Anyone here actually outperforming just buying VOO long-term after taxes, stress, and time?

Serious question for people who’ve been trading options for years: How many of you are genuinely outperforming just buying and holding VOO once you factor in: * taxes * blown-up trades * brokerage fees * opportunity cost * stress * time spent watching markets * margin interest * emotional burnout * and the periods where you massively underperformed I’m not talking about screenshots from a 3-month hot streak. I mean actual multi-year performance. It seems like almost everyone eventually ends up in one of these categories: 1. “I beat the market for a while until leverage humbled me.” 2. “I realized I was basically creating a second full-time job.” 3. “Wheel strategy worked until it didn’t.” 4. “I could’ve made more just aggressively DCA’ing index funds.” 5. “Selling premium feels safe until volatility regime changes.” At the same time, there are clearly some traders here who: * understand volatility deeply, * manage risk professionally, * and actually do seem to extract edge consistently. So I’m curious: * What finally made options “click” for you? * What strategy actually survived multiple market regimes? * Did your approach become *simpler* or *more complex* over time? * If you could restart from day one, what would you completely avoid? Would especially like to hear from people trading through: * 2020 crash * 2021 meme mania * 2022 bear market * 2025 volatility spikes Interested in honest answers, not just gain porn.