Each month, I track my extra income out of trading. I am a DIY investor that uses options and ETFs to accumulate wealth. These posts focus on the monthly income that I get out of these trades. June was good and disappointing at the same time.
Options Income
June was my “worst” month in options since I upgraded my portfolio in February. I realized a profit of 480,2€. That is clearly better than a savings account. So, no real reason to complain.
When I look at my portfolio, I see that 4 positions that I opened in May/Jun are now in-the-money. That means I can not close them at a profit. I probably have to roll them in a a week, so that I can keep the dream alive. These positions represent about 40pct of my portfolio. That hurts.
Other than that, my goldminers are still a drag on my portfolio.
Unless I can close some of these positions, July might be bummer as well.
When I calculate my YTD annual yield, I am at 14,13%, using as capital my average monthly capital in my trading accounts.
Dividend Income
With a 30% tax on dividends in Belgium and 15pct foreign tax (in the most common case), dividends are really not my favourite part of investing. At least not while I accumulate wealth.
I got a total of 362,65€ in dividend in June. That is a lot!
Most of that comes from an active ETF portfolio that I have. The ETFs here are only available in distributing form. This is thus a side yield of that portfolio.
The other dividend comes from company stock that I have from a previous job. They become vested now, so I can sell them.
Extra windfall
As I switched broker, I was eligible for a welcome bonus: a repayment of all my trading fees on the US markets. That means a refund of 278,8€. Looks like brokers earn a decent amount of money when we trade :-).
I struggle a little on how to represent this in my results. It is money that boosts my March, April and May trading results. I might at year end distribute this evenly over these 3 months.
Total cash flow
When I look at the total cash flow of the month, I do reach 1121,47€. That is just an amazing number, a second month in a row. And I stay realistic: both months had exceptional elements: capital gains from a call options and now a welcome bonus out of trading. I expect July to be a 600€ month.
How was your passive income?
amber tree leaves 
Well, I wouldn’t call it a bummer of a month. Between your options activity and your dividend income, even with that hefty tax rate you have to deal with, you still brought in a lot more than most people do from their passive investments. Keep it going… you are headed in the right direction.
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thx… The bummer comes from 600€ that is not repetitive
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Great results. 362 a month in dividends is a good amount. I wish I had one. But I do not complain. Combined with my premiums and dividends I am happy as I have additional $245 a month to invest. So I see my retirement account growing steadily.
My trading was a bit better, but not to what I was used to recently, LOL. Yours is good and do not be worry about being in the money. Lately I have almost all my trades in the money and yet I am still able to manage to get out. It only takes a bit longer time than I anticipated. Good luck in your next month! It definitely is a battle!
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Hi Atl,
Seems like a solid month to me. 362 EUR is nothing to sneeze at.
Keep up the good stuff!
Cheers,
Greedy dwarf
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thx… with my options portfolio, the aim is to beat the longe term average in the stock market each year.
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Decent month from where I sit ATL. Your annualised return from options trading seems very acceptable. I’m hoping to receive my first dividend in August, and perhaps a mother two payouts in September, but nothing this month. I wonder, what is the standard brokerage fee for a US trade on your accounts? I ask because most US trades from Australia are expensive.
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For stock, it is 5USD.
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That’s pretty good. It’s 12-29USD in Oz. Unless you go with Interactive Brokers which has a minimum initial deposit!
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Several in-the-money options too, depending on what the real estate developments will do, might need to cash out or accept conversion and sell at later date. Or roll, but that is less interesting if we need to liquidate assets to reinvest into RE. Taking it slow on the options side for now.
Impressive month all together though!
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with investing, when I have a short term cash need (like 2-3 years horizon) I go cash…
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In that case, need more cash 😉
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CIao ATL,
What is the percentage over the total amount invested of your gains? I find that writing the amount is good but it’s not so great when trying to assess the return of the portfolio. Who is the new broker?
Another question and I’ll let you off… Compared to last year you’ve had a lower income in June, is that because of options or the dividend mix has been changed?
Cia ocaio
Stal
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YTD my annual return is close to 14,1pct. The new broker is an IB white label.
The graph is option income only. June last year was a super month, due to GDX/SIL plays that kept being successful. no less than 450USD in that month alone.
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14%? WOW that’s stellar! Great result there I’d say!
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let’s see how that goes over the next months. It is easy in a flat or bull market. My problem is that I am not delta neutral.
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Solid cash flow this month and I love the bonus from the new broker! Your ytd return is great. We’re primarily invested in diversified stock index funds and those have yielded about 8% on the year so far. Hopefully the momentum continues!
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That 8 pct YTD is great. Better than my options and less work!
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Looks like a great month. Any time you get get over 1k passive income in a single month is amazing. Keep up the great work.
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That is true. The non repetitive nature is my concern
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Its nice to see you can “complain” about your passive income but still rake in a whoppin’ 1100 + in euros. Hahahaha 🙂 I can only hope to reach those levels some day.
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The complaint comes from the fact that about 600€ is a one off event. Unlikely to repeat.
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More than 300$ a month is nothing to complain about even if it is one time event. If you want it repeatable, focus on monthly dividend paying ETFs or stocks as we do.
I definitely hope to complement our passive income with the same amount of options income as you have. Solid month and congrats !
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Given the dividend tax in Belgium, I do not go that route right now. I use accumulating ETFs.
the bummer is due to the fact that the core earining is half of the last 2 months
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Nice amounts!
those goldmines, yeah, you know how I feel about gold … For options it is big consumer goods companies with stable income all the way for me!
I find it way to much work to keep track of it. Plus there is the question on how you going to keep track of it.
It all goes onto the pile and I’ll see after a year if the pile is higher than the year before … Month to month movements are meaningless with my super concentrated and leveraged portfolio.
The only thing I do keep track of is the day trading profits as I am going to cash those out.
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More than 300 in dividends is awesome. Can’t complain about that and that will always go up every 3 months. Over 1000 a month in passive is awesome also cheer up and keep working at it.
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If I’m not mistaken, it sounds like you still had a pretty great month? I totally get that it’s not repeatable but I still love those kind of one-off months, they give me a target to work towards with a repeatable income 🙂
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It wasn’t a huge month for me either. $250 in dividends is nice but definitely nothing not nearly as nice as what you made last month. Awesome job!!!
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Hello ATL,
I’m new to your site.
The 30% tax on dividends you face is pretty tough. As an American living abroad the tax rate is much lower as I can offset dividend income with foreign taxes paid so the net tax rate is 3.8%. June was a robust month with $7027.39 coming from dividends.
-Mike
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3,8pct tax rate on dividends. That is very sweet…!
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7000 from dividends? That is awesome mike
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That looks like a good month to me ATL – your long-term trend is going up so that’s all good in my eyes 🙂
Mr DDU
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thx for the support DDU
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Ingesteld mostly in holdings and private equity I haven ytd of around 9% I al vers happy with that. 14 % is super of course! Curious where you will end at the end of the year….
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The holdings interest me…. Do you want to present at the next meetup?
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You beat me. I only pulled in a little over $300 in options income.
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Yieha for me… As long as I make more than the average market, I am happy.
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Hi ambertreeleaves,
It certainly could have been a much worse result this month. Hopefully July will improve on the options side but over 1K EUR still seems pretty good to me!
Keep it up!
Best wishes,
-DL
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Amazing Income Bro. Should be Consistent which is more important.
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Awesome stuff. Im writing about passive income too. Its a fun and challenging game :p
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