July 2024 was finally the correction we’ve been waiting months for and it finally happened. Following the ultimate blow off top that was June 2024 where markets skyrocketed to new all time highs, July finally brought the markets back down to Earth on the back of earnings weakness and a general need for a market correction.
The bull market that has been raging since November 2023 showed no signs of subsiding in June of 2024. However, in July 2024, the AI and tech superstars like Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and more pulled back more than 10%. Was this a buy the dip opportunity? Only time will tell.
If you haven’t already read my posts before, I achieved Financial independence back in late 2020 early 2021 with a portfolio of roughly $1.3m invested in mainly ETFs. This ballooned to $1.7m during the peak of the markets in early 2022 before coming back down to Earth later in 2022.
This post will be part of a monthly series of portfolio updates that summarizes how my portfolio performed, what trades I executed, what my monthly expenses were, and my general outlook on the economy/markets. This is by no means financial advice so do not look look at me for sage advice. I make stupid trades and make even worse losses quite frequently.
This is simply the performance of my portfolio and how it has performed on a month to month basis.
Monthly Highlights – July 2024
Net worth is near $1.85m as of July 2024 Month end-$60k for the monthTraveled the first part of the month all throughout the Greek islands. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Greek islands before but it honestly never gets old. It always gets me feeling some kind of way being in those most beautiful of islands.
Market Moves
What is in my portfolio?
My portfolio is quite simple and straight forward. I have my holdings primarily spread out between a few ETFs, fixed income, and various single name stocks.
Fixed Income
Due to rising rates, I’ve also allocated a small part of my portfolio (<5%) to fixed income products. I’ve been purchasing 5.5% yielding treasury bills with a 3-6 month expiry. I currently have about ~$60k invested in a 3-mo T-Bill that will expire in June 2024.
After expiring mid June, I bought another 3 month treasury paying about 5.4% expiring in mid September.
This is guaranteed money with zero risk which I decided to take advantage of while waiting for better entry points. However, it seems like this money probably would have been better used just buying the market but this is opportunity cost I’m willing to sacrifice.
I also purchased I-Bonds in 2022 at the height of inflation peak when I-Bonds were paying 9.5%. The rates have come down significantly since then as inflation itself has come down. The optimal time for me to sell these bonds were on Dec 1, 2023 as that would have been the last month I was eligible for the higher rate of 6.4% (still higher than what treasuries paid). As you must forfeit three months of interest upon withdrawal before 5 years, in total my blended rate of return was around 8% for 15 months which is definitely something I can live with.
ETFs
Again, my primary holdings are in a few ETFs. My primary holdings are in VTI, VGT, and VCR. I’ve always been a big proponent of big tech and have been heavily invested in the Nasdaq for over a decade. This has paid off very well for me given the massive bull market of the 2010s and is essentially what allowed me to FIRE so quickly.
I used to hold more dividend generating stocks as I was really into this type of investing at a period of time. I currently do not have many dividend specific ETFs as I prefer growth more than income. This kind of goes against the ethos of financial independence but I have enough money coming in from other sources that I don’t need to focus so much on income.
I added to my ETF positions in July 2024 as the markets dipped almost 10% in the Nasdaq.
Single name stocks
Some of the single name stocks I own are the following
TSLABRK.BNFLXRITMASMLANETARES
These single name stocks make up less than 10% of my total portfolio. I tend to not buy much single name stocks anymore as there’s no point to take on unnecessary risks when I’m already so diversified with my ETFs.
Real Estate
I currently own no real estate. I used to own property in the US but have sold it in 2022 before rates started rising. I am not a big fan of real estate. While it definitely can be a good investment, I don’t think it beats investing in the markets. In addition, real estate is highly illiquid with high transaction costs that few people consider.
Finally, as someone that travels around the world and does not like to be tied down to one location, real estate doesn’t make sense as managing it from afar creates a bunch of headaches. I much prefer to have my money liquid and in the stock market.
July 2024 was the first decent pullback since this most recent bull market that started in Nov 2023. Markets rallied to all time highs in the first half of the month before puling back a little. All the tech stocks pulled back which were responsible for this raging bull market in the first place. Stocks like NVDA pulled back 25% at one point which was probably a good buy entry point. A lot of the tech money rotated into other smaller cap stocks which some are dubbing the big rotation.
I’m not sure if I fully buy into it however. I think the current pullback is a technical pullback that was long needed off the back of relatively weak earnings. I don’t think all of a sudden just because the FED will cut rates that everyone will dump all their big tech holdings to favor smaller cap stocks. This pullback was short lived as markets bounced right back up by the end of the month on the back of the FED meeting to close at around the same levels as June month end. The Dow even rose 4% as the rotation book place and the S&P500 eked out a small gain.
I’ve pretty much bought up any dip in this market so far. I expect August to be flat-ish with moves all around so let’s see if I’m right!
Market Value of Portfolio
Here is a history of my portfolio value. As you can see, it’s moved in line with the markets as should be the case since most of my holdings are in ETFs that track the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
In total, my portfolio is sitting somewhere around $1.95m which also includes cash and fixed income positions. This probably be over $1.9m if it weren’t for my covered call MTM losses.
Trades executed for the month of July 2024
July was an active month for trading. As markets hit all time highs, I sold many covered calls on existing stocks that I owned.
Selling a Tesla Call
One in particular was Tesla which has been a long term hold for me. I sold an Aug 16 $300 call for $1.3k in premium a piece. Tesla was around $260 when I sold this covered call. With my 200 shares of Tesla, that amounts to $2.6k in cash. Tesla quickly retreated from its near term highs on the back of terrible earnings. I should have sold a call at a nearer strike because I was pretty convinced Tesla wouldn’t rally further.
Buying more VGT on the market dip
In addition, I bought VGT on the dips at various price points throughout the month. I specifically had a 10% price dip in mind that I was targeting. From VGT’s all time high of $609, a 10% dip would mean a price target of around $550. It reached this level in July and I made sure to scoop up some more shares.
I also sold a put for VGT at the $550 with Aug 16 expiry. For this trade, I collected a cool $1,200 in premium. If VGT is lower than $550 by Aug 16, this means I will have to purchase $55000 worth of VGT. I am comfortable purchasing VGT at this price level and the premium is worth it in my opinion.
Summary of stock and ETF purchases
Dividend Income
For July, I collected a total of $900 in dividends. I typically reinvest my dividends which has served me well during the market downturn of the last year or two. I think I will probably stop reinvesting dividends in the near term as I like to keep a cash pile while stocks are at all time highs to reinvest when markets eventually dip.
Portfolio withdrawals and expenses
Withdrawals from my portfolio is an important part of the financial independence ethos. The 4% withdrawal rate rule is one of the main concepts of the FIRE movement which I try to adhere to. Generally, I prefer to sell from my portfolio when markets are near or at all time highs to capture, and only when I actually need the cash.
For the month of July 2024, I traveled all over the Greek islands. I spent most of my time on one of my favorite island in Sifnos. The Cycladic islands are something special and although I’ve been to Sifnos before, it’s even more beautiful than I remember.
The views from the top of the island as well as the immense blue of the Aegean sea is something special. Even in early July, Sifnos was not too busy unlike many of the other islands like Santorini which is just what I like. Next year, I will be back to check out a few more islands like Tinos and Serifos which I’ve yet to see.
I made no withdrawals from the portfolio as I had enough cash coming in from my blog as well as leftover cash from other sources. My blog generates money every month to the tune of $3-4k and I cover exactly how I earn money from blogging in other posts.
My July 2024 Blog Earnings
Starting this month, I will also give a run down on my monthly blogging income. This will be just a short summary of what I’ve earned this month as I like to save my more detailed blog earnings report for a year end post like I’ve done in the past.
In May, I switched over to Mediavine from Ezoic for my ad monetization. Mediavine has literally been a revelation for my blogging experience and it’s a complete game changer. My earnings have gone up almost 50% as soon as switching to Ezoic which has really turbocharged my blog earnings.
In addition to Mediavine advertisements, I also earn money from Affiliate programs, sponsorships, and travel planning. More details on these things in my how to make money blogging posts. Here is a breakdown of my monthly earnings.
As you see, I earned almost $7,000 this month in blogging. In the prior month, I earned almost more than $7,000 which means my blogging income has really taken off to new heights. At this rate, I can feasibly earn something like $70-80k a year from blogging which would be an incredible achievement.
Hopefully Google doesn’t completely ruin this with algorithm updates!
