Options are one the most versatile trading instruments ever invented.  Since options cost less than stocks, they provide a high leverage approach to trading that can significantly limit the risk of a trade.  Simply, option buyers have rights and option sellers have obligations to the buyers.  Option buyers have the right to buy or sell the underlying stock at a specified price until the third Friday of their expiration month.

There are types of options: calls and puts.  Call options give you the right to buy the underlying asset, whereas put options give you the right to sell the underlying asset.  Before stepping away from  your financial manager, it is important that you get to know the inner workings of both.  Every investment strategy you will have or be given by investment advisers will require your working knowledge of both types of options.

There are no margin requirements if you want to purchase and option because your risk is limited to the price of the option.  In contrast, option sellers receive a credit in their account for selling an option and get to keep this amount if the option expires worthless.  However, option sellers also have an obligation to buy or sell the underlying instrument if their option is exercised by an assigned option holder; therefor selling an option requires a healthy margin.

The price of the option is called the premium.  An option premium is priced on a per share basis and each option on a stock corresponds to 100 shares.  Therefor, if an option premium is priced at 2, that corresponds to 200 shares in the company’s stock.  Yes, this all does sound a bit confusing at first, but if you sit down with a financial adviser and educate yourself with reference material on the subject, you will be better able to make financial decisions on your own.

Groupon’s popularity has skyrocketed since it launched in 2008.  The company reports that it now has 18 million subscribers in 29 countries.  Total savings in North America alone add up to half a billion dollars.  Part of the appeal is how easy it is to use: Customers can sign up to receive daily deals free of charge.  Then, once a deal is posted at midnight, they can purchase the coupon, which often provides a 50 percent or greater discount off the face value of the good or service being offered that day.  There’s often a minimum number of customers required for the deal to go through, so people share the deal with their friends on social networking sites.

But #Groupon isn’t all about delivering super-cheap items to coupon-hungry customers.  Here are some things you might not know about how the company works:

1. Groupons focus on experiences, not things.  While plenty of deals include gift certificates to restaurants or coupons for yummy desserts, many of the most popular ones center on experiences.  Some of Groupon’s most popular experiential deals include sky diving, sensory deprivation tanks, and winery tours.  The company has also offered discounts on culinary tours, foreign language classes, and hotel stays.

2. You don’t need to use the coupon the day you buy it – in fact, you often can’t.  There’s some urgency to the way Groupon works though.  Deals get posted at midnight and customers usually have about 24 hours to nab it, although sometimes the limit is reached early.  (During that window, you can use the discussion board on Groupon.com to ask questions and get input from others.)  But once you buy the deal, there’s no rush to use it.  In fact, you often can’t use it on the day that you buy it, partly to help merchants prepare for the onslaught of new customers.

For appointment-based deals, such as hair cuts or salon visits, it is recommended that you wait until the initial rush passes before cashing in.  Most deals last six months to a year, and Groupon helps users remember to use what’s in their account through reminder e-mails.

3. You might not be getting the same deals as your girlfriend/boyfriend. Because Groupon customizes deals sent to customers based on their gender, zip code, and buying history, a woman might receive a deal on a pedicure while her husband gets offered a restaurant gift certificate.

4. It’s no longer the only game in town. LivingSocial.com, Tippr.com, and 8coupons.com are among the new entrants in the field of group coupons.  At 8coupons.com, for example, users can check out the current deals closest to them on an interactive map (the site gets your location from your IP address).  It collects more than 500,000 deals, including those offered through Groupon.

5. It might get you to spend more money, not less.  You might not even be thinking about buying a cupcake or splurging on a massage until you see a tempting offer come in from Groupon.  The power of suggestion can get you to spend more, not less.  But for users who had already planned to spend the money, there’s only upside.

6. Users aren’t your typical coupon clippers; in fact, they make a lot of money.  Most Groupon users are women (77 percent), work full time, and about half are single.  About half earn over $70,000 a year and 29 percent earn more than $100,000, according to Groupon.

7. Groupon developed out of a charity site.  Groupon grew out of ThePoint.com, a site for collective action and charity work.  It allows people to start and promote campaigns, the same way Groupon promotes discounts.

Due to our current economic climate, everyone is searching for any way they can to save a buck when financial planning isn’t enough.  There are a few unturned stones out there still.  One of the ideas that I came across while looking for money saving ideas was really simple: printer cartridges.  You may be thinking, I already know that companies will give you money for returning used cartridges and toners, but changing something as simple as your font can save you money as well.  Studies have found that Century Gothic and Times New Roman use significantly less ink than other fonts.  It was found that Century Gothic, for example, uses 30% less ink than Arial.  Also, buying ink on the internet from companies like inkjetsuperstore.com, turned out to be much cheaper than the larger office supply stores.

If you were already considering or finding it necessary to buy a new appliance, there is a way to save doing that as well.  Many states are now offering a cash-for-appliance rebate, which is closely modeled after the cash-for-clunkers program.  You, in essence, are trading in your old washer, dryer, refrigerator, or other appliance for a new energy efficient one.  Each state is administering the program differently, but you can visit the Maryland website to read the details.

Finally, a big saver would be to give up your cell phone.  Just kidding.  Most of us cannot live without a cell phone these days and have even gotten rid of our land lines and only use cell phones.  There is a very helpful website to help you review your bill and determine if you are on the right plan.  Many of us are wasting a lot of money on add-ons we don’t use and minutes we don’t need.  The site, fixmycellbill.com, will, at no cost, tell you how much you could save by switching plans or carriers.

I found a few other money saving ideas out there, but decided they were too insane to even consider suggesting them to someone else.  I’ll leave you with one ridiculous idea: fold the toilet paper roll so that people can only pull off a few sheets at a time.

No one likes to read the fine print in credit card agreements, but you could be missing out on the perks.  Years ago, credit card companies started introducing “bargains” to customers to try and offset the hefty annual fees they were charging.  Over the years, these benefits have slowly been advertised less and less, thus falling by the wayside and people forget about them.  Today, with the economy the way that it is, there is renewed interest in trying to draw in a new customer base and make them aware of the benefits their card has to offer, as opposed to another.  So how do you figure out what your cards offer to you?  Call each of your credit cards and ask for a list of benefits.

Some of the perks you may be entitled to include first crack at concert tickets, rental car coverage, guaranteed returns, cell phone replacement insurance, trip cancellation coverage, cash without an ATM, emergency travel assistance, help with car shopping, and roadside assistance.  Some of these can be very useful on a regular basis.  For example, if you buy something at a store and they refuse to take it back, many credit cards will allow a 90 return and guarantee your money back.  These things can become very important when budgeting, especially if you are doubling up on certain coverages.  Make sure you read all the fine print to clearly understand your benefits and figure out what your card covers and if you need that same coverage additionally elsewhere.

Options are one the most versatile trading instruments ever invented.  Since options cost less than stocks, they provide a high leverage approach to trading that can significantly limit the risk of a trade.  Simply, option buyers have rights and option sellers have obligations to the buyers.  Option buyers have the right to buy or sell the underlying stock at a specified price until the third Friday of their expiration month.

There are types of options: calls and puts.  Call options give you the right to buy the underlying asset, whereas put options give you the right to sell the underlying asset.  Before stepping away from  your financial manager, it is important that you get to know the inner workings of both.  Every investment strategy you will have or be given by investment advisers will require your working knowledge of both types of options.

There are no margin requirements if you want to purchase and option because your risk is limited to the price of the option.  In contrast, option sellers receive a credit in their account for selling an option and get to keep this amount if the option expires worthless.  However, option sellers also have an obligation to buy or sell the underlying instrument if their option is exercised by an assigned option holder; therefor selling an option requires a healthy margin.

The price of the option is called the premium.  An option premium is priced on a per share basis and each option on a stock corresponds to 100 shares.  Therefor, if an option premium is priced at 2, that corresponds to 200 shares in the company’s stock.  Yes, this all does sound a bit confusing at first, but if you sit down with a financial adviser and educate yourself with reference material on the subject, you will be better able to make financial decisions on your own.

The biggest speed bump that lies in wait for parents on the road to retirement is paying for college.  The very utterance of the word “tuition” can strike fear in the hearts of even the most savvy retirement savers.  While much attention has been paid to the financial planning for college, many parents still can’t actually pay for college and have to use alternatives to assist them with that tuition bill.  One strategy is to have your child take on all or part of the debt themselves by taking out student loans.  This may not sound like the “nicest” thing to do, but sometimes it can instill a greater sense of value in the education if they are paying for it themselves.  Before you have your child do this though, you should all sit down with a financial adviser to discuss the implications of saddling your child with the debt and make sure they understand the repayment of those loans.

When it comes to applying for financial aid, you really need to understand what can be counted as a liability on the FAFSA form.  Many parents are unaware that cash value life insurance and annuities  of any kind are not counted as assets on the form.  This means that shifting assets can become very important to the amount of financial aid you qualify for.  This means that parents who have more than $100,000 in taxable liquid assets that they do not want to declare can move the money into an annuity, allowing it to grow tax free until retirement and improve the parents’ implied financial need for the FAFSA form.  Therefor, this strategy can help in financial planning for retirement as well as the financial needs for college.

Shifting funds from a custodial account to a 529 plan can improve financial aid chances as well.  The College Cost Savings Act of 2007 stipulates that 529 plans that are owned by a third party do not count as assets on the FAFSA.  Finally, gifting appreciated assets that you may have will allow for a step-up in cost basis when the student sells the assets and will reduce your declarable assets.  You should speak with a financial planner to determine if these strategies will work for you in the given time frame.

Some people have the time, ability, and the drive to manage all their finances, whereas others don’t.  If you’re anything like me, you fall into the latter category.  Either way though, financial advisers can provide great insight and often not at exorbitant costs.   There are many myths out there that prevent too many people from seeking the assistance of financial planners though.  One of the biggest misconceptions is that they will only give you advice on investing.  Picking the right investments is certainly an important aspect of your personal finances, but its not the only part.  Financial planning takes into account all the varied aspects of a person’s life, including taxes, insurance, retirement, budgeting, etc.  With the aid of a financial planner who considers your individual situation, you’ll be able to minimize the amount of taxes you pay and have a strong bottom line in the end.

Some people truly believe that only wealthy people need a financial planner.  Financial planning is about helping people of all income levels achieve short-term and long-term financial goals.  If you are confident enough to make all of these decisions on your own and keep up to date with all the laws relating to investment income and taxation, then more power to you.  But if you have a busy life and need the assistance of a financial adviser, make sure you do your homework before choosing one.  You should verify certifications and look into their background to make sure you are getting a reliable adviser.