Click Here To Purchase Options Trading for the Conservative Investor: Increasing Profits Without Increasing Your Risk

Author: Michael C. Thomsett

Publisher: Pearson Education/Financial Times Prentice Hall (Upper Saddle River, NJ)

ISBN: 0-13-149785-5

Options Trading for the Conservative Investor is a 255 page, hardbound book, with a suggested retail price of less than $35 (US).  This is likely to be less than the cost of a single, round-trip option trade.  It is comprised of 9 chapters, followed by an appendix on option trading strategies, a glossary and an index.  The target audience is clearly stated by the author in the title and in the preface as a conservative (or moderate) investor.

            The author presents some very conservative guidelines in the very first chapter.  The emphasis is on “big cap” stocks (e.g., DOW or S&P500).  The content suggests a book targeted at a “seasoned” investor, perhaps, seeking to become more of a trader, and is not written for the neophyte, novice or the day-trader.  Therefore, some level of equity market maturity is presumed.  Taxation is addressed (pp. 45-46), as stock options are typically traded in taxable accounts.

            Who is likely to find this book of greatest interest?  I would suggest that “baby boomers” are the most likely target audience.  This group has some accumulated wealth, is (primarily) concerned with “wealth preservation,” and is less likely, given their placement on the age-earnings life-cycle, to be interested in the “quick buck,” likely to be associated with high risk/return or day-trading scenarios.

            The “covered call” is, perhaps, the best known options trading strategy to the “conservative,” long-term investor.  This topic is covered, early, in chapter 6.  However, the “long put” is also addressed, in chapter 7, and, as the author suggests, is often overlooked.  More advanced techniques, including “straddles,” are covered in chapter 8.

            The target audience is clearly stated in the title and I found the content to be very palatable, clearly delivered by the author, and likely to represent a one-day read for the seasoned or mature investor.  I recommend this book for this target audience, both as a learning tool and as a permanent addition to their reference library.

The above review was contributed by: Anthony (A.J.) Cataldo II.    Dr. Cataldo holds a PhD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University , MAc ( University of Arizona)  unofficial minor in Marketing , BSBA  (University of Arizona). He is a Certified Management Accountant and a Certified Public Accountant:  Click Here to view Anthony's Reviews

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