YTD dividend income as of Aug 31, 2012

Here is my YTD dividend income as of Aug 31, 2012

2012 dividend income:

1) Jan: $2,150
2) Feb: $1,068
3) Mar: $3,070
4) Apr: $1,986
5) May: $1,083
6) Jun: $2,528
7) Jul: $1,714
8) Aug: $1,208

Total of $14,807 were received from January to August 2012 and all dividends were reinvested.

Some stocks such as MCD, MSFT and PM  in my portfolio which I sold "out of money" covered call options to boost extra income and lower the initial purchase cost of the underline. It has been working according to my plan.

Recently I allocated some fund in this account to write protective put options as an experiment to bring in more cash. The result of this experiment was fair at this point. It either hit or missed. But I strongly believe it will be fine with continuing practice and better stock selection.

The protective put option is to sell "naked put options" on a particular stock with proper cash secured in the account. The premium is paid from the sale of the put options and deposits in the account as cash balance. The protective put options writing is allowed for IRA account.

Put options that I was able to make profits were A, MCD, and PM. Options that I didn't have such luck were FB, NFLX. The way that I handle the losers is to continue rolling the losing options to future months for additional premium or minor loser in order to buy more time for the underline stock to rebound. This is the case for both FB and NFLX.

Here is the site that I recommend for additional information about selling naked put options: "http://www.fullyinformed.com". This site is maintained by a great woman who is doing it for the last 40 years with tremendous success. A must visit site if you are interested in selling naked put options for steady income. I have no affiliation with her site but I am a happy frequent visitor there. 

S&P weekly chart remains positive

The first 6 months of 2012 is over and the S&P 500 index has gained about 9%. Not bad for the economy we are currently experiencing now. From the weekly chart of SPY (ETF version of S&P 500), there was a pull back in May but the trend remains positive and continues to move upward. It is indicated by observing the 20 moving average line still stays above the slow 40 moving average line. I will continue to monitor this trend.

First 6 months of 2012 dividend income

Here is the first 6 months dividend income from my IRA account.

2012 dividend income:

1) Jan: $2,150
2) Feb: $1,068
3) Mar: $3,070
4) Apr: $1,986
5) May: $1,083
6) Jun: $2,528

Total of $11,885 from January to June 2012 

Up trend is still holding

It's been a while since my last post. The stock markets have been behaving pretty well the last 2 months. The SPY (S&P500) ETF has been moving up steadily since my Dec 2 post from $124.07 to $137.73 as of today (March 1)  for a 11% gain.

From the chart showed below, I still believe the general market is still trending up based on my observation of the relationship between EMA-20 and EMA-40 moving averages. As long as the EMA-20 stays above EMA-40, in my opinion that the trend still holds.