I must say, I am disappointed by the articles on options in M*. I do think that the quotes, voltality etc. tables are nice. It would be very useful if strategies on options are written about regularly !

I am very disappointed in Morningstar's options education, information, and tools. I pop in every few months to see how things are progressing and slowwwwwwwwww is an understatement. I was hoping for enhancements that would complement the education, info and tools Schwab provides. I am learning a lot at sites like Investopedia.com and I have found the Ivolatility.com (free) basic calculator an incredibly useful tool. I have been shifting from writing covered calls exclusively to buying/selling calls and puts as well as selling bullish put spreads. Again, I was hoping M'star would provide tools to sort out the best options trades but ... .. .. An approach similar to that used by Value Line would be worth considering. They provide stock recommendations and have an online tool for considering various options strategies. They have a "guide" that shows how to use the tools and they have articles that provide general education as well as well as examples of how to use the tools on a daily basis. .. .. Since the market is always in flux I would prefer M'Star providing tools (or specific recommendations) rather than general articles. With respect to articles, the word "actionable" comes to mind. Yes, that's it. Any arcicles should be actionable. With respect to tools, I think the focus should be on crystalizing choices of specific actions that can be taken. For example I would appreciate a tool that helps pick the best spreads, the most overpriced/underpriced calls, and the most overpriced/underpriced puts. .. .. First, the work of M'star analysts could be distilled into a few (very few) "recommended" stocks and possibly ETFs (e.g., These stocks are more likely to move up than down over the next X months). Then tools could guide us to a short list of options strategies to take advantage of the synthesized analysis findings (e.g., the puts, calls, spreads with the highest likelihood of success). .. .. I guess what I am saying is that I am still in search of the "Options Holy Grail" and I will be stopping back periodically to see if M'Star comes up with one. .. .. Good luck to all.

Very nicely said, jms.

 

I hope M* takes your advice.

 

Steve

' 

If y'all are interested, my entry into this year's Hands-On contest is an all-options portfolio, presently up approx 67% for the year.   The explanation of my strategy is here:

 
 http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/post/2472885.aspx

 http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/post/2472886.aspx

 http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/post/2473606.aspx

 and some more on what I think is going on in general:

 http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/post/2463921.aspx

Enjoy.