TimbaBear, your comparison of options premiums to the whole life insurance racket isn't quite fair.
With options, you and either buy the insurance as you need it or sell it to others. And, as an additional feature, you don't have to die to collect.
With whole life insurance, you can only buy it - usually at higher prices.
But imagine a world where you could sell overprice whole life insurance policies (the equivalent of selling calls, for example at extremely high volatilities) and buy underpriced whole life insurance policies (the equivalent of buying puts, for example, at extremely low volatilities.
That's the game of a ROT (registered options trader). Buy low volatility and sell high volatility.
You know why the deck is stacked against you?
Professional options traders have generally committed to memory Larry McMillan's book "Options as a Strategic Investment", or Cox and Rubinstein's "Options Markets". I recommend looking at them, particularly the former.
Casual options dabblers believe they have the application of options figured out when they know how to look up an options quote....
Professional investors and fund managers typically NEVER nail 100% of all the gain in the move of a particular stock between two price points, although they all try. But realistically, they're out of a job or on to the next fund if they're wrong. Home runs are nice, but so are walks, singles, and doubles.
And the reduced yield? Well, just because you haven't had a grand slam in the game doesn't mean you haven't already won...
Mark |
