How pros think about options inside a Roth So, here’s the thing: smart investors don’t open a Roth IRA and start swinging for the fences with options. They use options to tilt the odds, measured risk, clear purpose, brutally simple rules. If you’ve googled “can-i-trade-options-in-a-roth-ira,” you’re already asking the right question. The answer is yes at many brokers, but the way pros approach it is boring-on-purpose. And boring is good when every dollar grows tax-free. What you’ll get from this section: how to use options to improve outcomes, not to gamble. We’ll set up a simple playbook that treats your…

Everyone’s Using Margin, But Not in Their IRA Look, margin is having its perennial moment again. Investors see stocks grinding near highs earlier this year, AI names running hot, and they want to, you know, press the gas. Quick reality check: FINRA-reported margin debt hit about $935 billion back in 2021, that was the record. It pulled back in 2022 and has bounced around since. The point is simple: borrowing against your portfolio is common in taxable brokerage accounts. But inside a retirement account? That’s where dreams of “juicing returns” usually hit the rulebook. In 2025, most big brokers still…

No, market returns aren’t the only thing, your job security matters, a lot Look, I love talking about market returns as much as the next Wall Street lifer, but the thing most FIRE plans gloss over is brutally simple: your timeline lives or dies on whether you keep getting a paycheck. Not just the S&P’s next 10% swing. When unemployment rises, it messes with your savings rate, your contribution schedule, and the sequence of cash flows you need before you retire, and sometimes after if you’re easing into part-time work. That’s not theory; that’s cash hitting (or not hitting) your…