InvestingWithBrandon

Retired at 31. $2.5M+ net worth. $30k+ a month from options.
People always ask what actually did it.
Not one big trade.
Not crypto.
Not luck.
A boring repeatable system.
Step 1. Build the base.
40% VOO. 40% Q. 20% individual stocks.
This alone beats 95% of fund managers long term.
Step 2. Maximize income. Live below it.
Every dollar of difference goes into the machine.
Income is the needle mover. Not cutting expenses.
Step 3. Add the options layer.
Portfolio secured puts. 1-2 year duration.
Only on compelling setups that pass all 5 criteria. (moat, pricing power, good valuation, ok to hold for

The first $100k is the hardest money you will ever make.
Not because you are doing something wrong.
Because compounding has not kicked in yet.
At $0. Every dollar is 100% you.
Your income. Your savings. Your effort.
At $100k and 20% returns.
Your money makes $20,000 a year without you.
At $500k.
$100,000 a year. Without you.
At $1M.
$200,000 a year. Without you.
The grind does not get easier because you get smarter.
It gets easier because your money starts doing the work.
Get through the first $100k.
Then the second comes faster.
Then the third.
Stop trying to skip the grind.
The grind is what

Here is something nobody talks about.
When the market is running hot.
Everyone is excited. Buying calls. Leveraging up.
That excitement drives up the price of call options.
High demand = high premium.
I am not buying those calls with the crowd.
I am selling them.
Taking top dollar from the people chasing the market up.
Generating cash flow at the worst possible time to be buying calls.
Because statistically.
The farther the market stretches above the EPS growth line.
The higher the chance of reversion.
So I take their money now.
Keep powder dry.
Wait for the dip.
Then I flip.
S

Before I sell any put option I ask myself one question.
"Am I comfortable holding these shares long term if I get assigned?"
If the answer is no.
I did not do enough research.
I do not actually believe in the company at this valuation.
I do not sell the put.
I move on.
If the answer is yes.
I sell the put (portfolio secured not cash secured)
Collect the premium.
Deploy it into shares and LEAP calls of the same company.
If I get assigned I am happy.
I own a quality company at a cheaper price.
If I do not get assigned the put expires and I keep the premium.
I win either way.
That

Two people. Market is cheap. Both sell puts.
Person A sells a 1 month put.
Collects about $1,000.
Market goes up. Makes money.
I sell a 2 year put when the setup is compelling.
Collect $18,000 instantly.
Both made money.
But I made 18x more.
And here is the thing that kills Person A.
To match what I made.
They have to sell 18 puts in a row perfectly. Month after month after month.
Some months the market is hot.
Premiums are small.
Some months the market dips.
They lose on their sold put.
Some months they roll.
It costs them money.
I made one trade at the right time.
Collected

One day you will remember this pic & wish you didn't waste so much time and energy day/swing trading.
Yes, I trade stocks
Yes, I trade options
But I do EVERYTHING in terms of 1 to 2 year tome horizons.
That's where the big money is.

When the market is cheap and everyone is panicking.
Two things are true at the exact same time.
1. Put options are expensive.
Herd is buying them for protection.
2. Call options are cheap.
Nobody wants to be bullish.
So I do both at once.
Sell puts for top dollar.
Buy calls for bottom dollar.
Then the market recovers.
The put I sold for top dollar is now worth almost nothing. I close it early. Take the profit.
The call I bought for bottom dollar is now worth a lot. Sentiment flipped. Everyone wants calls again.
AMD puts from last year. Held 3 months out of 24. About 85% realized ga

I make about $29k a month with options.
NO Charts
NO Day trading
NO Swing trading
NO Covered calls
NO Cash secured puts
NO BS
INSTEAD, I DO THIS:
Build base portfolio
Sell portfolio secured puts (not cash secured)
Buy LEAPS with the premium from sold puts
BUY shares with the premium from sold puts
(all 1+year option contracts)
I can explain it to a 12 year old & I will likely outperform 95% of people that read this.
Simple wins.

Ask yourself this one question before any options trade.
Could a CEO make this company meaningfully more valuable in one week? No. Almost never.
Could they do it in 1 to 2 years? Almost every single time. Absolutely.
So why are you doing weekly options?
You are not betting on business fundamentals.
You are gambling on short term news flow, headlines, and market noise.
Fundamentals cannot change in a week.
EPS cannot grow in a week.
Revenue cannot compound in a week.
That is why most retail options traders lose money.
They are playing a game where the fundamentals cannot even show up.

Most people lose money with options.
Here is the exact reason why.
They treat options as the strategy.
They buy weekly calls because something "looks good."
No thesis. No conviction. Just a gut feeling.
That is a magnified bet on a guess.
You are going to take a magnified loss. Every time.
Options are not the strategy.
Options are the multiplier.
You find a great company at good valuation with EPS growing.
High confidence it goes up over 1-2 years.
Then you layer options on top to multiply the return.
No confidence in the direction.
No option trade. Simple.
That is why I have a 9

Volatility is elevated right now.
The herd is scared.
They are flooding into puts for protection.
Paying top dollar for them.
I am on the other side of that trade.
When IV spikes. Premium goes up.
That means I collect more money per contract sold.
Fear is my payday.
I sell the put. Collect the premium.
Deploy it into more shares & LEAP calls.
Nothing sits idle.
The herd waits for certainty.
Certainty never comes.
And they miss the entire rebound.
Same cycle. Every time.

A lot of people in my DMs asking how I have beaten the market for 10 years.
10 year CAGR of 25.89%.
S&P did about 15% over the same period.
Here is the system.
Base portfolio first:
- 40% VOO
- 40% Q
- 20% individual stocks that pass the 5 filters
This alone already beats 95% of professional fund managers.
Then the options layer on top:
- Sell portfolio secured puts on undervalued quality names
- Take the premium. Buy more shares & LEAP calls.
- Nothing sits idle. Ratios always in check.
The options layer is what separates 15% from 25%.
Base first. Always.
Options ONLY to magni

I am looking to 2030 for these plays.
$MSFT $MU $META $UNH $TSM $HOOD $NVDA
Not 2026. Not next quarter. Not next month.
Short term = Volatile. "Scary" Noisy.
Long term = Good companies. Good prices. EPS growing.
All in the buy range up right now.
You are probably going to wish you allocated to most of this when you look back from 2030.
The news will move on.
The Iran situation settles.
The next thing comes.
The next thing after that.
But EPS keeps growing.
And the stock follows EPS. Every time.
Only invest money you don't need for 5+ years.
If you can do that. The rest takes care