companies that I hold for the long run.
Sell 1+ year portfolio secured puts on great companies below fair value, secured by that base.
Premium buys more shares. Shares secure bigger p
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VOO+1.17%
The first 25k is the hardest
but... the first $100k is is a little easier than the first 25k
but... the first $1M is a little easier than the first 100k
but... the first $2M is a little easier than the first 1m
One you get to one level, the next comes faster.
STICK WITH IT.
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Retail investor: Nike $NKE just hit a 52 week low. That's gotta be a steal at these prices.
Me: Maybe. Let's actually check instead of guessing.
Retail investor: It's Nike. Everybody knows Nike.
Me: Brand recognition doesn't matter... Pull up the earnings. Are profits growing or shrinking over the last few years?
Retail investor: ...I don't actually know.
Me: That's the whole question. A falling price with growing profits is a dip. A falling price with falling profits is a company in trouble...
Retail investor: So a 52 week low means nothing by itself?
Me: Nothing. It's a price, not a value. W
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NKE+1.60%
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Retail investor: Oil just went over $100, inflation's at 3.4%, & now they're talking about RAISING rates. I'm going to cash.
Me: Look at that chart. Point to where all of that started.
Retail investor: ...it's been building for months.
Me: Yet somehow the Nasdaq $Q is up over 22% in the last year...
Retail investor: I know. That makes no sense.
Me: It never does in the moment. So many people focus on every little headline and miss the big needle mover stuff that ACTUALLY moves the market.
Retail investor: What is that? So I just ignore all this bad stuff?
Me: EPS growth is VERY strong. The eco
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Retail investor: I'm holding cash until the next real crash. That's when I'll finally load up.
Me: Look at $Q's chart real fast.
See COVID 2020? INFLATION 2022? TARIFFS 2025? IRAN 2026?
Retail investor: Yeah, the dips are obvious in hindsight.
Me: Ok. Did you buy any of them?
Retail investor: ...no. Every single one felt like the start of something worse.
Me: & that's the problem with the "plan." You've already had 4 "crashes" & bought ZERO of them. The next one will feel exactly the same... like the end of the world & you'll likely miss the opportunity again...
Retail Investor: I mean... I ju
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If this makes you nervous…
You really need to rethink your investing “strategy”
Nasdaq up 17% YTD
SP500 up 13% YTD
Nobody should be panicking & complaining.
NDAQ+2.83%
I haven’t met a single person that beat the SP500 doing CCs, CSPs or wheel strategy in the last 10 years as their primary strategy.
NOT ONE...
& yes... this is the 5th time I made this post in the last few months...
What does that tell you?
Why does Warren Buffett not do these strategies?
Hmm...
If you put $100 into $NVDA in 2010, you would be rich today.
Well...
Let’s play it out if you somehow did nothing & held until right now.
You would have $230 by the end of 2015
and did nothing
Then watched that $230 climb to about $2,000 by the 2018 peak
and still did nothing
Then watched $2,000 get cut in half to under $1,000 in the late 2018 crash
and still did nothing
Then watched it rip to around $9,500 at the November 2021 peak
and still did nothing
Then watched $9,500 collapse to about $3,200 at the October 2022 bottom
and still did nothing
Then watched $3,200 explode to a little over $5
NVDA+2.56%
Someone paid me $22k to agree to buy their $GOOG shares at $290... 2 ish years from now.
Say that out loud. It sounds fake.
& here's the part people can't wrap their heads around... there are only 3 ways this ends:
It never drops to $290? I keep the $22k. For nothing.
It drops there? I buy a company I already love at a price I already wanted... & STILL keep the $22k.
It drops halfway & recovers? Keep the $22k, sell the next one.
There is no fourth option. Every door is a win when you only make this promise on great companies below fair value.
The best part about it? This is portfolio secured..
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GOOG+1.29%
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