Active-Trader - 2013 wrap-up

Welcome back Active Traders and Happy New Year!

Also Happy Birthday wishes are in order since this blog officially turns 4 years old today. Thanks to all my loyal blog readers for joining me on my journey toward financial independence.

2013 ended in spectacular fashion with the Dow and SP-500 closing at new all-time highs 5 out of the last 9 sessions.  It was a fantastic year to be an equity investor with the Dow Jones Industrial average returning 26.5%, and the SP-500 returning 29.6% putting in their best performance since 1995.

The environment continues to be favorable for stocks with historically low interest rates thanks to our friends at the US Federal Reserve.  The Fed has been conspiring in favor of equity investors for a good long time and particularly since October of 2008 when the Fed Funds rate dropped below 1% in the thick of the financial crisis.  And all indications are that the next chair of the Fed will continue the easy money policy well into 2014 and beyond.

As for my own performance,  my returns came in well short of the broader market indexes but still respectable with just over a 19% return in my taxable account and nearly 17.5% in my tax-deferred 401K retirement account.  I didn't do as well in some of my other accounts and I still seem to be afflicted by Small Account Syndrome.  Here are the moves I have made to position myself favorably for 2014:

- All Forex accounts have been closed and funds collected

- My TradeStation account is setup and funded to minimize commission costs and execute The Ultimate Trading System which has been churning out some winners lately.  I will do most of my active trading and income generating strategies in this account.

- E*Trade will continue to operate the bulk of my assets and will be used for more passive investing and indexing with Exchange Traded Funds as well as my tax deferred retirement fund.

- As for personal finance, I opened up new credit card with Capital One which pays 1.5% cash back for all transactions all the time.  If this card performs as advertised, it could result an extra half percent reduction in expenses as compared to the cards I use now which pay 1% cash back.   This will no doubt lead to increased returns for Capital One Financial (COF) a recent pick of the Ultimate Trading System.

Overall, it was an excellent year financially and I and I am well positioned to achieve my long-term goal of financial independence.

Thanks for reading and I wish you all good health, happiness and prosperity into 2014 and beyond.