Saturday, August 15, 2009

* Pocket Change Portfolio - July 2009

Each month I update the Pocket Change Portfolio (PCP). The table below reconciles the PCP from beginning of period to end of period for July 2009, Year-To-Date (2009) and Life-To-Date. The Portfolio Returns line provides the calculated return for the three displayed periods.

Description July-2009 Year-To-Date Life-To-Date
Beg. Portfolio Value 7,169.98 3,395.62 -
Online Cash Receipts 913.73 4,699.78 8,248.12
Online Expenses - (30.00) (117.87)
Gross Profit 913.73 4,669.78 8,130.25
Dividends - 88.32 113.48
Interest Income 1.27 7.25 13.40
Subtotal 915.00 4,765.35 8,257.13
Gain/(Loss) 364.85 288.86 192.70
Ending Portfolio Value 8,449.83 8,449.83 8,449.83
Portfolio Returns 4.53% 9.20% 8.53%
Online Cash Receipts are the collected earnings from my online endeavors. Most of which is advertising on the my various blogs. The year-to-date $30.00 Online Expenses relates to registering 3 domains (DividendsValue.com, Dividends4Life.com and TheDiv-Net.com). I did not receive any Dividends in July. The Interest Income line is interest earned on cash balances in an ING account I set up for the PCP. The Gain/(Loss) line is for market changes to the PCP (realized and unrealized).

The portfolio did very well in the month of July, taking the Year-To-Date and Life-To-Date returns positive. Online earnings in July continued to improve as I added a new subscriber only Premium Services section.

During the month of July, I purchased 14 shares of Vanguard Long-Term Bond ETF (BLV). This will provide me $56.00 in annual earnings at the current dividend rate. Including the BLV ETF, my annual PCP dividend income is now $315.10 at the current dividend rates. I ended the month with $954.61 in cash, so I will have to wait until September to purchase my eigth PCP stock. It is my goal to have sufficient earnings to purchase a stock at least eight times a year. Through July I have purchased five stocks this year.

My PCP holdings are always available by selecting the Holdings option from the menu in the header. The next PCP update will be mid-September.

(Photo: sanja gjenero)