Options guru Jeff Fischer discusses with 7investing how options can be used as a complement to stocks to boost the returns of a long-term investment portfolio.

When used responsibly, options can be a fantastic way to boost the overall returns of an investment portfolio.

But options are also shorter-term in nature and they are more highly-exposed to risks and uncertainties. So how, exactly, should investors be using them responsibly? 

Jeff Fischer has three decades of investing experience. Between writing content for retail investors, co-founding multiple options newsletters, and even managing a hedge fund, he has a wealth of knowledge about investing strategies to generate long term returns.

In our recent conversation on March 7, 2025, Jeff discussed how options can be a long-term investor's best friend for boosting returns -- but they also have a few nuances that shouldn't be ignored.

Options are best used as a complement to stocks. Jeff describes why he's often writing puts to generate income when he wants to buy a stock at a particular price and writing calls when he's willing to sell a stock for a certain price.

We also discussed how investing in options can be slightly different than investing in stocks. Due to their shorter-term nature, options are more exposed to the behavior of the stock market and are more heavily influenced by its current mood of optimism or pessimism. While technical factors do play a role, options strategies should still be built upon fundamental research and valuation.

Jeff then described the tradeoff between an option's intrinsic value and its time value. When selling options, you get paid the premium upfront; and you can later buy it back in the future to close out the contract. Jeff typically looks to close out options positions he has written if they've reached 80% or more of the premium's total value -- meaning there's less than 20% of the initial premium left on the contract.

We then discussed the difference between retail and institutional investors. Retail investors have the freedom to invest anywhere they would like, but institutions prefer much more predictability and credibility. When retirement funds are at stake, institutional investors are looking for their fund managers to reliably execute on the strategy they were created to accomplish.

In the outro, Jeff offered the sectors and stocks that he most enjoys to invest in. During his 30 year career, he's mostly preferred software companies like Alphabet and Meta Platforms. He also mentioned Airbnb as a most recent opportunity investors might want to consider.

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Crocs is a global shoe retailer whose comfortable and inexpensive footwear generates $4 billion in annual sales.

Taiwan Semiconductor $TSM, the world's largest chipmaking foundry, today just issued the largest CapEx forecast of its company's history.Does this mean the chip industry is finally escaping from its cyclical lows, and is ready for a rebound in 2025?

Innovation and regulation are quite often at odds. Technology relentlessly marches onward; yet it also needs to safely serve the common good.

This is ever so true in banking. While banking may have

Today's 7investing podcast features two banking

- How crypto-bank Silvergate

- Why overly-restrictive regulations such as excessive capital

- What

- How 'debanking' is unfairly punishing many of the industry's key innovators

In the final outro, 7investing CEO Simon Erickson plays a game of "over or under", to hear Caitlin and John's differing insights on a variety of popular companies and topics.

This was truly an epic conversation between two banking

Disclaimer: 7investing's hosts and guests may have

To learn more about 7investing, visit our website at 7investing.com.

It's an exciting time to invest in the banking sector.

Newly-elected President Donald Trump has promised to relax regulations on banks, which could boost lending volumes. The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates twice during the past two months, which could make companies more eager to borrow.

In response, several publicly-traded financial services companies including Upstart Holdings (Nasdaq: UPST), Affirm Holdings (Nasdaq: AFRM), and SoFi Technologies (Nasdaq: SOFI) have seen their share prices skyrocket and are generating fantastic gains for their investors.

But will this momentum continue? What impact will Trump's administration really have on banking? And what, specifically, should those of us investing in banking be watching for?

In today's podcast, 7investing CEO Simon Erickson gets the answers to those questions from banking expert John Maxfield. The two discuss why the macro is favorable for banking, yet also a few cautionary things to watch out for at SoFi.

Disclaimer: 7investing and its guests may have active positions in the companies mentioned in this podcast.

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Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) is helping pharmaceutical companies create and sell new drugs more efficiently. It's cloud-based software platforms Veeva CRM and Veeva Vault have become industry-standards; deeply embedded with Big Pharma's largest companies.

There's an upcoming catalyst next year, as Veeva's CRM platform will migrate from being hosted by Salesforce to its own infrastructure. That will unlock opportunities for it to develop new software products -- perhaps even beyond life sciences -- to make the pie larger with its largest customers.

As interest rates fall, it's likely new VC funding will flow into smaller biotech companies and will unlock a new SMB revenue stream as well.

7investing CEO Simon Erickson describes both of these catalysts, as well as why he believes the stock is undervalued, in today's 7investing podcast.

To see all of our official stock recommendations and our monthly Best Buys, get started with 7investing at ⁠7investing.com/subscribe⁠. Your first week of our premium membership is entirely free!

The Dutch lithography juggernaut ASML (Nasdaq: ASML) has been one of the semiconductor industry's best performing stocks of the past decade. Yet its high-flying shares have sold off 33% in the past three months, perhaps due to its underwhelming forward guidance that could indicate slowing demand.

ASML has looked to Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) for much of its growth this past year. Intel has been all-in on expanding its foundry group and aggressively placed orders for six of ASML's latest-and-greatest EUV machines last year. That was a huge sign of confidence, and ASML's shares shot up 50% during the first half of 2024.

Yet now facing a cash-crunch, Intel is delaying its new $30 billion Germany fab and is pushing out many of its previously-expected orders. That caused ASML to pull back on its fiscal year forecast and to suffer the wrath of a displeased and suddenly-very-grumpy market.

With ASML regain the confidence of investors? Will Intel be an opportunity or a liability going forward? 7investing CEO Simon Erickson shares his thoughts in today's podcast.

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Lululemon (Nasdaq: LULU) has expanded from being a niche yoga retailer to an international fitness super-brand. New CEO Calvin McDonald has tripled its sales in five years and maintained its industry-leading 20% operating margin.

Yet recently, perhaps due to concerns of a slowdown in consumer spending or of rising competition, the stock has been selling for a dirt-cheap valuation. Now priced at just

Would you like to see our official Conviction Rating on Lululemon - meaning whether we think the stock is a "Strong Buy", "Buy", or "Hold"?

See all of 7investing's recommendations, conviction ratings, and premium coverage by getting started

Disclaimer: The 7investing podcast should not be considered personalized financial advise. Its host and guests may have positions in the stocks that are mentioned.

Our newest stock recommendation is now live!

On the 1st of each month, 7investing issues its newest official recommendation. This is the one stock it feels most confident in adding to its scorecard (which we also track in real-time at 7investing.com/recommendations).

What led us to recommend this Large Cap, Moderate Risk, Retail company this month?

In today's episode, Simon describes 5 specific metrics that investors should consider when selecting stocks -- especially now that the Fed's cutting rates and we're in a more growth-friendly environment.

Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) is one of the most efficient publicly-traded companies in the world, converting 50% of its 2024 revenue into cold, hard cash flow.

Furthermore, it's using those operating cash flows in shareholder-friendly ways, such as repurchase large amounts of its stock and a newly-initiated dividend.

7investing CEO Simon Erickson takes a look at the company's second quarter results and discuss several initiatives that could be even better news for investors going forward.

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