I bet you've heard it a thousand times: "Just buy great companies and hold them forever." Sounds safe. Sounds smart. But is it really? Check out the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 since 1985: It’s a wake-up call 1985:  IBM, XOM GE, 2005:  GE, ExxonMobil, Citi 2024:  AAPL, NVDA, MSFT Notice anything? Yesterday’s leaders didn’t vanish—they just lost their top spots. IBM and ExxonMobil are still around. Still paying dividends. But their explosive growth is history. Real wealth was created by investors who adapted—those who spotted new trends early and acted on them. The Loyalty Trap Holding a stock forever sounds cool. But loyalty doesn’t make you wealthy—adaptability does. If you'd bought IBM in 1985 and held tight: You made modest gains. You earned steady dividends. I hope you sold covered calls But you missed enormous opportunities: Microsoft’s incredible rise Amazon dominating e-commerce Nvidia powering AI Why? Emotional attachment to yesterday's winners. Successful investing isn’t ego—it’s balancing patience with agility. The Winning Formula: Patience + Agility Patience:  Let compounding work for you. Stay consistently invested. Agility:  Adapt when leaders and industries shift. Top investors adjust their portfolios, rethink positions, and capture new trends early. My Playbook (Feel Free to Steal This Strategy) You don’t need to predict the future perfectly—you need a flexible system. That's why SPY is my largest holding: Constantly rebalances into new market leaders Moves away from declining giants Here’s how I actively manage positions: Bought Google at IPO. I've been selling covered calls for over a decade. I sold half near the top last year. I sell covered calls on stocks like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Walmart to generate consistent monthly income (exactly what I teach in my free Covered Call Mini Course ). Don't be afraid take profits—stocks aren’t trophies. Use put selling to strategically to re-enter positions (take my free Put Selling Mini Course , I give you my exact checklist) Keep Your Investing Simple, Smart, and Effective Forget complexity. Follow these straightforward rules: Core Holdings:  An S&P 500 ETF should be your largest holding. Yeah it's super boring, but that's the point, let it rebalance automatically. Strategic Profit-Taking:  Capture gains regularly. Use Moving Averages and Support and Resistance to determine where to buy and sell. Cash is a position:  Have cash ready for opportunities, when others are afraid deploy your cash into stocks you like. Speculate:  Look for exciting new companies, and put small amounts of your paycheck into these names on a REGULAR basis. Calculated bets in small names can create huge returns. Today's giants won’t dominate forever. Tomorrow’s leaders are emerging now. Stop treating stocks as permanent trophies. Build a portfolio that's built to adapt—even if that means embracing "boring" ETFs. See you right here next week, much sooner in our free discord ! Happy Trading Good Kids! -$Maxwell Enjoy this post? Share it with a friend and Subscribe to my email notifications . No spam, I don't sell your data. Let's simplify wealth-building together. Remember I"m not a financial advisor, this is not investment or trading advice. This is educational content from someone who's been doing this a long time.

It’s Friday, April 24, 2025, and May options are sitting at 21 Days to Expiration (DTE). From a math perspective, today is the 'best' day to roll your math based trades to keep them around 45 DTE, a sweet spot that balances risk and reward. This week I’ll break it down as simple as I can. Explaining the best-practice approach to rolling options, discussing the risk in plain terms, and share my personal tweak. Let's keep your trading plan so straightforward and understandable so you’ll actually stick with it. Why 21 DTE Matters: The Math of Risk Think of options like an ice cream cone: as time passes, the ice cream melts, and the cone gets a little soggy. Stock options lose extrinsic value (the time and uncertainty part of an option) which is great for option sellers. Think of options like an ice cream cone This melting is called theta  (time decay), and it’s our profit engine. At 45 DTE, the cone melts slowly and predictably. Think of it like ice cream that just came out of the freezer and it's giving us steady income. But after 21 DTE, the ice cream melting speeds up, and if you haven't eaten most of it, you are more likely to have a mess on your hands. The cone is sorta hanging on, it's a little soggy. In the options world this means that small moves in stock price can have a bigger impact on that option's price. This sensitivity is gamma, a math term that measures how fast the option’s value reacts to the stock's movement. After 21 DTE, gamma spikes, so a tiny stock move can make the option’s price jump more unexpectedly. For Example: At 45 DTE, you sold a $95 put on a $100 stock. The put has a delta (price sensitivity) of 0.40 and gamma of 0.02. If the stock drops $1, delta shifts to -0.42. That's nice and calm. At 21 DTE, gamma might be 0.05. That $1 drop pushes delta to -0.45, making the put’s price swing more, increasing out risk as the seller. High gamma at 21 DTE is like a soggy ice cream cone on a hot day—one wrong move, and your profits are leaking on to the ground. Rolling to 45 DTE gives you a fresh start, a nice new cone: refreshing the ice cream by resetting the theta and gamma, keeping your trades predictable. A Simple 4-Step Rolling Plan Here’s a quick, repeatable process to roll your options at 21 DTE. It takes minutes and it keeps risk low so you’re trading smart, not gambling. Step 1: Spot Your 21 DTE Positions Check your portfolio for May options (21 DTE today). TastyTrade makes it easy, just sort your position tab by the DTE column. But you should review all your positions each week regardless. Step 2: Check if it's ITM/OTM Compare the stock's price with the strike price with the options price. The math says roll at 21 DTE, but I don’t always follow the rule. For short puts, I sometimes hold past 21 DTE if the option's strike isn’t tested (stock price above strike price) especially when I’m okay owning the stock. I know we just talked about how our gamma risk is higher, but if i REALLY don't mind owning the company, and I sold the put using the checklist from the free put selling mini course , I'll hold on until the put is tested, or my profit is hit. It’s not pure math, but it’s worked for me, remember I think of shares of stock like assets. I’m happy to hold shares long-term if needed. Step 3: Roll to the next monthly expiration (45ish DTE) Rolling an option is actually two trades, but most brokers combine it for us. We are buying to close the current option and selling to open a new one for June expiration When I roll, I usually keep the same strike, and I like to make sure I'm getting 1% for the roll. So a 90 strike put should be about a .90 credit. Rolling keeps you in the low-gamma, high-theta zone, where time decay pays and risk stays low. Remember when we roll, we collect another credit. We get paid more money immediately! Step 4: Track and Repeat This is where most traders fail... Log each roll in a basic spreadsheet or use software to keep up with each credit. Don't depend on your broker to keep up with this. Tasty Trade does better than most brokers but most of the time, the P/L is on the current option and doesn't keep up with the history. If you aren't keeping up with the credits, you aren't taking this serious and you won't have a full understanding of your current profit and loss. Please check your portfolio every Friday and keep up with each adjustment you make. Why This Beats Rolling the Dice Rolling at 21 DTE uses math (low gamma, high theta) to keep your trades predictable and profitable. My selective put-holding strategy adds a little flexibility, letting me capitalize on stable stocks even if there is a little extra risk. At 21 DTE, your options are melting ice cream cones—profitable but a little soggy. Roll to 45 DTE to keep your math nerd card, or try my put-holding twist. Either way, you’re stacking the odds in your favor, not just rolling the dice. The numbers don’t lie, and this plan is easy enough to make options trading a habit you’ll keep. See you right here next week! Happy Trading Good Kids -$Maxwell

Let me say something that might get some side-eye. Your 401(k) still matters. Your Roth IRA matters. And no, you’re not a sucker for putting money into accounts you can’t touch for 20 or 30 years. I know that’s not the loudest take right now. Short-term noise is deafening. Between tariffs possibly jacking up prices, inflation already hurting us, and this brutal market pullback—we’ve dropped nearly 20% since February. It’s easy to feel like the sky’s falling. Even in the chaos, the best time to build your future is still today. Yeah, This Pullback Hurts I’ll be honest—I haven’t been sleeping great lately. This volatility feels scary. My long-term portfolio’s taken a hit. I bet yours has too. But here’s why I’m not pulling out of my retirement accounts: Markets have always had rough patches—and history shows they usually recover over a longer time frame. This never feels good. By the time we’re cracking open those IRAs, this moment will be nothing more than a footnote. Future you will either high-five you… or kick you for giving up. The Problem No One Talks About… Most people have no clue what’s in their 401(k). Back when I was still clocking in at corporate, even the sharpest people I knew: Had no idea what funds they picked Never checked expense ratios Just accepted whatever default their HR portal spit out It’s not their fault. These plans are built to check legal boxes—not to help you actually build wealth. But when the market tanks, that confusion turns into panic. And you’re left staring at your shrinking balance with no idea what’s going on. Hidden Fees = Hidden Damage A 1% difference in annual fees can eat up over 25% of your retirement savings over 35 years. That’s compounding—working against you. And in a pullback like this? Those fees hit even harder. When I was building my 401(k), I focused on: Maxing out the employer match (free cash, baby) Dodging high-fee funds Parking money in broad index funds tied to the S&P 500 Letting it ride Now that I’ve ditched the 9–5, I’ve rolled that 401(k) into a self-directed IRA. Even with markets wobbling, I’m not selling everything. Why? Because cashing out now just locks in losses. I’m betting on 2040—not next Tuesday. “But I Need That Money Now…” Trust me—I get it. Tariffs will make things more expensive. Inflation has already squeezed everyone. And when your account’s bleeding red, it’s tempting to pull the plug. I’ve stared at my balance too, heart racing, wondering if I’m crazy for staying in. But here’s the thing: If every dollar you make today gets spent today, you’re just running in place. The only way out is building something that pays you later— Cash flow. Ownership. Freedom. Retirement accounts aren’t about tying up your money. They’re about securing your future moves. Even small deposits can grow big. Picture this: $5,000 in a Roth IRA today, growing at 7% annually, could hit $25,000 in 25 years. That’s not a lottery ticket. That’s just math. And pullbacks like this? They’re when stocks go on sale—if you’ve got the guts to keep investing. Pro Tip: Automate It Got a raise? Bump your 401(k) contribution by 1%. You won’t miss it— But your future self will love you for it. Then open a Roth IRA. Stick with no-drama brokerages like Tastytrade (they’re offering a bonus to get started). Buy a low-cost ETF like $SPY or $VOO… and walk away. Right now, even with the market down, I’m still dollar-cost averaging into SPY. Scary? Hell yeah. Smart? History says so. My Retirement Accounts Aren’t Flashy. They’re Bulletproof. I don’t have a 401(k) anymore—I’m done with cubicles. But the accounts I built are still chugging along (okay… stumbling a bit the last couple of months). I didn’t get here by chasing hot stocks or timing dips. I got here by showing up consistently. While X is buzzing with tariff panic and crash predictions, I’m thinking about 2008, 2020, and every other “end of the world” moment that wasn’t. The S&P 500 has averaged about 10% annually since 1928—crashes and all. (Source: MacroTrends) That’s what keeps me steady. Final Thought Don’t let TikTok Furus, Instagram hype, or panic posts on X mess with your long game. 401(k)s and IRAs aren’t perfect—they’re clunky, they’ve got rules, and yeah, they’re hurting right now. But they’re still one of the best tools we’ve got. Pair them with smart choices and a long-term view, and they deliver peace of mind—and serious cash down the road. This pullback’s testing me too. It’s loud. It’s unnerving. It’s got me checking my accounts more than I’d like. But I’m not abandoning ship. I’m sticking with the boring, proven plan that’s outlasted every crisis before this one. Because that’s not hype. That’s just math. See you right here next week, much sooner in the Good Kids Trading Discord Turning knowledge into wealth, -$Maxwell

This Market Hurts. But This Is Where Real Traders Are Built. Let’s not sugarcoat it. The last two weeks have been brutal. March was rough. April hasn’t let up. And when markets move like this, most people panic and quit. This is when you remind yourself: We don’t trade to feel good. We trade with systems, plans, and conviction . Everyone loves trading when the market is going up. But this is where the separation happens.This is where we stop thinking like “retail traders” and start acting like professionals. The sell-off isn’t just a pullback—it’s a pressure test. Not of your strategy. Of your mindset. You can quote 80% win rates on 20-delta puts. But when your P/L looks like it fell off a cliff, probabilities feel like lies.This is when math sounds like poetry—pretty, but disconnected from your emotions. So here’s the $Maxwell mindset: Don’t blow up before the bounce. Don’t let short-term pain break a long-term plan. Trade small, expect chaos, build slow. Volatility makes small trades look big. And when VIX is this high, your P/L will lie to you.This is not the time to judge yourself—this is the time to hold steady. Focus on the notional value of your put sells. Shares NEVER expire... If your screen is red and the news feels like fear…Pause. Zoom out. And write things down. What did you actually do? What do you wish you had done? What can you learn from this? This is how real traders grow. Not when everything’s working.But when nothing feels like it is. So what now? Look at the weekly 100 and 200 MAs Stick to your mechanics Keep some cash ready—not to chase, but to act when things settle Focus on quality names and sectors less impacted by headlines Don't go all in. Don't go full bear. Just don’t disappear. This is the hard part. But this is where wealth is built. I’ll see you next week. -$Maxwell

Let’s be real: nobody likes seeing their portfolio bleed. I don’t. You don’t. And with tariffs consuming all news, stocks dipping, and the internet yelling “Sell!” or “Buy my course!”, it’s easy to feel the heat. But here’s what 20+ years of trading—including losing everything in the dot-com crash—taught me: pullbacks aren’t the end; they’re the setup . You don’t need to panic. You need a plan. Why I’m Not Going All Cash (And You Shouldn’t Either) I’ve never dumped everything into cash when the market wobbles. Why? Because timing the bottom is a fool’s game—I’ve tried and failed. Instead, I’ve been trimming winners over the past six months. Not because I’m psychic, but because selling high gives me cash to buy low later. We even took some winners and sold some calls this week on Wednesday as the market had a relief rally! All of my cash went back into into $SGOV, a short-term Treasury ETF. It earns me 4-5% interest, stays liquid, and sits ready for discounts. It’s like keeping a stash of dry powder while the market figures itself out. Yes, It Could Drop More—That’s Why I Have Rules Can the market fall further? Sure. Tariffs could sting. But I don’t guess—I use systems. Moving averages tell me when a stock’s trending up or breaking down. Pyramid levels (adding to winners, not losers) keep my entries disciplined. System beats prediction every time. When prices break through support, I don’t freak out—I get ready to find my new price levels. Hedging: Your Secret Weapon Real estate folks can’t hedge as easily as we can. Here’s how I protect my portfolio without selling the farm: 1. Covered Calls:  Own 100 shares? Sell a call option against them. You cap your upside past a certain price, but you pocket cash upfront. It’s like renting out your stocks for extra income while lowering your risk. Watch my minicourse on youtube 2. Collars: Buy a put (downside protection) and sell a call (offsets the cost). It’s not free, but it’s cheap insurance. Think of it as a seatbelt for your portfolio. 3. Super Collars (Nerd Alert):  Swap the long put for a put debit spread. You limit protection to, say, a 10-25% drop—because we all know names like Apple/Meta/Google aren't going to zero over tariffs. This cuts costs and keeps you in the game. These moves shrink your portfolio’s “delta”—how much it swings with the market—without forcing you to cash out or ditch your best stocks. Zoom Out: Pullbacks Are Normal The S&P 500 hit all-time highs recently. Guess what? A 10% correction happens almost every year (Schwab’s tracked this since forever). Markets don’t climb forever—they breathe. You don’t avoid drawdowns; you ride them. What I Don’t Do - Sell everything and hide. - Try to nail the exact bottom. - Buy into panic-driven hype. And I don’t lose sight of this: we’ll see new highs again . History says so. Y our Pullback Playbook - Trim Winners: Lock in gains now for ammo later. - Stash Dry Powder: Park some cash in $SGOV or similar. - Hedge Smart: Use calls or collars to sleep better. - Stick to Rules: Let moving averages guide you. - Stay Calm: Freedom’s the goal, not fear. Grab This Free Guide Feeling the market’s weight? I’ve got you. My Hedging Guide for Normal Investors breaks down these strategies in plain English—no fear, no fluff, just smart protection. Get it free here: https://mrmoneymaxwell.gumroad.com/l/kjfqzg Let’s trade smart, not scared. Join me in the Good Kids Trading discord for real time updates. Happy Trading Good Kids -$Maxwell

I know you’re worried. You ’re seeing red on your screen. You ’re hearing words like tariffs , sell-off , recession, slowdown . And I get it—your first instinct is to play defense. To pull back. To freeze. To wait for some “all-clear” signal that never actually comes. But here’s what I’ve learned after trading through nearly 30 years of cycles: Fear always  feels real in the moment. It never looks  like a good time to buy. And yet—those are the times that quietly set the stage for long-term growth. I’m not saying “go all in.” I’m not saying “ignore risk.” I’m saying this: Don’t let fear take over your financial life. Because fear feels  safe... But it keeps you stuck. It tells you stories about “protecting what you have” while quietly stealing your chance to build what you actually want . This is the part most people miss: Every drop in the market is someone else’s entry point. You can either be scared of the storm... Or you can learn to build in the rain. Here’s what we’re doing at Good Kids Trading right now: Selling premium in high-IV names like $SBUX and $NVDA. Setting up risk defined math based trades Building pyramid-style entries into long-term positions. Staying patient. Staying active. Staying calm. Because we’re not gamblers. We’re builders. And builders don’t wait for perfect conditions... They lay the next brick anyway. You’re going to look back on this season one day. And the only question will be: Did I let fear run the show... or did I keep moving forward anyway? You don’t need to be aggressive. You just need to take one small step. Even a tiny position. Fear only wins if you sit still. Let’s move. Let’s build. Let’s think like $Maxwell. C'ya next week right here, much sooner in our discord Happy trading Good Kids, -$Maxwell

Posting this one a little early since I’m heading to NYC for the weekend to enjoy some time away—letting my passive strategies do the work while I step back from the noise. Don't skip this blog, I'm still giving you my perspective, with a touch of no one knows anything.. Markets have been selling off for weeks. Tariffs, uncertainty, fear—every headline screams doom. It feels like every time you check the news, something else is going wrong. Traders are panicking. Some are convinced this is just the beginning of something worse. But let’s take a step back. Remember Last Year and the Year before? For the last two years, I’ve heard the same thing from so many traders: ❝Darn, I missed the bull run. I wish I had been in the market.❞ And now? The market finally pulls back, and what happens? Fear takes over again. I get it. We all  feel it. That little voice in the back of your head saying, "Maybe this time is different." But it’s not. This is how markets work. in 2023 and 2024 everyone looked back at 2020, I wish i was trading then, I would have bought the dip. I traded 2020, and 2008... When you listen to the headlines it's the end of the world... Most were too scared to buy. I remember Covid clearly—sitting there, watching an analyst on CNBC say something about zombies  and how the economy might never recover. He wasn’t even joking. But that was the moment I made one of the best decisions of my life. I put all my savings into the market. It kept dipping for a little bit, but guess what? The market came roaring back! And here we are again. Another pullback. Another round of fear. Another opportunity—if you can see past the noise. Short-Term vs. Long-Term: The Bigger Picture Markets move in cycles—always have, always will. There are only two types of traders: Those who react emotionally.  They see red and panic, often selling at the worst time. Those who stick to a system.  They see opportunity and use volatility to their advantage. Right now, the traders who win are: Selling premium  while volatility is high. Rolling and managing trades  instead of panicking. Buying shares in strong companies  at a discount. These are the same strategies I talk about every day. How You Trade This Market Selling short puts at key support levels  when fear spikes.→ If you haven’t signed up for my free mini-course , you’re missing my best material on this.→ Selling puts is the best way I know to get paid  to buy stocks lower.→ Some stocks are down 50%  after this pullback. If you liked them last year, why not now? Rolling trades instead of closing at a loss. → Why take a hit when you can extend time and let the probabilities work for you? Owning long-term shares so short-term moves don’t shake you. → Build some pyramids. Start small. If there’s more of a pullback, add more. But get some exposure if you felt like you missed COVID. Drawdowns are part of this process. The people who build wealth in pullbacks have a long-term view. You aren’t going to catch the exact bottom. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take action. What To Do Right Now If you’re feeling fearful, ask yourself: What’s different about this time? 📉 We’ve seen pullbacks before—every single time, markets have recovered. 📊 We know fear creates opportunity—volatility is a trader’s best friend. ⚡️ We have a system that works—short-term options strategies thrive in high IV. Instead of chasing headlines, focus on trading like a casino, not a gambler. Stick to high-probability trades. Look for levels where the market historically finds buyers. Use short DTE trades to your advantage, collecting premium while volatility is elevated. When everyone is scared, the best opportunities arise. So the question is: Are you going to react emotionally, or are you going to trade with a plan? The market doesn’t care about your emotions, but it rewards discipline. Stay calm. Trust the process. Let fear be your edge. Happy trading Good Kids, -$Maxwell

I know this week (and the past three) have been rough. I know the image above is a bad photoshop, but it made me chuckle after a rough week :) SPY finally hit the daily 200 moving average this week. Something we didn't see in 2024. Tech (QQQ) has been a little weaker. We've seen fairly aggressive selling as uncertainty grips the market. And if there's one thing the market hates , it's uncertainty. Tariffs on, tariffs off. Regulations shifting. The US Strategic Crypto Reserves in question. Stocks, bonds, and even real estate are caught in the crossfire. I've been stressing going slow the last couple of months since we've been at all time highs and VIX was pretty low. If you had any trades on (which I do), now you know why. It's been brutal on our P/L. But do you remember why I always talk about hiding your P/L when selling options? click the image to read the blog I’ve been through some wild   P/L swings the last few weeks. I’ve gone from being down thousands to up hundreds in just a couple of hours. It messes with your head if you’re staring at it all day. You have to learn to remove the emotions if you are gong to look at your P/L often. That’s the difference between active, stressful trading and the passive, math-based trading  we talk about here in the blog and every day in the Discord . The Market Needs Answers: It’s Not Getting Them Right now, we’re in a risk-off regime. That means investors are pulling back, reducing risk, and waiting for clarity. Policymakers aren’t stepping in to stabilize things, and economic expectations keep shifting. This is exactly  why I’ve been stressing going slow—even when our put-selling was working beautifully in Jan and Feb. Now, after a sharp pullback and expanding volatility, those who took their time understand why. It does not matter if the strikes of your puts or strangles are tested or not, as volatility expands our existing trades are feeling the impact. But remember this, at expiration we'll get to parity! Meaning if the put is out of the money it will be worthless. Risk Management Matters This pullback is a reminder why we don’t just blindly sell puts. We roll when the strike is tested.We use put ratio spreads.We lean on 1-1-1 spreads instead of naked puts. But let me be real with you—even with hedges, ratios, and spreads, this pullback still hurts in the short term. It reminds me of the famous quote from Benjamin Graham that says the market is a voting machine in the short term and a weighing machine in the long term. So let me ask you: Are you too focused on the short term? Because even in a risk-off market, conditions for options selling are still  favorable if you go slow and you are willing to own 100 shares at the level of your strike price.. The admins and I have been putting on trades, adjusting trades, and discussing different styles inside Discord. I hope you’ve been paying attention. Next Steps If you haven’t checked out Part 1 of my Covered Call Mini-Course, now is the time. Also— subscribe to the YouTube channel  because I’m about to start releasing regular videos for the public. Inner Circle members have been getting weekly videos for a couple of months now. If you want in, here’s the link—it’s affordable no matter your account size. No One Knows What’s Next—And That’s The Beauty Of It I don’t know what next week will bring. No one does. And that  is what makes the stock market great. Because as Good Kids, we don’t trade based on guesses or emotions. We use math and charts to build a system where we can shut the laptop and live our lives. Happy Trading Good Kids! -$Maxwell

Hedging is an important part of my trading strategy, but not in the way you might think. I’m not trying to make a lot of money on the downside, and I’m not looking to reduce my portfolio’s Delta to zero. Instead, my goal is to slow my account down when uncertainty creeps into the market. If you think about Delta like a car’s speedometer, the higher your Delta, the faster your account moves—both up and down. When key moving averages break, I use hedging to tap the brakes. That way, if the market pulls back, I don’t give up all my gains, and if it rebounds, I still make money—just not as much as I would without hedges. My post in our discord from Monday Feb 24th. Wednesday I adjusted my hedges and locked in some profits. I f you want to see how my charts are set up, download my guide on Gumroad If you haven’t read my blog on moving averages , go check that out too. How I Hedge: Put Debit Spreads on SPY and QQQ I hedge my trading account, not my long-term portfolio. My go-to strategy is at-the-money put debit spreads on SPY and QQQ when the market closes below a key moving average. Here’s how it works: I buy an at-the-money put with 30-45 days to expiration. I sell a put $5 or $10 lower than my long put to reduce the cost of the hedge. This creates a put debit spread, which profits when the market declines and reduces my portfolio’s Delta. For example, let’s say this SPY put debit spread reduces my Delta by 10. That means my account is now moving slower—whether the market goes up or down. If I want to slow it down more I'd buy more than 1 spread! When Do I Take Profits on My Hedges? I don’t hedge just to hold onto a hedge forever. I use weekly support and resistance levels and moving averages to determine when to exit. On Friday morning, I posted in Discord that I was taking off one-third of my hedges. Why?Because I wanted to lock in some profits. I can always add them back! Could the market gap down on Monday? Maybe. Could it bounce back? Also possible. I don’t try to predict the future— If I can lock in wins to the downside that's a win. The Super Collar: Hedging Individual Positions Hedging isn’t just for the whole account—you can hedge individual stocks, too. If you own 100 shares of an underlying stock, you can: Put on a put debit spread to protect against a drop. Sell a covered call to collect credit, which can offset the cost of the put debit spread. This is what I call the Super Collar. It’s a way to reduce your Delta on a stock position while getting paid to hedge. The trade-off? You risk getting called away at your covered call strike. But if the stock tanks, you’ve got some downside protection. I've been using this strategy on Google, updating my trades in Discord in real-time. When Google pulled back, my Super Collar made money, softening the hit to my shares. Without a hedge, my losses would have been at full speed. Why I Love Losing on Hedges The perfect outcome? Losing on my hedges. That means the market rebounded, and my portfolio is making money again. But in weeks like this, hedging gives me a way to reduce my risk and even make a little money when the market dips. Most investors just take the full hit—this strategy keeps me ahead of 99% of them. Happy trading Good Kids! -$Maxwell

When you zoom out and look at the weekly chart were back where we were last week. Friday’s sell-off was a perfect test. A test of patience. A test of discipline. A test of whether you’ve been playing offense or  just blindly selling premium because it worked before. A lot of traders failed  that test. GKT? We were ready. Why? Because We Play the Long Game. Selling premium is a powerful strategy—when used correctly. But let’s be real: most traders only sell puts without understanding what they’re really doing. They think: "Easy money. It’s just free income, right?" Wrong. Selling premium means you’re short volatility. So when vol spikes like it did Friday, your P/L gets wrecked. Unless… you already knew this could happen and positioned accordingly. The inner circle ?We talked about hedging.We talked about risk management.We talked about mindset. I posted this to our free discord earlier this month. Did I know this exact pullback was coming? No. Was I prepared  for a market like this? 100%. If you’re still trading blind, that’s on you.I break this down inside the Inner Circle every week: Join here . It’s cheaper than a Starbucks coffee. What’s In Your Portfolio? Let’s talk about how I actually trade—because most people are playing a losing game. If you ONLY hold growth stocks, Friday hurt.If you ONLY chase high IV trades, Friday hurt. We don’t do that here. Here’s what I was holding: SO  – Sold puts Thursday. Closed them same day . ED  – Bought off that blue line? You know I love my moving averages. SCHD  – Solid dividend ETF. Held up well. VZ  – Buy, hold, collect dividends, sell covered calls. Easy. T  – Pyramid strategy hit two levels before it ripped 45% . You’re welcome. 😊 KO  – My Coca-Cola play is up 15%. (Yes, I won’t shut up about it.) SPYD  – Dividend ETF. Cash flow and  diversification. you can see my inner circle has been in this one a while (2 different buys) EPD  – At all-time highs. If you missed my blog on MLPs, read it now : Click here. And let’s not forget super collars on our existing positions—because having protection on my GOOGL  shares felt real good  on Friday. Did you see what TLT  and GLD  did?Market tanks, bonds and gold spike.Flight to safety. We knew this would happen. Stop Trading Like a Gambler. Start Trading Like a Casino. I get it. Growth stocks are sexy. The premium is juicy.But let’s be real—most traders aren’t building wealth. They’re taking wild bets.They’re treating this like a casino.They’re ignoring the strategies that actually build freedom. Look around. The market just handed you a lesson. Did you learn it? We sell puts for income.We rent out shares with covered calls.We build portfolios that last. And I teach all of this—for free—inside my put selling mini-course.If you haven’t taken it yet, fix that today: mrmoneymaxwell.com/action . Next month, I’m teaching how I rent out my shares using covered calls.You should sign up: mrmoneymaxwell.com/income . See you next week.Or sooner, if you’re in the Discord: goodkidstrading.com/join . Happy trading good kids . $Maxwell

The markets are sitting at all-time highs again. SPY and QQQ keep breaking records. The VIX? Practically asleep. We have to be careful selling too much premium at all time highs when volatility are low. A year ago, the headlines were screaming “uncertainty, inflation, and recession risk.”  Now? Everyone’s bullish, chasing momentum, and piling into tech stocks like it’s a sure thing. But here’s what You needs to understand: 🔹 The best trades aren’t made when everything looks obvious. 🔹 The market always cycles. If you only make money in one environment, you’re in trouble. 🔹 Low volatility means cheap options—and that’s where smart traders get to work. So what am I doing? I’m crushing earnings trades in Good Kids Trading Discord. Just a few of my winning trades, it's been an amazing couple of months. Goodkidstrading.com/join to get access. How I’m Making Money Selling Puts on Earnings Gaps Lately, I’ve been selling puts on quality stocks that gap down on earnings. It’s a simple, math-based  approach: ✅ Find a company I don't mind owning 100 shares of. ✅ Wait for an overreaction (good earnings, but poor guidance, causing short-term fear). ✅ Sell a cash-secured put  at a strike price where I’d love to buy shares. ✅ Get paid immediately for the obligation. 👉 This is exactly what I covered in my Put Selling Mini-Course. If you haven't signed up you should. Click here to get started today Either I keep the premium if the stock bounces, or I get the stock at a discount. I’ve been doing this on solid companies that the market is temporarily punishing. And next week? It’s a shortened trading week because of the holiday—meaning fewer trading days, but still plenty of opportunities to collect cash flow. The Power of Small, Repeatable Wins There are 252 trading days in a year. Think about this: 💰 If you make just $25 a day  in options premium, that’s $6,300 a year. 💰 If you make $50 a day , that’s $12,600 a year. 💰 If you make $100 a day , that’s $25,200 a year. That’s real  passive income—without taking huge risks, without staring at charts all day, and without needing some “perfect stock pick.” This is exactly what I teach in my free Put Selling Mini-Course . What Comes After You Get the Stock? The Covered Call Game Begins. Selling puts is great for entering trades. But what do you do when you actually own the shares? That’s where covered calls come in. If I sell a put and end up with stock at a discount, I can immediately start renting out my shares by selling covered calls. Real estate investors rent out houses. I rent out my shares. And this is exactly why I’m teaching the Covered Call Mini-Course in March. ✅ Learn how to generate cash flow on stocks you already own. ✅ Master the art of strike selection for max profit. ✅ Discover how to hedge against downturns—without selling. ✅ Finally create a system that pays you without extra work. Want to Learn? Join the Free Mini-Courses. 🔹 Start with Put Selling:   mrmoneymaxwell.com/action 🔹 Then Master Covered Calls in March:   mrmoneymaxwell.com/income The markets are at all-time highs. Volatility is low. The window for cheap, high-probability trades is there, but we have to be careful and not overconfident. Are you going to take advantage of it? See you in discord! Happy Trading Good Kids, -$Maxwell

The Truth About Dividend Stocks How many times have you looked at a dividend stock and thought, Man, I wish I could get paid NOW instead of waiting months for a tiny payout? Dividend stocks have a reputation as boring. Hey, I get it—they aren't like the sexy growth stocks like PLTR, OKLO, or NVDA. But I see dividend stocks as a way to generate passive income … and I freaking love making money with just a couple of clicks. Worst case? I own a high-quality company at a great level. So many dividend investors sit around waiting for their stock’s ex-dividend date , hoping for a payout. But here’s the thing— why wait around for a quarterly dividend when you can generate cash flow on demand? That’s exactly what I did this past week with Merck (MRK) and PepsiCo (PEP) , and I want to show you how. The Strategy: Selling Puts for Extra Cash Flow I used to think the only way to make passive income from stocks was to buy and hold forever , waiting for those little dividend payments to trickle in. But then I realized something: Why not get paid immediately while still owning great companies?  That’s when I discovered selling puts on dividend stocks during earnings —and it changed everything. Most traders sit on the sidelines during earnings, waiting to see if a stock will soar or crash. But I love earnings season because it gives me opportunities to sell puts at a discount  and create my own dividends. Here’s what happened: MRK and PEP both gapped down after earnings. I waited for the drop , identified key moving averages, and sold puts at those levels. Within a 1 hour , MRK bounced, and I closed my put position for a quick profit. PEP took two days , but same result—closed for a win. Why This Beats Traditional Dividends The Problem with Traditional Dividend Investing You’re waiting months  to get paid. You need a ton of capital  to see meaningful returns. The stock price could drop—wiping out your gains. Instead, I’m generating multiple “dividends” in a week  using a smarter system. You can do this alongside your long-term holdings  and stop playing the waiting game . The Capital Efficiency Play Instead of locking up thousands of dollars buying shares , I’m using a fraction of my buying power to generate high-probability income. And if the stock keeps dropping? I get assigned at a discount—on a stock I already wanted to own. Win-win. Want to Follow These Trades? I break down these trades in real-time inside Good Kids Trading.  If you want to see these trades before they happen , don’t sit on the sidelines. 👉 Join the Discord now   and start trading smarter today. Plus, if you want to learn how to do this step-by-step , my FREE Put Selling Mini-Course  inside Mr. Money Maxwell  walks you through everything. 👉 Get access here If you want to stop guessing  and start generating cash flow immediately , this is where you need to start. This strategy is part of the system I use to trade passively, think like a casino, and stack cash flow consistently.  If you’re tired of just hoping  your stocks go up, it’s time to start trading smarter. Let’s make your money work harder for you. Happy Trading Good Kids, -$Maxwell