Monthy Dividend Update - May

My total dividend payments for May were $103.17.  I received dividends from 5 companies including VZ, CLX, BBVA, HAS and TGH.  You can see the individual amounts on the Dividends tab.

My total forward 12-month dividends are now at $1607.59.  I started the year around $1200.  My goal is to get to $2000 by the end of the year.  I have $392.41 to go.  I will reach this by a combination of new purchases and dividend increases.  If my purchases average 3.5% yields I would need to purchase $392.41/.035 or $11,211.71 worth of new stocks.

The majority of my dividend payers are in March/June/Sept./Dec. months so I expect to have a better June.  

I've also submitted an offer on a house that was accepted so I should be moving out of my condo in about a month.  That said, my purchases will be slim to none for another month.  I hope the May correction lasts a little longer so I can hopefully pick up some great DG stocks in July & August.

Options Trade & Update - KMI

With the recent fear in the market, Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) has dropped from around $40 to below $33 since April.  Instead of waiting over three weeks and hoping it trades above $30 so it doesn't get assigned, I decided to go ahead and close out of my options position.  I do think the company looks attractive at a current 4% yield but I think there are better opportunities out there.  So I will make $160 profit before commissions.  This brings my yearly options profit to $1365.

Open:

03/12/12 Sold 1 AZN Oct 20 '12 $45 Put @ 3.00
03/28/12 Sold 3 BBVA July '21 '12 $7 Puts @ .55
04/09/12 Sold 1 VOD July 21 '12 $27 Put @ 1.45
04/30/12 Sold 1 PG July 21 '12 $62.50 Put @1.42

Closed Out:

05/23/12 Bought to Close 1 KMI June 16 '12 $30 Put @ .65
01/23/12 Sold 1 KMI June 16 '12 $30 Put @ 2.25
Profit: $165 before brokerage fees.

05/14/12 Bought to Close 1 CHK July 21 '12 $16 Put @ 2.52
04/25/12 Sold 1 CHK July 21 '12 $16 Put @ 1.13
Profit: -$139 before brokerage fees

04/12/12 Sold 1 JNJ Oct 20 '12 $62.50 Put @ 2.60
04/30/12 Bought to Close 1 JNJ Oct 20 '12 $62.50 Put @ 1.62
Profit: $98 before brokerage fees (not bad for only waiting 18 days)


01/19/12 Sold 2 TSM July 21 '12 $15 Puts @ 1.80
04/09/12 Bought to Close 2 TSM July 21 '12 $15 Puts @ 1.03
Profit: $154 before brokerage fees


01/03 - Sold 1 RIG $35 May 19 '12 PUT @ 2.11
03/12 - Bought to Close 1 RIG $35 May 19 '12 Put @ .09
Profit: $202.00 before brokerage fees


01/06 Bought 10 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 1.05
01/26 - Sold to Close 5 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 1.85
02/28 - Sold to Close 5 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 2.03
Profit: $890 before brokerage fees


Total Profit before fees: $1365

Blog has moved to All About Interest

I'm happy to report that my blog has moved to it's own domain, all about interest .com (no spaces).

I've had an extra domain I purchased from Godaddy over a year ago in hopes that I would make time to create a helpful website aimed at investments.  I decided I didn't have time for that but I did have time to start a blog and keep up with trades I do on my Etrade account.  I think the name is fitting for this blog as well.  The exponential growth of my income from dividends is really "all about interest" and its compounding effects.

So I decided over the weekend to link my google blogger account to my domain.  I thought it would have been more difficult.  It actually was really easy. I didn't realize that google actually hosts your blog on their servers even when using your own domain name so I don't have to pay a monthly server cost to Godaddy.  I only have the annual name renewal which is fairly cheap at around $10 a year.

The only major drawback is that Google owns your blog and content.  They could decide to shut it down at a moment's notice.  However, I see this as highly unlikely.  It's not like I'm posting any controversial subject matter.  While I would be disappointed if Google discontinued Blogger and shut it down, it wouldn't be devastating.  I would continue making trades and find another medium in which to write about them.

That said, this blog has really given me a great way to track my portfolio and purchases.  I feel that it actually holds me accountable for the goals I set.  I also have met some very knowledgeable people along the way that have similar goals and interests.  I've learned a lot about investing in the past year and yet I have a learn more to learn.  This blog will continue to be about my own journey to a life of financial independence.

Options Trade & Update - CHK

I am reporting a few days late but I decided to close out of my options trade with CHK on 05/14.  I thought it might be a good speculative play on natural gas.  It still could be but there is way too much uncertainty with this company.  Management has been terrible and I don't trust them.  I am taking a loss but it's better to take a small loss now than a bigger loss later on.  This drops my yearly options profit $139 to $1205.  

Open:

01/23/12 Sold 1 KMI June 16 '12 $30 Put @ 2.25
03/12/12 Sold 1 AZN Oct 20 '12 $45 Put @ 3.00
03/28/12 Sold 3 BBVA July '21 '12 $7 Puts @ .55
04/09/12 Sold 1 VOD July 21 '12 $27 Put @ 1.45

04/30/12 Sold 1 PG July 21 '12 $62.50 Put @1.42

Closed Out:

05/14/12 Bought to Close 1 CHK July 21 '12 $16 Put @ 2.52

04/25/12 Sold 1 CHK July 21 '12 $16 Put @ 1.13

Profit: -$139 before brokerage fees

04/12/12 Sold 1 JNJ Oct 20 '12 $62.50 Put @ 2.60 

04/30/12 Bought to Close 1 JNJ Oct 20 '12 $62.50 Put @ 1.62

Profit: $98 before brokerage fees (not bad for only waiting 18 days)


01/19/12 Sold 2 TSM July 21 '12 $15 Puts @ 1.80
04/09/12 Bought to Close 2 TSM July 21 '12 $15 Puts @ 1.03
Profit: $154 before brokerage fees


01/03 - Sold 1 RIG $35 May 19 '12 PUT @ 2.11
03/12 - Bought to Close 1 RIG $35 May 19 '12 Put @ .09
Profit: $202.00 before brokerage fees 


01/06 Bought 10 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 1.05
01/26 - Sold to Close 5 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 1.85
02/28 - Sold to Close 5 SLV Jan 19 '13 $45 Calls @ 2.03
Profit: $890 before brokerage fees


Total Profit before fees: $1205

Clorox (CLX) Hikes dividend 6.7% to $0.64

Clorox (CLX) just announced a dividend increase of 6.7% to $0.64 from $.60.  The dividend will be payable Aug 10 '12 for stockholders on record as of July 25 '12.  CLX has increased dividends for 34 straight years and is a dividend champion.  CLX now has a current yield of 3.7%.

I just recently added to shares and have a total of 50.4 shares.  This dividend increase raises my total CLX dividend for the year from $120.97 to $129.03 or a raise of $8.06.

New Purchase - Chevron (CVX)

I initiated a position of 17 shares of Chevron purchased at $103/share.  My YOC is right at 3.5%. My yearly dividend income will increase by $61.20. Chevron has increased it's dividend for 25 straight years. 

I've been watching Chevron for a couple of weeks, I should have bought yesterday on weakness but went ahead and pulled the trigger this morning.   This purchase of CVX should compliment my shares of COP and I'd like to keep both equally weighted going forward. 

Overview:

Chevron Corporation (Chevron) manages its investments in subsidiaries and affiliates and provides administrative, financial, management and technology support to the United States and international subsidiaries that engage in petroleum operations, chemicals operations, mining operations, power generation and energy services. Upstream operations consist primarily of exploring for, developing and producing crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transporting crude oil by international oil export pipelines; transporting, storage and marketing of natural gas; and a gas-to-liquids project. Downstream operations consist primarily of refining crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products; transporting crude oil by pipeline, motor equipment and rail car, and manufacturing and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses and fuel and lubricant additives.

Options Trade - ConocoPhillips (COP)

COP has had some recent weakness after the split, partly due to declining oil prices.  It's one of my major holdings and I have no problem if I get assigned 100 shares at what I believe to be a great price.

So today I sold 1 COP Aug 18 '12 $50 PUT @ 1.96.  I believe this is a win/win scenario.  If COP stays higher than $50 for 3 months then I am paid $196 to wait.  If COP dips below $50 then I will get assigned 100 shares of COP @ $50/share.  My cost will be $48.04 / share before commissions.  This would be a YOC of  5.5%!

Conditional Buy Order - Chevron (CVX) & Owens & Minor (OMI)

I placed my first "conditional" buy order today with Etrade.  Basically, whatever stock hits my target first gets executed.  I don't have a lot of time to watch the market this week so this will save me some hassle.  

I have up to $1150 I want to spend on either of two companies so I set a "One Cancels All" buy order for CVX and OMI.  If OMI hits 28.01 , 40 shares will be purchased and the order for CVX cancelled.  If CVX hits 100.01, 11 shares will be purchased and the order for OMI will be cancelled.

Another benefit of this strategy is that I need less cash on hand.  I only need to keep cash of $1150 in my account for this order as opposed to twice that amount if I had two separate orders.

Has anyone else placed conditional orders? Etrade has 5 categories: Bracketed, Contingent, One-Cancel-All, One-Triggers-All, One-Triggers-OCO.  I will be exploring some of these options in the next few months.

New Purchase - Clorox (CLX)

Clorox reported earnings today of $1.02 which missed by .02 so I decided to buy 20 additional shares on weakness @ 67.41/share.

CLX is a core holding of mine and the company will be around for many years.  They have raised their dividend for 35 years consecutively.  They have a 5-year CAGR of 15.22% and let's not forget that Carl Icahn offered up to $80/share for the company last year.

End of Month Recap - April

April Recap

Purchases - COP & DOW
DRIPs - NVS, HNZ, MO
Sells -PSX (the new Phillips 66 that was spun off from COP)  

This month wasn't particularly busy.  However, I was able to add two purchases.  These included 40 shares of the new COP (bringing my new total to just over 70 shares) and 35 shares of DOW.

I was also able to increase my yearly dividends from $1300 to $1471.  This is a 13% increase.  It was mainly due to the purchase of new stock but also includes a dividend increase from JNJ and drips into NVS, HNZ and MO.

I don't expect May to be really busy for transactions.  This is due to two main factors.  I'm saving money for a home purchase and I have a lot of naked puts that could get assigned in the next two months.   I still believe I can achieve my goal of having a $2000 yearly dividend rate by the end of the year.