Cashing in on Covered Calls. Investing with Stock Options

by Alan Ellman, Barbara Karnes

The most comprehensive and easy-to-follow book on stock option investing ever before on the market, Cashing in on Covered Calls is a powerful tool that will show you how to become the CEO of your own money. Learn to invest with confidence, and generate monthly returns of 2% to 4%. "Using the same blueprint I'd adapted to become a licensed General Dentist, successful vitamin store entrepreneur, Certified Personal Trainer, licensed real estate agent, and seasoned real estate investor; one of self-education, I used to reach the level of an accomplished stock market investor. Year after year my portfolio generated higher returns than those of the average Stock Market. Then, when I started selling options, those returns increased exponentially!" (Alan Ellman). Take control of your financial future and let acclaimed author, Dr. Alan Ellman, guide you through his step by step process, and find out for yourself how the three Golden Rules of options selling can help you create incredible returns with very little risk. The government considers this strategy so safe that it permits you to use it in your self-directed IRA accounts! Perfect if you are searching for a book that touches on areas such as; stock options, stock option investing, stock investing, options trading, stock market, covered calls, personal finance, wealth building, success strategies, IRA accounts, and more!

379 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Stephen Lung · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an average investor, it is an intimidating feeling to dig into derivatives, including stock options. But while opening an RRSP/TFSA account, you are allowed to sell stock options (also applicable to a self directed IRA account in the US). Why would be the case? The government would never allow you to do anything this risky especially since options are risky right? Well this book sums up a well documented strategy, of writing covered calls. I was first introduced to this concept awhile ago and this author is dedicated on options related books. By writing covered calls, it gives you downside protection while also capping the upside. It is quite an interesting approach and this book shows a great step by step guide to execute the system albeit some old fashioned screenshots.

[Sergei Moska · Rating 2 out of 5]

Note: I didn't implement any of the strategies listed in the book, so I can't assess whether or not they work.

I knew nothing of covered calls prior to reading the book, and knew next to nothing about the stock market. After reading the book, I know a reasonable amount.

The book's main pro is that the author gives you a step-by-step system that can be applied mechanically. Furthermore, this system is not self-evident ("buy low! sell high!"), and I did not notice any spots where the reader is left hanging. If there is any handwaving, I didn't notice it. If we assume that the system works, then the author did his job. What's more, he did his job in a clear way.

There are two main cons. The first is that the book's production values are very amateurish. When an author resorts to caps to really emphasize how GREAT results (or whatever) are, it's time to run like hell. The meat of the book is roughly 180 pages. Many of these pages are taken up by charts. Incredibly, there are roughly 100 pages worth of appendices, with each page more useless than the last.

The second con is that the scheme is dubious. Not necessarily bullshit, but dubious. The author claims that with minimal proficiency, you should average roughly 25% annualized interest on your investments. With reasonable proficiency, you should average somewhere on the order of 35-40% annual interest. Clearly, those are insane percentages. The system involves buying high-quality stocks and selling calls on them. In doing so, you give another person the option to buy your stock at a set price within a certain set of time. The author explains this well enough from the perspective of the person selling the call, but things will remain suspicious until he explains why someone would want to pay good money to buy the opportunity to purchase the stock at X dollars by Y date. Clearly, they are doing so because they believe that the stock will increase by a huge margin prior to that date. So are they just being foolish? Are they also making a killing? If so, how is it possible both the person using the system in this book as well as the person who habitually buys these options do so well? If the stock market appreciates at roughly 11% per year, is it that everyone is beating the market? And if not, why are others so foolish?

I am not by any means saying that there are no answers to these questions. I'm saying that the author does not answer them, or even acknowledge them. That, combined with crappy production values, gives this book the appearance and feel of late-night hucksterism.

[Dragos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short read but very simple and easy to understand. He’s got a good strategy that he’s perfected over the years and is sharing via this and his other books.

[Sudhakar Maran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only some points in these books are good. The other half of the book is filled with testimonials. I am following the same thing. But some points are good as always any book will have.

[Etana · Rating 3 out of 5]

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