My years in the military have allowed me to see the world in a totally different way.

While deployed overseas I tracked IED locations, went on convoy missions and gathered intelligence from local villages.

I learned the importance of analyzing data to forecast what was likely to happen in the future, and I used this data and information to determine the level of risk our soldiers were dealing with.

The typical mission was scheduled to take seven days, but always ended up taking longer due to roadside bombs and the occasional unruly hostile who decided to shoot at us.

This has opened my eyes to see the bigger picture. Not just in the military, but in everyday life.

I believe my experience assessing risk in the military allows me to think outside the box and take a different angle on a problem or situation. 

In this case, it’s the financial markets.

#-ad_banner-#Today, there is an onslaught of different investing techniques and strategies. And when I was first introduced to them, I found myself, like most, overwhelmed.

That’s when my training came in handy, and I immediately looked at the market from a different angle.

I was instantly drawn to a little-known but massive market… One that isn’t talked about very often in the media.

So I put my years of service analyzing data, forecasting and risk assessment to work. I focused on one particular strategy… generating immediate income for my subscribers, by selling put options.

Options seem to have a negative stigma, but when used correctly, they can be a powerful income-generating tool.

My job as Chief Investment Strategist for Income Trader is to dive deep into company balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements to identify stocks with the best potential for income by using puts.

You see, companies I sell puts on must pass my fitness test… Meaning, they must have strong financials, great management, reward their shareholders and provide a product or service that will be used for decades to come. 

Here’s an easy way to learn how put selling works. Imagine your dream house in your hometown (a good stock). It’s in a great neighborhood, and it has great schools surrounding it — everything you ever wanted in a 

home. You know you would love to own this home at almost any price, but you want to get a good deal on it.

Let’s say this home is worth $500,000 (like a stock’s share price). You walk over to the owner of this dream house and offer to buy his home if the value drops below $450,000 (your strike price) in the next 30 days. 

In return, the home owner gives you $1,000 (your premium) for the right, but not the obligation to sell you the house at this predetermined price of $450,000. 

Why would he do this?

For the same reason we buy insurance on a home or vehicle — the assurance that we will get some value out of our home or vehicle in case something unfortunate happens.

In this case, the owner of this dream home is willing to fork over $1,000 for the assurance that he can sell his home for $450,000 even if suddenly the market says it’s worth only $400,000 in 30 days.

And you’re willing to take the risk of buying this home for $450,000 because this is a beautiful, reliable house that you’ve done your research on.

Now when the 30 days go by, the deal with your neighbor has expired. If the house is worth $450,001 or more, you don’t get to buy it for $450,000, but you do get to keep that $1,000 (the premium you collected) as pure profit. But if the house’s value drops under $450,000 within that 30 day period, then you get to purchase your dream home at an incredible discount.

Put simply, this is as close to a win-win strategy as it gets — you either get to buy your dream home for a discount, or you get to collect the $1,000 premium upfront if the house doesn’t fall below the strike price of $450,000 in 30 days. 

This is exactly the way we approach put options in my Income Trader advisory. 

For example, on May 29, I recommended selling puts on Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: QCOR) — a drug company known for its valuable H.P Acthar product, which treats 19 different medical problems, including multiple sclerosis and a rare kidney disease. This will be our “dream house” in this example. This company was trading at dirt-cheap valuations, had a strong balance sheet, and was part of a growing market. Needless to say, this was a stock that I would be happy to buy shares in… and that is the key to successfully selling put options.

I told my Income Trader subscribers to sell QCOR Jun 65 puts on this company for $1.05 per contract. For every contract sold — 1 contract controls 100 shares — we generated $105 in what I call “Instant Income” (our premium).

If the stock fell from its price of $89 at the time to $65 per share (our strike price), then we get to buy 100 shares of a company we wanted to own anyway, at a discount — for $65 instead of $89. 

But the stock didn’t fall. On the contrary, by the time the trade expired last month the stock was trading around $90 per share — well above the strike price. So we got to keep our original $105 premium when we made the trade in May.

You can scale up the amount you trade to increase your income potential too. If we had sold 10 put contracts instead of just one in this example, we would have collected $1,050 in Instant Income on this trade.

So far the strategy has been working out great. Since last February, we’ve made 62 of these trades and all 62 have successfully made a profit, keeping my perfect record intact.

If you want to learn more about using put selling to generate income, I’ve put together a special report detailing exactly how easy it can be. In fact, since my readers and I started using this strategy 16 months ago, we’ve generated returns of 7.4% every 56 days on average — which works out to an annualized gain of 48.2%. To find out how you can start making successful put trades with me today, follow this link.