Buying Options and Treasury Bills Numerous strategies have been described, ranging from the simple to the complex. Each one has advantages, but there are disadvantages as well. In fact, some of them may be too complex for the average investor to seriously consider implementing. The reader may feel that there should be an easier answer. Isn't there a strategy that might not require such a large investment or so much time spent in monitoring the position, but would still have a chance of returning a reasonable profit? In fact, there is a strategy that has not yet been described, a strategy considered by some experts in the field of mathematical analysis to be the best of them all. Simply stated, the strategy consists of putting 90% of one's money in risk-free investments (such as short-term Treasury bills) and buying options with the remaining 10% of one's funds. It has previously been pointed out that some of the more attractive strategies are those that involve small levels of risk with the potential for large profits. Usually, these types of strategies inherently have a rather large frequency of small losses, and a small probability of realizing large gains. Their advantage lies in the fact that one or two large profits can conceivably more than make up for numerous small losses. This Treasury bill/option strategy is another strategy of this type. HOW THE TREASURY BILL/OPTION STRATEGY OPERATES Although there are certain details involved in operating this strategy, it is basically a simple one to approach. First, the most that one can lose is 10%, less the interest earned on the fixed-income portion of his portfolio (the remaining 90% of his assets), during the life of the purchased options. It is a simple matter to space out one's com- 413