Though I've been trading options for more than 35 years and have been a financial editor for more than half of those years, I'm always hitting new milestones. In fact, we just celebrated our one-year anniversary of my Fast Options Profits service, which has been helping options traders learn how to invest by buying calls and puts for effortless, three-week profits.

But, as a former college professor, I know that the best teaching is graduated so you can build on what you know. So, I'm giving you a more advanced strategy that I encourage my Maximum Options traders to use. If you've been trading options for any length of time, you may be eager to find new ways of using them to profit.

Well, I can show you how to invest like veteran options traders.

If you've moved beyond the novice level and have comfortably grasped the basics like using put options to make money when stocks slide, then let's talk about my favorite way to make money, which is writing (or "selling to open") put options (By the way, if you still consider yourself somewhat of a novice, then you'll want to read, "Trading Options: What Not to Do!").

An Easy Sell

Just as you can buy put options, like the ones I recommend in this service, you can just as easily sell put options. It can be a very effective way to profit from stocks because you profit up front.

And what's better, instead of laying down big chunks of cash in this frightful market to buy shares that might drop by 50% or more, just like Fannie Mae (FNM) or Freddie Mac (FRE), you receive income while you wait for stocks' values to plummet even more.

I can hear a lot of you now: "Why on Earth would I want to buy stocks that have decreased in value in the first place?"

The answer is that an investor sells put options when he or she expects the underlying stock to increase in value.

The theory behind selling, or writing, put options is akin to the adage "buy low and sell high." The world's greatest investors – the Warren Buffetts, the Peter Lynches and the Benjamin Grahams of the world – are the ones who had the nerve to buy stocks at levels where angels fear to tread.

There's a big difference between picking up dogs at fleabag prices and buying blue ribbons at a discount. So, before you even think about selling puts on an underlying stock, make sure it's a stock that you would not mind owning for the long term – regardless of its current price – because one of the possible outcomes is that you might get stuck buying that stock. Though granted, you'll be buying it a steep discount (see also, "Being Called 'Cheap' is a Compliment").

It's important to note, too, that...