Ask Doc "If you're so good at investing, why bother sharing your tips with other people?"
It's a common question I get from subscribers. But it has a simple answer. And a recent e-mail reminded me of it...
Doc,
Thanks to you years ago and your series on trading options and your training sessions and so on led me to trade options for a living. I have been doing this for maybe four years now. Thanks to you and Porter and Dan I have become an Alliance member.
I want to seriously thank you for doing these options series. What you taught me and what is available in the various newsletters has made my life so much better. When I say seriously thank you... I really mean it. I spent a lot of time teaching myself afterwards. But without you, I would never have made a trade.
The learning beyond that is large. But if you don't start you will never do it. Thanks Doc, you are the best.
Jeff S.
I love teaching.
In college, I started sharing my thoughts on wine during group wine tastings... and by my senior year I was teaching ballroom dance classes. When I graduated and went to work at Goldman Sachs, my group went around the world teaching. And I loved teaching when I entered the medical field as an eye surgeon. I could share my thoughts on the latest medical studies with other folks who were interested in research and help patients learn how to take care of their eyes.
It's one of the big reasons I started writing for Stansberry Research 14 years ago.
In my options service, Retirement Trader, I don't just want you to trade... I want to inform, teach, and empower.
When you add successful options trading to your investing toolbox, it can have a profound effect on your wealth. It won't make you instantly rich. But it will provide access to an income stream – extra regular payments on stocks that you already own – that you may have never known possible.
You don't have to be rich or experienced to use my strategy. You don't need to sit in front of a computer screen watching the market all day. And you can use this strategy to make money in any kind of market.
And right now, a rare window of opportunity has opened for the first time in over a decade.
While this window is open, everyday Americans just like you can use an incredibly fast, reliable, and low-risk investment strategy to collect hundreds and, in some cases, even thousands of dollars in extra income each month – with just a click of a mouse.
Q: Are option trades taxed differently than regular stock trades? – T.B.
A: Profits from options are taxed like capital gains. If you're selling a call and receive a dividend, that would be taxed as any dividend would. With options held for less than a year, you'd be taxed for short-term capital gains. Anything longer than a year and you would be taxed for long-term capital gains. These only apply if you're the average investor... For people making 1,000 or more short-term trades a year, the tax rules are different. But you'd include the trades you closed on your taxes at the end of the year.
That's why I like trading covered calls in an IRA or a self-directed 401(k). In fact, there are two big benefits that make retirement accounts ideal for trading options... In tax-deferred accounts, you don't have to keep track of the trade's gains and losses for IRS reporting. And you don't need to worry about short- and long-term capital gain differences, either.
Of course, if you haven't contributed much to your IRA, you'll be limited on which options you can trade. With a regular account, you can add cash at any time.
If you're a put seller, it's a little trickier. You usually can't use margin to boost your returns in an IRA or 401(k). So if you're using a retirement account, we'd recommend focusing on covered-call trades anyway. The returns of the put and call trades are essentially identical.
Q: I remember a mention about migraine headaches in the past. Can you tell the date that I may reference it? – B.K.
A: We've written quite a bit about migraines... how to tell if it's actually a migraine, why you should get your thyroid checked if you have chronic headaches, and fixes for the most common types of headaches. If you have a specific question we haven't answered, feel free to send it to us – [email protected].
Q: I've been suffering from knee pain for years and recently my doctor recommended steroid injections, but I've heard they aren't completely safe. Could you weigh in? – M.C.
A: Quick pain relief from a steroid injection may make your knee pain worse...
A recent review from the journal Radiology sheds light on an often overlooked problem: Steroid shots for osteoarthritis may speed up disease progression.
In other words, that shot might help with the acute pain, but it may also worsen your arthritis. That could mean more pain later as well as bone loss. The problem is that steroids change how our bodies break down calcium and vitamin D – both important for maintaining bone structure and strength.
If your doctor does recommend steroid injections like prednisone or cortisone, be sure to discuss these serious side effects with them. Getting calcium from your diet and getting plenty of vitamin D from sunshine are vital to staying healthy. Also be sure to add in weight-bearing exercises to keep your bones healthy.
You can read more on how to fight knee pain here.
What kind of aches and pains have you experienced? How do you combat them? Tell us your story... [email protected].
What We're Reading...
- Did you miss it? The "herd" is letting fear take over. Here's how to profit.
- Something different: The man who sees squiggles instead of numbers.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
July 10, 2020