Weekly Roundup - September 3, 2016

Curated list of articles on dividend growth investing, financial independence, freedom and passive income
Happy Weekend!  Check out what's been going on in my world and some of the best articles from around the blogosphere.
What happened to August?  Maybe it was the incessant heat that just burned the days away.  The first weekend in September also marks Labor Day coming up here in the U.S. which is a nice reprieve from work for many employees.  Just imagine though if you could make every day Labor Day and call it quits for good.  Of course if you're reading this that's likely what you're after on your journey to financial independence.


Considering that I'm not investing any fresh capital at the moment this was a busy week for my portfolio.  For starters there were three dividend increases this past week which is always great to hear.  I've covered the first two already and the third will be out over the next few days.

If you remember from last weeks roundup I was contemplating what to do with some of my positions.  The first move this week was with my ESPP shares.  On Tuesday, August 30th I sold to open 1 call option with a $49 strike that expires on November 18th for $0.89.  I had to move further out of the money because my cost basis is higher than the current share price by a pretty hefty amount and because of the odd taxation on ESPP shares I need to sell them at a gain.  Sadly they're in the limbo range where I could pay taxes on gains that aren't really there.  So yeah if I'm going to pay taxes I want it to actually be on a gain.

My goal with this call option was just to collect option premium while I wait for the share price to recover.  The oil field is still very much in flux and 10%+ weekly moves aren't that surprising, but the strike price was far out of the money so it was worth the risk.  After commission and fees I collected $81 in cold hard cash that I get to keep whether the option is executed or expires.  So far so good too as the share price has declined since the option was opened and I could buy back the option after just 3 days for $0.55 and capture over 30% of the premium although I'm happy to sit and wait for time to pass.

I also closed out one of my positions yesterday which is sad since I've almost owned the shares for 3 years, but there's changes on the horizon for the company and basically I'm not a big fan of what's coming up.  I'll go into a lot more detail next week when I highlight the sale in detail.  

There's not much that interests me to buy outright in the market right now so my plan for the proceeds is to continually write put options on a position until the shares are put to me and then turn around and write calls.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  This will boost up the cash flow for my portfolio since I'll only do this with quality dividend growth companies.  

There's also the possibility of trimming or closing some other positions over the coming weeks with at least 3 other positions being thought on.

On to the Roundup

In case you missed them, here's the posts from Passive-Income-Pursuit over the past week.
Also, be sure to sign up to receive posts via email and to follow me on Twitter@JC_PIP so you don't miss anything.  You can also follow me on Facebook or Pinterest if you prefer those methods to get your daily fix and keep up to date on happenings around here.

Once again I'd like to say thanks to each and every one of you that read, commented, and shared posts from here this past week.  I think this dividend growth investing and financial independence community is amazing and the openness from everyone is awesome.  Thanks again!

Special thanks to More Dividends for including me in his new Different Minds Series.  

Now on to the links!

What are your Investment Goals? by Dividend Growth Investor

Market Timing - Waiting for that Fat Pitch by FI Fighter

Outlook for September 2016 by Roadmap2Retire


Recent Buys by Income Surfer

How To Pick Dividend Paying Stocks by Dividend Ladder

Recent Stock Purchase August 2016 by DivHut

Early Retirement Isn't For You by Done By Forty

September 2016 List of Dividend Aristocrats by Sure Dividend

Your Advantage as an Individual Investor by Financially Integrated

Confessions of a Recovering Trader by DivGro

Choosing People Over Money: The Story of Our Rental Property by Our Next Life

Also, if you're looking for investment ideas, A Frugal Family's Journey keeps a list of stock analyses and recent buys from fellow bloggers.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Image courtesy of Gubgib via FreeDigitalPhotos

Comments

  1. Hi JC -- thanks for including a link to my "confessions" article!

    I'm really thrilled that you're also jumping into options trading. I'd be interested to see what how you're doing... I still have lots to learn, and it is good to learn by seeing what others are doing. Especially DGI that also do options.

    Take care and all the best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ferdi,

      I used to incorporate options a lot more through 2014, but stopped in 2015 and so far this year. They definitely bring a little bit more fun into the picture than just the relatively boring DGI route. I just wish the capital requirements weren't so high because it really limits the selections so you have to have a large cash stock pile.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the mention, JC.
    Hope you are having a great weekend

    R2R

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. R2R,

      Another fun filled weekend of hanging with my daughter which is always a good thing.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for the mention. Much appreciated. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keith,

      It was a great weekend although it was definitely hot down here in Houston.

      Delete
  4. Thank you for the mention JC. Given the high valuations, I am unfortunately having a chunk of new money being invested in fixed income.

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    Replies
    1. DGI,

      The valuations are definitely making it difficult to invest in many of the companies that we'd like to. Sadly even at these high valuations the return, excluding share price, is still likely to be better for the dividend growth companies. So it's really a trade-off between whether you can accept the decline, or less efficient use, of your investment capital.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Thanks for including my Dividend Aristocrats list in this week's roundup!

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    Replies
    1. No problem Ben. By the way just listened to Part 1 of your interview on the Dividend Health Checkup podcast and it was great. I can't wait for Part 2.

      Delete

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