Could you provide me with the names of websites or books that are
helpful to a beginner who is considering investing in options?  I'm
looking for a well respected resource that will guide a begining
investor through the process.

bbi...

Thanks for your question.  A quick reminder that answers and comments
provided on Google Answers are general information, and are not
intended to substitute legal, investment, accounting, or other
professional advice.  That being said, there are several sources of
information on investing in options.

Investopedia.com has a very nice basic options introduction that can
be found at http://www.investopedia.com/university/options/.  The
breakdown is:

1) Introduction
2) What are Options?
3) Why use Options?
4) An Example of how Options Work 
5) Types of Options
6) How to Read an Options Table
7) Conclusion and Resources 

Some books you may want to look into:

The Options Course : High Profit & Low Stress Trading Methods by
George A. Fontanills

From Amazon.com:
"Options trading continues to capture the mind of the sophisticated
individual investor. This book presents a full options trading course
by a well-known options trading instructor. The Options Course
progresses from introductory concepts through to more sophisticated
strategies for the intermediate-level trader. Learn how to trade
futures and stocks with call and put options, and much more. Case
studies and real-life examples are included."

There is also a workbook you can purchase with exercises.  When I
looked into option investing, this was the first book I read and it
gives a great overview and starts with the basics of option trading. 
Another book I would recommend would be Getting Started in Options by
Michael Thomsett.  Full of great examples and starting information.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471249505/

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471409464/

An online source I have used is to learn is Opitionetics.com.  Loaded
with information about option trading, investment strategies and more,
their message boards is a great place to start to see how people do
it.  They also have online educational material.

Good luck with your invesments and remember, you will always be
learning.  Option investing is a high-risk investment strategy, so be
sure you never invest more than you can afford to lose.  Thanks again
for your question.  If you need any additional clarification, please
let me know prior to rating my answer.

Regards,

-THV

Search Strategy:
None.  Personal knowledge and bookmarks, however, more information can
be found search the following terms:
options trading
learning option trading
option trading information

Very nicely done.  Thanks

Hi bbi,

Another good web site is Options Central.  On that web site, you can
learn about options, take free online classes, order free videos and
software, and register for free real life seminars.  I attended the
Basic and Intermediate seminars a couple of years ago, and they were
very informative.

Options Central
http://www.optionscentral.com/

Regards,
sldreamer

OPTIONS ARE NOT INVESTMENTS.

They are speculative securities that may be used to reduce -- or
enhance -- the risk of owning investment securities.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the American stock
exchange have very helpful web sites.

I was a full service broker at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter for a dozen
years and regularly had my immediate family sell covered calls to
enhance their returns.  Because many of the major brokerage firms had
many customers who lost money in the 1987 crash because of naked index
put selling, most of the major firms turn away this business and the
brokers who specialize in it are tightly monitored by their branch
managers.  Consequently, if you go to a broker at a major firm where
you pay full commissions, you will very definitely get your money's
worth because your actions and your broker's actions will be closely
monitored.  At a discounter or at a suprer-discounter, doing things on
your own will cost far less in commissions, but you are very highly
likely to lose more money than you would with a closely supervised
full service broker.

joeltfriedland@yahoo.com

PowerOptions has a good website for options education,
www.poweropt.com , which you can subscribe to for 14 days for free. 
PowerOptions provides a search engine to find option positions based
on fundamental and technical parameters.  PowerOptions search engine
can search for covered call, naked call, covered put, naked put,
collar, bear-call credit spread, bull-call debit spread, bull-put
credit spread, bear-put debit spread, calander call, long straddle,
long strangle, iron condor, calendar put, short straddle, short
strangle, iron butterfly, long call and long put.  They also have an
online store for purchasing options related books and other products.

PowerOptions
www.poweropt.com 

Also, PowerOptions' sister company, PowerOptionsApplied,
www.poweroptionsapplied , provides an options investment advisory
service, which provides a free email newsletter you can subscribe to.

PowerOptionsApplied
www.poweroptionsapplied.com 

Mike