Friday, September 5, 2014

September 2014 update ($ 332,287 -$17,051 or - 5%)



Accumulated $8,000 USD as part of my annual saving goal for August & September
Received $6,314 USD as Gazprom dividend (6.6% a year).
Received $ 490 USD as Rosneft dividend (7% a year)
Received $65.5 USD as Vanguard S&P 500 dividend (2% a year)
Company shares went up & dividends reinvested $603 USD
Vanguard S&P 500 gained $ 400 USD
Grand total additions: US$ 15,870

Precious metals lost $540 USD
EUR lost to USD $9,346 USD
GBP lost to USD  $2,895
Vanguard Energy ETF lost $ 600 USD
$30 USD Confiscated by Company due to cancellation of the reinvestment programme
  Gazprom shares down by $18,080 USD
Rosneft shares down by $1,170 USD
Loss due to forced selling of Vanguard funds and additional investments 290 USD
Grand total losses: US$ 32,951
 Financial independence update September 2014 


Observations:
-         My brokerage company informed me that they have excluded Vanguard S&P500 (VOO) and Energy companies (VDE) ETFs from their range of products and I need to sell them or they would do it for me.
-         Gazprom shares yield 6.6% a year at current share price. I reinvested all received dividends in additional 1,000 shares – price 7,592 USD including commission.
-          Rosneft shares yield 7% a year at current share price. I reinvested all received dividends in additional 100 shares – 660 USD including commission.
-          I bought Vanguard ETF Emerging markets instead of energy companies. The ETF (VFEM) is exposed to BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Exposure to China and Taiwan is almost 40% of the weight.  Expense ratio is 0.25%
-         I replaced Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) with similar ETF (VUSA), which is domicile in Ireland and bought 1100 shares in it.  Expense ratio is 0.07%.
-         With three months to go I will accumulate additional $12,000 until end of the year, at the current stock prices I will be short $25,700 towards my annual goal this year.  There will be two main contributors – weakness of EUR & GBP to USD (currency wars by Western Europe + the UK  to the USA) and coup in the Ukraine, causing speculation in Gazprom shares.


2 comments:

  1. Too bad you were forced to sell VOO. Good thing you still managed to keep yourself diversified. I'm sure the recent correction in Gazprom is temporary because Russia is a large provider of gas to other European countries, which is a stable long term business model :) Currency wars always end badly for all countries involved because it's basically a race to completely devalue their citizen's purchasing power.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Liquid. Thank you for stopping by.
      I do agree with you that selling S&P 500 index fund was not desirable. However, as you could see from my next post, there is some doubts about business model sustainability of our biggest companies.
      On my way to financial independence, I need to seek reliable source of income, rather than end sum on money. Gazprom shares brings over 6% in dividends. Either Western Europe or China but it will find a way to sell its energy. Gazprom shares are object of the wild market speculation, as since my last post I gained almost $5K on my shares back.
      I agree with you that Western Europe is seemingly losing competition to US and is desperate.

      Delete