Introduction

This blog is meant to be a record of my investing thoughts, strategies, and transactions. Though it is not written to inform any would-be investors, feel free to learn from my gains and losses or to borrow any strategies I use. Comments are also welcomed.

To start, I am going to be a Junior in college, where I am studying Economics and Chemistry. I have been actively trading in the stock market for 1 year now. I've been looking at options trading for about 6 months and have never traded commodities.

Currently, I own a brokerage account that I pay $8.95 per trade on. Options are 8.95 + .75 per contract. I also have a Roth IRA that I actively manage. My Roth does not trade options (though I wish I could do some covered calls on it) and normal transactions cost 11.95.

In my Brokerage Account (B.A.) I own 200 shares of LYG. I've owned LYG for close to a year now and I have lost about 40% on it. That's what I get for not using a stop loss. I am currently holding it, as it is too low to sell. LYG is also paying an extremely high dividend yield. May be worth buying more to lower average cost per share.

I also own 200 shares of CIM and 100 shares of FTR. Both are dividend plays until the market stabilizes and decides if it wants to go up or down.

My IRA is a much safer play. 200 shares of BGS(Div. Play) and 200 shares of TICC (Div. also). As you can see, most of my portfolio at this point is in High yielding stocks. This is to allow me to sell covered calls and collect dividends. this strategy allows me to withstand minor to moderate deterioration of these stocks, which in this market is a necessity.