October 2012 Results

September was the kind of month I’d like to see happen more often – the returns and gains in the Rescue My IRA were sourced on a balanced basis from stock gains, dividends, and call premiums.  It was probably my best month from that perspective, but it will be hard to repeat that performance during October.

Here are the statistics for September 2012:

Account Status:
Total Account Value, 10/1/2012 Statement:  $130,272.73, so once again the account is above the January 1 value of $127,606.44.

Total Cash Reserve, 8/31/2012 Statement:  $6,602.73
Core Stock Positions (as of 8/1/2012):   CAT (100 shares), CSCO (400 shares), CSX (500 shares), DOW (200 shares), F (400 shares), GLW (700 shares), HAL (300 shares), HPQ (400 shares), ITW (200 shares), MSFT (300 shares), SWK (100 shares), SPLS (500 shares), URS (400 shares), WAG (300 shares)

Performance Metrics:
Option Premiums Collected (net, month of September):  $840.42
Capital Gains Collected (net, month of September): $383.89

Dividends Collected (recognized on the ex-date): $408.80
Interest on Cash Reserve (total): $0.08
Total, Absolute Return:  $1,633.19
Absolute Return, Percentage Basis:  1.28%
Annualized Return, Percentage Basis:  15.57%

Next Month To-dos:

As a dividend month, October should be similar to July, since quarterly dividends are on a three month cycle.  And that means that the month will be slow for income from this source – I only collected one dividend that month, on MAS, a position that I don’t have any more.  There are two coming up this month:  CSCO on October 2 (today), and CAT- undeclared so far but due in mid-October.  Those will generate $100 or so in revenues, so if I am going to meet my goal of one percent returns this month, I’ll have to do it with call premiums and stock gains. 

There are two positions that have October contracts – 100 shares of SWK at a 72.50 strike, currently in the money, and 100 shares of URS (out of a 400 share position) at a strike of 35, which is also in the money.  Neither of these will produce stock gains – they have been positions that simply yielded dividends and call premiums since I have held them.  As a matter of fact, they actually set the month up with a pretty deep hole to climb out of!

Assuming the SWK and URS positions are assigned later in the month, I will have about $11,000 in fresh capital to invest – not much to work with.  So my focus will have to be looking at the upcoming positions to see if I can take any adjustments by rolling out or up existing contracts.

So I’ll keep posting on my progress and we’ll see how it goes.