First trade of the trading account...

Looking at the markets and talking with some fellow investors and traders has brought up concerns that the stock market is going to go lower. We've had a good run up since November with a pullback in December.

So I initiated the first trade today for the Trading Account. I bought 1, 152 SPY May PUT @ 5.63.
I chose SPY because its the ETF that covers the S&P500 and thusly the market as a whole. I went with a May time frame because I don't want to get bad theta decay and start losing a lot of time value if I had gone with a February or March contract. Lastly I went with 152 because its a few dollars into the money which will give better return then going for cheap options out of the money, like say 145 or 140. You have to get bigger moves with out of the money options before you start to see good gains. With the price being 5.63 I am paying $563 for this.

I had the money to buy more options in the account but just like with my weighting of my investments, I do not want to go too heavy into one trade.

I'll be keeping a close eye on this one and talk about it during the weekly update in video form. I did want to get it out there as I bought it though.



Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Week 88 update

Just as when the Model Portfolio started off, the Effort Portfolio weekly numbers are a work in progress. I have my spreadsheets which will show the current numbers but what about historical records? Those are important and has utility as it  helps us to measure where we were at various stages. I still go back at the old weekly updates and check on what was happening at a point in time.

It can be interesting how each account or portfolio will have its own characteristics and nuances. The Model Portfolio was about DRIP and income so that was the data that needed to be kept track of. The Effort Portfolio as a whole is more total return so the income will be less important.

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

Investing and Trading Account: $7,179.95
Total Return: 1.13%
Est Monthly Income: $11.48 / month
Trading: $3,500
Cash: $3,500

Investing: $3,679.95
Stock
     AFL: +0.08%
     HAS: +0.60%
     SPLS: +11.32%
     STX: +22.82%
Energy
     WHZ: +1.87%
Gold
     IAU: -1.05%
Bonds
     BLV: -1.31%
     JNK: +0.46%
     PCY: -1.03%
Cash: $1,182.03

ETF Account: $7,155.49
Total Return: 0.78%
Est Monthly Income: $14.15
US Stock
     SPY:  +1.17%
     XLV: +1.23%
     VNQ: +1.53%
International Stock
     EWZ: -0.40%
     PXR: -1.74%
Gold
     IAU: -1.83%
Bonds
     BLV: -1.23%
     JNK: +0.1%
     PCY: -0.90%
Cash
     Cash: $2,011.10

Permanent Portfolio: $7,106.35
Total Return: +0.09%
Est Monthly Withdraw Rate (4% rule): $23.68
Listed by weighting
     SPY: 25.37%
     GLD: 24.87%
     TLT: 24.91%
     Cash: 24.85%


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Portfolio Management with selling Enerplus

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I see a lot of talk in the Investing community about all the riches and money you can make and how great a pick such and such stock is. Then when a loss comes up, and it always does everyone has them, its only talk about the next stock and hopefully everyone forgets about the loss.

The losses though gives us more to learn then our wins. Keeping logs and records of not only your numbers but what you were thinking are a big part of the success at investing and trading.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Have a double data entry process for your demo account

When running a paper account or demo account have your actions and totals listed together so they can double check each other...

I was looking at the ETF Account this morning and noticed my Brazil position EWZ was down -13%. However looking at its chart since I bought shares, it has been flat. If this were a normal account I could just check my broker activity and compare to my numbers to see where I am wrong. Or to see where they are wrong and call them to fix it! Upon closer scrutiny of the ETF account, I noticed I was short 1 share that I had purchased. I had listed the purchase separately below the totals and they didn't match. My totals at the tops showed an average purchase price for EWZ at $66. It hasn't been above $60 since May of last year.
If only the totals were recorded it would have been harder to find especially down the road after I buy in a couple more positions into the total.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Week 87 update

Lets get back on track...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

Here is the link to the Google Finance formulas for their spreadsheets.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

ETF account positions

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

The Effort Portfolio is now up to date and the reboot is complete. I have to say I am happy to have this done as we can now get back to discussion of actively managing the accounts.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor  accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Why I sold AGNC

Here is my response to a comment "troubled investor" made...

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

One of the biggest mistakes I see being made is not selling a bad position when it looks like it could be worse just so you won't take a paper loss. Holding on in the hopes it turns around.

But wait a minute. Isn't that what I did with Enerplus? Glad you asked because there is a difference. With Enerplus I felt it was a losing position but in company that was still good, just undervalued. American Capital was a losing position and I feel its not able to turn around without more substantial loses. I am willing to take on some small short term paper loses if I feel the share price will bounce back. With AGNC I don't see that.

Additionally there is another risk I didn't mention in the video. When interest rates rise the net interest spread will disappear very quickly. This will speed up the dividend cuts and probably share price drop. Eventually though the new mortgages coming in to AGNC will carry a higher yield but that will take time.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Investing account positions

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

So I have quite a few changes for investment choices then what the Model Portfolio had. As I mention in the video, for a demo account to work it has to be as close to real life as possible. If we go and make choices of what MIGHT have happened then it skews the numbers. Even if minor now, when we add in compounding false numbers will compound into bigger false numbers. At that point in time then what would be the point of a demo account if it isnt giving you an accurate as possible experience in the markets and testing your strategy?

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Account 3 and the Effort Portfolio as a whole

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

The 3rd and final account will be essentially what I was doing with the previous Model Portfolio minus the savings account. It will have the most updates and discussions on my channel and blog because it will have the most maintenance.

To say I am excited about the new direction of the portfolio is an understatement. For awhile now I felt I was  only connecting with a select few of you because it was so focused on dividend investing. I won't be giving that up and for those of you out there that also dividend invest you won't be missing out.

However as I have mentioned in the past three updates, a large portion of you guys have been left out. The ones just starting out. The ones not ready to dive into earning reports and a pile of numbers. The markets are big enough for everyone to make money in their own way.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Account 2: ETFs and Themes

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

So for the Effort Portfolio, Account #2 is going to pretty much be investing in ETFs and other minimally intensive trading. It will be a good bridge between the laziness of Permanent Portfolio to the sometimes hectic and busy work of the last account.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

Permanent Portfolio

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I'll talk more about how the three accounts will work together in the 3rd account video tying everything together.

Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.

2012 Year in Review.

EDIT: At the time this blog entry was posted I had a Youtube video here. That has been removed but I want the rest of my content to be remain. Nothing hidden no past mistakes ignored. All out in the open.

I want to talk more about the education and experience side of running a portfolio in the early years. I listed some of the mistakes and things I would learn from in this video that occurred in 2012. These happened when the portfolio had low dollar amounts. As the deposits would continue to come in and add in the portfolio grows by $5,200 each year. That means the investing and trading choices that we take later on in our portfolio's lifetime will have more weight then the early ones. Your wiser and smarter decisions will make more money then your earlier mistakes and you come out net positive.
Just one more reason for us to not wait too long before we start.


Disclaimer: The investments and trades in my videos and blog entries are not recommendations for others. I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant, or tax adviser. The financial actions I talk about are for my own portfolio and money and only suited for my own risk tolerance, strategy, and ideas. Copying another person's financial moves can lead to large losses. Each person needs to do their due diligence in researching and planning their own actions in the financial markets.