Covered Calls are the ULTIMATE Money Hack
Fifteen years ago, I worked the front desk at a gym for $9.25 an hour—a wage I had to fight for. Minimum wage was $8.25, and after five years, I asked for $10.25. It seemed obvious: I cared about the job, did it well, and most of the minimum wage staff didn’t. Wasn’t I worth an extra dollar?
Instead, they offered me sales roles. Everyone in sales seemed miserable, and I didn’t want to hate my job. But I also didn’t know what I wanted to do.
Then I met a few guys at the gym who were into trading. Long story short—I got into day trading because of them. And they were idiots. And I was an idiot for listening. There was no TikTok, no real community to ask for help. Just books and forums. So I taught myself.
By 2019, I started posting on Instagram and YouTube about trading. In 2023, I realized I was working way too much. I’d made thousands of videos and gained hundreds of thousands of followers, but content creation was starting to hurt my actual trading. So I took a leap: I went full-time as a creator, even though I wasn’t selling anything. No courses. No memberships. No one-on-ones. Everything I made was free.
I knew I’d need brand deals to survive. The creator fund was too inconsistent. I gave myself two years, relying on savings, investments, and minimalism to get by.
In those two years, I landed over 20 brand deals. Sounds great—until you realize many didn’t pay well, or brands ghosted me if a video didn’t perform. I wasn’t viral enough, and the creators who were going viral? They were selling dreams—Lambos, Rolexes, $499 courses. That wasn’t me.
I needed a reliable income stream.
I remembered a story Arnold Schwarzenegger once told. Early in his career, he used money from bodybuilding and coaching to buy real estate. That gave him freedom. When acting opportunities came, he wasn’t desperate. He could choose what he wanted. Imagine if he had to take whatever gig paid the most—he might’ve missed Terminator.
Arnold had income. He had options.
Today, real estate’s harder to break into. But in my opinion, the stock market is still the best path to financial freedom.
It builds long-term wealth.
It generates passive income through dividends and REITs.
And it can provide serious income through covered calls.
Covered calls, to me, are the ultimate money hack. Yes, there are tradeoffs—your upside is capped if shares are called away, and you need to afford 100 shares of a stock—but the income is real. With the right setup, it’s powerful.
Here’s my approach:
I max out my Roth IRA each year.
Then I invest long-term in a regular brokerage account.
Finally, I sell covered calls strictly for income.
For example, I own 300 long-term shares of HIMS that I don’t touch. But every week, I also buy 300–400 shares just to sell calls against. That alone earns me about $600 per week. No intense chart analysis. No stress.
If that feels like too much to manage, you can easily open a third individual account that can be exclusively for covered calls. Otherwise, this video will help.
It’s not always as lucrative as trading—but it can be. More importantly, it’s consistent. I don’t need to make all of the money. Just enough.
And right now, between the creator fund, the occasional brand deal, and covered calls, I have enough.
Some weeks I use other stocks, depending on volatility and premiums. Things change. But covered calls are my version of Arnold’s apartment buildings. They give me the freedom to choose what I do.
I can make 20 videos in a week. Or take 3 weeks off.
I’m not beholden to anyone.
Learn more in this totally free guide and in this playlist where you can track my progress.
