covered call

Options: It's a word that makes you shiver with fear or salivate at opportunity. In fact, there's one options strategy that's almost certain to add some extra money to your portfolio over time, without adding lots of risk. It's the technique known as writing covered calls, and it's perfect for times like this.

A debate has emerged online (based on this article in The Wall Street Journal) about the financial the instrument known as a reverse convertible bond. A regular convertible bond pays the owner interest, and gives him an option to swap his debt for a pre-determined number of shares in the company. A...