August 2025 Report

August was a strong month with Apple rallying ~ 11% after the tariff resolution. This had a positive impact with my portfolio, but I’m still negative ~ 1% for the year. With Apple, you just have to hold on for the ride. The stickiness of the Apple ecosystem is really unbelievable. I really don’t know what will take for me to leave the Apple ecosystem. It’s almost like a utility company in which everyone just simply needs it.

I’m still messing with naked short options but getting more cautious as we head into the seasonally volatile period. The dangers of naked shorts can be seen in Apple’s recent rally, which caught many people off guard. I was considering initiating short calls on Apple right before the rally, which would have generated some hefty losses. I’ll continue to play this game but will size my positions much smaller. I’ll reduce the use of margin buying power from ~ 80% to ??? (it’ll definitely be smaller).

Let’s see if I can end the year in the green…

 
2025 Performance = - 0.99% with the running monthly returns as follows:
 
January - 2.61%
February + 2.79%
March – 4.16%
April - 1.67%
May + 0.07%
June - 0.96%
July + 0.31%
August +5.57%

July 2025 Report

The market remains challenging unless you are invested in the mega cap tech companies. I managed to squeeze out a small gain for July, but I am still down for the year. I’m still maintaining a cash position of 11% and plan to continue to increase it overtime. At this stage of my life, preservation of capital and income generation has become a top priority.

As I review my stagnant portfolio, I like to focus of the Yield on Cost (YOC). This really shows the power of dividend compounding overtime. I’ve been plowing all of the dividends back into stock repurchase. At some point, I’ll stop reinvesting the dividends and just live off of it.

Here’s a current view of my portfolio’s Yield on Cost:
 

Company	Yield on Cost
Apple	4.86%
Visa	7.39%
Constellation Brands	6.06%
Mastercard	5.94%
Qiagen	5.05%

 
 
2025 Performance = - 6.21% with the running monthly returns as follows:
 
January - 2.61%
February + 2.79%
March – 4.16%
April - 1.67%
May + 0.07%
June - 0.96%
July + 0.31%