Latest / How Canadian Markets Work / Episode 65: Covered Calls and Protective Puts (The Price of Protection)
Transcript
- 0:00You have almost certainly seen them. The glossy
- 0:03marketing materials, the brochures, and those
- 0:06online ads for financial products that promise,
- 0:09well, essentially, the holy grail of investing.
- 0:12Things like enhanced income or absolute downside
- 0:16protection. It just sounds like the perfect scenario.
- 0:18It really does. Just a way to sleep perfectly
- 0:20soundly at night while your portfolio steadily
- 0:22churns out cash for you. What if the exact mechanism
- 0:27designed to keep your money safe or to boost
- 0:30your yield is actually the very thing that's
- 0:33slowly bleeding your wealth dry? Yeah, that is
- 0:36a question that completely changes how you view
- 0:39the market, really. once you understand the mechanics
- 0:41beneath it. Whenever you buy a financial product
- 0:44that promises to alter the normal inherent risks
- 0:46of the stock market, you are entering into a
- 0:49trade. You're engaging in a highly specific structural
- 0:52reality. And the absolute rule of financial engineering
- 0:55is this. If you are gaining something comforting,
- 0:58like a safety net, you are giving something much
- 1:00more valuable away in return. Exactly. And so
- 1:04that is our mission for you today. We are taking
- 1:06a massive stack of sources on market mechanics,
- 1:08and we are going to look right past all those
- 1:10shiny marketing labels. We really need to. Yeah.
- 1:13We're going on a deep dive, breaking down the
- 1:15two options strategies that everyday retail investors
- 1:18are actually using out in the wild. So the covered
- 1:21call and the protective put. Right. We wanted
- 1:23to show you exactly what is being bought, what
- 1:25is being sold, and why the protection you think
- 1:29you're getting often behaves completely differently
- 1:31when you actually need it the most. It really
- 1:34does. And to really grasp the true price of that
- 1:37protection, we need to start with the first strategy,
- 1:40the covered call. Let's do it. Before we examine
- 1:42how these are packaged into these multi -billion
- 1:44dollar funds, we have to look at the bare mechanics.
- 1:47At its core, A covered call means you already
- 1:50own the underlying shares of a company and you
- 1:53decide to sell a call option against those exact
- 1:56shares. Right. So let's define what selling that
- 1:59call option actually looks like in practice.
- 2:01When you sell a call, you are selling another
- 2:04investor the right, but crucially, not the obligation,
- 2:09to buy your shares from you at a predetermined
- 2:11price on or before a specific date in the future.
- 2:14And that line in the sand, we call that the strike
- 2:16price. Right, exactly. And because you are granting
- 2:20someone else a really valuable right while taking
- 2:23on a strict obligation yourself, well, that buyer
- 2:26has to pay you upfront. Cash in hand. Exactly.
- 2:29That upfront cash payment is the premium. And
- 2:32the term covered, that's the linchpin of this
- 2:34entire strategy. It simply means you actually
- 2:37hold the shares you are promising to sell. If
- 2:40you didn't own the underlying stock, you would
- 2:42be selling what the market calls a naked call.
- 2:45Which is terrifying if you really think about
- 2:47it. Oh, completely. Because if you sell a naked
- 2:49call and the stock price suddenly skyrockets
- 2:50on like a massive news announcement, you would
- 2:53be legally forced to go into the open market,
- 2:56buy those shares at a runaway astronomical price
- 2:58just to deliver them to the buyer at the lower
- 3:01strike price. I mean, the potential loss there
- 3:03is quite literally infinite. It's a nightmare
- 3:06scenario. Right. But because you are covered,
- 3:09because you already have the shares sitting quietly
- 3:12in your account. If the buyer decides to exercise
- 3:15their right, you just gently hand over your existing
- 3:18shares. So the infinite risk of loss is completely
- 3:22taken off the table. Yeah, that unlimited risk
- 3:25is eliminated, which creates a ceiling on your
- 3:28worst -case scenario. regarding the option itself.
- 3:32But, you know, this brings us to the foundational
- 3:34trade -off of the strategy. Right, here's the
- 3:35catch. Exactly. By eliminating that unlimited
- 3:38loss, you are introducing a massive permanent
- 3:41opportunity cost. You get to keep the upfront
- 3:44premium cash the moment you sell the contract,
- 3:47and you keep it no matter what happens to the
- 3:49market. But your maximum possible financial outcome
- 3:52is now strictly capped. You can never, ever make
- 3:54more than your strike price, plus the premium
- 3:57you collected. So it is exactly like holding
- 3:59a winning lottery ticket. But before the numbers
- 4:02are drawn on television, you sell the rights
- 4:04to the jackpot to your neighbor just to lock
- 4:06in a guaranteed 20 bucks. That is a perfect way
- 4:08to look at it. You know, you get to put the 20
- 4:10bucks in your wallet immediately, which feels
- 4:12great. But if your numbers actually hit, you
- 4:15just have to stand there and watch your neighbor
- 4:17walk away with the absolute fortune that was
- 4:19sitting right in your hands a minute ago. Yeah,
- 4:21that captures the psychological pain of the strategy
- 4:24perfectly. Let's actually translate that into
- 4:26a fluid market scenario so you can really feel
- 4:29how this behaves when real money is on the line.
- 4:32Let's do it. So imagine you decide to put $5
- 4:35,000 into a company you strongly believe in.
- 4:38You buy 100 shares at $50 a share. Okay, so I
- 4:42have my $5 ,000 investment, but I want to squeeze
- 4:45a little extra juice out of it I look at the
- 4:48options chain and I decide to sell one covered
- 4:51call contract, which standardly covers my 100
- 4:55shares. Right. And I set the strike price a bit
- 4:58higher than the current price, let's say at $55.
- 5:01For taking on this obligation, the market pays
- 5:03me a $2 premium per share. So $2 times my 100
- 5:07shares, I immediately get $200 in cash deposited
- 5:11directly into my account. Exactly. So now you
- 5:14have your shares and you have $200 of hard cash.
- 5:17Now let's walk through the scenarios. Let's say
- 5:20the broader market enters a sudden rough patch.
- 5:23OK. Your stock drops from $50 down to $45. Uh
- 5:27-oh. Well, the person who bought your call option
- 5:30is certainly not going to exercise their right
- 5:33to buy your shares at $55 when they could just
- 5:36buy them in the open market for $45. Right. That
- 5:38would make zero sense for them. So the option
- 5:40just expires completely worthless. Exactly. I
- 5:43keep my shares, which have unfortunately dropped
- 5:45in value to $4 ,500. But I still have that $200
- 5:50in premium cash I collected on day one. So my
- 5:53total portfolio value is $4 ,700. Meaning I am
- 5:59$200 better off than if I had just stubbornly
- 6:01held the shares and done nothing. The premium
- 6:04essentially acted like a small shock absorber
- 6:06on the way down. Yeah, it provides a very modest
- 6:09cushion. Now, let's consider a different environment.
- 6:12What if the stock just moves sideways? It stays
- 6:15perfectly flat at $50 right through the expiration
- 6:18date. Well, the buyer still has no reason to
- 6:21exercise. The option expires worthless. Your
- 6:25shares are still worth $5 ,000. You still have
- 6:28the $200 premium, meaning your total value is
- 6:30$5 ,200. Once again, you are $200 better off.
- 6:34And if the stock rises to exactly $55, which
- 6:37is my strike price, the buyer still doesn't pull
- 6:40the trigger because there's no profit in buying
- 6:42at 55 for me when the market is right at 55 anyway.
- 6:46Exactly. So my shares have grown to $5 ,500.
- 6:49I have my $200 in cash giving me $5 ,700. This
- 6:53feels fantastic. You know, I captured the growth
- 6:56and I kept the premium. Yeah. And that specific
- 6:58moment, the stock pitting exactly at your strike
- 7:01price is the absolute optimal outcome. for a
- 7:06covered call. Right, it's the dream scenario.
- 7:08It is where the strategy looks like sheer genius.
- 7:12But, you know, we have to look at the reality
- 7:14of how equity markets actually generate long
- 7:17-term wealth. Markets don't just inch up to your
- 7:20strike price and politely stop. They go on tremendous
- 7:23unexpected runs. Suppose the company announces
- 7:26a breakthrough product and the stock rockets
- 7:29to $65 a share. Oh, wow. OK, so this is where
- 7:33the structural reality bites down hard. Yes.
- 7:37The investor who bought my call is absolutely
- 7:40going to exercise their right because they can
- 7:43force me to sell my shares for $55 and they can
- 7:45immediately turn around and sell them on the
- 7:47open market for $65. Exactly. I have no choice.
- 7:50My shares are called away. You are forced to
- 7:52sell. You receive the $5 ,500 for the sale, plus
- 7:55you still have the $200 you collected up front.
- 7:57You walk away with $5 ,700. But if I had just
- 8:01sat on my hands and held the shares, ignoring
- 8:03the options market entirely... My investment
- 8:06would be worth $6 ,500. I am $800 poor because
- 8:10I sold that call. And if the stock goes on a
- 8:13true tear and hits $70, I am still capped at
- 8:16$5 ,700, while a simple buy -in -hole strategy
- 8:18would have netted me $7 ,000. Right. I am bleeding
- 8:21out $1 ,300 of missed opportunity. You actively
- 8:26traded away the entire upside of the market's
- 8:29best days, all for the psychological comfort
- 8:31of $200 upfront. You systematically amputated
- 8:35your gains. And if the math shows us that you
- 8:38were routinely cutting off your best possible
- 8:40outcomes, it begs a massive question. Why is
- 8:44this exact strategy the foundation of an aggressively
- 8:46marketed, multi -billion dollar ETF industry
- 8:50in Canada? Yeah, that is the perfect pivot to
- 8:53really the illusion of income because these Canadian
- 8:56covered call funds are practically unavoidable.
- 8:59They're everywhere. You see them heavily pushed
- 9:01to retail investors, especially folks nearing
- 9:03retirement, and it's completely built around
- 9:05the premise of enhanced income. They promise
- 9:07massive monthly distributions, advertising yields
- 9:11of 8, 10, or 12%, which are numbers vastly higher
- 9:15than what the underlying blue chip companies
- 9:17actually pay in normal dividends. Oh, the marketing
- 9:21pitch is undeniably seductive. Yeah. It tells
- 9:23you that you can generate huge extra income from
- 9:26the safe, boring shares you already own. But
- 9:29we really have to strip the marketing away and
- 9:31look at the financial engine of the fund. Right.
- 9:33You aren't generating new income out of thin
- 9:35air. you are systematically selling off your
- 9:38future upside, converting that future growth
- 9:41into upfront cash and handing it back to yourself.
- 9:45The industry leans heavily on the word income
- 9:47because it is a deeply comforting, familiar term.
- 9:50It is far easier to sell than telling an investor,
- 9:53hey, we are structurally liquidating your future
- 9:55growth potential to pay you today. You know,
- 9:57I have to push back here a little on behalf of
- 9:59the listener, because human psychology plays
- 10:02a huge role in this. Oh, absolutely. It is so
- 10:04easy to look at an account statement and feel
- 10:06successful. If my overall account balance is
- 10:09holding somewhat steady and a massive cash distribution
- 10:13is hitting my checking account every single month,
- 10:15like clockwork to pay my bills, isn't that cash
- 10:18in hand infinitely better than just hoping for
- 10:20a paper gain that might vanish in a market crash?
- 10:23It's a fair question. Right. Isn't a bird in
- 10:25the hand worth more? It is the most natural human
- 10:28response in the world to prefer a tangible cash
- 10:30today over theoretical growth tomorrow. But you
- 10:34must evaluate your investments using the correct
- 10:37metrics. And yield is the wrong metric here.
- 10:40Interesting. OK. You cannot look at a distribution
- 10:42yield in isolation. Yield only tells you the
- 10:45cash being handed back to you at this exact moment.
- 10:48What you really need to track is total return
- 10:50over a full market cycle. Total return. Right.
- 10:52Right. Total return includes the distributions,
- 10:55plus or minus the actual changing value of the
- 10:57underlying assets. If a covered call fund is
- 11:00boasting an 8 % yield, but its total return over
- 11:03five years is only 4%, it means the underlying
- 11:06base of your investment is eroding. You are slowly
- 11:10bleeding out your own capital. Yeah. And this
- 11:12perfectly highlights the structural lag built
- 11:15into these funds. In a flat or falling market,
- 11:18they look brilliant because the premium cash
- 11:20cushions the fall. But they structurally, mathematically
- 11:24underperform in strong rising bull markets. Exactly.
- 11:27And the critical flaw for the long term investor
- 11:29is that strong rising markets are the entire
- 11:32point of taking equity risk in the first place.
- 11:34Over the decades, the stock market drifts upward,
- 11:37heavily punctuated by explosive bull runs. If
- 11:40you cap those bulls, bull runs by selling covered
- 11:42calls, you completely destroy the mathematical
- 11:45engine of compound growth. You do. And furthermore,
- 11:48we have to examine the actual composition of
- 11:50those massive monthly payouts you are receiving.
- 11:53Investors just naturally assume it is all just
- 11:55dividends and rich option premiums. Right. In
- 11:57reality, to maintain those artificially high
- 12:00double -digit yields that the marketing departments
- 12:02promised, a significant portion of the payout
- 12:05is often something called return of capital,
- 12:07or ROC. Now, return of capital sounds harmless,
- 12:11but it is a massive red flag, isn't it? Oh, yes.
- 12:14It literally means the fund did not make enough
- 12:16actual profit to pay you, so they are simply
- 12:19handing you back your own original investment
- 12:22money to make up the difference. Exactly. It
- 12:24is not an investment return. It is a return of
- 12:27your principal. And this triggers a complex,
- 12:31often misunderstood, tax consequence regarding
- 12:33your adjusted cost base, or ACB. Ah, tax! Yeah,
- 12:38think of your adjusted cost base as the official
- 12:40receipt that proves to the government exactly
- 12:42what you paid for the investment. When a fund
- 12:45hands you a return of capital giving you your
- 12:47own money back, they essentially cross out your
- 12:49original receipt and write in a lower number.
- 12:52Your ACB drops. OK, so it defers the tax pain
- 12:55today, but it is building a time on for tomorrow.
- 12:57Because when you eventually decide to sell that
- 13:00fund entirely, the government taxes you on the
- 13:03capital gain, which is the massive gap between
- 13:05your final selling price and that new artificially
- 13:08lowered receipt. You end up with a surprise tax
- 13:11bill on money that was essentially just your
- 13:13own principle being handed back to you in slow
- 13:15motion. Right. So to summarize the covered call
- 13:18dynamic, you are trading away the market's absolute
- 13:22best days. in exchange for upfront cash and a
- 13:25deferred tax headache. Brutal. But suppose you
- 13:27understand this. Suppose you don't care about
- 13:29chasing monthly cash. What if your sole objective
- 13:32is to capture all that beautiful upside growth,
- 13:35but you want to build an unbreakable wall to
- 13:38protect your portfolio against the market's devastating
- 13:412008 -style crashes? Well, to achieve that, you
- 13:44need the exact opposite trade. And that brings
- 13:46us to the second strategy on our deep dive, the
- 13:48protective put. If a covered call is selling
- 13:51your upside, A protective put is literal, unadulterated
- 13:55investment insurance. Let's look at the mechanics
- 13:58here. In this scenario, you still own the shares,
- 14:00but instead of selling a call option, you step
- 14:03into the market and you buy a put option. Right,
- 14:05and buying a put gives you the absolute right,
- 14:08though again not the obligation, to sell your
- 14:11shares at a firmly set strike price on or before
- 14:14the expiration date. By purchasing this contract,
- 14:17you engineer a hard floor beneath your portfolio,
- 14:20no matter how violently the stock plummets. I
- 14:23mean, even if the company goes entirely bankrupt,
- 14:25you hold a legally binding contract, forcing
- 14:28someone else to buy your shares at that strike
- 14:30price. Wow. So it is the ultimate peace of mind.
- 14:32It is. But, you know, just like the insurance
- 14:34policy on your car or your home, that peace of
- 14:36mind comes with a mandatory out -of -pocket cost.
- 14:39Always. You have to pay the premium up front
- 14:41to buy the put. And the harsh reality is you
- 14:44pay that premium whether your house burns down
- 14:46or not. Let's weave this into our previous market
- 14:48journey just so the numbers make sense. You still
- 14:51own those 100 shares at $50. $5 ,000 of your
- 14:55capital is at risk. Okay. You are worried about
- 14:57an impending economic recession so you decide
- 15:00to buy a put option with a $45 strike price.
- 15:05The market charges you a premium of $2 a share
- 15:08for this insurance. Alright so I am paying $200
- 15:12out of pocket immediately. My account is instantly
- 15:15down $200 on day one. But let's say my fears
- 15:19were actually justified. The market enters a
- 15:21deep freeze, panic selling takes over, and the
- 15:24stock collapses all the way down to $30 a share.
- 15:27Right. So if you had simply held the shares without
- 15:30protection, your $5 ,000 investment would have
- 15:33evaporated down to $3 ,000. It would be a devastating
- 15:36blow to your compounding journey. But because
- 15:39you hold the put option, You have the contractual
- 15:41right to sell those $30 shares for $45. That
- 15:46put contract alone is now intrinsically worth
- 15:48$15 a share, or $1 ,500. Oh, I see. So my actual
- 15:52shares are only worth $3 ,000, but my put option
- 15:54is worth $1 ,500. Combined, my portfolio is sitting
- 15:58at $4 ,500. Exactly. And if you subtract the
- 16:02$200 I paid for the premium, my total retained
- 16:05value is $4 ,300. Correct. Meaning I am $1 ,300
- 16:11better off than the unprotected investor who
- 16:14just rode the stock down into the abyss. The
- 16:17floor held completely firm at $4 ,300. The stock
- 16:22could literally drop to zero, and I would still
- 16:24have $4 ,300. You successfully transferred your
- 16:27catastrophic risk to someone else. But, you know,
- 16:30we must evaluate the other scenarios to understand
- 16:32the true cost. Right. What if your fears were
- 16:34overblown? What if the economy stabilizes and
- 16:37the stock just stays flat at $50? Well, in that
- 16:39case, my put option expires completely worthless.
- 16:42I didn't need the insurance. My shares are still
- 16:44worth $5 ,000. But I permanently lost the $200
- 16:48I spent on the premium. I am sitting at $4 ,800.
- 16:53I am $200 worse off. And what if the market ignores
- 16:56your fears entirely and the stock goes on a massive
- 16:59rally up to $65? The exact same outcome for the
- 17:03option, I guess. The put expires workless. My
- 17:07shares grew to $6 ,500, which is fantastic, but
- 17:12I'm still out the $200 premium. Right. So I have
- 17:15$6 ,300. Once again, I am $200 poorer than if
- 17:19I had just done nothing. Exactly. This exposes
- 17:22the harsh structural reality of the protective
- 17:25put as an ongoing strategy. You are financially
- 17:28worse off in every single conceivable scenario
- 17:31except for a massive catastrophic crash. You
- 17:33know, it is essentially like buying a brand new,
- 17:37highly expensive fire insurance policy for your
- 17:40house every single day of the week. Yes. Buying
- 17:42it once ahead of a specific earnings report or
- 17:44major geopolitical event makes tactical sense.
- 17:47But paying for a protective put every month,
- 17:49year after year, creates a continuous bleeding
- 17:51of capital. Eventually, the premiums you pay
- 17:54cost more than simply rebuilding the house if
- 17:56it actually burns. That constant bleeding is
- 17:59a permanent drag on a portfolio. If you are paying
- 18:02two or three percent of your portfolio's value
- 18:05every few months for protection, it requires
- 18:07your underlying stocks to generate massive market
- 18:10-beating returns just to break even on the insurance
- 18:13costs. Over a 20 -year investing horizon, that
- 18:17continuous cost will consume a shocking percentage
- 18:20of your compound growth. And because that ongoing
- 18:23insurance premium becomes such a massive, visible
- 18:26financial drain, investors inevitably start hunting
- 18:30for a mathematical loophole. They always do.
- 18:32They look at the market and ask, is there a way
- 18:34I can get this unbreakable protective floor beneath
- 18:36my portfolio without having to bleed out out
- 18:39-of -pocket cash every single month? And that
- 18:42perfectly sets up the strategy that attempts
- 18:44to merge both sides of the aisle. The caller?
- 18:46Right, the caller strategy and the massive hidden
- 18:49tax traps that come with it. The caller strategy
- 18:52is a truly fascinating piece of financial engineering.
- 18:55To build a collar, you simultaneously execute
- 18:58both of the trades we just discussed. Okay, walk
- 18:59me through that slowly. You buy a protective
- 19:01put at a lower strike price to build your unbreakable
- 19:05floor. At the exact same time, you sell a covered
- 19:08call at a higher strike price to create a cap.
- 19:11You take the premium cash you collect from selling
- 19:14away your upside, and you immediately use it
- 19:18to fund the purchase of your downside protection.
- 19:20It's elegantly simple in theory. The income from
- 19:24selling my future upside literally pays for the
- 19:27insurance policy on my downside. Precisely. The
- 19:30end result is a floor and a cap, functioning
- 19:32simultaneously, often engineered so the premium
- 19:34collected exactly matches the premium paid, creating
- 19:38a net zero upfront cost. Right. It is highly
- 19:41coherent from a purely mathematical standpoint.
- 19:44You don't pay any out of pocket cash and your
- 19:46downside is totally secured. But, and this is
- 19:49a huge, but if I use a caller to lock my returns
- 19:51into this incredibly safe perfectly defined little
- 19:54box. Haven't I just successfully engineered my
- 19:56way out of making any real meaningful money?
- 19:59You really have. You have entirely neutralized
- 20:01the equity risk premium. You've engineered an
- 20:04incredibly narrow, restricted range of possible
- 20:07outcomes. And that is entirely contrary to what
- 20:10long term equity investors need to achieve to
- 20:13outpace inflation and build wealth. You are taking
- 20:16on all the friction and complexity of the stock
- 20:18market, but engineering away the historical returns.
- 20:22But, you know, the restricted returns aren't
- 20:23even the most dangerous part. There is a massive
- 20:26complication lurking in the shadows of these
- 20:28strategies, specifically regarding how they interact
- 20:31with taxes in a non -registered taxable investment
- 20:35account. We need to shine a light on the hidden
- 20:38dangers of assignment. This is where perfectly
- 20:40good mathematical theories crash into the brick
- 20:42wall of the tax code. Yeah. If you are running
- 20:45covered calls or caller strategies in a taxable
- 20:47account, you must deeply understand the tax consequences
- 20:50of your shares being culled away. If the stock
- 20:53price rises past your short call strike price
- 20:55and the buyer exercises their option, your shares
- 20:58are forcefully removed from your account. And
- 21:00the government, whether it is the CRA or the
- 21:03IRS, doesn't care that it was an automated options
- 21:05assignment. To them, forced selling is officially
- 21:08a disposition of assets. Exactly. It is a disposition.
- 21:11And a disposition forces an immediate taxable
- 21:14event. Wow. Imagine you have held a core position
- 21:19in a great company for 10 years. You bought it
- 21:22at $20, and it's now trading at $100. You have
- 21:25a massive unrealized capital gain. A great problem
- 21:29to have. Right. But you decide to run a caller
- 21:32on it just to feel safe for a few months. The
- 21:35stock jumps, the call is assigned, and your shares
- 21:37are gone. You just instantly triggered a capital
- 21:40gains tax on that massive $80 per share profit.
- 21:44And you may not have wanted to realize that gain
- 21:46for another 10 years. Exactly. You might have
- 21:48been planning to pass those shares down to your
- 21:50heirs or, you know, sell them in a year when
- 21:52your income bracket was vastly lower. But the
- 21:55mechanical nature of the option contract violently
- 21:58takes that choice entirely out of your hands.
- 22:01It shatters long term tax planning. The deferred
- 22:04tax advantage is one of the most powerful tools
- 22:06in an investor's arsenal because it allows your
- 22:08capital to compound on money that you technically
- 22:11owe the government. but haven't paid yet. Right,
- 22:13you're earning returns on their money. When you
- 22:15force a disposition, you lose that leverage.
- 22:18You pay the tax today, leaving you with a much
- 22:20smaller base of capital to reinvest tomorrow.
- 22:23So you thought you were being clever by engineering
- 22:25a perfectly safe, comfortable box with no upfront
- 22:28cost. But the true, hidden cost of that box is
- 22:32the destruction of your portfolio's tax efficiency
- 22:34and your long -term compounding growth. That's
- 22:37exactly right. Well, let's pull all of these
- 22:39threads together to clearly see what this means
- 22:41for your financial journey. A covered call sells
- 22:44your right to the market's most explosive days
- 22:47in exchange for a small premium right now. It
- 22:50masquerades as income, but it mathematically
- 22:52caps your growth. A protective put buys a firm
- 22:55floor to stop your losses during a crash, but
- 22:58it requires a constant drain of upfront premiums
- 23:00that you pay whether the market crashes or goes
- 23:03on a historic bull run. And while covered call
- 23:06funds are relentlessly marketed as safe income
- 23:08generating vehicles, you must always look past
- 23:11the yield and demand to see the total return
- 23:13over a full market cycle. Ultimately, protection
- 23:15in financial markets is never ever free. You
- 23:19always pay for it. You either bleed out in upfront
- 23:22cash premiums or you bleed out in the silent
- 23:25massive opportunity cause of capped upside and
- 23:28tax inefficiency. Which leaves us with a lingering
- 23:30thought for you to carry with you this week.
- 23:32Let's just sit with this for a second. Think
- 23:34about the deep fundamental asymmetry of these
- 23:37trades. If everyday retail investors are systematically
- 23:41selling away their market upside through covered
- 23:43calls and callers, just to get the psychological
- 23:46comfort of a monthly yield, who exactly are the
- 23:50institutional players on the other side of those
- 23:52trades happily buying up all that upside? It's
- 23:55a zero -sum trade on the contract itself. For
- 23:57every seller, there is a buyer. If retail investors
- 24:00are desperate to sell the right to the market's
- 24:02best days for a few dollars today, sophisticated
- 24:05institutional algorithms and hedge funds are
- 24:07the ones accumulating those rights. What does
- 24:09it tell you about the true price of comfort if
- 24:12the smartest, most resourced players in the market
- 24:15are perfectly happy to pay you a small, comforting
- 24:18premium today, knowing it allows them to capture
- 24:21all the massive compounding growth of tomorrow?
- 24:23It is a question absolutely worth asking yourself
- 24:26the next time you open a glossy brochure for
- 24:28a fund promising the best of both worlds. Definitely.
- 24:31Thank you so much for joining us for this deep
- 24:33dive. Take this knowledge, let the mechanics
- 24:36sit with you, and use it to always look past
- 24:38the labels. Until next time, keep looking beneath
- 24:42the surface.