(Please click here to download Options 101: What You Need To Know).

For more than a decade, I traded options on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. It was an exhilarating ride, and I had the benefit of working with some brilliant mentors. It also took a lot of work. I learned that options can be a valuable part of portfolio management or as a stand-alone strategy.

At Mirador, I find myself drawing on this experience to answer questions about options from clients. In most instances, it’s an exercise in demystifying options and explaining when they can be used successfully – and when they should be avoided altogether.

To help educate, I am writing a series of downloadable articles about the basics of options. I will outline how they work, the difference between company-granted options and exchange-listed options, and how we can use them to control risk and/or generate income. My goal is to explain them in a way anyone can understand.

My first article in this series is an overview of exchange-listed options. Please click here to download Options 101: What You Need To Know. Feel free to share and contact me with any thoughts.