Calendar January Results, Setting goals

It's probably weird to report monthly results twice a month. How does that make sense?

Well, it's due to the expiration schedule of options. Two weeks ago I reported my January options results. What that is is the percentage gain to my portfolio from trading in options that expired in January (options expire on the third Friday of every month). I want to know how I perform in each option series.

Now, I'll report the traditional monthly gain. The gain in my portfolio from the close of business on December 31 to the close of business on January 31. For the calendar month of January, my net gain was 11.9%. This was achieved through maintaining a delta-neutral portfolio of vertical credit spreads. Toward the end of the month, I also began experimenting with portfolio hedging. I'm achieving this by selling vertical spreads in SPY (S&P 100 ETF, a broad gauge of the stock market as a whole) to bring my delta as close to zero as possible each day. Selling vertical spreads also gives me the opportunity to collect time premium on the hedges, possibly making my hedging operations another source of revenue. Though, as long as I don't lose much money on this, it would be a success.

As stated before, my targeted monthly gain is 10%. So, we are ahead of schedule. Only 58 more months of this to reach my ultimate goal :)

This is probably a good time to mention the importance of setting goals and milestones along the way.

I am finding that it is very advantageous to not only have an end-goal in mind, but to build a road map that guides you strategically to your stated goal. Sure, this isn't groundbreaking news. I'm sure you've been beaten over the head by these platitudes since grade school (or Tony Robbins late night infomercials).

For me, I have what many would perceive to be a very aggressive goal in mind. And it is. However, I've broken down what I need to accomplish on a monthly and weekly basis. And when I take it one week and one month at a time, the aggressive goal doesn't seem so unattainable. I recognize the value in being consistent in hitting my smaller, incremental targets, knowing that the small steps are taking me along the correct path to my ultimate destination.

As elementary as this sounds, this has been a major EUREKA moment for me. I have victimized myself in the past, repeatedly, by swinging for the fences. My impatience tripped me up many times. I would set a goal - and then set about achieving it as quickly as possible. Nevermind that what I was trying to accomplish was statistically improbable. If there was a sliver of a possibility...I went full-steam ahead to get there as quickly as possible. Predictably, the end result was rarely satisfactory.

Now, with the road map I've built for myself, I can visualise my goal as well as see every incremental step along the way that I need to take to get there. It really is a liberating feeling. Trust the plan, stick to the map, be patient. Good things will come.