For those of you who have been following along on my financial journey, you know that I trade options. I started trading options about a year and half ago. I chose to start trading options as a way to generate income within my IRA in order to help it grow faster. As an older individual who is behind on saving for retirement I thought trading options could help accelerate my progress. I am also not a high income earner who is trying to pay down debt so the amount I can contribute is limited. So far trading options has been successful for me.
Last year was my first full year trading options. Currently, I only trade covered calls and cash secured puts. I am still learning about trading options and have a lot to learn. Even with my limited knowledge of trading options, I was still able to produce what I consider to be a reasonable amount of income. In 2021 I was able to generate $3,994.13 in options premium. This was actually a little bit more than the $3,652.26 I received in dividends for 2021. In a way, trading options allowed me to more than double the yield my account produces. Below is a table showing the breakdown of options premium I collected by ticker symbol.
| 2021 option premium income by ticker | |
| Ticker | income |
| VZ | $185.10 |
| ACB | $54.30 |
| T | $206.55 |
| MO | $23.52 |
| ERF | $98.60 |
| O | $109.30 |
| MBIO | $348.82 |
| PAA | $250.06 |
| IVR | $208.24 |
| SCHD | $100.82 |
| HBI | $54.30 |
| DGRO | $74.30 |
| OGI | $493.47 |
| UMC | $419.11 |
| XL | $248.48 |
| KR | $181.88 |
| EPD | $18.26 |
| LEVI | $49.30 |
| PETS | $54.30 |
| SWBI | $147.60 |
| WU | $72.30 |
| HYLN | $105.26 |
| GENI | $470.94 |
| ENB | $19.32 |
| total | $3,994.13 |
Going forward, I plan to continue to trade options and learn more about different strategies. I am interested in possibly buying LEAPS and would like to learn more about strangles, straddles, collars, spreads and many more options strategy. For the short term, trading options will be a means to help fund my accounts to help the accounts grow faster. For the long term, I am considering using options as a means to create income to live off in retirement. When I retire, I may take the money from 401k and move it to an account strictly for trading options. Retirement is still about 9 years away so my thought process could change along the way. As with any investment, there are risks involved with trading options. I have experienced some of the downsides to trading options in seeing some of shares called away, losing money on some trades and having money tied up in trades that are not going my way. Despite these downsides, trading options will be a vital part of my investing strategy now and into the future.
On a side note, I have added a Recommended Resources in the menu. It currently is a work in progress. It will contain blogs and YouTube channels that I enjoy as well as some sites that I use. I hope you take the time to check it out.
*Disclaimer – I am not a financial professional. The information shared here should not be considered financial advice. I am just a factory worker sharing my experience as I strive to achieve financial freedom. Before investing or making any financial decision do your own research and due diligence or consider seeking the advice of a financial and/or tax professional.
Here are some of the businesses that I use that I thought some of you might be interested in.
Lolli has a variety of stores that it is affiliated with and offers rewards for shopping at these stores. I use Lolli when I shop on Chewy and I get bitcoin as a reward. Who doesn’t want free bitcoin! If you are interested in Lolli and want to help support the blog here is my referral link: https://www.lolli.com/share/XP7gxDgqC4
I use M1 Finance for my taxable growth account. M1 Finance offers promotions for signing up. At the time of writing this post, the promotion is for $50. These promotions vary from time to time but is usually a $10 bonus. If you are interested in M1 Finance and want to support the blog here is my referral link: https://m1.finance/ktIiFeOI5zDr
Varo Bank is one of the banks that I use. From time to time the bank will run promotions. Currently, you can earn up to 3% on your savings with Varo, if you meet certain requirements. If you are interested in checking it out, here is my referral link: https://bank.varomoney.com/signup?r=William360
If you use the referral links listed above I could receive compensation. Please take the time to read the terms and conditions before signing up.