Investment options
"Option 1 is out. There are no ""safe returns"" that make much money. Besides, if a correction does come along how will you know when to invest? There is no signal that says when the bottom is reached, and you emotions could keep you from acting. Option 2 (dollar cost averaging) is prudent and comforting. There are always some bargains about. You could start with an energy ETF or a few ""big oil"" company stocks right now." You are only 33, with plenty of time to generate long-term returns. A correction is an opportunity for you to buy more at a lower price. My advice: invest about half in an index fund (S&P 500, for example) and half in a target fund (pick your retirement age), keep saving regularly, and in 30 years you'll be very happy you did. 5-10K a month is fine until all of the money is invested. (You said this is a retirement account, so invest the entire amount. Keep a rainy day fund in your non-retirement savings.) You can fiddle around with how you invest the money and I'm sure you'll get variations on my answer. My above suggestions may not be the absolute best option, but they are certainly not the worst option. Given that you are very risk-averse, keep in mind that you are in this for the long term and should be investing in something where you can safely ignore short-term downswings.
While tax deferral is a nice feature, the 401k is not the Holy Grail.  I've seen plenty of 401k's where the investment options are horrible: sub-par performance, high fees, limited options.   That's great that you've maxed out your Roth IRA.  I commend you for that.   As long as the investment options in your 401k are good, then I would stick with it. "TLDR:  Yes you can. That is quite a steep price to pay for a trade.  I've used TradeKing previously, which would charge you $5 for that same trade.  Some other brokers are more or less expensive, and it is normally representative of the service one receives.  One option would be Scottrade.  While they are much more expensive than TradeKing, they offer a much higher level of service.  Even at $17 a trade, you'll save a lot of money over the Edward Jones trade. A big question here is who does your investing now?  Most people are pretty horrible at managing their own investments.  Some professional advice is probably in order.  For most they discover this when their investments are small, mitigating any mistakes made.  You don't have that luxury.  I would highly recommend making sure you have people that can help you make good decisions. The more I think about it the more I like the move to Scottrade (no affiliation) or one like that (Charles Schwab is another option).  With Scottrade you can go into a local branch and talk things over.  I think they offer some professional management as well.  Schwab will offer the latter but not the former.  However you can call them up and talk on the phone.  Another option is to go with Fidelity and have them manage at least part of your money.  Of course you can always just do a professional, independent money manager. Another option is to renegotiate with Edward Jones.  Something like:  ""Sorry but this is ridiculous, you need to do much better or I am moving all my money.""  Its much cheaper to charge you $100 for that same trade than lose the whole account." "OneTwoTrade is a binary option seller, and they are officially licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. They are not in any way licensed or regulated as an investment, because they don't do actual investing. Is your money safe? If you mean will they take your money and run off with it, then no they probably won't just take your deposit and refuse to return any money to you for nothing - that would be a terrible way to make money for the long-term. If you mean ""will I lose my money?"" - oh yeah, you probably will! Binary options - outside of special sophisticate financial applications - are for people who think day trading has too little risk, or who would prefer online poker with a thin veneer of ""it's an investment!""  In the words of Forbes, Don't Gamble On Binary Options:  If people want to gamble, that’s their choice. But let’s not confuse   that with investing. Binary options are a crapshoot, pure and simple. These kinds of businesses run like a casino - there's a built-in house advantage, you are playing odds (which are against you), and the fundamental product is trying to bet on short-term volatility in financial markets. This is often ridiculously short-terms, measured in minutes. It's often  called ""all or nothing options"", because if you bet wrong you lose almost everything - they give you a little bit of the money you bet back (so you will bet again, preferably with more of your own money). If you bet correctly you get a pay-out, just like in craps or roulette. If you are looking to gamble online, this is one method to do it. But this isn't investing, you are as mathematically likely to lose your money and/or become addicted as any other form of money-based gambling, and absolutely treat it the same way you would a casino: decide how much money you are willing to spend on the adventure before you start, and expect you'll likely not get much or any of that money back. However, I will moralize on this point - I really hate being lied to. Casinos, sports betting, and poker all generally have the common decency to call it what it is - a game where you are playing/betting. These sorts of ""investment"" providers are woefully dishonest: they say it's an exciting financial market, a new type of investment, investors are moving to this to secure their futures, etc. It's utterly deceptive and vile, and it's all about as up-front and honest as penny auction websites. If you are going to gamble, I'd urge you to do it with people who have the decency to to call it gambling and not lie to you and ask for a ""minimum investment""." Technology has been evolving so fast lately that being an entrepreneur became a truly risky game. But, adopting a franchise business may be a good option for you. If you’re thinking about investing in a business like this, TechJOYnT franchise may be just the perfect option. TechJOYnT is one of the Top Education Franchises in United States. A franchise is an already proven profitable business in which the investment may be a little bit higher in numbers but will also assure you to get your company going in short time. Know more about us here: https://www.smallbusinessforums.org/member.php?100644-EvanMeyer There are many stategies with options that you have listed. The one I use frequently is buy in the money calls and sell at the money staddles. Do this ONLY on stocks you do not mind owning because that is the worse thing that can happen and if you like the company you stand less of a chance of being scared out of the trade. It works well with high quality resonable dividend paying stocks. Cat, GE, Mrk, PM etc. Good luck My understanding is that all ETF options are American style, meaning they can be exercised before expiration, and so you could do the staggered exercises as you described. As you have already good on your retirement kitty. Assuming you have a sufficient cash for difficult situations, explore the options of investing in Shares and Mutual Funds. As you are new to Stock Market, begin slowly by investing into Mutual Funds and ETF for precious metals. This will help you understand and give you confidence on markets and returns. Real estate is a good option, the down side being the hassle of getting rental and the illiquid nature of the investment. Thanks. Just to clarify I am looking for a more value-neutral answer in terms of things like Sharpe ratios. I think it's an oversimplification to say that on average you lose money because of put options - even if they expire uselessly 90% of the time, they still have some expected payoff that kicks in 10% of the time, and if the price is less than the expected payoff you will earn money in the long term by investing in put options (I am sure you know this as a PhD student I just wanted to get it out there.)I guess more formally my question would be are there studies on whether options prices correspond well to the diversification benefits they offer from an MPT point of view.