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Strategies & Market Trends : The Covered Calls for Dummies Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (1274)	6/30/2001 11:28:15 AM
From: alanrs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5205

That is simply incredible, Alan I work very hard not to break my arm patting myself on the back. In my line of work there is a saying that it is better to be lucky than to be good, and I have very clear memories of times when I should have died, or killed someone else, or lost my fingers as a direct result of my own actions. I believe this helps me in investing in that I am fully aware of how badly I can screw things up. Not to start a lyric binge again, but there is an obscure song by a guy named John Cale titled "Fear is a mans' best friend", which speaks to this. Like Dale, I will only believe this if I can keep it up for a long period of time through various market conditions. ARS

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (1274)	6/30/2001 11:29:44 AM
From: BDR	Respond to of 5205

<< That is simply incredible, Alan, and a tribute to your careful planning and patience.>> And, furthermore, is an excellent example of adapting option strategies to meet one's individual circumstances. Given the numbers of contracts he is writing, Alan recognized that more frequent trading (e.g. monthly) for smaller premiums (albeit higher premiums on a per month basis) would result in commissions eating up much more of his profits. Writing contracts three or four months out resulted in a greater percentage of the trade ending up in his pocket and less for the broker. As it is, commissions amounted to about 6% of his profits if I use Fidelity's commission schedule for online trades. I am so used to commissions on stock transactions of a fraction of a percent that I still get a shock when I realize what I am paying for options.