Rescue My IRA - September 2014 Results

I was traveling on business on September 30 and October 1, so I didn’t catch my account values on the monthly close.  I’ve had to wait for my statement to do the monthly update – I received it last night, so at last I can put up the monthly post.

At the close of last month’s post, I forecast the results from having seven positions expiring during the month of September…all seven were in the money at the time, but not all seven ended up being closed.  The positions were AAPL, CRUS, DIS, FB, JPM, PSA, and SPY; I had forecast gains totaling $2,318.09, or 1.50% of the starting account value this year, or 18% annualized.  I actually came in pretty close to the forecast, with 1.51% returns for the month and 18.17% annualized – not bad, and not something you see very often! 

In the days since September 30, we’ve had some down days and up days.  In my post yesterday I wrote up three trades I’d completed last week on Thursday and Friday, after the market declined by one percent in a day – it was up by just about that much the next day, so I was able to make a little bit of money on adjustments.

Here is the monthly summary of Rescue My IRA statistics for September, based the monthly statement I just received.       

Account Status:

·         Total Account Value, 9/30/2014 Market Close:  $ 166,533.55 , down slightly from the August close of $166,992.83)

·         Total Cash Reserve, 9/30/2014 Market Close:  $60,942.02

·         Core Stock Positions (as of 9/30/2014):  AAPL (100 shares), BA (100 shares), CNP (400 shares), COP (100 shares), CRUS (400 shares), EMC (400 shares), FB (100 shares), GE (300 shares), IP (200 shares), KRFT (100 shares), T ( 300 shares), TGT (100 shares)

Performance Metrics:

·         Option Premiums Collected (net, month of September):  -$1,298.37 (-0.84 %)

·         Capital Gains Collected (net, month of September):  $3,526.29 (2.28%)

·         Dividends Collected (recognized on the ex-date): $112.00 (0.07%)

·         Interest on Cash Reserve: $0.38

·         Total, Absolute Return:  $2,340.22 (1.51% absolute return, annualized return

18.17%) 

Next Month To-dos:

As the month began, I had five positions set to expire with October contracts.  I have already rolled out three of them: BA, COP, and CRUS; leaving two: FB and IP.  This looks to be a shaky month trading-wise, but if the two positions are called away in the money, they’ll earn about $300, or .19% of the account value.

That means I will have another .81% of the account value to make up with call premiums and dividends.  The roll outs on BA, COP, and CRUS generated $409, or .26%, and I am forecasting dividends of $264 or .17% from COP, KRFT, and T this month.  Totaled up, that’s .62% - so still some work to do if I am going to make my goal of 1%!

That’s it for the September results of Rescue My IRA.  Not bad at all, but we’re looking at heavy seas ahead.  I guess I’ll stay with the covered call strategy for another month. 

Until my October results post, happy trading!