March Activity

I have no transactions to report except for dividends hitting the account. In the month of February about $468 in dividends was reinvested.

Here is a great video from the Oracle of Omaha. He speaks about Ted Williams, the strike zone and investing. It is excellent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5VQPIeZhMc

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!

August Activity

Due to the catalysts at work now and in the near future, I have decided to lighten up the portfolio and go to cash with some holdings. The most obvious candidates to me were the lower yielding blue chips where I was at or near cost basis or in the red. I sold ED, MCD, KO and PG. I am interested in picking up PG and possibly KO again after the correction which I believe is coming, but at a lower cost basis. We have lots of macro events in the hopper, any one of which can escalate and trigger a pullback. Take your pick-Russia/Ukraine, Iraq air strikes, Fed easing ending in October, Israel and Hamas, mid term elections, Europe entering recession again etc.

I am 1/3 in cash. This is a good time for covered calls.

July addendum

Here is a link to an informative blog which you might enjoy;



http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/5038891-interesting-times/3076305-interesting-times-for-all-commodities-and-investments-chapter-73

Earnings week this week-about 1/3 of the S+P reports earnings. Between that and the turmoil with a passenger plane being shot down and mid east problems we could be in for a rough ride this week.

July Activity - Good Deals Scarce

Even after the feds announced plans to end bond purchases in October, the market still went higher. Personally I was hoping for a pullback so at least I could sell some puts. I did sell one on DE strike $85 a few weeks ago. But it is difficult to spot a good deal now. VLO recently took a big hit but refineries are unpredictable and risky. I plan to hold cash this summer and save each month for the inevitable pullback. I'll be looking for deep value and put selling on businesses I have been watching-OHI, HCP, ED, possibly PFE, TGT or WMT although retailers face stiff online headwinds.

Here is a quote from Tim (see sidebar) that sums it all up in a way anyone, myself included, can understand;

On a relative basis, I'd think about it this way. There are plenty of companies that you can identify as growing north of 10% over the medium term. The trickier part, particularly here in 2014, is finding a company trading at a discount to fair value so you can benefit from P/E expansion as well. 

Thanks for stopping by..

June Activity - Morningstar rocks

Recently picked up some KMI at 33.25, sold and bought back a put on Con Ed with the intent to sell another put at 52.50, August expiration. AAPL is splitting 7 for 1 today and the share price has been shooting up in anticipation. I believe it will be at 92 and change pershare on Monday which should invite more retail investors to buy, putting even more upward pressure on the stock.

Morningstar.com offers the following valuable info for free:

After putting in a stock symbol go to the performance tab then click expanded view. Average the dividend yield for the past 10 years. If you are thinking of buying, try to get a yield higher than this 10 year average.

Click on Industry Peers after entering a stock symbol, then find Fair Value Estimate. This is Morningstar's fair value for that stock.

May Activity - goodbye ARNA

Well, I couldn't take the pain anymore of watching my portfolio get dragged down. After ARNA missed estimates by .02 the stock plummeted some 12%-this after a month of TV advertising and another accumulation on my part. This is the only stock I've owned that has consistently been a solid nonstop loser. My emotions got the better of me and I dumped the stock. It will be a long time before I do that again-invest my hard earned money in a speculation. It is a relief and almost worth the loss in dollars to be rid of it.At least I derived no income from it in the form of dividends-my dividend income stays the same.

Onto bigger and better things. I am about to have CSCO called away and that is ok with me. I am going to take the funds and look closely at a few on my watchlist-KMI, ED, OHI. I am looking forward this next few weeks and will post when changes are made.