You asked for it.

It's a process. I started with mutual funds years ago. Then I gave some money to one of our esteemed instuctor pilots to manage. After he managed it into the ground, I got mad and decided I could do better. From there I went to VectorVest. I took advantage of their tools and trading group. They are a fine company if you just want to trade stocks. But you can only succeed if the market is going up.

I was introduced to options by some of the experienced VectorVest traders. They referred me to a local monthly trading group devoted to options education. I started looking for educational resources.

Resources that you can go to for FREE or close to FREE would be:

The Options Playbook by Brian Overby. Available for FREE at TradeKing.com website. But I like having a hard copy for a reference book. Around $24.00 at Amazon.com.

The CBOE.com (Chicago Boarad of Options Exchange) They have excellent FREE educational webcasts on their educational portion of their website. I particularly like the webcasts of Brian Overby and Dan Sheridan. Dan has 30 years of experience, his own 2 year long mentoring program and 5 years of monthly webcasts at the CBOE. Wade through them. You won't understand anything, but persist. Once you watch enough of them the light bulb will start to get brighter. It's a foreign language. Brian Overby is an excellent educator. I know both of them and they are great guys.

The simplest options strategy is the covered call and it's sister the cash secured put. We can trade both of these in our 401(k) and DC Plans at Fidelity. I use the Snider system to trade these two accounts. Really good system to trade your long term portfolio. It costs a modest amount, but you will make that amount back in the first month. You can be a beginner and still operate this system.

I use Callwriter.com to find good covered call candidiates. It is a paid service. There is a FREE newsletter archive on the public side of the website that is filled with articles that explain options and ways to trade this strategy.

Last, I love tastytrade.com. This is the new daily webcast from the founder of ThinkorSwim. Four hours each morning of options trading, entertainment and sports. You can't talk trading all the time. You have to talk about flying and yourself, too.

The bottom line is this: It takes time and effort. But it can be done. Nobody loves your money as much as you love your money. Get educated, get some practice. You will discover what is comfortable for you. You didn't become a pilot by being lazy. The loss of the pension changed everything. You have to take responsibility for your future. You will make some mistakes, everyone does. But that is not excuse for not getting educated.