InvestingWithBrandon

Selling portfolio secured puts on great companies when they're cheap is the closest thing to free money I've ever found. PERIOD.
You collect the premium the same day.
Cash in your account, instantly.
Re deploy the cash instantly.
Secured with base portfolio so no cash drag like CSP.
Ratios in check to be fine in any market crash.
And the only way you "lose" is you end up getting assigned shares of a company you already wanted at a price you love.
Doesn't sound like too much of a loss to me.

Almost everyone who buys calls gets torched.
Here's how I buy them and actually come out ahead.
The killer is theta. Buy a short dated call and the clock drains it every single day the stock doesn't take off.
So I refuse to play that game.
When I buy a call, it's a LEAP. One to two years out, bare minimum.
That long runway means theta barely touches it day to day, and the company gets real time for earnings to grow & the share price to follow the EPS.
And I only buy them on great companies at good prices..
I'm not buying a Friday lottery ticket like most ppl.
I'm buying time on a great company

Want to know if someone actually understands options?
Ask them why they're holding cash to secure a sold put.
If you're selling a put, you're bullish. You WANT the stock to go up.
So why would you let a giant pile of cash sit there earning nothing, while betting on a company you think is heading higher?
It falls apart the second you say it out loud.
I secure my puts with a base portfolio that's compounding the whole time. The bullish bet and the money behind it are pulling in the same direction.
Most people never even think to question the cash.
That's the tell.
Also... people will say "Brando

Excited people chase.
Excited people overtrade.
Excited people buy tops.
Excited people sell bottoms.
Excited people use too much size.
Excited people force trades because sitting in cash feels lame.
The boring person buys great companies
Waits for good prices.
Manages risk.
Does nothing when nothing needs to be done.
Lets time work.
That sounds boring until you realize boring will likely beat 95%+ of other investors in the long term...

Selling Covered Calls Is About To DESTROY Your Portfolio.
Let me explain.
Covered calls means you own the shares, that's what makes it covered.
If you own the shares, you are bullish right?
Hope so!
So what does selling calls actually mean?
Well, you are agreeing to sell your shares at a certain price in a certain timeframe.
Sounds good right?
You get to sell your shares for a profit and collect the premium.
In theory, sure.
But in the real world, there is a MAJOR problem.
CAPPING YOUR UPSIDE!
I can't tell you how many people I have talked to that bought shares cause they were bullish, then so

"I'm just taking a little profit off the table."
That sentence has capped more wealth than almost anything else in investing.
You found a great company. It ran. So your gut says sell some and lock it in.
You just sold the exact thing that was making you money, to feel safe for one afternoon.
The entire point is to find elite companies and let them run for DECADES. Trimming your winners every time they're up is how you end up holding a pile of mediocre stuff you were too nervous to let grow.
I don't trim just to trim.
I trim when it makes sense to from a fundamental standpoint.
Not my percent p

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.

All the people posting “omg the market is going to be so red tomorrow” are the same retail investors that get excited when it’s green.
NEVER EVER LET EMOTIONS COME IN TO INVESTMENT DECISIONS.
The market will always be volatile.
There will be bumps in the road.
Stop looking at your feet.
Focus on the big picture.
Companies will continue to grow profits.
Allocate to the good ones at good valuations.
Do 1+ year options.
Then be patient and watch everyone panic.
I’m here to make money.
I’m sure you are too.
Stick to the plan.
Keep emotions in check.
This changes nothing with Iran.

Your HORRIBLE 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

The BIGGEST hack with selling portfolio secured puts is that you can technically make an unlimited ROI.
(not kidding)
Roll with me on this one, it will BLOW YOUR MIND!
So selling puts is a bullish strategy.
That's why I would never want to sell "cash secured puts", I sell "portfolios secured puts."
(cash sits there and does nothing, but portfolio secured works for you being invested)
Ok.
So when I sell portfolio secured puts and collect say $20k for example, I take that cash flow and buy $20k in shares of the company I am bullish on. (same one I am selling puts on)
I usually sell 1 year contra

THE STOCK MARKET WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO DO THE WRONG THING AT THE WORST TIME.
(this crushes most people)
When stocks are expensive and ripping, you feel like buying everything. (usually more risky)
When stocks are cheap and everyone is scared, you feel like selling everything. (usually a better deal)
When a great stock goes sideways, you feel like replacing it. (a big upside move could be close)
When your plan is finally about to work, you mess it up...
The market is not just testing your research/thesis.
It is testing your patience, discipline, & emotions.
Most people do not lose because they

The last 3 years of the stock market have been abnormal.
NASDAQ up 112% in 3 years.
Every dip was a V-shaped recovery.
Every option strategy worked.
Everyone was a genius...
Guess what.
That's not how markets always work.
We will get 40% crashes.
We will have volatility.
We will have bad things happen.
You need to ensure the strategy/companies you buy can handle the storms.
Cause if not... you are only as good as the bull market lasting & 1 crash away from being reset...
Please don't do that with your hard earned money.

"I just want steady monthly cashflow from my options."
That one desire is quietly keeping people poor.
Because cashflow and total return are not the same thing, and chasing the first one constantly wrecks the second.
Look at the YieldMax crowd.
Two years in, bragging they finally got their money back, while the index they could've just held is up 40% and their share price got smoked.
I don't optimize for a number every month.
I build total return over years and pull cash when I actually need it.
Stop thinking you are doing something productive with monthly with BS cash flow at the HUGE cost of

Let's put real numbers on this.
Say you've got $100k sitting in VOO and Q.
That base alone does its ~10% a year. Roughly $10k.
Now you use that SAME base as collateral to sell puts on quality companies when they're cheap.
Conservatively another ~10%. Call it $10k.
Same $100k. Now around $20k is working for you instead of $10k.
You didn't add a single new dollar.
You didn't go on margin.
You kept your ratios in check to be fine in any DEEP market crash
You just stopped letting your collateral do one job when it could easily do two.
Compound that gap for 30 years and it's the difference between

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 ~11% 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.