Retirement Income

Stocks and Options

July 24th, 2008 at 10:39 am

Bank of America (BAC) - Sold Aug08 Calls

On 7/22/08, I sold 2 BAC Aug08 35 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $56.50 in an IRA account.  After option premiums, but without considering dividends, my basis is now 45.77 for these BAC shares.

BAC pays a decent dividend at .64 per share per quarter for a 7.91% annualized return.  BAC reaffirmed this dividend in quarterly meeting.

I am still underwater with BAC but feel pretty good that it will end up being a good investment for me.  It would have been better to have gotten in at a better price though.  :-)  I am actually considering selling some new puts for BAC, perhaps at the 25 strike price.  If put to me it would reduce my average price nicely.  If not, it would be nice additional revenue.  By the way, I am considering doing the same for WFC which I think is probably a stronger bank.

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July 20th, 2008 at 10:37 am

Wells Fargo & Company Ord Shs (WFC) - Rolled out and up Jul08 Calls

On Friday (4/18/08) I BTC 2 WFC Jul08 27.50 Covered Calls and STO 2 WFC Oct08 30 Covered Calls for a net deposit of $191.01 in my taxable account.  My basis in these WFC shares is now 25.55.

I continue to hold WFC because of its dividend (Just raised to .34 per quarter) and because of the Covered Calls I can write (sell) on it.  I wrote my current calls a little further out than normal so that I could also raise my strike price thereby earning an additional $500 if I am called away.

Even as I write about holding WFC I am listening to Jim Cramer’s show that I recorded last Monday (7/14).  Jim spoke then about not owning bank stocks today.  He listed several in particular not to own because of their basic fundamental flaws.  Several weeks ago Jim said that WFC is one of the stronger banks.  I am still going with that idea.

June 24th, 2008 at 6:44 pm

Wells Fargo & Company Ord Shs (WFC) - Assigned Jun08 Puts, Sold Calls

I was assigned 2 WFC Jun08 27.50 Puts over the weekend.  I sold 2 WFC Jul08 27.50 Calls for a net deposit of $60.50 in my taxable account.  My basis for these WFC shares is now 26.50 after accounting for accumulated option premiums.

I had originally thought I would sell WFC 30 Calls to catch some additional upside on the stock if it should move that far.  In my haste I instead sold the Jul08 27.50 calls.  WFC moved up .94 today to 25.20.  It is not that close to 27.50 just yet but if this is the beginning of a trend I will need to roll it out before long if I really want to make more from owning this stock.

WFC does pay a .17 per quarter dividend for a 2.7% annualized return.  Not the greatest in the world but not too bad either.

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