USD$3,517 per month average income from option premiums

Selling Options for Income ~ My Journey

WhaT you will find below:

  • Wall of Trades (including screenshots and monthly income records)

  • Why I’m Doing This

  • FAQs

About Me

Hey there!

My name is Tired Salary Bear.

My drive to retire earlier is like perhaps like everyone else’s, but I will provide a little glimpse of the “why” regardless.

  • I want to stop dreading Mondays on Sundays.

  • I want to sleep as late as I want and wake whenever I want.

  • I want the freedom of a morning coffee without the frenetic energy of fast walks and the urgency of getting to work on time.

  • I want to be home when the sun hits and home again when the sun sets.

  • For once - I would like to enjoy the afternoon on the couch without a care in the world.

Many small moments like this have reinforced for me the need to be independent of an income stream derived from active, full-time employment.

Yes, a full time job with good colleagues and great bosses and meaningful work with a great salary aligned to the value you created can be amazing - but how many of you are living that utopia?

Probably not that many.

I want freedom. And I am exercising my rights and agency to build that life of my own for me and my family.

This is my journey.

Welcome onboard.

Wall of Trades

  • Option Income Nov-2024: $3,402USD

  • Option Income Dec-2024: $2,629USD

  • Option Income Jan-2025: $4,520USD

  • Option Income Feb-2025 (ongoing): $1,090USD

  1. Date Sold: 05 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $162 USD

  3. Ticker: $GOOG

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $165

  6. Quantity: 2 Contracts (200 Shares)

  7. Expiration Date: 08 Nov 2024

  8. ROI: 0.49% [Premiums collected ÷ total cost of 200 shares at $67.35]

  9. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% premiums kept as profit.

  1. Date Sold: 08 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $610 USD

  3. Ticker: $FTNT

  4. Trade Type: Covered Call

  5. Strike Price: $85

  6. Quantity: 2 Contracts (200 Shares)

  7. Expiration Date: 08 Nov 2024

  8. Average Purchase Price (before selling): $67.35

  9. ROI: 4.53% [Premiums collected ÷ total cost of 200 shares at $67.35]

  10. Result: Shares called. Total profits:[(85-67.35)+3.05]*200 = $4,130

  1. Date Sold: 08 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $820 USD

  3. Ticker: $FTNT

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $75

  6. Quantity: 6 Contracts (600 Shares)

  7. Expiration Date: 08 Nov 2024

  8. ROI: ~1.1% [premium collected ÷ collateral required]

  9. Result: Options expired worthless since FTNT gapped up after earnings. 100% premiums kept as profit.

  1. Date Sold: 15 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $670USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $650.0

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 15 Nov 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 65,000USD

  9. ROI: 1.03%

  10. Result: Option expired. 100% premium kept.

  1. Date Sold: 19 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $610USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $652.50

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 22 Nov 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 65,250 USD

  9. ROI: (610 / 65,250) * 100 = 0.935%

  10. Result: Option expired. 100% premium kept.

December 2024

  1. Date Sold: 29 Nov 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $530USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: 672.5

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 29 Nov 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 67,250 USD

  9. ROI: (530 / 67,250) * 100 = 0.789%

  10. Result: Option expired. 100% premium kept.

  1. Date Sold: 06 Dec 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $510USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $680.0

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 06 Dec 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 68,000 USD

  9. ROI: (510 / 68,000) * 100 = 0.75%

  10. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% of premiums kept as profit.

November 2024

  1. Date Sold: 09 Dec 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $470 USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $700.0

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 13 Dec 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 70,000 USD

  9. ROI: (470 / 70,000) * 100 = 0.671%

  10. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% of premiums kept as profit.

Jan 2025

  1. Date Sold: 16 Dec 2024

  2. Premium Collected: $809USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Cash-Secured Put

  5. Strike Price: $717.5

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 20 Dec 2024

  8. Collateral Requirement: 71,750 USD

  9. ROI: (809 / 71,750) * 100 = 1.128%

  10. Result: Assigned 100 shares at $717.50 per share for a total of $71, 750USD

  1. Date Sold: 30th Dec 2025

  2. Premium Collected: $1,210 USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Covered Call

  5. Strike Price: $720.0

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 3rd Jan 2025

  8. Price of average shares = $717.50USD

  9. ROI: (1,210 / 72,000) * 100 = 1.68%

  10. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% of premiums kept as profit.

  1. Date Sold: 6th Jan 2025

  2. Premium Collected: $900 USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Covered Call

  5. Strike Price: $760.0

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 10th Jan 2025

  8. Price of average shares = $717.50USD

  9. ROI: (900 / 71750) * 100 = 1.25%

  10. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% of premiums kept as profit.

  1. Date Sold: 23 Dec 2024

  2. Premium Collected: 840USD

  3. Ticker: US ODFL

  4. Trade Type: Covered Call

  5. Strike Price: 185.0 Quantity: 2 Lot(s)

  6. Expiration Date: 17 Jan 2025

  7. Collateral Requirement: 37,000 USD

  8. ROI: (840 / 37,000) * 100 = 2.27%

  9. Result: Shares were called at $185. Total Profit: $1616USD.

  1. Date Sold: 13th Jan 2025

  2. Premium Collected: $2,410USD

  3. Ticker: $ASML (NV)

  4. Trade Type: Covered Call

  5. Strike Price: $745

  6. Quantity: 1 Lot(s)

  7. Expiration Date: 31st Jan 2025

  8. Price of average shares = $717.50USD

  9. ROI: (2410/ 71750) * 100 = 3.3%

  10. Result: Option expired worthless. 100% of premiums kept as profit.

FAQs

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What is this page about?

This page is about my journey to early retirement solely using value investing/options selling as a means of income.

There are a lot of questions surrounding such a perceptually risky maneuver.

  1. What stocks do you sell options on?

  2. How long do you sell for?

  3. How far out the money do you sell?

  4. Why did you choose that strike, for that duration for that stock?

I hope that by documenting my journey over time, and that by being radically transparent - some of these questions can be answered.

Why not just own dividend paying stocks?

It takes a lot more capital to rely on dividends to make an additional monthly income.

I think my method is more achievable at a lower capital base (above $100k), and that it can grow quicker.

I also think that with some savvy stock selection, we might be able to do it with less risk involved.

From a risk standpoint, dividend investors are not exempt from slashed or stoppage of dividend payouts as well. Hyflux among others, was a really prominent one in Singapore.

How much income can I generate?

The income you can generate depends on total capital available.

On average, expect to get 0.5% - 1% of total capital as premiums when you sell an option the way I do. Sometimes, expect to get paid 0.3%-0.4% as well.

If you have $100k, expect to earn about $500-$1k per week selling options. If you’re not convinced, look above in the screenshots section and look for premium collected vs collaterals required.

On aggregrate, we aim for 0.5%-1% in order to make between 25% - 52% for the year (52 weeks in a year). That way, if we fall short, we know roughly where the annual percentages will fall based on the premiums we’re collecting. If we average 0.3% collected per week, we know we are looking at maybe 15+% returns this year.

Who is this for?

This is for people who want to stop selling time they will never get back for money and instead start selling knowledge

  1. It takes me 8 hours a day working a full time job to earn SGD$4,500.

  1. It takes me 5 minutes to sell my options every Monday night when the market opens to earn a growing and much larger pool of money.

This page is for anyone who wants to move from (1) to (2).

Don’t get me wrong - I’m still working. I’m of the opinion that work is a fundamental part of life.

Unlike most people I know however, I don’t believe that a full-time job should be a part of life for longer than 15-20 years.

Your track record seems short. Why should i trust you?

Yes, my track record is short.

It’s spanning from 2023-2025 for now with regards to using options on a value investing approach.

I’ve did it before in 2023 but I honestly can’t be bothered to go back and dig through all of the trade orders again so I figured I’d start tracking it here instead.

As to whether you should trust me - don’t. Decide that yourself after you review my wall of trades. Or don’t.

Bottom line - form your own opinion.

How sure are you of your method?

Nothing (and I do mean - nothing) is ever for sure.

I did score 27% for 2024, and 51% returns for 2025, so there is some sort of a feedback loop that what I do is making sense.

As an options writer, I am simply wrapping a simplistic cash-secured puts / covered calls writing strategy around it designed to extract maximum premiums.

Lots of people do it. I’m just being transparent about it.