Get AI to show its working.
A four-stage method, five copy-paste prompts, and a one-page reference card for getting answers out of AI you can act on. Tested on real decisions, not demos.
Download the PDF →~20 pages · 15-min read · Free. No email required.
Written by Ben Dixon, tested against a real portfolio, not a demo. About me →
- → Anyone who uses AI for decisions that matter and isn't sure they can trust the answer
- → Anyone who's had an AI answer something with total confidence (a contract clause, a medical letter, a money decision) and had no quick way to tell if it was right
- → Anyone who wants a method they can reuse, not another tool to download
- → Anyone who wants AI to just decide for them. The whole point is keeping that call yours
- → Anyone after stock tips or hot takes on what to buy. There are none in here
- → Anyone expecting a tool to do the thinking. This is a way of working, not a button to press
Gemini fabricated an options table, noticed the error, and kept going anyway.
I asked Gemini to reason about a covered call on a real trade: BMNR, cost basis $22.11, current price $21.50, two specific strikes I was considering. The prompt stated explicitly: "without access to a live options chain."
Gemini produced a formatted comparison table with specific premium estimates ($3.50–$4.00 for one strike, $2.80–$3.20 for the other), an implied volatility figure ("currently around 75%"), and a stock price I never gave it: $28.60 instead of the $21.50 in my prompt. It noticed the price discrepancy mid-response, flagged it, and then kept generating the estimates regardless.
None of those numbers were real. The model pattern-matched to what an options table is supposed to look like and produced one. The RISK stage of the Prompt Stack (require every claim to cite its source) catches this before it costs anything. The full test is documented in Section 4 of the guide.
~20 pages. No padding.
- 01 The full Prompt Stack methodology. Four stages (SCOPE, FILTER, RISK, VERDICT) worked through with one real investment example end to end. The version I actually run, not a simplified illustration.
- 02 Five complete, copy-paste prompts. One for each core investing decision: position review, earnings analysis, downside hunt, add/hold/sell, and pre-trade stress test. Orange placeholders mark what needs your actual numbers.
- 03 Two real-world tests, documented. The Gemini options table above, in full. And a Prompt Stack read on Meta's Q1 earnings: what structured prompting caught that a generic question wouldn't have.
The Field Guide.
Free PDF. No email, no signup, no paywall.
Download the PDF →~20 pages · 15-min read · Opens directly in your browser