Collar protects your downside but at the same time it takes away your upside. You have to pay premium for married put to protect your downside. There is no free lunch. Think of this way, options and their strategies (covered call / collar, married put, spread and etc) are all just a tool and they are no difference from buy or sell a plain share. Options may give you more playground such as you can trade for sideway market, volatility, leverage and etc but in the end you still need edge in order to make money. This is aka you won't become the good chef if you only have the best cookwares without the best recipes.