ETNs Of The Month: GLDI, USOI

First, a sale!  Facebook (FB) triggered a sale after declining 20% from its all-time high.  First bought in January 2016, it was repurchased seven additional times but not since May 2018.  It was sold for a 159% gain (17% annualized).  Facebook is a cash cow which seems to have squeezed every imaginable dollar from its current platforms.  Facing an uncertain future with its announced pivot to the Metaverse™ as well as increasing regulatory scrutiny, I am more comfortable owning FB via QQQM and not directly.  

The proceeds from this sale were directed into my favorite basket of yield ETF/Ns:  the index covered calls of QYLD, RYLD, and XYLD; the covered calls of SLVO (silver, previously bought); and new covered calls GLDI (gold) and USOI (oil).

As noted in July, SLVO's yield was an unsustainable 35%; it is currently 28%.  GLDI and USOI are currently yielding 11% and 24% respectively.  Anything above the index covered calls' range of 9% to 12% is a bonus.  Adding GLDI and USOI to SLVO will result in more reliable, less lumpy overall monthly cash flows.

Boilerplate time...

As a stretch goal: for dividend income purposes, I'd like this portfolio to eventually be as much as a 50/50 split between stocks and yield. As seen below, it is currently 54/46.

I am in no rush to flip into yield. I would rather let my winners run forever. However, if in any given month I see no stocks that present themselves as especially good buying opportunities, I have no reservations in simply adding to my bond, preferred stock, and/or covered call ETF/Ns. It is truly a month-to-month situation (as it has always been!).

For the foreseeable future, I want to track my Big Five Two every month, whether I buy them or not.

Amazon (AMZN)

• $1.73T market cap
• no dividend
• $458.0B revenue
• 15% revenue growth
• $79.0B cash
• $152.8B debt
• $54.7B operating cash flow
• $9.3B free cash flow

Microsoft (MSFT)

• $2.42T market cap
• 0.8% dividend yield
• $176.3B revenue
• 22% revenue growth
• $130.6B cash
• $78.9B debt
• $82.0B operating cash flow
• $49.8B free cash flow

Here's my current portfolio (buy, hold, and sell). As always, I believe in all of these stocks/ETF/ETNs - until I sell them.

Microsoft (MSFT) 16.16%

Amazon (AMZN) 12.48%

Global X U.S. Preferred ETF (PFFD) 11.77%

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (USHY) 11.73%

Xtrackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYLB) 11.60%
Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM) 7.21%
Alphabet (GOOGL) 5.75%

Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD) 3.79%

Invesco NASDAQ Next Gen 100 ETF (QQQJ) 2.82%
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 2.69%

Global X Russell 2000 Covered Call ETF (RYLD) 2.43%

Global X S&P 500 Covered Call ETF (XYLD) 2.34%
Costco Wholesale (COST) 1.70%

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) 1.51%

Verizon (VZ) 1.09%

Visa (V) 1.06%

AT&T (T) 0.94%

Credit Suisse X-Links Silver Shares Covered Call ETN (SLVO) 0.84%

Credit Suisse X-Links Crude Oil Shares Covered Call ETNs (USOI) 0.75%

Credit Suisse X-Links Gold Shares Covered Call ETN (GLDI) 0.75%

ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) 0.10%

ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 (UPRO) 0.04%

ProShares UltraPro Russell 2000 (URTY) 0.03%

I Say "Invest Every Month." Have I Actually Done What I've Said?

TL;DR - no.  But I've tried.

If someone asks me what was the one thing I did right as an investor for the past 20+ years, it is that I have invested often.  Markets down, markets up; single, married; career going not-so-well, career going well; etc.  I would boil this invest-often philosophy into some expression like "invest at regularly scheduled intervals" or more simply "invest every month."  So here is the hypothetical follow-up question to be answered:  Have I actually done what I've said?

[As you can see, the title of this graph is "Number of Months Invested per Year" when a more correct title would be "Number of Months with Deposits per Year - Ignoring Withdrawals and Purchases funded by Sales."  I chose the former because it more clearly expresses the ability to save money to my investment account]

Recency bias strikes again.  From 2013-2020, "invest(ing) every month" was more or less true.  Before that, it seems more of an aspiration.  

Early in my career, I just didn't have extra money in most months.  2011 and 2012 were spent knocking out student loan debt (not the smartest choice, especially given market performance since).  In my best years I didn't hit 100%.  Even worse, there appears to be some correlation between market performance and number of months invested; the dreaded act of "timing the market." There is definitely some not-so-great, actually-quite-awful personal financing going on here for nearly two-thirds of my career.  Further data supporting here...

[Monetary amounts removed because 1) it's tacky and 2) in the context of this post, the amounts matter more in the relative sense]

In conclusion, "invest every month" is not the best advice.  Perhaps "invest what you can, when you can" is better, with the knowledge that approximately no one ever has regretted investing too much or starting too early.

An Updated Summary of My Grand Unified Theory of Investing

 Check out my previous post for how we landed here...

Account:	IRA	Roth IRA	Stocks & Income
Current percentage of total holdings:	~26%	~4%	~70%
Investment philosophy:	Jack Bogle	George Soros	Warren Buffett
Headline summary:	“Don't Do Something, Just Stand There!”	“You Call That A Position?”	“Wonderful Companies at Fair Prices”
Account holdings:	• 55% indices (IWM, QQQJ, QQQM, VOO) • 23% high-yield stocks (VIG, VYM) • 22% high-yield bonds (HYLB, USHY)	• 100% one “high-conviction” stock (???)	• 55% stocks (2 core holdings + others, QQQJ, QQQM, TQQQ, UPRO, URTY) • 8% index covered call ETFs (QYLD, RYLD, XYLD) • 37% preferred stock/bond/ commodity ETFs (HYLB, PFFD, SLVO, USHY) entire portfolio detailed here
Are dividends reinvested?	Yes	No	No
Investment schedule:	N/A	Asynchronous	Synchronous
When do I intend to make changes?	Never	When I have a higher-conviction bet than the existing one	Monthly purchases; "I believe in all of these stocks - until I sell them"
Is account actively funded with new contributions?	No	No	No
Is account written about on this blog monthly / ever?	No	No	Yes

Searching With My Good Eye Closed: 284 Stocks That I Don't Own, And Wish I Could (2021 Edition)

If I took you for a ride, would you take it wrong?
Or would you make it right, make it right?
Looking for a pedestal that I can put you on
And be on my way, on my way

Fun fact: I have 10 "watchlists", broken out by sector, which in total contain 932 stocks. These watchlists mostly consist of stocks that at some point in time made me say "wow, that is interesting", followed by me forgetting about them entirely, followed by me looking at them and saying "what is this, and why is it here?"

I also have a 11th watchlist entitled "Short List" (which, ironically, is the longest list of all) consisting of the stocks that I actually pay attention to, and have varying degrees of intent for addition to my portfolio in the future.

I have completed the yearly effort to update the "Short List" by combing through all 11 watchlists, looking for one particular characteristic: the stock must have consistently outperformed the market, across several historical time horizons.

The following 284 stocks made the cut. They may have questionable valuation/financials, or lack upside due to shear size, or participate in a boring business, or represent additional risks going forward; but if the point of investing in individual stocks is to beat the broader market, all of these stocks have a history of doing exactly just that...which may be the most fundamental characteristic of all.

I will track these and post an update one year from now. Find out how the choices of the last five years performed: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.

(Note:  each of the first, second, fourth, seventh, and eighth stocks in this list were sold from my portfolio in 2020; they are more "stocks that I once owned, and glad I did".)

NAME	SYMBOL	CURRENT MKT CAP	# YEARS ON LIST
Apple Inc.	AAPL	2.478T	-
Tesla, Inc.	TSLA	626.742B	-
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited	TSM	609.52B	1
NVIDIA Corporation	NVDA	472.639B	-
LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, Société Européenne	LVMHF	398.635B	-
PayPal Holdings, Inc.	PYPL	348.319B	4
Adobe Inc.	ADBE	288.779B	-
NIKE, Inc.	NKE	255.465B	-
Netflix, Inc.	NFLX	240.746B	5
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	221.986B	-
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.	TMO	202.205B	-
Danaher Corporation	DHR	200.396B	2
T-Mobile US, Inc.	TMUS	184.959B	-
Shopify Inc.	SHOP	179.099B	2
Texas Instruments Incorporated	TXN	173.863B	-
Morgan Stanley	MS	172.346B	-
Hermès International Société en commandite par actions	HESAY	157.646B	-
Sea Limited	SE	140.984B	1
Pinduoduo Inc.	PDD	138.789B	1
Lowe's Companies, Inc.	LOW	138.374B	2
Intuit Inc.	INTU	137.496B	-
BlackRock, Inc.	BLK	134.023B	-
The Charles Schwab Corporation	SCHW	133.082B	-
Charter Communications, Inc.	CHTR	132.996B	-
Sony Corporation	SONY	127.91B	2
Target Corporation	TGT	125.131B	2
Applied Materials, Inc.	AMAT	121.742B	-
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.	EL	118.527B	-
Vale S.A.	VALE	115.404B	-
ServiceNow, Inc.	NOW	110.231B	4
Deere & Company	DE	107.963B	-
Square, Inc.	SQ	107.085B	4
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.	AMD	105.622B	-
Zoom Video Communications, Inc.	ZM	105.133B	2
Moderna, Inc.	MRNA	104.267B	1
S&P Global Inc.	SPGI	99.135B	1
Anthem, Inc.	ANTM	96.986B	-
BYD Company Limited	BYDDY	95.661B	-
Zoetis Inc.	ZTS	95.067B	-
Snap Inc.	SNAP	95.042B	-
Lam Research Corporation	LRCX	87.103B	1
Micron Technology, Inc.	MU	86.593B	-
FedEx Corporation	FDX	78.562B	-
Adyen N.V.	ADYEY	78.359B	-
MercadoLibre, Inc.	MELI	75.201B	1
The Sherwin-Williams Company	SHW	74.232B	2
Capital One Financial Corporation	COF	72.396B	-
NIO Inc.	NIO	71.571B	1
Dell Technologies Inc.	DELL	71.512B	-
Moody's Corporation	MCO	70.153B	4
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation	EW	66.105B	-
Atlassian Corporation Plc	TEAM	64.856B	2
Twilio Inc.	TWLO	63.253B	2
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc.	CRWD	56.295B	2
IDEXX Laboratories, Inc.	IDXX	56.065B	3
Twitter, Inc.	TWTR	54.329B	-
DocuSign, Inc.	DOCU	53.971B	1
Roku, Inc.	ROKU	53.754B	3
NXP Semiconductors N.V.	NXPI	53.608B	-
Lululemon Athletica Inc.	LULU	50.918B	2
Align Technology, Inc.	ALGN	49.199B	-
Veeva Systems Inc.	VEEV	47.851B	4
KLA Corporation	KLAC	46.559B	1
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.	TROW	46.376B	-
MSCI Inc.	MSCI	46.144B	1
Match Group, Inc.	MTCH	45.021B	1
Pinterest, Inc.	PINS	44.599B	-
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.	CMG	44.53B	2
Roblox Corporation	RBLX	44.037B	-
Carrier Global Corporation	CARR	43.013B	-
DexCom, Inc.	DXCM	42.688B	3
Synopsys, Inc.	SNPS	42.367B	1
Fortinet, Inc.	FTNT	41.858B	2
Palantir Technologies Inc.	PLTR	40.365B	-
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.	CDNS	38.275B	1
Palo Alto Networks, Inc.	PANW	37.772B	-
Okta, Inc.	OKTA	36.361B	2
First Republic Bank	FRC	35.23B	-
The Trade Desk, Inc.	TTD	34.251B	2
KKR & Co. Inc.	KKR	34.22B	-
Mettler-Toledo International Inc.	MTD	33.416B	-
Peloton Interactive, Inc.	PTON	33.167B	1
Copart, Inc.	CPRT	33B	-
Chewy, Inc.	CHWY	32.191B	-
Datadog, Inc.	DDOG	31.911B	1
Cloudflare, Inc.	NET	31.892B	1
SVB Financial Group	SIVB	31.542B	-
Skyworks Solutions, Inc.	SWKS	31.447B	-
XPeng Inc.	XPEV	30.936B	-
Equifax Inc.	EFX	30.511B	-
Nasdaq, Inc.	NDAQ	30.423B	5
EPAM Systems, Inc.	EPAM	30.366B	2
Zscaler, Inc.	ZS	30.043B	1
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.	ODFL	30.013B	1
Wayfair Inc.	W	29.876B	1
Keysight Technologies, Inc.	KEYS	28.842B	-
Garmin Ltd.	GRMN	28.651B	-
Arista Networks, Inc.	ANET	28.09B	-
CBRE Group, Inc.	CBRE	28.027B	-
Li Auto Inc.	LI	28.026B	-
Zebra Technologies Corporation	ZBRA	27.966B	-
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.	WST	27.459B	-
Generac Holdings Inc.	GNRC	27.25B	1
Unity Software Inc.	U	27.034B	-
Seattle Genetics, Inc.	SGEN	26.127B	1
Zillow Group, Inc.	ZG	26.08B	5
HubSpot, Inc.	HUBS	25.733B	1
Carvana Co.	CVNA	25.198B	-
CDW Corporation	CDW	24.586B	-
RingCentral, Inc.	RNG	24.466B	1
Afterpay Limited	AFTPY	23.87B	-
Etsy, Inc.	ETSY	23.171B	1
Waters Corporation	WAT	22.969B	-
United Rentals, Inc.	URI	22.778B	-
Teladoc Health, Inc.	TDOC	22.593B	3
Enphase Energy, Inc.	ENPH	22.43B	1
Burlington Stores, Inc.	BURL	21.944B	-
Albemarle Corporation	ALB	21.69B	-
MongoDB, Inc.	MDB	21.623B	1
Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company	HZNP	21.304B	-
Teradyne, Inc.	TER	20.472B	2
Trimble Inc.	TRMB	20.313B	-
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated	TDY	20.311B	-
Tradeweb Markets Inc.	TW	19.895B	1
Futu Holdings Limited	FUTU	19.771B	1
Seagate Technology Holdings plc	STX	19.717B	-
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.	CRL	19.204B	2
NovoCure Limited	NVCR	18.872B	-
Domino's Pizza, Inc.	DPZ	18.826B	1
Ubiquiti Inc.	UI	18.69B	5
10x Genomics, Inc.	TXG	18.671B	1
Pool Corporation	POOL	18.453B	1
StoneCo Ltd.	STNE	18.02B	1
DraftKings Inc.	DKNG	18.006B	1
Insulet Corporation	PODD	17.838B	-
NetApp, Inc.	NTAP	17.672B	-
NVR, Inc.	NVR	17.547B	-
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.	LYV	17.479B	-
Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.	MPWR	17.364B	1
HEICO Corporation	HEI	17.201B	-
Bill.com Holdings, Inc.	BILL	16.778B	1
Dynatrace, Inc.	DT	16.514B	1
XPO Logistics, Inc.	XPO	16.16B	-
Zendesk, Inc.	ZEN	16.123B	1
NICE Ltd.	NICE	16.064B	3
Entegris, Inc.	ENTG	15.579B	-
ON Semiconductor Corporation	ON	15.5B	-
Fair Isaac Corporation	FICO	14.945B	4
Cognex Corporation	CGNX	14.877B	1
Masimo Corporation	MASI	14.63B	2
Signature Bank	SBNY	14.387B	-
RH	RH	14.043B	1
Steel Dynamics, Inc.	STLD	13.015B	-
Graco Inc.	GGG	12.947B	-
Elastic N.V.	ESTC	12.737B	1
Avalara, Inc.	AVLR	12.594B	1
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.	SEDG	12.537B	1
Quanta Services, Inc.	PWR	12.308B	-
IAC/InterActiveCorp	IAC	12.153B	4
Williams-Sonoma, Inc.	WSM	11.864B	-
Five9, Inc.	FIVN	11.838B	2
Chegg, Inc.	CHGG	11.563B	1
The Boston Beer Company, Inc.	SAM	11.437B	2
Ozon Holdings PLC	OZON	11.246B	-
Axon Enterprise, Inc.	AXON	11.23B	-
Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc.	FND	11.143B	-
Trex Company, Inc.	TREX	11.079B	1
Darling Ingredients Inc.	DAR	10.993B	-
McAfee Corp.	MCFE	10.975B	-
Repligen Corporation	RGEN	10.822B	1
Penn National Gaming, Inc.	PENN	10.762B	-
Pegasystems Inc.	PEGA	10.677B	2
Lightspeed POS Inc.	LSPD	10.622B	-
Morningstar, Inc.	MORN	10.609B	-
GFL Environmental Inc.	GFL	10.413B	-
Five Below, Inc.	FIVE	10.393B	-
Paylocity Holding Corporation	PCTY	10.339B	2
CRISPR Therapeutics AG	CRSP	10.209B	1
Cree, Inc.	CREE	10.19B	3
Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.	NTLA	9.983B	-
QuantumScape Corporation	QS	9.613B	-
Sunrun Inc.	RUN	9.607B	1
Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc.	MRVI	9.595B	-
Syneos Health, Inc.	SYNH	9.115B	-
Globant S.A.	GLOB	8.996B	1
Manhattan Associates, Inc.	MANH	8.882B	1
DICK'S Sporting Goods, Inc.	DKS	8.83B	-
Upstart Holdings, Inc.	UPST	8.697B	-
AutoNation, Inc.	AN	8.321B	-
FirstService Corporation	FSV	7.709B	-
Global-e Online Ltd.	GLBE	7.708B	-
Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc.	SPCE	7.644B	-
MasTec, Inc.	MTZ	7.545B	-
Fiverr International Ltd.	FVRR	7.52B	-
ChargePoint Holdings, Inc.	CHPT	7.453B	-
II-VI Incorporated	IIVI	7.384B	-
SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc.	SITE	7.38B	1
Fate Therapeutics, Inc.	FATE	7.213B	-
Lattice Semiconductor Corporation	LSCC	7.042B	-
Affiliated Managers Group, Inc.	AMG	7.026B	-
Stifel Financial Corp.	SF	6.86B	-
Tetra Tech, Inc.	TTEK	6.708B	-
Freshpet, Inc.	FRPT	6.639B	-
BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.	BJ	6.552B	1
Fox Factory Holding Corp.	FOXF	6.361B	2
BlackLine, Inc.	BL	6.352B	1
Upwork Inc.	UPWK	6.181B	-
Skillz Inc.	SKLZ	6.058B	-
Stamps.com Inc.	STMP	5.916B	1
MP Materials Corp.	MP	5.884B	-
Stitch Fix, Inc.	SFIX	5.875B	-
The Descartes Systems Group Inc	DSGX	5.819B	1
Redfin Corporation	RDFN	5.764B	1
ShockWave Medical, Inc.	SWAV	5.737B	-
Digital Turbine, Inc.	APPS	5.63B	1
Beam Therapeutics Inc.	BEAM	5.601B	-
Rapid7, Inc.	RPD	5.564B	-
Twist Bioscience Corporation	TWST	5.522B	-
Daqo New Energy Corp.	DQ	5.06B	1
Progyny, Inc.	PGNY	4.884B	-
Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc.	IIPR	4.879B	-
Power Integrations, Inc.	POWI	4.849B	1
eXp World Holdings, Inc.	EXPI	4.833B	-
Colliers International Group Inc.	CIGI	4.801B	-
Inspire Medical Systems, Inc.	INSP	4.741B	1
Vir Biotechnology, Inc.	VIR	4.717B	-
Reata Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	RETA	4.667B	-
Revolve Group, Inc.	RVLV	4.659B	-
SailPoint Technologies Holdings, Inc.	SAIL	4.311B	-
Trupanion, Inc.	TRUP	4.189B	-
Inari Medical, Inc.	NARI	4.186B	-
Sonos, Inc.	SONO	4.147B	-
Cerence Inc.	CRNC	4.097B	1
APi Group Corporation	APG	4.094B	-
CareDx, Inc	CDNA	4.064B	-
Cardlytics, Inc.	CDLX	4.052B	1
PennyMac Financial Services, Inc.	PFSI	3.959B	1
InMode Ltd.	INMD	3.914B	-
LGI Homes, Inc.	LGIH	3.907B	1
Overstock.com, Inc.	OSTK	3.713B	-
ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc.	SFBS	3.647B	-
Shutterstock, Inc.	SSTK	3.634B	-
fuboTV Inc.	FUBO	3.609B	-
SPS Commerce, Inc.	SPSC	3.454B	1
Fabrinet	FN	3.368B	-
Camping World Holdings, Inc.	CWH	3.342B	1
Stem, Inc.	STEM	3.322B	-
Walker & Dunlop, Inc.	WD	3.194B	-
Phreesia, Inc.	PHR	3.191B	-
The Lion Electric Company	LEV	2.876B	-
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.	JKS	2.873B	-
Editas Medicine, Inc.	EDIT	2.848B	-
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	BCRX	2.808B	-
Riot Blockchain, Inc.	RIOT	2.708B	-
Health Catalyst, Inc.	HCAT	2.437B	-
Yalla Group Limited	YALA	2.343B	-
GrowGeneration Corp.	GRWG	2.341B	-
XPEL, Inc.	XPEL	2.325B	-
Fulgent Genetics, Inc.	FLGT	2.223B	-
Niu Technologies	NIU	2.197B	-
MicroVision, Inc.	MVIS	2.173B	-
Raven Industries, Inc.	RAVN	2.051B	-
BioLife Solutions, Inc.	BLFS	1.767B	-
Avid Technology, Inc.	AVID	1.728B	-
EHang Holdings Limited	EH	1.689B	-
Danimer Scientific, Inc.	DNMR	1.677B	-
Purple Innovation, Inc.	PRPL	1.667B	1
Porch Group, Inc.	PRCH	1.66B	-
PAR Technology Corporation	PAR	1.644B	-
Castle Biosciences, Inc.	CSTL	1.627B	-
TPI Composites, Inc.	TPIC	1.493B	-
Mission Produce, Inc.	AVO	1.387B	-
NeoGames S.A.	NGMS	1.317B	-
Axcelis Technologies, Inc.	ACLS	1.189B	1
AudioCodes Ltd.	AUDC	1.067B	1
Eos Energy Enterprises, Inc.	EOSE	999.614M	-
DMC Global Inc.	BOOM	960.12M	-
Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc.	MNMD	951.892M	-
Semler Scientific, Inc.	SMLR	862.009M	-
CarParts.com, Inc.	PRTS	823.825M	-
CM Life Sciences, Inc.	CMLF	636.454M	-
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, Inc.	CSSE	607.662M	-
Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc.	EGLX	601.869M	-
Turtle Beach Corporation	HEAR	453.102M	-