Landlord Reflection

It has been over a year since I've become a landlord.  I was lucky enough to find a good tenant once I gained possession of my investment property.  With the steady rental income coming in every month, I am not that cash strapped like other home owners.

Today, I received my annual mortgage summary statement.  My interest payments were more than my principal payments.  It is sad to see how much I'm paying to the bank for the mortgage.  But if you don't have the cash to buy outright, this is the only option to build equity one payment at a time.

I also received a first complaint from my tenant about a minor issue. I have addressed the problem and will take action if necessary.  

Overall, I have a negative cash flow on my investment property every month.  This means that my rental income does not cover my mortgage payments and outgoing expenses for the year.  In hindsight, I should have charged more for rent.  But I wanted to find a long term tenant that will take care of my place while they stay there.

As long as I have a renter, my investment property will eventually pay itself off.  Two more years, I shall re-evaluate the real estate market and my situation to see if it is worth keeping it or not.  

Quick Progress Update

January 2015 have been a busy month for me.  Re-located office for work, booked a Vegas trip and I finally booked a venue for my wedding!  Through it all, I was able to make some trades for options.

This month, I funded $4,000 into my Interactive Brokers account to add more buying power.  I opened 8 new contracts and closed 2 positions early.  To date, I realized a net profit of $363.02 from option trading.  

I have 3 positions set to expire January 30th:  AAPL, CL & MA.  You can see my trades on my PROGRESS tab.

Hopefully by the end of January, if everything goes according to plan, I will realized a profit of $626.74 in total.







  

100% Call Option Loss

Today, I spent most of my Saturday snoozing away.  Sleep is my comfort zone.  I had a lot of little dreams that kept me in the somber land that I couldn't get up from.  Now I can't even recall them.  What did I accomplish?  Nothing.

When I am bored, I am prone to make rushed trades based on the current market trend.  My call option for $AAPL for $120 expiry date Jan 17, 2015 expired worthless.  I lost $86.84.  There were several times I could have sold my call option at a lesser loss, but I didn't want to admit defeat until the very end. 

My bet went sour and I let it punish me.  It wasn't a very big bet.  I could not lose any more than what I bought into. 

Point of my story is if you are not dedicated like me, you will end up on the losing side of the trade. 

Rule#1 - Always minimize your loss
Rule#2 - Keep your profits
Rule#3 - Do not watch profits sink into abyss

I should do the preaching to myself.  I need to wake up and stop fooling around.  Time for me to take this more seriously. 

Interactive Brokers - Cost you a pretty penny!

ONCE, you hit SUBMIT on INTERACTIVE BROKERS (IB), there is no second guessing your trade.  If you do decide to CANCEL your trade, IB will nickle and dime (just an expression) you for hitting the SUBMIT button.  But YES, they will charge you a pretty penny for each cancelled transaction trade you make.

Since September 2014, I've been charged three times @ $0.01:  

USD
2014-09-12	Order Cancellation Fee for Sep 2014	-0.01
2014-12-26	Order Cancellation Fee for Dec 2014	-0.01
2015-01-02	Order Cancellation Fee for Jan 2015	-0.01
Total		-0.03

IB is great for their overall low option and stock trading commissions.  However, there is pressure to keep up with your commission cost to avoid data fees that you subscribe to.  If you don't meet their minimum requirement in trading fees, you will be charged for data fees for the exchanges you subscribe to.  In the month of November, I did not meet their quota and was charged $11.27. 

CAD
2014-10-01	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Sep 2014	1.68
2014-10-01	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Sep 2014	-1.68
2014-10-01	US Security and Commodity Exchanges for Sep 2014	11.20
2014-10-01	US Security and Commodity Exchanges for Sep 2014	-11.20
2014-11-05	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Oct 2014	1.69
2014-11-05	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Oct 2014	-1.69
2014-11-05	US Security and Commodity Exchanges for Oct 2014	-11.27
2014-12-03	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Nov 2014	1.71
2014-12-03	US Options Level I Non-Professional for Nov 2014	-1.71
2014-12-03	US Security and Commodity Exchanges for Nov 2014	11.41
2014-12-03	US Security and Commodity Exchanges for Nov 2014	-11.41
Total		-11.27

IB offers the cheapest commission for option trading by far in Canada. But I would like to point out the "hidden" costs behind IB from a real honest review.

Disclosure:  To date, I have paid $112.51 in commissions @ IB for 72 contracts.

Portfolio Figures

This blog is to track my progress in my stocks & options account. In general, I haven't really been keeping a good track record of my overall portfolio. I've switched in and out of many discount brokerages. Currently, I have three brokerages for CASH/MARGIN/OPTION, TFSA and RRSP.

QUESTRADE TFSA (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $31,000.00
Current Equity:  $44,823.14

QUESTRADE RRSP (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $40,000.00
Current Equity:  $66,767.89

VIRTUAL BROKERS CASH/MARGIN/OPTION (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  ??  got to figure out
Current Equity:  $62,575.75

INTERACTIVE BROKERS CASH/MARGIN/OPTION (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution: $11,000.00
Stock Transferred:  $6,212.00
Current Equity:  $23,608.00

BALANCE TRANSFER @ 0.99% GOOD TILL OCT 2015
Current Loan:  -$14,086.61

TOTAL PORTFOLIO VALUE AS OF JAN 2, 2015:  $183,688.17

2015:  I plan to contribute $5,500 to TFSA and $5,000 to RRSP.  I will try to add more funds to my Interactive Brokers account by liquidating my Virtual Brokers account to do more option trading.

GOAL:  Reach $200k!