For many decades, Jim has been involved in making major investment decisions for both large financial institutions and individual investors. Jim began his professional career by serving for eight years as an investment analyst and portfolio manager at a major money management institution. There he did primary research, made recommendations, and advised the portfolio managers on their stock equity holdings. He was a founder and general partner of Peterson Properties of Atlanta, Georgia, which developed, leased, and managed in excess of four million square feet of commercial buildings. Peterson Properties was sold to an NYSE listed company in 1996 for in excess of $146 million. Jim served as a managing director of CarrAmerica ("CRE"), an NYSE-listed real estate investment trust. There he was responsible for its Florida operations, including the purchase of in excess of $300 million in investment properties. CRE was sold to The Blackstone Group for $5.6 billion in 2006. Jim also served as a director, CEO, and chief investment officer (CIO) of Investment Life of America ("ILA"), where he was the managing director of an investment income portfolio with a value of in excess of $100 million. Jim has a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a real estate license and a general contractor's license in the state of Florida. Jim has studied options trading for a number of years and has been engaged in actual trading. He is not teaching and writing from a theoretical point of view. He is an actual trader who teaches from a trader's perspective.