| I've been writing about options strategies a lot lately - particularly selling options, because it's an excellent strategy for generating income in markets like this one. With so many people interested in learning more, let me go into more detail on how selling options works and tell you how I first came across options. It was not in the usual way. Like learning about the birds and the bees, I found out about options in the streets. Literally. I was sitting on a stoop in Lower Manhattan when a friend introduced me to the concept. "You can buy 100 shares of stock for pennies on the dollar, and if it goes up, you make huge money," he explained. I was wary. After all, this friend had tried to get me involved in a Ponzi scheme just a few months earlier. I didn't even know what a Ponzi scheme was at the time, but it didn't pass the smell test. This felt different. So I went to the New York Public Library to investigate, and what do you know? My friend wasn't working an angle. It was all true. I was smart enough not to dive right in and start trading options. I was still learning about stocks, so I didn't know what I didn't know about options. But that changed over the years. I read everything I could get my hands on, talked to friends who traded options on the floors of various exchanges, and began experimenting on my own. I had a few big winners, but like most people, I paid my "tuition" to learn some valuable lessons. And then the breakthrough happened: I realized you could make money selling options. You can sell an option, collect the premium, and then either buy it back later to close the position or - even better - if the option expires worthless, you keep all the money. Now, don't get me wrong, I still like to buy options and swing for the fences if I believe a stock is going to make a big move. But I am the income guy, after all. So my preference is the more conservative and consistent approach to generating income from options, which is to sell them. Here are two simple options selling strategies that can put money in your pocket instantly. (For more on these two strategies, click here.) Covered Calls When you sell a covered call, you buy a stock and sell a call option on that stock. Let's say you buy Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) stock at $72. You could then sell a call option that expires on August 15, 2025, with a $75 strike price for $1.55 per share. You'd instantly pocket $155 per call, because options contracts represent 100 shares of the stock. Once you sell the call, the buyer of the call has the right to buy 100 shares of Coca-Cola from you at $75 apiece at any time up until August 15. If Coca-Cola is above $75, they may do so, but call buyers usually wait until the expiration date to make that decision. If the stock is below $75, the buyer will not exercise their option, so you'll keep your stock and the premium you've collected. It's like someone putting down a nonrefundable down payment on a stock while they decide whether they actually want to buy it. Let's look at the numbers to see the profit potential of covered calls. | 
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