Recent Sell/Buy

I've been meaning to update my portfolio for a while but just haven't gotten around to it.  Now seemed like a good time though, as I've done some pruning and building of my portfolio as of late.  My first move was a sell:

Sold 195.196 shares of ARCP @ $9.41

This completely cleared out my position in ARCP.  I have to be honest that this initial investment was a grab at a high yield REIT.  Then the news came out that they put out bogus numbers, just about very head honcho hit the chopping block, and they cut their dividend.  They did say that their underlying business is solid, which hey, I like that, and that's what had me holding on till now.  I was down about fifty percent on this position when it hit sevenish dollars per share.  I hung on till now as it recovered but, I need dividend income dang it!  This waiting around to see what happens does not bode well for me.  So, I'm taking my loss and moving forward.  My original investment in ARCP came in two waves totaling $2554.49 including fees, and I received $183.18 in dividends, for a grand total of  $2737.67.  I've ahold all of my position for $1836.79.  My total loss is -$900.87 or almost 33%.

This is not good of course, but it's also a good lesson for me to learn.  On the whole I'm still up, but sometimes you just need to cut your losses.  I'm out of the ARCP drama now.

I've also learned the value of investing in the old boring stall worts of the industry.  Which is why I turned around and used about half the capital from my ARCP sale to:

Buy 30 shares of AT&T @ $32.96

This is my second splash into T, and it's always treated me right.  Recent weakness made a great opportunity to add here.  Infact, I went to bed putting in the order and woke up richer as the stock had increased overnight!  You gotta like that!  Plus, I don't see AT&T going anywhere but up.  They have a great history of increasing their dividend, and people love their data.  I'm very comfortable with my position here.

The rest of the money I'll be putting to work elsewhere, but it won't be in my optionsxpress account.  I'll write about it later.