Category: Investing

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March 2014 Dividends/ Option Income

March was a great month for dividends with 12 of my companies paying out. In March I received a total of $258.07. This is a 149% increase from the $103.64 I made in 2013. I made $59.46 in 2012 and $22.57 in 2011. This is the exact kind of trend...

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AMZN Bull Vertical Put Spread

As much as I love writing about the winners, you can’t have those all the time. So goes the case with a recent bull vertical put spread on Amazon (AMZN). Three days prior to option expiration, I decided to pull the trigger and give another credit spread a try. My...

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Citigroup Bull Vertical Put Spread

On my dough account I purchased a bull vertical put spread on Citigroup (ticker symbol C). According to Schwab, this strategy consists of simultaneously purchasing and selling put options at the same expiration date but different strike prices. The bull-version of this strategy is profitable for an upward movement when...

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The Next Frontier?

No, I’m not talking about Star Trek, though Virgin Galactic and other commercial space ventures are definitely very cool. On a side note, I’m hopeful that in my lifetime we’ll have colonies on the moon. I’m talking about new advances in medicine…specifically, applications of genomic medicine. The self-described goal: “to...

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Importance of Savings

Just heard a good (but scary) segment on Mark Belling’s show on 1130 WISN.The segment discussed how unprepared many of today’s seniors are for retirement. According to research from the Center for Retirement Research, the median 401(k) balance for households headed by people aged 55 to 64 who had retirement...

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Bitcoin

Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has frequently been in the news over the past year, made some very negative headlines last week when one of the major bitcoin exchanges (based in Japan) filed for bankruptcy. With this recent increased uncertainty, the average exchange rate between bitcoin and the US dollar (USD)...

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Options Trading With dough

Update 3/30/2017: tastytrade just released tastyworks, their own options trading platform with $1 commissions and $0 to close. Update: 5/27/2014 There’s very exciting news regarding dough coming within the next few days. Listen from the 40:10 mark on this Talkin’ With Tom and Tony tastytrade video and you’ll see what...

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February 2014 Dividends

Only two of my stocks, Apple (AAPL) and Kinder Morgan (KMI) pay their dividend in February. AAPL recently paid $88.97 and KMI paid $55.73, bringing the total for the month of February to $144.70. This is a huge increase from the payouts of $47.89, $44.67, and $0 in 2013, 2012,...

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IPO Investing Update

Since investing in my first IPO, I wanted to give an update on how my IPO positions have performed. My first IPO, which I participated in through the LOYAL3 platform, was AMC. I held my position in AMC for just over 30 days prior to selling my shares for a...

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Dividend Increases Q1 2014

Here’s a list of some recent dividend increases: Avista (AVA) raised annual dividend per share from $0.305 to $0.3175 (4.1% increase), increasing annual dividend from $181.70 to $189.15. Dividend CAGR: 4.1% Bemis (BMS) raised annual dividend per share from $0.26 to $0.27 (3.9% increase), increasing annual dividend from $52.35 to...