Subject: Re: Getting complicated
I guess one advantage of buy-writes that's worth noting is that although you have to put out cash

It's a very big advantage when things go majorly south. When Buffett sold those puts on the S&P500 back 10 or 20 years ago, he mentioned that one of the reasons he did the trade that way is because HE (Berkshire) gets to hold the capital, and control the capital, for the duration. If things go really bad, let's say the counterparty goes BK, there is much less pain involved in getting hold of the capital in question.