LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME

For all you Ken Follett and Frederick Forsyth fans who love thrillers about global intrigue, NPR reported a very interesting story today.

In 2005, the U.S. government suspected a Macau bank of laundering North Korean funds. Under the global jurisdiction of the Patriot Act, the U.S. froze $25 million of the bank’s North Korean assets. This week, North Korea announced they want their money back, or else the country’s nuclear program will continue.

However, North Korea insists they be reimbursed through a private bank, and nobody wants to be the guy signing the check. “No bank is willing to help return the money to North Korea,” reported NPR this morning. “Banks fear helping North Korea would taint the banks in the eyes of the U.S. Treasury Department, even though the request came from the U.S. State Department.”  Read more... (276 words, 11 images, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

In a previous post on WCI, I had mentioned that I had sold some March 2007 Calls.

When you sell a call and you own the underlying stock, its called selling (or writing) covered calls. In my case, where I don’t own the underlying stock, its called selling naked calls. I gave someone the right to purchase a stock from me at a certain price at a certain date in the future and in return I collected a small premium. [That's right, I don't own the stock yet I sold the option on it and collected some money. Makes me feel like I'm in the insurance biz!]

There is unlimited risk in selling naked calls (or puts). If the stock rises beyond my strike price [which is $17.50 in the case of WCI] I stand to lose the amount that it rises minus 17.50 minus the premium I collected up front.  Read more... (579 words, 8 images, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)