The Leading Business Education Network for Doctors, Financial Advisors and Health Industry Consultants

Or – Hedge your Bets

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA CMP™

http://www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org

[Publisher-in-Chief]

As a physician executive or investor, if you don’t ordinarily deal in options or other financial derivatives, you may need to brush up on puts and calls, straddles, strangles (or combinations), forwards, futures, swaps, spreads, and non-equity options such as stock index options. Options and other financial derivatives can be used by astute physicians, financial advisors and investment managers not only as a tool to better manage the investment risks potentially affecting portfolio returns, but to craft truly value-added investment strategies customized to meet investors’ needs. The three main types of risk of equity securities (individual company, industry, and market) can be mitigated with options.

Individual Company Risk

Individual company risk can be addressed with equity options in that company’s stock. Industry risk can be reduced through the use of narrow-based index options, while market risk can be mitigated with broad-based index options. Sophisticated hedging and risk management strategies can be designed using both equity and stock index options.

Exotic Stock Options?

Some doctors feel that options have been generally thought of as too risky or exotic or requiring too much capital, resulting in a general lack of comfort. A decade ago, these opinions have no doubt been shaped by the collapse of Bearings and the resulting bitter litigation by Proctor & Gamble and Gibson Greetings against Bankers Trust. More recently it has been Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers, AIG, BA, Fannie, Freddie and all those involved in the “flash-crash” of 2008-09; etc.

Assessment

Generally, premiums paid in buying puts or calls are nondeductible capital expenditures and may produce a capital gain or loss depending upon whether the option is sold prior to exercise, the call expires unexercised, or, if the option is exercised, it is added to the basis of the stock (call) or deducted from it (put). Premiums received for writing puts or calls are not included in income upon receipt but are deferred until the option expires, is exercised, or a closing transaction is entered into. Non-equity options (index options) are marked to market at year end (same as for futures) with 60% considered long-term capital gain and 40% considered short-term.

Note: “An Introduction to Options and Other Financial Derivative Strategies,” by Thomas J. Boczar, Trust & Estates, February 1997, pp. 43–68, INTERTEC/K-III Publishing.

The primary objectives in using derivatives are:

1. Risk management and hedging (reducing or eliminating downside risk, monetizing a position, deferring and possibly avoiding capital gains taxes)

2. Leveraging investment capital

3. Enhancing after-tax returns

4. Creating customized risk/return profiles

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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:

• PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
• HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
• CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
• ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
• FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
• INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
• Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
• Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
• Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care

Filed under: CMP Program, Investing, Portfolio Management | Tagged: AIG, BA, david marcinko, Enron, Fannie, financial derivatives, Freddie, hedge funds, index options, Investing, Lehman Brothers, options, Tyco, WorldCom, www.certifiedmedicalplanner.com | Leave a comment »