Sunday, June 3, 2012

Stocks Down $3000 Today & May Investing Highlights ...

I realize it?s bad practice to obsessively monitor your stocks, but it?s the only way I can learn about how the stock market really works. Boy, it hurts to watch a bright red $3236 (-2.5%) show up at the end of the day, capping off a week of losses on my investment accounts.

Investing Trades in May

Sharebuilder Taxable Account ?Gold?
$86,776.36 as of June 1

SELL

  • AND Global X FTSE ANDEAN 40 ETF. I needed some liquid capital and this account was in the dumps. It?s probably bad to off my small sum of international investments, but they aren?t performing well. Maybe I?m just investing in the wrong countries or ETFs on that front. In any case, so long South America.
  • CBOU ? I got nervous about my investment in Caribou Coffee, which was down significantly. I don?t fully understand P/E but when I bought the stock, the P/E was 10 and it shot up to 20, so I decided to sell half of my ownership, bringing me down to 100 shares instead of 200. I put the money to work in the following purchases?

BUY?

  • AAPL (Apple) ? about 3 shares. My goal is to have 100 shares of Apple, I have a little under 97 right now.
  • KO (Coca Cola) ? on a Dividend investment kick. I haven?t purchased any KO before, but I like their diversity in products, and have been wanting to get in on PEP or KO for a while. It felt like a Coke day, so I went with the red can. (My investment decisions are so scientific.)
  • VZ (Verizon) ? really good dividend stock, probably dumb to hold this in my taxable account. I don?t have enough funds in my tax advantaged accounts to trade individual stocks, however.
  • INTC (Intel) ? Seems like a good buy right now. Technology is only getting more and more?embedded?in our lives, and Intel is the leading maker of chips to make this tech work. Plus P/E seems low, growth is high, and the company is pretty solid. But what do I know?

Sharebuilder IRA ?Silver?
$10,998.34 as of June 1

No trades.

Sharebuilder Roth IRA ?Platinum?
$4578.89 as of June 1

SELL
EDIV ? this international dividend ETF was not performing well. I hate seeing an account with a limited $5000 investment lose money. I sold and changed strategies?

BUY
PEY ? Powershares ETF High Yield Dividend? I want to put more dividends to work in my tax advantaged accounts, and this seemed like a good option. There are a lot of dividend ETFs out there, but few actually have high dividend yields compared to individual dividend stocks. This one is pretty high at 4.1% (The PowerShares High Yield Equity Dividend Achiever Portfolio (Fund) is based on the Dividend Achiever 50 Index (Index). The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its total assets in dividend paying common stocks that comprise the Index. The Index is comprised of 50 stocks selected principally on the basis of dividend yield and consistent growth in dividends.)

Other Accounts

I formally opened my 401k this year, with a goal of maxing it out at $17,000 for the year. Of course I?m behind in contributing for the year, so we?ll see. I?m now contributing 15% of my income, or $1125 per month, to the 401k. That only brings me to $9008 for the year, quite short of the $17k. Still, I?m not ready to bump my contributions to $2125 per month, or about 30% of my monthly pay. Maybe I should, I really ought to max out my 401k, even though I have no ?match? on any of it. There?s nothing wrong with saving?aggressively?for retirement, especially since this is only the second year in my 20s when I?ve had access to a 401k, and therefore have the ability to invest more than a measly $5000 in a tax-advantaged retirement account. What do you think?

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