I hired Jim Fink in 2010 just to write a free e-letter for Investing Daily. With three graduate degrees from prestigious universities, a keen understanding of the markets, and an understated wit, he was perfect for that role.

Little did I know that the e-letter was just a foot in the door for Jim. What he really wanted to do was teach the world about a trading strategy that helped him turn $50k into $5 million. Jim’s a teacher at heart, and this was a lesson too good to keep to himself.

So, Jim approached me in 2011 about launching a service that recommended “put credit spreads”. “Put what?”, I said. I was not an options trader yet, so I had no idea what he was talking about.

But his varied explanations sold me on the concept…

• When you buy a stock, you’re tying up capital in the whole tree. With options you can invest in just the parts that are growing quickly like the branches and the leaves, not the trunk and the roots.
• Don’t try to hit home runs. Hit singles and run the bases over and over and over again. You’ll win the game and sleep like a baby.
• Most people who BUY put options lose money. That’s why I SELL put options. Why be the schmuck at the blackjack table? Be the dealer!
• And, lastly, just like a bookie or an insurance company, take out an insurance policy with each trade. Offload your risk.

But Does It Work?

Fourteen years later, I have no regrets about giving Jim the green light to launch his Options for Income service. His win rate is a shocking 98%, and many of his thousands of followers report getting 25-40% annual returns year after year.

Jim doesn’t publish specific returns for his products because everyone’s experience is a little different. Due to the strict limit orders Jim recommends, not everyone gets into every trade, not everyone uses consistent position sizes, and so forth. But his complete list of the two trades he’s recommended every week for fourteen years, more than 1,500 trades, is available on the site for all his subscribers to see.

The numbers don’t lie. Here’s a look at the stats on Jim’s homepage that get updated anytime a trade closes. It almost always looks like this. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any red on there in years.

So I Gave It A Try

Prior to 2024, I used both Options for Income and Jim’s Velocity Trader (launched in 2015) to dabble with my personal money.

I never put more than $25k into either program. I typically made a few thousand dollars over a year or so. But, I did lose a few thousand on Velocity Trader early on because I simply wasn’t following Jim’s instructions. Unfortunately, I always pulled my money out prematurely to invest in some real estate or business venture I was chasing. Call it the curse of ADHD!

Then, this past year, I came to a realization. I’m 54, and I’ve decided I want to retire to pursue other passions. But, while I’m surely doing better than most people, I don’t actually have enough money to retire on.

I need a “salary-replacement plan”. So, in September 2024 I decided to go bigger than I had before. I trusted Jim and his program. I’d seen the numbers. I’d dabbled with his advice before. I’d seen countless testimonials our customers share with us. The time was NOW!

I put $300,000 into a taxable Fidelity account, which would be enough to trade 12 contracts on every one of Jim’s Options for Income recommendations. While Velocity Trader has remarkable results, it’s just a little too fast-paced for me. I wanted a program that I could monitor a bit less even if it potentially meant smaller returns.

With OFI I only need to spend five minutes entering new trades every Thursday, usually another 30 minutes on the third Friday of every month, and perhaps another hour or two dealing with miscellaneous trades and performance-tracking during the month.

And the results have been stunning! I’m up 61% year-to-date (Fidelity isn’t showing me a one year return yet). That $300k has become almost $500k, and I’ve since added more capital to my account. The goal is to reach $1 million by year-end, earn a “modest” 30% annually, and have at least $300k of “salary” to live on.

This is unfortunately in a taxable account, but I do need money to live on before I reach 59 ½ and can start withdrawing from my 401(k). I’ll soon be moving that money to an IRA so I can implement the OFI program with that money as well.

Whoa, Sounds Reckless

If this all sounds too-good-to-be-true, reckless, or perhaps just not for you, consider this…

Jim’s track record speaks for itself (as does mine). And his OFI system held up fine during the 2020 and 2022 market downturns. In a market decline, I would MUCH rather be holding a portfolio of put credit spreads with guaranteed maximum downside risk than stocks with no such protection.

Imagine a $100 stock that drops to $50. If you own 100 shares ($10,000 investment), you would lose 50% of its value, or $5,000, and likely sell near the bottom or decide to sit in dead money for a few years just hoping for a rebound. But if you had been in one option contract (representing 100 shares of stock) of a $95/$100 put credit spread (I’ll explain next week), you would only lose $350 (if you opened the spread for a $150 credit) and could soon enter a new put credit spread at $40/50 to turn the trade into a winner in just a few more months.

It’s a beautiful thing. And it only takes a few hours per month. Just to be absurd, my hourly rate for making $181,740 on roughly 27 hours of my time over nine months is $6,731 per hour. Even the priciest attorney wishes they could charge that rate.

Now, do keep in mind that I had to invest a few hours in the beginning to setup my trading account, watch Jim’s welcome videos, and get my feet wet with a few starter trades. But I’d say it was worth it.

Next week I’ll walk you through how put credit spreads actually work in plain-English. And if you can’t wait to get started, please check out this discounted offer now…