Investments Made
Most of my buys in the last three trading days were additions to my existing positions. As AZN (AstraZeneca PLC) continues down, I continue to buy 25 shares each time I make a purchase. This reduces my average cost. The same is true of GILD (Gilead Sciences, Inc.). Both of these are health care stocks. I also added to my ETF shares with more of PFFD (Global X U.S. Preferred ETF). PFFD has a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.23%, but the yield is 5.20% and PFFD pays a monthly dividend. It is better than just holding five figures of cash. Finally, I started a new position in ETF ILTB (iShares Core Long-Term U.S. Bond ETF). The expense ratio on this bond fund is 0.06%, the yield is 3.14% and this ETF pays monthly as well.
Bonds still are a tiny sliver of our total investments, so I bought these ETFs for cash income, not for growth. Don’t be surprised if the price per share falls. It is likely, but I don’t believe they will fall in the same way a stock ETF might.
Investments Sold
My IRA investment in BXMT (Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc.) wasn’t successful. After waiting and wondering if I should sell, I decided an exit made more sense. I want the cash for other investments. I also sold my shares of NRIM (Northrim BanCorp, Inc.), which is thinly traded. My profit since buying my 200 shares in May 2020 was $3,524.69. There are a couple of reasons I sold. First, NRIM is not actively traded. Very few shares trade hands every day. Secondly, my profit was far more than I could hope to get in dividend income from this investment. Finally, because NRIM is so thinly traded, there is no option trade. I’d rather hold positions where I can sell covered calls if I desire.
Covered Calls Sold
2021 has certainly been the year for income from covered calls. My year-to-date income from selling cc’s now stands at $3,620.43. That means in the 42 trading days so far this year, I have earned just over an average of $86 per trading day. Said another way, I have averaged $440 per week in covered call income. Some of this has been in my ROTH IRA (tax free!) and some in my traditional rollover IRA. My covered calls for this week were SJM, STLD, AMRS, HPE, and TGT. In every case, if the shares are called away I will make a profit. The profit on STLD, AMRS and TGT will be substantial.
Full Disclosure
I now own 200 shares of AZN and 300 shares of GILD. I sold my entire positions in NRIM and BXMT.
Know Your Flocks & Herds 