In February 2026, an AAII survey found that 68% of retail investors expected the stock market to finish the year higher.
The same survey found that many of those same investors were also bracing for a recession.
That's not an oxymoron, it’s the honest reality of investing right now.
Bullish on the destination, yet terrified of what might happen on the way there.
We’ve got Iran/Israel flare-ups…
Tariff threats...
Rate anxiety…
Every week delivers a fresh reason to wonder whether "staying the course" is genuine wisdom or just stubbornness dressed up as a strategy.
I've been through enough of these cycles to know something most people won't admit… the crash itself rarely does the real damage.
The damage is done by the investor who panics at the bottom and locks in the loss permanently.
I most recently watched it happen back in March 2020.
I was stuck in Hanoi, Vietnam during lockdown, watching the S&P drop 34% in five weeks… while my phone filled up with messages from investors who'd sold everything.
Not because their thesis was wrong or the stocks they owned were necessarily bad.
(One acquaintance panic sold his entire $1 million GOOG position… a stock that’s up 460% since then)
But they did so because they had no protection…
The ones who came out of that year ahead weren't the ones who predicted the crash (because let’s be honest, no one did)
They were the ones who had a system that kept them in the game when it hurt.
That's what I want to talk to you about this week.
Because the March 18th cohort of Options Cashflow Accelerator includes something I've never walked students through live before… the installation of a specific hedging protocol directly inside their own brokerage accounts.
I'll get into the details of what it does (and the 40 years of data behind it) in tomorrow's email.
For now, if you already know you want in for March 18th, you can book a call here to see if there's a spot available.
Oliver