Saturday, February 28, 2015

Initial Buys @TD Ameritrade

So, finally I mustered the courage to open a trading account. This was before the time I had known about Dividend Growth investing and the art of re-investing dividends. The brokerage house TD Ameritrade appealed due to the wide selection of investment choices and the fact that I could trade commission free for the first 60 days. 

The account was active on the 10th September 2014. This was a milestone day and event. I was eager to purchase stocks and make some money.

The following are my purchases from Sept - December 2014:


Apple Inc. (Symbol: AAPL)
Purchased 10 shares on 9/22/2014 for $101.80. I purchased an additional 10 shares after 3 days for $98.28 and another 10 shares on 10/16/2014 for $97.188. Cost basis for the 30 shares = $99.09.                   
 

Rite Aid Corporation (Symbol: RAD)                                          
Purchased 50 shares on 9/25/2014 for $5.33. Rite Aid dropped 17% due to lower guidance for FY 2015, despite beating earnings estimates. This has turned out to be a good buy.
 

AT&T Inc. (Symbol: T)                                                             
Purchased 20 shares on 10/01/2014 for $35.02. AT&T is a dividend aristocrat having increased its dividend payments for 30 consecutive years. 
 

The Walt Disney Company (Symbol: DIS)                                  
Purchased 10 shares on 10/22/2014 for $87.08. I purchased an additional 5 shares on 11/07/2014 for $89.19 and another 5 shares on 11/11/2014 for $89.63. Cost basis for the 20 shares = $88.24
 

J C Penney Company Inc (Symbol: JCP)
Purchased 25 shares on 10/27/2014 for $7.58. This has turned out to be a good buy.
 

Twitter Inc. (Symbol: TWTR)                                                    
Purchased 20 shares on 10/28/2014 for $42.57.
 

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (Symbol: BABA)
Purchased 5 shares on 10/28/2014 for $99.86. I purchased an additional 5 shares on 11/12/2014 for $115.75.
 

Macy's, Inc. (Symbol: M)                                                              
Purchased 15 shares on 10/29/2014 for $57.29.
 

Flushing Financial Corporation (Symbol: FFIC)                                    
This is an old-line New York state bank that offers a full complement of deposit, loan and cash management services through 17 branches in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Nassau County. The company derives the vast majority of its income from its $3.64 billion loan portfolio.  Purchased 50 shares on 11/12/2014 for $20.25.
 

My total investment during the time period was $ 9, 695.85. 
The current value of the portfolio is 10, 985.70.
Gain (%) = 13.30%


Would you have done any different ? This being my first allocation, I was firing on all cylinders and made quick purchases. I regret opening positions in BABA and FFIC.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Hello World

Hello, Everyone. 

My first post as a blogger and I'm excited and yet, nervous. I have never ventured into writing posts or articles and hence taking this up as a challenge. I will strive to improve with every post and in the process will make many a mistakes. 

I intend to introduce myself, providing readers with information that can be used to build my "persona". I'm a blessed man in my mid-thirties. My wife and daughter are the only family I have in the USA. My desire is to generate substantial income for a happy retirement, pay for college education and also leave behind wealth & inheritance for my dear wife and daughter. 

I've always had a desire to generate passive income and one of the best ways is dividends generated off a diversified stock portfolio. There are sure other ways and I will explore options as time rolls on. I've come to realize that investing in the stock market is one of the only ways to create wealth and then again one could lose entire savings as well, if not done right. 

I'm a Christian and as a family, we honor the Lord with our tithe, every month. My stock portfolio will include growth, dividend paying and a few speculative stocks. Diversification will be the key! Then again, I will choose to not invest in the tobacco, marijuana, gambling and alcohol industry. 

At this point of time, the blog is a start-up and I've already got a small portfolio. I began investing in October 2014. The next few posts will provide details of the stocks I own. 

My hobbies and interests also include running the 5K and 10K races.

Thank you for reading. I will count on the reader community to guide and provide feedback.