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As long as anyone is willing to loan me money at 3%, I'm going to keep right on borrowing it, whether I need it or not. The "pay off your house" mantra is for people who cannot manage money.

SLE, so true. Tests are one thing, and the gut check is another.

We need to look over a lot of years. 2013 was mentioned as a case in point-a very bullish time. And backtests up to 5/31/07 are posted (geez, could the CBOE cherry-pick any better?!). While helpful, neither of these time periods should be considered a complete view of what may happen to the...

Selling premium on individual stocks requires stock picking skills and market timing skills. Doing it relentlessly and mindlessly will not work in the long run. Larry McMillan has said that selling covered calls this way works out to a T-bill-like rate of return. My few backtests, although not...

Well, there is always a way to try to make more money, but it involves more risk. Options are like aspirin, or alcohol: a little is good for you, but more is not better.

Yes, kind of a narrow view, as you said. Also, people don't always buy options to make money. When I sell a bullish put spread, I'm basically planning to lose money on the long option, and that's fine with me. And it may be that whoever is selling it (what is that supertrader woman's name)...

Yes. And I am curious: why do you call this a Skill profile?

OP, this is a way to take more risk. You are already taking enough risk holding the individual stock--and this is doubling down. Better to do this with indexes--if at all.

BTW, I don't think there is a bear market equivalent. The volatility is always higher in a bear market, so you cannot just turn a strategy like this inside out by using puts or shorting things.

Good idea to first test your strategy through a bear market (and make sure you can identify a bear mkt in time).

Some credit card and car loan debt during med school and residency. Paid it off in about 3 or 4 years after I finished. Fortunately no astronomical school loans.

Yeah, sort of. I had a negative net worth until I was about 37 or 38. If 40s is ancient then people should be paying an entrance fee to look at me.

It seems like people are only on these forums for few reasons: 1. Learn something about how to trade or bounce ideas around 2. Brag 3. Run other people down 4. Help other people who are struggling or learning 5. Light entertainment I have no use for #2 and #3.

We won't get "outrage fatigue" over here on the left. We have an unlimited capacity for it. However, a little of it needs to be rechanneled. Once again, as the lone lefty carrying water for the stock market, I am proud of corporate America, and I ask my lefty friends to recognize that...

He doesn't need to outdo Wall Street--only to match them with less volatility, which is the same thing as beating them when you consider compounded returns.

If you pick good stocks and use a long-term filter to keep you out of bear markets, you may not need a stop loss (it may even be harmful rather than beneficial). Helpful spreadsheet under Info/Tools here: http://www.dripinvesting.org/

Sorry, I see I misunderstood your question--did not read carefully enough. It's helpful to know something about the historical yield of the stock, I suppose, to determine whether the yield is out of line. However, I'm primarily making the argument that dividend growth is more important than...

Yes, if you think you can pick that stuff. I can't. I wouldn't have touched GE in 2009. Anyway, I don't think this is the kind of stock we are talking about. GE cut their dividend in 2009 and is still paying a lower dividend than they did back then. Presumably, if you are a dividend...

The types of stocks he is recommending have probably rarely or never had yields of 6%. He is saying that stocks with lower dividends are safer.