this is a myth. the stock goes down not becoes the company is worth less. Its because other people dont want to pay more. the bid and ask shift thats all. the cash is real and tangible, unlike unrealized capital gains. the cash goes into your hand so you can invest it again. dividends are truly the work of god.
if youre not sure whether a stock will rise or drop, but pays steady dividends, covered calls and writing puts are the way to go.
In light of the thread you started here, I don't think you are qualified to give out any advice on options.
If you're right, then all you need to do is sell the put, buy the call and short the stock for certain arb-gains. They have been doing reversals in listed-options since 1973-74.
Sorry but thats not a myth, and you're wrong. Take for example a bigger div so the point is clear. A few years back MSFT issued a 2 dollar plus a share div. The moment trading ends on ex div day the stock falls byt the amount of the DIV. The company is not worth any less its just that the DIV is known and since there is no such thing as free money its priced into the stock. You could not simply buy the stock on x div day and collect the div then sell it the next day for the price you bought the stock. The stock falls by the amount of the div since its not going to be priced into the stock any more. The same goes for the calls and the puts. Despite the fact that the stock opens 2 dollars plus lower the next day the calls wont change in price nor will the puts since the div is priced into them.
These strategie are too similar. Take a look at calender spreads, verticals (debit and credit) In a bear market , covered calls might be a disaster just make sure your stock is going up . There should always be a decent chance of getting called out and you should be happy about that. I'm probably going to get called out on EGO but I sold $15 calls like 3 months in a row .. so not a bad deal, not a homerun, but not bad.