Thursday 31 July 2014

July 2014 Dividend and Monthly Report Update




  Another month has passed by and things are on track chugging along. I did some tweaking of my portfolio to get my allocation more inline with where I wanted to be at. Made a couple buys and sells which I will detail in the future.

 Here is my Dividends totals for July

2014 Running Dividend Total - $2,379.49
                            *July - $1,239.74     Forward annual dividends $15,169
                            *June -  $608.62
                            *May -  $531.13



July 2014 Dividends Paid
 58.75 - REI.UN RioCan Reit
 22.50 - HR.UN  H&R Reit
141.00 - TD Toronto Dominion
 33.97 - DOW Dow Chemical
 64.00 - BNS Bank of Nova Scotia
 18.33 - SJR  Shaw Communications
 80.00 - CM Cibc
 40.77 - GE General Electric
 31.77 - AGU Agrium
135.85 - BCE BCE Inc.
 28.00 - D.UN Dream Office Reit
 22.92 - ENF Enbridge Income Fund
 22.50 - AX.UN Artis Reit
 46.00 - CPG Crescent Point Energy
 59.98 - PM Philip Morris
 32.27 - BAX Baxter
 95.00 - BA Bell Aliant
 93.75 - CHL China Mobile
 43.14 - KMB Kimberly Clark
 50.33 - RCI.B Rogers Communications
 76.00 - T  Telus Corp
 22.50 - CNQ Canadian Nat Resources
 32.10 - KO Coca Cola
$1,239.74 - TOTAL

July Notes -

- COP Conocophillips increases annual dividend by 5.8% from $2.76 to $2.92
- KMI Kinder Morgan increases annual dividend 3.3% from $1.68 to $1.72
- DD DuPont increases annual dividend 4.4% from  $1.80 to $1.88
- BMO Bank of Montreal increases annual dividend 2.6% from $3.04 to $3.12
- CM CIBC increases annual dividend 2.0% from $3.92 to $4.00
 
In Summary

I am happy I reached over $1,000 in dividend income as my portfolio is close to full efficiency as I only missed a couple ex-dividend dates . Also quite happy I have had 5 dividend increases this month and I am eager for more!





                                         Thinking of building this style of home


Real Estate News

So I have been quite busy with looking at various real estate deals. First off I am thinking of building a new home. I would more than likely take out a mortgage or home equity line of credit on my current home to do so and then once house is complete I would fix up my home a lil bit and sell it. If I can get this all done within 1.5 years I estimate I will add about 150-200k to my net worth and more importantly adding to my cash generating investments. However it is a huge task and the stars have to align a little bit to do so. So far looking for lots have been very scarce as the area I am looking in is very hot for tear down homes driving up crappy home value.

Also have been looking at rental income properties. My buddy has one for sale which I am going to get inspected and appraised. I am also looking at various triplex and 4plex properties around my city looking for something with good revenue and something I can manage on my own.

I can probably only make one big move so whatever the best deal comes up I will decide then.


Options 

Last month I closed out 1 Apple call and looks like my August $103 call will expire worthless. I think I am going to take a break for options right now as I am wanting to see how far Apple can really run with their new products coming.


Other News

Boy did the market take a beating last day of July. My portfolio plunged 1.5% in one day. Ouchy!
Oh well. That how she goes!

I haven't been as active as I like blogging  as I have been out and about quite a bit scouring new opportunities.

I have been trying to figure out my parents finances which are in a state of concern. They have many assets but no will or trust set up. I have been trying to convince them to get at least a will done asap but its very tough to get them to agree on anything. Its been very frustrating to me and its quite concerning. On top of huge family drama issues with extended family overall it has been a very stressful month. I just gotta keep my head down, stay focused , do one task at a time and grind away.

On a funny note for fun I met with the banks mortgage specialist ( I usually use a independent mortgage brokers). So I wanted to see what kind of rates they could get me for various loan options, equity line of credit, traditional mortgage and builders mortgage. Man what a joke! The guys was offering me no break over posted rates and then he finally said he couldn't give me a loan anyway because I had no 9-5 job lol. WOW! In my many years I have taken loans out in the past easily with no so called salary job. Investors with great capital, great credit scores with no salary income in Canada can skip going to the bank! When I am ready to make the plunge for a loan I will go to some private mortgage guys that get the deals done and at lower rates than the bank.


So how was your guys dividend income this month?
How big was your portfolio drop on July 31?

Good Day and Grind On!


Thursday 24 July 2014

New Buys , Sells , Brewery and Real Estate Updates





Been a bit busy to update my portfolio transactions but I decided to compile them all together now finally. Overall I barely added new capital in but did some tinkering with my portfolio.

Buys
RCI.B     Rogers -            $1000
HR.UN   H&R Reit          $3500
AX.UN   Artis Reit           $5290
CM         CIBC                 $3000
T             AT&T                $2180
PFE         Pfizer                $1510
IDV       Intl Div ETF       $5486
Total                               $21,980

Sells
AAPL    Apple                 $9860
BA         Bell Aliant         $6224
DOL      Dollarama          $5005
Total                               $21,089

$900 new capital invested
My updated portfolio holdings link


First off I will explain my Sells
  • APPL- I got called on a covered call I wrote for 100 shares. Bringing my total from 700 shares to now 600 which I do not mind. I am still overweight on APPL but the upside has been tremendous for me. I would like to be around 400-500 shares max with Apple but I think this next year will be huge for them with new product lines and strong iphone sales. I will probably hold my remaining shares until late 2014 and then start writing more covered calls then to slowly reduce my position.
  • BA Bell Aliant- BCE or other known as Bell the Canadian telecom giant which I also own is Buying Bell Alliant out taking them Private. My shares in BA will either get converted to Bell shares or cashed out so I decided to cash my shares out. In the 3 months I owned BA Bell Aliant I made a 17% gain and received a dividend. Not bad!
  • DOL Dollarama - After analyzing my portfolio I decided i wanted a bit more yield instead of growth and was looking for a place to cut some of it. Dol was very low yielding under 1% so I decided to cut it out. Also after further research the short term growth potential might be stalled a bit so it made my choice that much easier. Hopefully its not a stock I regret later as it often seems to be the case!



  Reason for my Buys
  • To pick up some yield from my Dollarama sale I picked up a bit more REITS. Canadian Reits saw a big 2013 dip and still has not fully recovered. I like dependable long track record Reits with high yields so that why I picked up Artis AX.UN and H&R HR.UN. They are both quite large and steady payers at 5.75% and 6.79% monthly paying dividend yield.
  • CM Cibc - I am bullish on Canadian banks and CM offered a good 4% dividend yield and has lagged other Canadian banks in 2014 so I decided to add to my position here.
  • AT&T and Phizer- Just added to my positions here with a lil bit of yield chasing with AT&T 5.2% yield and value chasing with Phizer PFE. Was just spreading money out from my Apple sale to boost my positions here. I would like to add a bit more to Phizer in the future as I feel they have much more growth potential left.
  • RCI.B Rogers small buy here just cost averaging down as the stock has been hit hard recently
  • IDV Ishares International Select Dividend ETF. Yes I know an ETF of all things! Looking at my asset allocation my international sector was lacking. With this holding I am still at only 11.5% International allocation in my portfolio which is still quite low. I would like to be at around 15-20 % in the future. The problem is for international stocks is that most are available on hard to reach stock exchanges. Yes there are several ADRs on American markets which I own but not some I am looking for. Buying the ETF is easy and allows me access to an easy basket of high dividend players located in Asia and Europe which I like. I will probably be boosting this holding in the future and also look to add a good dividend paying emerging markets ETF as well in the future to balance out my portfolio.


In conclusion

Overall I accomplished a few things with this tinkering of my portfolio. I reduced my weight in Apple which I wanted. I cut out some low yield with Dollarama and added some yield with Reits and supporting positions.

My new forward annual dividend total is now $15,258 from $14,686 thanks to the trades I made and a handful of dividend increases this month. An increase of $572 a year in dividends. My yield on cost has gone up overall as well from 3.55% to 3.60%. Not extremely high but pretty good for now since my portfolio was pretty much only formed only 3 months ago.

My future purchases will be more geared toward Canadian and International markets to get my portfolio more inline with a desired mix of 40-45% US equities 40% Canadian and 15-20% International.

My current mix is

Equity Allocation
          50.5% - American based stocks    227,643
          38.0 %  - Canadian based stocks  171,525
          11.5 %  - International stocks           51,488

                                      Total   450503



Other News

Brewery Startup - Things are coming along, Not much else to report here as still paperwork has to be processed and the building purchase is going through. Equipment is starting to be ordered and things look OK so far. One bit of good news is that I made a trip to My hometown of Vancouver and spoke to some of my friends. Turns out I had much more connections than I realized with the restaurant industry. Seems to me I could get the beer on tap in a few restaurants out there pretty easily. So looks like I can score a few accounts as a salesman. Problem is I have no experience so what I plan to do is to shadow the local sales guy we have and learn the ropes before I approach my contacts. I sure wouldn't mind some sales commissions here and there along with my profits.

Real estate- So I have been looking to downsize my home from about 1.35 million current market worth to about 900k to 1 million max to free up some capital. The problem is I do not see any product I am liking in my area in which I want to generally stay in. There was one or two contenders I was on the fence about but they both had pretty much non existent lot sizes which I did not like for privacy and kids playing reasons.Basically what I am looking for is a 2500-2900 sqft home no older than 15 years old with a decent lot of about 7000-8000 sqft which I think is more than suitable for my family of 4 which would cost about 900k to 1m in roughly about the same area and possibly in a cheaper area over.

Here are some stats of my home and home I am lookin for

                         Old Home      Possible New Home
Price                1.35 Million      1 Million max
Lot size sqft     10,000               6000-8000
Indoor sqft        3,300                 2500-2900
Property Tax     7800                   5500 max

So far it has been a bit discouraging. I love my area and do not want to live far away from it. I plan on sending my kids to one of the 3 private schools close to me so I dont want to live to far from the area. So now I have been thinking of other ideas since my house search has been a dud so far.

Building a new house. So now I am thinking of possibly building a home. I have had some experience in building homes in Vancouver but I always had plenty of help out there. So I would be coming into this alone out here in Victoria. I figure I could score a good lot 8000 sqft for about 500-600k depending on the area and proximity to the beach. I then would pay around $160-175 per square foot for building costs to have a nicely built, appointed home about 2700-2900 sqft so approx 430k- 505k in building expenses. So a total building and lot cost of approximately 930k to 1.1 million. It would take approximately a year to buy, build the new home and sell my current home. So with interest rates at about 3% and lower it would cost about $30,000 in interest a year to float the project bringing my total to about 960k to 1.13m. With doing this no doubt my new home will be worth over 1 million. A new home with those details would be worth about 1.1 to 1.4 million so there is some possible money to be made if I were to flip it as well.

There is some potential downsides as well. Markets could tank and my original home value could decrease in the year it takes to build. Real Estate cools and my current home sits on the market for longer than anticipated. Interest rates could very possibly rise and thus bring up my costs. The home build could take longer than expected further increasing carrying costs. My last home in Vancouver took me almost 2 years to build being so high end and niche so I am well aware of things taking forever at times.

Overall the upside outweighs the downside. Even if I am over budget by 50k and markets cool a bit I will still be in the green in my estimation. Building a home is no easy task and one I do not enjoy as it takes hundreds of hours. I am sort of an orderly perfectionist and I do not often jive well with late crappy tradesmen. The alternative is to pay a home building company to take care of everything but they often charge 15-20% and often have kickbacks from their own trades further lubing their greasy pockets. So essentially I would save nothing using a manager. I may just suck it up and take the plunge and do so myself.

So as of right now I am still looking for a downsized home, looking for potential building lots and will be visiting mortgage brokers soon to see what kind of rates I can get if I take out a mortgage on my current home. I am not sure what exact route I will take but I am investigating all options.




In other investment news

More Real Estate! So a possible opportunity presented itself to me. A friend of friend has a place for sale near me in Victoria. It is a triplex that brings in just over 50k a year in rent. Taxes and maintenance run about 10k a year so about 40k take home and the place is worth about 900k so about a 5.5% yield on the place. I am going to meet the owner this weekend and have a good look at the place to see what kind of shape its in and see how much wiggle room there is on the 900k valuation. Downsides is that its an old place built in 1943 so more than likely it will require ongoing repairs. Plus sides are is that it is in a very desirable area being half a block from the water and a big park and its walking distance to downtown which is a big plus for many. Also the lot is zoned for new duplexes which could be quite favorable if I decide to build one. Duplexes in that area sell for about 800-850k each unit and if I buy and build there it could be approx 200k in profit there for me. Might be worth locking in some debt to make the plunge there as well. Obviously it would be tough to juggle two big projects like this if I build a home for myself as well but I think I will take on one big project soon enough! If there is a deal to be had especially minus realtor fees then I may make a move on it. I need to bring in an anal home inspector to see the real problems underneath the surface before I jump in.

Sorry If I have been a bit inactive blogging and visiting other blogs but I have lots on the go right now. I find in life you have to be bold with your investments and complacency is for the weak. The strong stay on their toes and always look for new opportunities. So its time I turn over a few more stones and get hustling.

So what do you guys think of my stock tinkering and potential real estate deals? Am I overlooking anything?



Saturday 12 July 2014

$2,111,481 My Net Worth Update July 2014

My Net Worth Update July 2014

     July 12 / 2014  : Updated every mid month

    ASSETS

Home 2014 assessed value                                  total                 $1,190,000

-Equity Investments
Tax free saving account TFSA -               $33,372
Retirement saving plan RSP -                  $101,101
Canadian margin account -                     $141,768
US margin account ( Ex Rate 1.072)-     $168,456
margin available $217,060
                                                                               total:                 $444,699

-Rental Property
Warehouse Income property 2014 assessed value
                                                         
                                                                               total:                 $384,000
-Start Up Company
Brewery start up share value
                                                                               total:                   $85,000

-Cash                  
Chequing account                                      $2,021
Business account                                       $5,761
     
                                                                               total:                    $7,782

   Liabilities

None 
                                                                                  total:                       0
                        
                 June 2014 Grand Total Net Worth:      2,111,481      

                                     Gain/loss from last month + $5,584

June 2014 : $2,105,897 Details link +$3,165
May 2014 : $2,102,732 Details link



Total investments and cash available     $921,481
Total non-income fixed assets  (home ) $1,190,000
   Net Worth Ratio
43.6% Investments and cash
56.4% Fixed Assets
  Investment Yields
- Start Up Brewery : No expected return for a year

-Warehouse commercial property Income 
 $1,912 a month minus $678 expenses ( maintenance,tax) =  Per month: $1,234                                              Yield on assessed value:  3.85%                Total year profits :$14,808


-Equities market value :444,699           Forward Monthly dividends Avg:  $1,254
  Average Forward Yield On Market Value  : 3.38%  
                                                              Total Forwards dividends yearly $15,058

    Grand Total Passive Forward Yearly Income :    $29,866

                  Per month average total     :          $2,488



 In Summary-


 Up from last months gains and I am happy for it. Mr market was good and bad to my equities which I will explain later. I have officially put in $85,000 into the brewery and things are in motion there. Will be quite a while to see a return as first year is projected to break pretty much even. My rental property is going through a change of tenant and its a bit of a mess financially. Payments from it still has to be sorted out as I have not received any rental income this month from it.




Several factors have contributed to my July net worth.

Positives- 


-Market was pretty decent for me. Good gains in my apple stock holding. I just got called for 100 AAPL shares and will do some rebalancing soon with the proceeds. I ultimately want to sell 100 more of my 600 remaining shares in AAPL and I plan on writing covered calls out of the money until it hits. The part leaks for the Iphone 6 are very promising and AAPL has a monster seller on its hands and Samsung is shaking!

-EBAY. So I puit some stuff on Ebay and got some money for the stuff to the tune of $4,000. Proceeds mainly came from a fancy watch I had that I never wore. My phone can tell the time just as well! Without these ebay sales my bottom line would have been very thin this month. I am know conteplating selling a few other things to round up some cash.

-Expenses. My expenses were very minimal, We didn't go out much and main outside activities were free ( hiking, hanging at beach, playgrounds, water parks)

- Dividends. Were not bad as June brought me $608 and so far halfway in July $552. I hope to see thousand dollar months soon enough in dividends.


Negatives-


-Canadian dollar. The Canadian dollar weakened against the US dollar by 1.31% since last months net worth total. That alone has devalued my portfolio by $3,165. This currency thing cuts both ways and this month it hurt!

- New Tenants. In the process of kicking out current tenant in my rental unit as they were running illegal high stakes poker games and welcoming a new business (healthy cereal maker) with a 3 year lease. Old tenant has missed a payment and will owe for a lease cancellation fee. The new tenant will get two free months for leasehold improvements. Overall once the old tenant pays up it will cover the lost income of the new tenants 2 free months making it a wash. Sometimes I wonder why I am keeping the property as I could just shove that whole total into REITs and have a higher return and less headaches. Then I remember my place wouldn't sell when I had it listed for under market value. I will re-evaluate next year if I am going to keep it I think.



Special Thanks

Special Thanks to http://debtdebs.com/ for the mention in here article. Thanks for the pointers on your debt strategies as it has helped my friend Ali and I to formulate a game plan to get out of debt.








Wednesday 9 July 2014

The Good Bad and Ugly of Project Debt Ali !!!

 The Good.

Meet my friend Ali. He is a late twenties guy who owns his own home and runs a profitable landscaping business.  He is a single guy with no wife or kids , dependents or girlfriends. His family is well off and they are tight knit. When landscaping season is over he does video production work during the winter. He owns his own home and has multiple tenants renting out rooms which pays for his monthly mortgage fees and home bills. His landscaping business is quite busy and he can ultimately work as many days a week as he wants as their is no shortage of business. He takes home about 5k net a month from it minimum and that could easily reach 6-7k some months.

 He will drop anything to help a friend and will often put himself second. His generosity is often abused as many friends and family take advantage of him. He gives people rides all the time , he helps people move move all the time since he has a truck even during work hours and other random selfless tasks.


 The Bad.

Well Ali is in severe debt. It started many years ago and it has just been getting worse every year. He is at a point of near bankruptcy. He has borrowed whatever he could from the banks and did not adjust his spending habits. He has long avoided his debt problem and I recently found out how bad shape he really was in so I decided to help. Since his credit is beyond tapped out he initially asked me for a loan but I denied him because it would be useless to fix the debt without fixing the real problem HIM !!! So I have spoken to him many times to get a handle of his whole debacle of a situation.




The Ugly.

First was to analyze his debts.


Total Debt $50,000

    $30,000 Maxed Credit Line 8% interest
  •  He started with a 10k credit line and kept asking for more where the bank cut him off at $30,000. 
  • Due to his poor credit the best rate he could get unsecured is a very high 8%.
  • Total interest a year for 30k would be $2,400 or $200 a month

$18,000 Credit Card  20% interest rate
  •  He has 3 maxed out credit cards  at 20% interest
  • Total interest a year for 18k would be $3600 or $300 a month
  • No other banks will give him a promotional rate to switch over due to his credit

2k Overdraft in Bank Accounts at 22%
  •  He has started overdrawing from his bank accounts to stay afloat!
  • Along with the 22% interest rate the bank imposes several monthly fees while he is in overdraft
  • Total interest a year and fees would be around $530 or $44 a month

 From this combined total $50,000 debt he is paying $6530 a year in just interest which is $544 monthly.

So seeing the the debt all laid out there is a few problems really stick out.
The overdraft firstly. The interest rate is higher than credit card rates and their are monthly fees associated with being in overdraft further compounding the problem. Its scary because the bank will only loan so much before they cut him off and at that point he is pretty much bankrupt.


The big chunk of his high interest is in credit cards and he often struggles to pay the monthly minimum payment.

Also during my financial interrogation of him I found a huge other problem. His mass spending habits. He spends more than I do for my family of four! He is the ultimate consumer and service user. Unbelievable the amount of monthly bills he gets and it boggled my mind. You know what they say "Death by a thousand cuts!" This guys is bleeding out!



The Plan.

To cut down his extreme spending and get him out of overdraft and credit card debt asap.
First we cut out some needless expenses.

Monthly Charge Bills
  1. Internet- $100 down to $75. $25 a month savings. (Big plan still needed to suit tenants needs in his home)
  2. Gym membership- $45 a month cancelled as not needed especially during landscaping season.
  3. Phone plan cut down from $95 a month to $65. $30 a month saving from downgrading plan
  4. Life insurance policy $40 a month cancelled. He has no dependents and is in good health and also his family is well off to cover any crazy circumstances
  5. Business association dues - $21 a month cancelled. This served no purpose to him
  6. Young entrepreneur association fees - $22 a month cancelled. This served him no purpose
  7. Costco membership- $10 a month cancelled. He rarely shopped there so it didn't justify the cost
  8. Garage rental for landscaping equipment $225 a month cancelled. He has now made space in his own home for the equipment.
  9. Bank fees- $38 a month saved from switching to low fee accounts
  10. Insurance rates - $80 a month savings from switching home, car and business policies to slightly less coverage and increasing deductible amounts
 Savings for monthly service fees
$536 a month $6432 a year

Also we cut down his daily spending habits

Spending habits
  1. $150 a month savings by cutting down on outside eating and eating more at home.
  2. $100 a month savings by cutting down on him going out drinking at the bars.
  3. $100 a month savings in impulse online shopping.
  4.  $200 a month savings by cutting down concerts, hotels travel
Changing these habits will save him
$550 a month or $6600 a year

With these two areas of monthly charge bills and spending habits cuts it will total to $1,086 a month or $13,032  a year in paying down the debt.


We also are trying to bring in more money to tackle this debt head on by selling his unused items
  • Cashing in air miles for cash
  • selling his multiple giftcards
  • changing his credit cards from air miles to cash back
  • selling his life insurance policy
  • selling landscape equipment he no longer needs
  • downsizing his vehicle and landscaping trailer to a cheaper fuel efficient truck and smaller landscaping trailer
  • selling other random unneeded house items
His home I have not suggested anything since the tenants are paying for the associated costs ( mortgage, taxes, utility bills) I have recommended possibly trying to squeeze in another tenant in there or possibly renting out some room on his big property for car, boat or RV storage or renting out a portion of his garage.


The Hope.

With this plan I think he will be in good shape to eat up this debt. It should be easily gone within a year but I am pushing to get it off his back sooner. I want to see this debt repayment snowball into financial prosperity. By this time next year I want to see investments in his Tax Free Savings Account earning him money by the power of dividends!

The plan has already started and he has cut down most of the expenses but there is some still to go. He is in the process of wrapping his head around everything. I do my best to keep him motivated to stay on the task as he has problems staying focused. I send him random text messages that are somewhat abusive and praising to remind him of his debt and current state.

All depends on him and his commitment. He has to stop being such a consumer. Buying all this stuff does not make him happy as this debt has taken its toll with the stress he endures from its lingering dark cloud. Yes we have taken away quite a bit but I am not opposed to him bringing back a few things he would like a gym membership once his debt is paid for.

Along the way i hope to educate him on spending habits and a long term financial outlook. I have directed him towards Dave Ramsey debt podcast and numerous other sites to get his head on the right track.




So what do you guys think of Project Debt Ali? 
Any suggestions to the current plan? 
If I missed anything just ask away! 
I plan to update Project Debt Ali monthly and let you know how he is doing.










Tuesday 1 July 2014

June 2014 Dividend and Monthly Report Update



Another month has passed by and things are on track. My core purchases are complete. My portfolio has had some appreciation, dividends are almost fully coming in.

Here is my Dividends totals for June and so far in July

   2014 Running Total - $1,254.93
                 * July  - 115.18
                 * June - 608.62
                 * May  - 531.13

July 2014 Dividends Paid
 32.27 - BAX Baxter
 22.50 - CNQ Canadian Nat Resources
 32.10 - KO Coca Cola
 115.18 - TOTAL


June 2014 Dividends Paid
 35.09 - PEP PepsiCo
 22.50 - HR.UN  H&R Reit
 40.43 - TOT Total SA ADR
 18.33 - SJR  Shaw Communications
 27.60 - SU Suncor Energy Inc
 28.00 - D.UN Dream Office Reit
 22.92 - ENF Enbridge Income Fund
 34.43 - MCD McDonalds
 46.00 - CPG Crescent Point Energy
 22.50 - AX.UN Artis Reit
 35.00 - ENB Enbridge
 48.00 - FTS Fortis
 33.15 - PFE  Pfizer
 58.75 - REI.UN RioCan Reit
 39.16 - CVX Chevron
 32.73 - JNJ Johnson & Johnson
 22.95 - DD DuPont
 41.06 - COP Conocophillips
608.62 -TOTAL


June Dividend Notes -  

- Total SA ADR is a France based company and they take 30% in withholding taxes ouch!

- Overall slightly disappointing, Was expecting to hit over $1,000 with my holdings. Missed a few ex dividend dates from my initial purchases in May were to be paid out in July.

- Next month in July my portfolio should be at full dividend paying efficiency and should be generating close to the $1,100 of my monthly average forward dividend projections including withholding tax.

- The totals are actual payouts I have received so they include withholding tax and are currency neutral

                                                         My baby boy aka Elton John


Future Buys and Portfolio Readjustment 

Going forward I hope to make a new purchase every 1-2 months. I do however wish to do a little bit of portfolio rebalancing. Nothing major but some mild tweaking to increase my income via dividend payouts and also starting to write options.


Options 

I have begun to write options on my Apple holdings. Overall I am bullish on Apple in the long term. I have a large 700 share holding roughly equating to $65,000. Or roughly 16% of my overall holdings. Which is overly substantial.

 So I have come up with a plan with my holdings to write covered call options against it. I am writing monthly out of the money options at above 5-10% of the share price. This strategy will hedge my earnings if APPL were to gain over 10% in one month so I will miss out on gains beyond that.
 
The benefits of this strategy is that it would give me a positive exit point in reducing my position, it would give me extra income for writing the calls, it will hedge against losses with the premiums I receive. Overall its an insurance policy for movement in the stock and a way to generate some more income.

Once I finally do get called with the stock, I may look to re-enter my holdings at a smaller position of apple and continue the option writing process for income in the future.




                                                                    A lil teaser
Brewery

As some know I am investing in a brewery start up. I have officially invested $85,000 into it. The brewery was in the funding stage and just last week they have reached their goal of raising over 1.1 million.  Several banks are competing for the rest of capital needed and their borrowing rates are surprisingly quite low in the sub 4%. This shows even the banks have quite a bit of faith in the team and project which is assuring for investor such as myself. So the gears are in motion of purchasing the land and building, upgrading the building and ordering the necessary equipment. This process will take a few months but it is quite exciting. The brewery already has a good local buzz around it and will no doubt have some good community support to start.
 


Blog News

Not much going on, Just starting to get a schedule going on of at least 4-5 posts a month. I have joined the Yakezie challenge where finance bloggers try and improve their Alexa score and get more involved with their finance network.

Thanks to all the fellow bloggers that have dropped by and dropped a comment and added me to their blogroll network.

Going forward

I plan to write a post about 2 different loans I have given and also getting a friend out of debt.
Stay Tuned!


So what do you guys think of my month and how was your month? Also what are your thoughts on options for an added income boost to the dividend investor?

Good Day and Grind On!