8 Comments

If they had $10,000 of ready cash they would not need a bail out from the government. Most young adults are barely meeting ends meet. Plus a covered call places additional risk to the owner of the call. If you are going to show the value by law you must state the risk of loss.

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As my disclaimer says, options trades are risky. So are stock trades, investments in college tuition and life.

This piece is written for young people who are smart enough to live within their means, pay their student loans and learn ways to use their accumulating wealth to generate enough monthly income to cover some of their monthly bills, including student loan payments.

Very few of the people who have college student loans need bailouts from the government. Those that do over borrowed and paid too much for tuition. They also picked the wrong schools, and, possibly, the wrong majors if the majors didn't prepare them for higher paying jobs and careers, don't you think?

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Of course, but you are taking on more risk and have to consider what that is worth too. Still not sure I’d encourage someone to take out a 7% loan in order to do option trading, but I may be a more cautious investor than you.

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At 3% that makes a lot of sense. Tax deductibility is a good point. Up to $2,500 is deductible without itemizing for single taxpayer up to $85k income.

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I don't have a student loan, but I took a home mortgage at under 3% so I could buy stocks and sell covered calls on them. Works fine, and the risk is there, but it is manageable. You have to pay attention to your trades and make adjustments when necessary. Life is risky and we seem to be doing just fine.

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A key factor to consider here is the interest rate on the student’s loan balance, which depends on when the loans were disbursed. They can be quite low--under 3%--in which case it might make sense to make minimum payments and invest any extra cash. But if they’re high, like 7 or 8%, then that’s a pretty good risk-free return and I’d recommend paying them off before making other investments.

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@Nate, Good points. If you are borrowing at 7% to 8% and earning 10% to 15% in dividends and options premiums income, you make money on the arbitrage trade. So you might not want to pay the loan off. I assume that interest payments on the loans as on mortgages, is tax deductible. If you trade CSCO or other dividend stocks in your 401k, you are tax sheltered, which ups the tax-equivalent returns on investment.

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