The post before that. I would contend that risk and cost adjusted you will always do better buying equities for long term. I have done quite a bit of research, both from MM perspective and retail perspective (costs-wise, and infrastructure, etc.) regarding this. I would suggest you do the same if you're trading more than a few hundred bucks. Anecdotal experience/evidence isn't as reliable as you would imagine.
You guys have really strayed from the original topic of this thread. I did not intend this to be a discussion on whether retail traders should engage in trading options, or if it's appropriate to trade options from the angle of a speculator vs. hedging. Please start a new thread if you care to argue those points. I would like to get this thread back on track. Please take note of the post I've quoted below, which is much more along the lines of what I originally intended the theme of this thread to be.