Month End Summary – September 2007

September was very very good to me.  I increased my account balance by approximately $7,500 including the $4,000 deposit I made at the beginning of the month.  It’s crazy to see that kind of gain in one month for me with the type of investing I do.  I’m all about the slow and steady, but a lot was down at the end of August for me, including the two long positions I’m holding.  Those two came back to life and all of my options closed for a profit.  I also had a good final week of the month aided by the Fed’s rate cut.  I find it interesting to note that my total account balance was down near $7,500 after the dot com bust and now I can add that much in one month.

My latest stats are listed below.  I’m still way above the major index’s returns.  I’d be close to 200% invested now if all of my options were assigned at their strike prices.  I’m so far out-of-the-money on a bunch of them that I don’t feel I’m taking a big risk overall.  I want to see how the next few days play out and expect to sell some more options before the next expiration.  I sold more in premiums last week than I ever have in a single week, $2708.75.  I also received $111.20 in dividends from my money market I’m holding my cash in until more options are assigned and I’m forced to buy.  I think I can feel the IRS getting ready to knock on my door next April.  With the returns I’m getting, I’d rather pay the taxes on my 23+% YTD gain so far than just sit on the 8-% gain delivered by the S&P 500 year to date if I had stuck my money in an index fund.

• Current Account Value: Ameritrade: $69,493.08, Quicken $69,577.53 
• Annualized return year to date: 34.88% 
• YTD % change (using quicken report Average Annual Return Current Year): 23.31% 
• 12 month trailing return: 35.72% 
• Deposited $4,000.00 on 9/4/07 
• S&P 500 % Change year to date: 7.9%
• Dow Jones % Change year to date: 11.85% 

  

• Market Volatility: 
• CBOE Market Volatility Index (^VIX): 18.00 
• NASDAQ Volatility Index (^VXN): 21.01