Friday, July 1, 2016

Portfolio Update - June 2016

      The month of June 2016 is now behind us.  During the month, the Fort McMurray area of Alberta started its rebuild.  There are workers on the ground doing the cleanup to start rebuilding the houses and businesses destroyed by the fire.  The Fort McMurray airport was also back in operation.

      Towards the end of the month, the results of the referendum means the Britian is leaving the European Union.  This caused a large drop in the markets the very next day.  

    During the month, I purchased shares in a life insurance company.  I purchased 100 shares of Manulife Financial at $18.61 per share for a total cost of 1865.95 including commissions.  The ticker symbol on the Toronto Stock Exchange is MFC.  The basic description of the company is as follows:
Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC) is a life insurance company. The Company is a holding company of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (MLI), a Canadian life insurance company, and John Hancock Reassurance Company Ltd. (JHRECO), a Bermuda reinsurance company. The Company's segments, including Asia Division, Canadian Division, U.S. Division, and the Corporate and Other segment. The product and service offerings of each segment include Protection (Asia, Canadian and U.S. Divisions), Wealth Management (Asia, Canadian and U.S. Divisions), and Corporate and Other segment. It is a financial services company with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. The Company offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to personal and business clients, as well as asset management services to institutional customers. The Company operates as Manulife in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.(source:  Google Finance)
       Currently, the annual dividend for MFC is $0.74 per share.  Since I own $0.74 per share, this adds $74.00 to my annual dividend income.  The price of the stock fell sharply as a result of the referendum in which Britian will exit the European Union.  The stock has shown recovery after the sharp drop in the share price.

       I recently wrote about an option in TD Bank, which you can read about here.  I meant to click on sell to do a naked put, or short put, to collect the option premium.  I apparently clicked buy at $0.31 per contract.  How did I discover this error.  When you short, there is a negative sign in front on the amount of contracts or shares.  I notice in my brokerage account it was positive sign.  So I sold $0.47 per contract to close the trade off.

       I then decided to sell a put option in TD, after closing the trade as decribed above.  I collected a premium of $37.05 after commissions.  The option had a expiration date of Jun 30, 2016 as this was a weekly option.  The strike price is $56.00.   At expiration, the option was assigned.  My broker charges an option assignment fee of $24.95.   The adjusted cost basis is $5587.90.  The annual dividend rate of TD shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange is $2.20 per share.  This purchase adds $220.00 to my annual dividend income.

     The HNY position,  inside my TFSA, has been sold.  This is a commission free ETF, which you can read about here.  I sold on the 27 units on June 28, 2016 at $16.29 per unit.  I purchased the units at $14.33.  The distribution of this ETF is paid monthly and it varies month to month.
  
   As of 1 July 2016, the value of the portfolio is  $87684.06 . This is a 0.886% decrease over last month's total.  The spreadsheet in the investment tab above has been updated.

EDIT (July 2): 
I have turned my DRIPs off for all stocks except ERF and two positions directly with the transfer agent which are BNS and ENB.  These latter two positions are shown in the investment tab spreadsheet above and they have fractional shares.  ENB paid its dividend on June 1.  So I acquired 0.159 shares at $51.698 per share. 

Disclosure: Long  all mentioned securities.

Disclaimer:

I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should be NOT taken as investment or business advice.

Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk

Friday, June 24, 2016

Option Trade - Royal Bank

    From time to time, I like to sell covered calls on stocks.  A covered call involves owning the shares first then selling a call option to be paid a premium up front.  Usually you sell an out of the money call option.  The investor or trader gets paid up front for be obligated to sell 100 shares of stock XYZ at the strike price on or prior to expiration day.
    On Jun 20, I wrote a cover call for Royal Bank with an $80.00 strike price and an expiration date of Jul 15, 2016.  I received a premium of $50.05 after commissions.

Summary:

Scenario #1:  Option Not Assigned

Strike Price : $80.00
Option premium received :  $50.05 after commissions
days to expiration : 25

Return  for 25 days= $50.05/$8000
                               =  0.626%

For 25 days, I am getting a return of 0.626%.  The interest on my high interest savings account is 0.80% per year.  So, I definitely do not mind a return of 0.626% for 25 days.

Return Annualized = 0.626%/25*365
                               = 9.140%


Scenario #2: Option Assigned 

If the option gets assigned, then I get to sell my shares for a greater capital gain as the option premium received is added to the proceeds of sale for calculating taxes.

Disclosure: Long RY

DISCLAIMER
I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice.

Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Option Expiration Day - Update

     June 17 was an option expiration day for 2 options that I sold in the past.  When selling an option,  if the option in not "in the money" then the option will expire worthless on expiration day.  When selling options, a premium is paid up front to the seller of the option.
      I recently sold a put option in Telus Communications with a $41.00 strike price with a premium of $45.05 after commissions. With the option expiring worthless, I will look at the option chain and try to sell another put option if the premium that will be received will be adequate.
      A few months ago, I sold a covered call in  Royal Bank with a strike price of $80.00.  I received a premium of $59.05 after commissions.  With a covered call, the option will expire worthless when the price of the stock is below the strike price. With the option expiring worthless, I will look at the option chain for Royal Bank and see if there is a good option premium that can be paid to me.

    Selling options can be risky.   Selling options allows an investor or trader to get paid a premium up front.  This option premium increases your returns besides collect dividends and interest.  When you sell a put option you can hedge yourself by buying a put option.  The goal is pay less in option premium when buying the put option than the premium you receive for selling the put option.  Buying a put option, the buyer has the choice to sell his or her shares at the strike price on or prior to option expiration.  Buying the put option, as mentioned here, is an insurance.

Disclosure:  Long RY

DISCLAIMER
I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice.

Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.