Back from long absence - Recent Activity

Hi again! Sorry for the disappearing act. It has been tough to get here and post due to life. I am finding that the closer I get to semi retirement the less time I have to sit and compose some investing thoughts. The funny part is investing gets more important as time goes on yet I pay less attention to it! That might be a good thing since that means less trading for me and like many, I tend to overtrade.

We are getting to the point where playing defense with our capital is paramount-for 2 reasons. First, the market is near an all time high and second, as I mentioned, semi retirement is just a few years off. Semi retirement for me means that I leave my current position which pays well but also has many serious obligations, and take up something either part time or something with many fewer responsibilities thus requiring less time on my part. This is BADLY needed-to deal with my and my Mother's dilapidated houses, to give more time to my aging parent, to deal with my kids and their needs and to get me back some sanity.

ANYWAY.....investing. Quite a ride these last 6 months. Several dips in the Fall 2014, still the Ukraine problem, Greece deciding they have had enough austerity and a huge oil beating. I was and am still overwweight energy and picked up more CVX at 104. I am still in the red on CVX but not COP or KMI. Picked up CAT on a put option at 83, immediately sold a 3-20 covered call at 85, we'll see if it goes but decent dividend. Been in and out of GILD, still hold 50 shares, they just initiated a 1.6% divy! AAPL still my best holding, up 60%. Picked up more GE recently. Each of these transactions could easily be an entire blog post in itself to explain the reasoning behind it. Finally thinking of putting stop losses on all holdings.


Thanks for stopping by. Happy 2015 and I wish you a great and prosperous year!