Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween! October Review, Part I

Well, my blog here is one month old, and I have now been trading full time for about 3 weeks. In part one of this review, I am just going to lay out some October stats. In part two which I will put together this weekend, I will write up a more comprehensive review of what worked, and what I learned.

One thing that I learned today, and worked well for me, is when dealing with the short term, momentum trades, if you get in late, you need to get out early.

On October 1 the DOW opened at 13895.71. On October 31 the DOW closed at 13930.01. That's a gain of 34.30 points, or .25%.

While I wont be disclosing the dollar amounts of my portfolio, I will say that my portfolio had a total gain of 10.25% for the month of October. I do take money out for household expenses this month, so my net portfolio gain was 7.10%. I must say that I am extremely pleased with these results. I set myself a "dreamer" goal of a 10% portfolio increase each month, which translates to an amazing 120% annualized. That's buy a house on the coast and retire kind of cash, if it could be maintained. In reality, I would be doing fine to make 10% or so a year after expenses. What that works to for this first year, is a 30% annualized return, or 2.5% increase per month total. I know that every month is not going to be an up month. I know that I will have months when things look bleak, but I have to say, when I can beat the DOW by 10% when I am just starting out, you have to know that it gives me a great deal of confidence that my goals are attainable.

Always perform your own due diligence before making any investment.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize I could leave comments here. You're doing a great job; having fun AND being able to meet/exceed your goals. Great combination!

Anonymous said...

Yes - your favorite Yanni fan and LiT fan from a certain Midwest city that is damn cold today.

"52"

CaPrincess said...

*waves* Hey 52, thanks for stopping by and the nice comments.

I had a great day today, even with the DOW down 360 points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaQVMeeddYk

Anonymous said...

Youtube is blocked at work, so I'll have to see what your clip is later.

"52"