The market can be a cruel master

Emotional distress and mental anguish can occur at the simplest level, oh, say, tracking your 401k in the midst of the market gyrations of the last few years. Then again, the market can inflict real pain, as in financial pain, when you trade the market.

It is a fickle creature with no compassion or empathy, and it cares not one ounce for what you know, or what you think you know, about it.
On the flip side, the market is only your master if you allow that to happen.

• If you come at the market thinking it is an easy mark for a quick buck, it will own you.
• If you think you have found a sure-fire way to beat the market, it will own you.
• If you go after your trading without learning all you can about the market (in general and specific markets), without gathering the proper tools to trade the market (analytic software that really works), and without the proper mental approach (the goal is to win more than you lose), then the market will own you.
  So, don’t become the slave longing for freedom.

Get on even terms with the market; level the playing field by educating yourself, finding legitimate analytic software and getting your head into the game.

If you take the time to do the above, you have a shot at making money, to get a decent return-on-investment (ROI), to beat the odds.
Options trading is one avenue to accomplish a decent ROI or to protect your other investments.

It ain’t an easy path, and it is fraught with risk, but so is Life. Go about it carefully, methodically, and with diligence and you just might beat the odds.