Posted by For the month of September, the DOW lost 2931 points. That is a 9.26% loss for the month. YTD the DOW is down by 21.5%. Interest and dividend income was $1,565 for the month. Withdrawals for living expenses came to $1,124 for September. So far this year my investments have lost 13.81%. I have only seen 2 months this year that had gains and 7 months with losses. The average monthly interest/dividend has been $1357 which doesn’t come close to covering the massive loss in value this year. My investments are currently 36% stocks, 14% bonds, and 50% cash. In the last month the cash has generated $513 in interest. In September I sold 100 shares of Walgreens stock at $35.60. I also sold 100 shares of QCLN at $65.18 and 50 shares of FINX at $23.96. The only buy was to add another100 shares of YYY at $12.60. The price is now at even better price of $11.39 for a fund that pays a 12 cent per share monthly dividend.
We have so far had 5 interest rate increases this year. Bankrate.com has the average 30-year mortgage rate at 6.83%. I have a variable rate mortgage which is at 5.25% until August 2023. With only $15K left on the loan, interest is only $68 per month. With each monthly payment, the amount of interest paid goes down. Right now, I am only averaging $23 monthly interest on $15K. The money market rate would need to be more than 5.5% to make it a better investment than paying off the mortgage. So, it makes sense to pay off the loan now or before the rate increases again next August. It would be a net savings of $45 per month which is money that would have gone to the bank. The risk is too great right now to put any money into the stock market. There needs to be a sizeable drop in the rate of inflation and an end to the conflict in Ukraine before stocks change course.