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Old May 15, 2002 | 10:30 pm
  #24  
marshmellowman
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 44
I've been thinking about this insurance kind of thing and I think it's probably completely covered.

Look at it this way: you pay $120 a year. Suppose AA stock is $100 a share. If I bought an option that allows me to sell AA stock 1 year from now for $5 it would cost me very little money since the stock is so high in comparision. For $100, I can probably buy options to let me buy 2000 shares at this price.

Now AA goes bust. My 2000 options turn into $10,000 so I get $2,500 and you get $7,500 (max). So we both win.

If AA doesn't go bust, my 2000 options are worthless but I still have $20 of your money so I still win.

If AA goes "almost" bust, my 2000 options are worth $10,000 and you get nothing so I really win!

This is the basic premise of insurance companies. Just buy something else and you are guaranteed not to lose.

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