As you are already seeing from the replies to your question, people have differing ideas about how best to study option fundamentals.

The reality is that no one has any secret knowledge about options and there are multiple resources from which you can learn.  There are some who will tell you to "spend no money to learn about options and just use the free resources available on the Internet..."  Others will suggest reading a collection of good text books.  Some will suggest various seminars or home study courses.

All of the above avenues to learning have merit.  They also have distinct drawbacks.

Options Mastery (http://www.optionsmasterycourse.com/mastery) is an excellent home study course and it is competitively priced.  When I first started learning about options, I started by reading books about options trading and invariably found myself reading the wrong books and not really understanding what it was that I needed to know about options.  I spent about $3,000 on a weekend seminar, which provided a lot of information but did not cover some important aspects of options such as pricing theory (i.e., the greeks).  Nonetheless, that $3,000 seminar got me off to a good start.

I am very familiar with the Options Mastery course, because I happen to own a copy myself.  I also provided some input to OU when the 2007 edition was being put together.  The reason I am a fan of Options Mastery is because the course covers everything that you need to learn in order to have a solid foundation with regard to what options are, how they work, and how they can be used.  The cost is about half of what I paid for my introduction to options and if I had wanted to cover the same material the seminar provider would have put me through their "advanced" course at a cost of an additional $3,000.  That's a total of $6,000 to learn what Options Mastery teaches.

If you're interested in reading a review about the course, I have one published on our website.  (http://www.theoptionclub.com/options-mastery-2007.php)

There are alternatives, though.

You can go the "free" route and visit various websites.  In addition to TheOptionClub.com (http://support.theoptionclub.com/), the Options Industry Council (http://www.888options.com/)  and the CBOE (http://www.cboe.com/)  have excellent content on their sites.  That free content will only take you so far and once you move away from reputable sites you will find all sorts of misinformation, so you have to be cautious about what information you rely upon.  Nonetheless, there is a growing amount of information available from the ISE, ThinkOrSwim, and other outlets that is worth your time.

There are several very good text books.  The onces I typically recommend are Options As A Strategic Investment by Larry McMillan (expect to pay $50 to $80), Option Volatility And Pricing by Sheldon Natenberg ($40 to $65), and The Options Trader Handbook by Jabour & Budwick ($50 to $85).  All three books are available at discount in our bookstore.  (http://www.theoptionclub.com/bookstore.html)  Obviously, there are many, many other books and I encourage you to read more than just the three I've mentioned.

The reality is that regardless of whether you take advantage of Options Mastery or not, you will still want to read the books and take advantage of what's out there on the Internet.  So, why, or why not, Options Mastery?

The benefit of a course like Options Mastery is that it provides you with a complete and structured curriculum.  Without a course like this you will approach your studies in an ad hoc fashion.  It takes some time and effort to figure out what it is you need to learn.  Can you do it?  Certainly!  The question is whether you will do it...

Some people, and I'm one of them, need some organization and direction.  Without it I tend to make slow progress and will get distracted, not always knowing what the next step is.  A seminar is nice because you sit there and the presenter delivers the curriculum to you.  Options Mastery is nice because after Disc 1, you go onto Disc 2....  It's just a question of sitting through and working through the material.

It is worth mentioning that Options University also offers a live version of the Options Mastery course.  The live version is delivered through a web conferencing platform, but it puts you into a virtual class with Ron Ianieri who will work with you and the other students until you "get it."  They literally don't tell you when the classes end because they don't end until you've learned the material.  Obviously, that costs more than the home study version but there are some people who need that extra guidance and assurance.

My advice is to start with the free information on the websites I've mentioned above.  This will "get your feet wet" and should give you an idea about whether this is something you want to pursue.  If not, it's cost you nothing but your time.  If so, you can then take the next step and invest some money into your education. 

Once you know that you want to really pursue options, you can jump in with both feet and take the Options Mastery live or home study course. 

If cost is a factor or you're just uncomfortable "jumping in with both feet," invest a couple hundred bucks on the books.  Work through them and if you're having difficulty synthesizing the material then consider whether an organized curriculum is a better route.

Actually, there is another choice.  For about the same money you would pay for the books you could also pick up Options University's Options 101 and Advanced home study courses.  (http://www.optionsmasterycourse.com/advanced)  They are not as comprehensive as the Options Mastery course, but the content is solid and when purchased together should cost less than half of what you'll pay for the Mastery course.

Options are complex and trading options profitably is a skill that must be learned.  Investing a couple thousand bucks in education is a very, very small price to pay.  You will lose more money in the market learning lessons, so if you can avoid having the market teaching you just one or two lessons by studying the Options Mastery program it will prove to be a worthwhile investment.

Your choices in terms of education are expanding, so if it feels like there are a lot of choices out there...there are! 

The bottom line with Options Mastery is that if you are considering buying it, you need not be concerned about its quality.  It is a well conceived course and there are many satisfied Options Mastery students out there.

Christopher Smith
TheOptionClub.com

--- In OptionClub@yahoogroups.com, "richardboulet795" <richardboulet795@...> wrote:
>
> Looking at learning more about options. This one has been recommended,
> has anybody paid for this set of dvd's? Is it worth spending the
> money? When I look at the optionsuniversity it just look like sales
> pitch after sales pitch, just like all the other websites I've look
> at. Just wondering if this one is different. Thanks
>