new customer, free trades for 30 days. yay new money...
as is VOO. you can try to beat the index and you will loose. really. that was the point of my follow up post.
options are the way to go IF you know what you are doing AND have the capital. based on the OP, i've been writing cash covered puts on TD ameritrade for months. free money/income. also selling cash covered calls on several positions. people pay me money, i keep the money, invest in more of the same. awesome.
not many providers will grant new money option provisions. it's a risk, you will loose LOTS of money if you don't know what you are doing, and i would not recommend this to ANYONE. i'f you don't have the money to loose, don't play. REALLY.
to start, go with index funds. build up your portfolio/amount. branch out in to income strategies. think 10-20 years into the future FTW. just my 2 cents, and the reason for the previous posts. think/act long term. 5 days/months won't matter much...