Category: Account Summary

I had another strong month in April.  I’m still unwinding some of the trouble I got in back in January (and earlier).  Although I’m taking some realized losses for those mistakes occasionally, I’m moving forward which is the entire point.  I stopped letting emotions play a roll in my investing again and accepted some losses on NYX and ADBE to end the month with a higher total account balance. 

I’m still not convinced we won’t have another pull back before we take off again, but hope the Fed has finished with rate cuts for a while.  That can only be the case if they see an improvement in the economy, which apparently they haven’t seen enough of yet.

My account summary for April 2008: 

My current account value according to Ameritrade is $85,140.39 and according to Quicken is $85,388.20.  Here’s how the returns break down:

12 month return: -2.18%
Since my blog’s beginning (4/8/07): -0.01%
I deposited $2,000 on 4/2/08

According to Morningstar, here’s how I compare to the major indices:

12 month S&P 500 Return: -5.06%
12 month DJIA Return: +0.11%
12 month NASDAQ Return: -5.13%
12 month Russell 2000 Return: -12.25%
12 month S&P Midcap 400 Return: -4.05%

I continue to enjoy comparing my results to the major indices.  It helps me keep my eye on the end goal of total portfolio gains.  Every month I’m reminded that each individual stock or …

Now that April options expiration has settled and I’ve regrouped a little, here’s a screenshot of my current holdings as of this morning, pre-market.  I’m just over half invested of where I want to be, meaning I can afford to buy almost everything where I have naked puts sold.  I’m still aiming to only have half the cash available, but want to see if this rally above 12,700 will hold for the DJI.

I didn’t chart an index this weekend because I went camping on my yearly camping trip with friends from college.  That also means I haven’t read Barron’s or any other internet information on market recaps or good picks for the upcoming week.  That leaves me with the need to start over by figuring out where I ended last week. 

My 200 ADBE shares were called away with my covered calls.  I could’ve bought them back for a profit, but opted to get out.
My 100 NYX shares were called away with my covered call.  I took a loss on it overall since I sold my final covered call too low.
My DIS naked puts were assigned to me.  I have 300 shares now and will write covered calls when the June contracts are available.  I could sell my shares, but doubt I will.
My VIP 32.50 naked puts were assigned to me, but I’m still sitting on a paper profit.  My VIP 30 naked puts finished out of the money (OTM) as did my VIP 40 naked calls.  I’ll rewrite covered calls, but will do it in the money (ITM).
My SFLY naked calls finished OTM and I kept full profit on them.
My POT naked puts finished OTM and I kept full profit on them.
My MON naked puts finished OTM and I kept full profit on them.
My DSX naked puts finished OTM …

One year ago today I wrote my first blog post.  I started off with $43k and now have $83k.  All of that, minus the 4.21% loss I’ve had over the past 366 (leap year) days, has been from contributions we’ve made to our investing account.

According to Morningstar, here’s how I compare to the major indices’ returns:

12 month S&P 500 Return: -2.92%
12 month DJIA Return: +2.99%
12 month NASDAQ Return: -3.57%
12 month Russell 2000 Return: -10.86%
S&P Midcap 400: -3.95%

I’m probably about where I would have been if I had split my investments among various ETFs.  Some funds might have been up and others would have been down.  I would have missed out on the fun I’ve had with this blog and with learning to be a better investor and would not be situated in a place that better prepares me for future years.  I firmly believe that I’ll beat all the major indices again this year as I did in 2007, but understand that at any single point in time I may be lagging.  Worrying about that will get me nowhere.

Along with the change in the amount of capital I have to work with now compared to a year ago, here are some other changes over the past year:

I’ve changed careers from being …

I had another down month in March to round out a very poor quarter.  This was my worst quarter for returns since both Q2 and Q3 of 2002 when my returns in each quarter were nearly twice as bad as this Q1 2008.  I learned a lot six years ago and think I’ve learned a good bit again and hope to continue to reduce my bad quarters’ losses and frequency again.

In my quest to reach my goals layed out last year I’m still cutting it close after losing more in March.  If I can contine depositing $2,000 each month (April, May, June, July) and can bring in $2,000 in April, May and June, I’ll reach my goal with a few pennies to spare.  I’m not against digging deeper in our checking account to push me over the mark if I’m close.  Actually, I might have more to deposit than planned.  We’re still trying to figure out what our monthly contributions can be with both of us (my wife and me) settling in to our new jobs and our insurance deduction and 401(k) contributions kicking in now.

My current account value according to Quicken is $78,311.83 and Ameritrade says my balance is $78,504.38.

Here’s how the returns break down:

12 month return: -7.25%
Since my blog’s beginning (4/8/07): -7.98%
I deposited another $2,000 on 3/12/08

According to …

After options expiration this weekend, this is where I stand on my positions.  I did no investing research this weekend due to the Easter holiday and our driving to and from family houses yesterday. Below is the summary of how my March options expired and my first thoughts on what I might do next.

My ADBE covered calls expired worthless.  I’ll likely re-write those calls or might dump the stock.  I still need to chart it.  They just beat earnings, so they could rally more than they already have if the rest of the markets continue upward.
My CAT naked puts expired worthless which means my CAT covered calls were assigned and my CAT shares were called away.  I haven’t even checked how I ended on the sum of all my options yet.  I know I took a loss on the underlying stock itself.
My DWA covered calls were assigned so I’m finally finished holding those shares.
My NYX (March 80, wow was I ever off) covered calls expired worthless.  I’ve already written new covered calls for April 60 which are now ITM.  I’m letting that ride to see if it comes back down again or just gets called away next month.
Both sets of my NVDA covered calls expired worthless.  While I’m begging for a rally that takes them back above 25, I’m going to have to consider selling some of my shares.  …

(I was looking for this post and couldn’t find it and finally realized that I must have hit save instead of publish.  sorry for the 3 week late update.  My losses are much greater since this post, but I haven’t edited anything outide of these parenthesis) 

I had an average month for my returns in February and that’s a good thing, especially considering that all of the major indices were down again and I was up. I’m glad I limited my bleeding to January.

I think that’s part of the trick with naked puts. Those of us who do it long enough will have some horrible months, but those of us who understand it going in will not let that one bad month stop us from trading a system that works in the longer term. I’m still down about $9,000 from my high (subtracting out my most recent deposit) and expect to be positive for the year within another four to five months.

My Taxable Account Summary:

Current Account Value: Ameritrade: $82,724.09, Quicken $82,873.54
12 month Return: 8.71%
Since 4/8/07 (blog’s beginning): 2.83%
Deposit for month: $2,000 on 2/1/08

The Major Indices Summary:

Market Volatility on 2/29/08:
CBOE Market Volatility Index

(^VIX): 26.54
(^VXN): 28.44

1 year S&P Return: -3.6%*
1 year Dow Jones Return: 2.32%*
1 year NASDAQ Return: 5.99%*
1 year Russell 2000: 12.44%*

* Source: Morningstar

I updated my diversification table on my Current Portfolio page and below.  I’m far too heavy in Tech since options expiration.  What kept me balanced before expiration is no longer part of my account and now I have half of my plays in Tech and it’s worse than that considering the dollar amount for each.

This will improve as I enter new positions, but I will prohibit myself from trading into any more Tech until I’ve removed one or more of these I’m already in.  This is such a good drill to do on a regular basis to make sure all your eggs are not in one basket.  In fact, what this tells me is that I almost have to dump some of my NVDA shares I’ve been debating about.  Before that, I might go ahead and take my losses on MOT.  I’m ready to start with a clean slate anyway.  I’m up on my covered calls, but I’m taking a bath on the stock.  I’ll have to sleep on this though as I don’t think there’s much downside risk left in MOT, just like I thought there wasn’t when it hit 15 and 14 and 13 and 12…

Services
  DWA – Movie Production - Theaters
Financial
  NYX – Diversified Investments
Technology
  MOT – Communication Equipment
  NVDA – Semiconductor – Specialized
  …