Boomers Investment Library
Commission Costs in Option Trading
Many people foolishly compare their commission costs in an option portfolio to the commission costs of trading stocks or mutual funds. That is a mistake. Anyone who focuses on transaction costs rather than the bottom line should not be trading options. Read more
Writing Covered Calls Doesn't Work
Many financial advisors and more than a dozen websites advocate writing (selling) covered calls as a sound investment strategy. Thousands of subscribers pay millions of dollars to get advice on profitable covered calls to write.
I believe they are wasting their money. Writing covered calls only limits the potential gain you might enjoy. Read more
Why Puts are Better Than Calls for Calendar Spreads
When you think of calls, you think about hoping the stock will go up. When you think of puts, you think about hoping the stock will go down. Those thoughts are appropriate when you are buying options. But they most certainly are wrong when you are buying calendar spreads. Read more
Conditions That Might Cause a Monthly Loss in the 10K Strategy
While the stock can fluctuate in either direction by 5% in a single expiration month and the strategy essentially always makes a gain, there are some circumstances which might cause the strategy to lose money. Three possible events could cause a loss. Read more
On the dark road of a recession and with the uncertain future of the stock market, you may be wondering if it's time to put the brakes on your 401(k) contributions. If your dwindling account balance has you down, you're not alone. In a year when major U.S. equity indexes were sharply negative and many investments lost over 40 percent, there's plenty of pain to go around. Here are some actions you might want to consider taking to give the most aid possible to your 401k... Read more
S&P 500 (SPY) Component Companies
The S&P 500 is a broad-based index of the 500 largest American companies, and is considered by many people to be “the” domestic stock market. We have listed all 500 companies two ways – alphabetically, and by their relative weighting in the index, starting with the largest. Read more
Financial SPDR (XLF) Component Companies
The Financial SPDR (XLF) is an ETF made up of 84 companies in the world of banking and finance, including giants such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. We have listed the 84 companies both by their weight in the index and alphabetically for easy reference. Read more