[Drdogface]

First, I'm retired and living off my investments and Social Security, so I'm not wanting to take any major risks with principle. Up until now I've been managing my own portfolio in Schwab and done OK...not great...but OK. These days things just seem to be much more complex and fickle, so I contacted my Schwab advisor. I want to keep my mix of investments moderately conservative.

His suggestion was to manage my acct. (for a fee of course) in a mix of ETF's of various sectors while selling some short term (3 mo.) puts and covered calls to generate extra income. He explained that the price to exercise the call option would be set fairly high thinking it would not be reached in 90 days. Same on the puts I think. He projects that he can make about 6% for me after fees and there would be no trade charges.

I've always heard that options are for brave guys who really know what they're doing and that they are mighty risky but he said that's for un-covered calls where much more is at risk. This would all be done inside my IRA so there would be no tax impact by selling what I already have.

So...is this something that a conservative investor should consider?