Based on what I have seen: if you start with options based on advise from others you will most likely lose the full 12000 within a year, possible days.

You have to do your own due diligence I can't advice your exact situation. The safest general advice is to buy a mix of S&P500 and bonds monthly for decades, without emotional selling. Please keep in mind that even this very simple strategy is extremely difficult to execute due to the sentiment of the market switching between exuberance and depression, dragging along the poor investor panic selling and all inning at all the wrong moments.

Good luck!