Via Robert H. Frank - MIT Press: “In effect, I wish to propose two different answers to the question “Does money buy happiness?” Considerable evidence suggests that if we use an increase in our incomes, as many of us do, simply to buy bigger houses and more expensive cars, then we do not end up any happier than before. But if we use an increase in our incomes to buy more of certain inconspicuous goods–such as freedom from a long commute or a stressful job–then the evidence paints a very different picture.

VIX options are not based on VIX but based on VIX Futures. Why ? Read this : Link

Wow!! There is a metric to capture Variance of analyst estimates too!! Look at this : Coefficient Variance This could be a good indicator, the less variance, less money you can make :)

Via Vix and more : Why I thought IV was better than beta for determining volatility (past and future), here are three reasons why I think IV is superior to beta: Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, and other data providers sometimes list betas of 1.0 for issues they apparently have not calculated a beta for, particularly newer issues and foreign stocks Highly volatile stocks that go in the opposite direction of the market for awhile can sometimes have low betas – think small oil/gas exploration companies, gold miners, etc.