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To: CommanderCricket who wrote (109322)	9/14/2008 11:28:22 AM
From: Bearcatbob	1 Recommendation Respond to of 206223

"In the future will write more covered calls, " Last week I read a book titled "Covered Calls and Naked Puts". It was all about harvesting money from a money tree. The tree is the underlying stocks and the harvest is the premiums on covered calls and naked puts. Next year when retired this will be a huge exercise for me. I recommend the book. It was written by Ronald Groenke and contains some good formulas for disciplining the process. Bob

To: CommanderCricket who wrote (109322)	9/14/2008 11:28:46 AM
From: chowder	Respond to of 206223

>>> In the future will write more covered calls, hold dividend paying stocks and less short term trading with the exception of options. <<< I don't believe what I am reading. You must have stolen my investing agenda for 2009! I have spent the last two weeks researching dividend ideas, willing to give up growth for security based on recent performance the past 5 years, plus age and computer time. Stop cheating and looking at my notes. You owe me a beer! I was doing that first.

To: CommanderCricket who wrote (109322)	9/14/2008 1:15:51 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206223

Ah good to know I am not alone.. and this may become a talking point.. :O) I've reached a point this year where as long as I make in the 10-15 (I hope to surprise to the upside LOL) range return on my savings I am not terribly concerned about 'saving' money.. I am shifting into 'work for comforts' mode ... ie.. I can spend most of my disposable income. My wife figures to retire and just take on selective jobs within three years.. I've already been really scaled back for a few years.. averaging maybe 20 billable hours a week. Our debt is low and home free and clear (apparently mortgage freedom is the case for 42% of Canucky homeowners) 65% cash is effective in reducing the beta but doesn't offer much upside :O) Then again there is no need to rush back in whole hog.. BTW 10-15 consistent return is pretty darn good if risk is low... B

To: CommanderCricket who wrote (109322)	9/14/2008 4:43:32 PM
From: mach	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206223

Somewhat OT: diversification of brokerage accounts CC, Dabum and others, There's been some great discussion this weekend on trading strategies and styles. I too have found that the IT swing trades that have worked so well in the past few years are not doing so well in this hyper-volatile market. I've been pursuing more covered calls and shorting puts against cash (especially in my IRA) as a way to provide more income and reduce portfolio volatility, although there's been some stomach turning drops in the past 2 months. I've been lucky also over the past 10 years to build up my accounts to the point where I'm starting to focus more on producing steady growth above inflation and keeping what I have rather than trying to grow the accounts at the maximum rate which entails higher risk and larger drawdowns. With all the turmoil in the banking and financial sector, I'm now starting to worry a bit about what would happen to my brokerage accounts if the broker should fail and what steps I should take to reduce the risk of losing assets if this happens. It's my understanding that stock held in my accounts would be safe in event of a brokerage failure, but that cash/or MM holding could be lost (above some amount). I was wondering how others may have structured their accounts to mitigate against brokerage failure? Presently, I've got my trading and IRA accounts split between Etrade, Interactive brokers and TD-Ameritrade. What is the maximum account size (or cash balance) that people feel comfortable keeping at a single broker? My accounts are in the mid 6- low 7 figure range and can range from fully invested to high cash %. It would be a hassle to split them up to 100K or so/institution as I do with CDs. Are there other brokers that people feel are secure at this time? Etrade is the one that I'm most suspicious of now, but I really like their E-trade Pro trading platform, so I've been reluctant to close it down. TIA, Mark