Are you worried your retirement account is not going to be adequate in today’s economy and inflationary world? Well, you’re not alone. A recent article from BenefitsPro says more than 40% of Americans are pushing back their retirement due to rising inflation.
The real problem is that the cost of living has increased far more than most of us have planned for. Whether you’re currently retired, or looking at it on the horizon, even a strong portfolio may not be sufficient without adjustments.
We’ve all been taught to “buy and hold,” and just wait it out, because the market will grow, and we’ll be OK. However, many don’t have the luxury of time. When you’re only a few years away from retirement, you likely can’t afford to wait it out, and need to be more proactive.
Even so, you’re caught in a catch-22. You have to be very conservative with your account management because, as you approach retirement, you can’t afford to make risky mistakes that will take too long to recover from.
So, what do you do? How do you boost your retirement account, in a conservative way that keeps your risk low? Well, it’s time to get active and take matters into your own hands! You have to shift out of an investor mindset and into an active trader mindset.
What’s the difference? Investors look for long term, moderate, passive gains. Traders take an active stance, to generate short term income and profit. If your portfolio is not where it needs to be, the passive approach is not going to get you there.
Trading comes in all forms, and most can be quite intimidating. Swing trading and day trading can be overly aggressive and risky. You’ve probably also heard Options trading is risky, as well, but is that really true?
Trading Options has a risky reputation in the industry because many traders employ high-risk strategies, buying Options on speculation. Contrary to this belief, however, there is a much better way to trade Options that’s both low risk and provides consistent, weekly profit.
The key is to be well-informed, and know the difference. For example, you can either buy Option contracts, or you can sell them. Most of the risky strategies involve buying, which is highly speculative.
Naive traders tend to go this route because of the allure of the big payouts. What most people won’t tell you is that traders who buy Options on spec like this will likely lose 30 to 35% of their trades. Obviously, that’s far too risky when you have to be conservative with your portfolio. However, if people are buying Options, that means someone must be selling them, too, right?
The much better approach is to sell Options, instead. Selling Options allows you to collect a premium each and every time you sell. In fact, that premium is guaranteed the moment you sell the Options contract. It is not uncommon for our Options trading students to see win rates of 98% or more on these types of trades.
At Low Stress Trading™, we employ a strategy so simple that it only takes one to two hours a week of your time, yet can yield far more than traditional investing because it focuses on making small, consistent wins, week over week. By focusing on weekly Options, we allow our portfolio’s results to compound weekly. The beauty of this approach is that it’s not a trick, gimmick or hack. It is simply a way of harnessing what Albert Einstein called “the 8th wonder of the world,” compound interest, to your advantage and accelerating it.
Note: This article originally appeared in the June-July 2024 Oregon Eagle print edition.
Troy Broussard is a former Navy Nuclear Engineer-turned world-renowned trader who shows ordinary people how to have extraordinary success trading options in 1-2 hours per week. Learn more in his free, personalized training for Oregon Eagle readers at LSTgo.com