My Roth IRA Experiment with Value 40 Fund is Officially Over

In a previous article, I discussed a change of strategy for my Roth IRA account. Well, after a month and a half, this experiment is officially over. In theory, the strategy of the Value 40 Fund focusing on small cap, value, and momentum should work, and the fund's track record would be the envy of any fund manager. But alas, the month and a half since I implemented the strategy, I saw the value of my Roth IRA account drop from $74,464.55 to $68,173.39, an 8.5% drop, while the S&P 500 was down only 2.2% over this time-frame. Not good.

While I am not one to focus on short term performance, I realized that the strategy would probably not work for me for several reasons. The most important is the ridiculously high turnover, about 50% per month! Why is turnover such a bad thing? Answer: transaction costs. Although I don't pay commission in my brokerage account, I found that bid-ask spread took a huge bite out of my returns. The Value 40 Fund contains many thinly traded stocks where 1% spread is the norm and some even have spread up to 8%! Even if we assume just 1% spread, that would add up to 12% per year, so the fund would have to outperform the market by 12% just to break even. The odds are heavily stacked against that.

Another reason is time. Given the high turnover, it takes a lot more time to carry out all these trades and keep track. Time that I cannot always afford. Simple is good.

Another concern is holding speculative stocks during the late stage of a bull market.

Finally, the strategy obviously relies on the folks at U Mich continuing to publish the fund list every month and on my broker continuing to offer commission free trades. Neither of which is guaranteed. When a strategy relies on too many external factors, there are a lot more ways for it to go wrong.

So what do I do now? I thought about going back to my old Dogs of the Dividend Aristocrats strategy, but that also has been shown to be a subpar strategy. Maintaining 10 stocks portfolio also takes time. I want a simple strategy to give my portfolio a chance to outperform.

I don't want foreign stocks in my IRA, because I cannot get back the foreign tax withheld in a retirement account. I also don't need a lot of large cap, because the bulk of my taxable accounts and vast majority of my net worth is in large cap stocks. So that leaves with only one option: small cap stocks.

Small cap stocks have outperformed the market historically. So I will simply put all my IRA money into IJR, the smallcap 600 index ETF. This ETF has only 0.07% expense ratio and 13% annual turnover. IJR, with an average market cap of 1.6B, tracks a purer small cap index than other small cap ETFs like SCHA with average market cap of 2.6B or VB with average market cap of 3.5B. SCHA's lower expense ratio of 0.05% is tempting, but I think in the long run the small cap premium is the bigger consideration.

The danger with the approach is that small cap stocks tend to outperform mainly during the initial stage of a bull market, and we are well into the later stage now. But I am in for the long haul.

So IJR it is. All my IRA money will now go to IJR. Simple and gets the job done.

Income & Expenses For July 2017

Since 2014, I have been tracking my monthly income and expenses. You can see a breakdown of every penny I earn and spend. For perspective, this budget is for a household of two in a small US city. By documenting my journey, I aim to demonstrate the feasibility of saving a significant portion of your income and provide some ideas and inspirations for your own budget.

Below are my income and expenses for July 2017. You can see all my monthly budgets here.

	Jul 2017
Income
Wages	$10,296.36
Dividends	$1,258.32
Other Income	$238.53
Total Income	$11,793.21
Expense
Federal Income Tax	$735.83
Federal Tax Pmt/(Refund)
FICA-SS	$427.02
FICA-Medicare	$99.87
Housing	$450.00
Student loan repayment	$35.70
Food	$105.47
Cell phone	$12.22
Electric	$40.28
Total Expense	$1,906.39
Ex-Tax Total Expense	$643.67
Surplus/(Deficit)	$9,886.82
Before Tax Saving Rate	83.83%
After Tax Saving Rate	93.89%

Income
Wages remain my primary source of income by far. Dividend income was above $1k, always a good thing.

Here is a chart of my dividend income by month for the past 13 months:

Total dividends for the trailing twelve months: $15,195.54, up 19.4% from $12,727.98 a year ago.

Expense
All expenses this month were typical recurring expenses.

Total expenses for the trailing twelve months: $10,112.71, up 6.99% from $9,451.86 a year ago.
Dividend to expense coverage ratio = 1.50, another new high!

Savings
My after tax saving rate was 93.89% for the month of July 2017, exceeding my 90% saving rate target. I am optimistic that my saving rate will average above 90% for the remainder of the year.

Portfolio Update July 2017: Surpassing $1 Million Mark!

The time has come for my monthly portfolio update. At the end of every month, I will update my portfolio and comment on any changes. I do that for accountability and also so you may glean some ideas on how I allocate my capital. You have the opportunity to learn from what I do well, so you can do the same, as well as what I do poorly, so you will not have to repeat my mistakes.

Follow my real-time portfolio here. Below is a snapshot of my stocks and ETFs portfolio as of 7/31/17:

-->

Ticker	Price	Shares Held	Cost Basis	Total Invested	Market Value	G/L ($)	G/L (%)	Weight
Total	$35.87	22342.87128	$28.93	$646,295.10	$801,406.36	$155,111.26	24.00%	100.00%
BDX	$201.10	174.475162	$85.97	$15,000.00	$35,086.96	$20,086.96	133.91%	4.38%
VWO	$43.19	733.24559	$39.39	$28,885.07	$31,668.88	$2,783.81	9.64%	3.95%
AFL	$80.35	321.6088	$48.82	$15,700.00	$25,841.27	$10,141.27	64.59%	3.22%
EXC	$38.62	574.787	$30.27	$17,396.43	$22,198.27	$4,801.84	27.60%	2.77%
XOM	$80.40	255.754907	$78.20	$20,000.00	$20,562.69	$562.69	2.81%	2.57%
AZO	$541.68	33	$674.61	$22,262.08	$17,875.44	-$4,386.64	-19.70%	2.23%
BRK.B	$175.14	92	$122.05	$11,228.54	$16,112.88	$4,884.34	43.50%	2.01%
WMT	$80.10	198	$66.65	$13,196.52	$15,859.80	$2,663.28	20.18%	1.98%
NSC	$113.10	131.973	$76.53	$10,100.00	$14,926.15	$4,826.15	47.78%	1.86%
BMTC	$42.50	342.602892	$24.23	$8,300.00	$14,560.62	$6,260.62	75.43%	1.82%
EMR	$58.52	248.005015	$49.19	$12,200.00	$14,513.25	$2,313.25	18.96%	1.81%
VFC	$61.94	227	$57.56	$13,066.38	$14,060.38	$994.00	7.61%	1.75%
SPGI	$154.89	89.899521	$45.61	$4,100.00	$13,924.54	$9,824.54	239.62%	1.74%
GILD	$75.86	174	$75.87	$13,202.24	$13,199.64	-$2.60	-0.02%	1.65%
UL	$56.96	229	$41.80	$9,572.56	$13,043.84	$3,471.28	36.26%	1.63%
LMT	$293.43	44.233058	$96.91	$4,286.67	$12,979.31	$8,692.64	202.78%	1.62%
NKE	$59.11	203	$51.28	$10,410.52	$11,999.33	$1,588.81	15.26%	1.50%
MCD	$154.44	72	$104.07	$7,493.25	$11,119.68	$3,626.43	48.40%	1.39%
MSFT	$72.94	147	$40.12	$5,897.98	$10,722.18	$4,824.20	81.79%	1.34%
AZN	$30.24	344	$22.13	$7,613.49	$10,402.56	$2,789.07	36.63%	1.30%
YORW	$34.75	283.729	$21.68	$6,150.00	$9,859.58	$3,709.58	60.32%	1.23%
SON	$48.67	195.2282	$36.11	$7,050.00	$9,501.76	$2,451.76	34.78%	1.19%
ESLT	$126.01	70	$36.86	$2,580.05	$8,820.70	$6,240.65	241.88%	1.10%
INTC	$35.70	245	$27.34	$6,698.92	$8,746.50	$2,047.58	30.57%	1.09%
PEP	$116.54	72.811814	$80.13	$5,834.51	$8,485.49	$2,650.98	45.44%	1.06%
BUD	$120.16	68	$108.73	$7,393.41	$8,170.88	$777.47	10.52%	1.02%
NVS	$85.48	94.578	$74.01	$7,000.00	$8,084.53	$1,084.53	15.49%	1.01%
KO	$45.92	176	$41.89	$7,372.00	$8,081.92	$709.92	9.63%	1.01%
DIS	$110.45	67	$95.88	$6,423.84	$7,400.15	$976.31	15.20%	0.92%
VMI	$153.30	46.91	$122.58	$5,750.00	$7,191.30	$1,441.30	25.07%	0.90%
NVO	$42.45	163	$38.92	$6,344.74	$6,919.35	$574.61	9.06%	0.86%
PEG	$45.14	149.478	$29.77	$4,450.00	$6,747.44	$2,297.44	51.63%	0.84%
SNY	$47.25	142.129	$40.10	$5,700.00	$6,715.60	$1,015.60	17.82%	0.84%
BEN	$44.81	150	$35.26	$5,289.56	$6,721.50	$1,431.94	27.07%	0.84%
BCR	$320.39	20.669072	$96.76	$2,000.00	$6,622.16	$4,622.16	231.11%	0.83%
MAT	$19.91	327	$29.04	$9,494.55	$6,510.57	-$2,983.98	-31.43%	0.81%
SAN	$6.84	925	$6.78	$6,273.42	$6,327.00	$53.58	0.85%	0.79%
VIAB	$35.23	177	$41.08	$7,271.21	$6,235.71	-$1,035.50	-14.24%	0.78%
PG	$90.99	68.38	$61.42	$4,200.00	$6,221.90	$2,021.90	48.14%	0.78%
AAN	$46.00	133	$22.62	$3,008.06	$6,118.00	$3,109.94	103.39%	0.76%
FOSL	$11.41	522	$20.52	$10,711.06	$5,956.02	-$4,755.04	-44.39%	0.74%
RL	$74.79	76	$90.84	$6,904.03	$5,684.04	-$1,219.99	-17.67%	0.71%
VIG	$93.39	60	$59.80	$3,587.92	$5,603.40	$2,015.48	56.17%	0.70%
SRCL	$77.22	72	$82.12	$5,912.79	$5,559.84	-$352.95	-5.97%	0.69%
VEA	$42.79	127.05612	$31.00	$3,938.54	$5,436.73	$1,498.19	38.04%	0.68%
ATGE	$32.60	167	$22.09	$3,688.64	$5,444.20	$1,755.56	47.59%	0.68%
OGZPY	$3.89	1390.2431	$6.09	$8,464.47	$5,408.05	-$3,056.42	-36.11%	0.67%
CSX	$49.13	108	$21.04	$2,272.36	$5,306.04	$3,033.68	133.50%	0.66%
UHS	$112.29	47	$122.89	$5,776.00	$5,277.63	-$498.37	-8.63%	0.66%
CTSH	$69.55	75	$53.00	$3,975.00	$5,216.25	$1,241.25	31.23%	0.65%
GPS	$23.69	200	$20.99	$4,197.60	$4,738.00	$540.40	12.87%	0.59%
RBCAA	$36.48	118	$21.26	$2,508.83	$4,304.64	$1,795.81	71.58%	0.54%
JNJ	$132.57	32	$61.42	$1,965.54	$4,242.24	$2,276.70	115.83%	0.53%
LUKOY	$47.63	89	$49.38	$4,395.19	$4,239.07	-$156.12	-3.55%	0.53%
FOX	$28.99	146	$25.60	$3,736.97	$4,232.54	$495.57	13.26%	0.53%
AN	$41.65	101	$46.53	$4,700.00	$4,206.65	-$493.35	-10.50%	0.52%
GWW	$168.14	25	$173.87	$4,346.76	$4,203.50	-$143.26	-3.30%	0.52%
HPQ	$19.08	220	$8.89	$1,956.29	$4,197.60	$2,241.31	114.57%	0.52%
CHL	$53.48	77.42	$47.44	$3,672.95	$4,140.42	$467.47	12.73%	0.52%
SBRCY	$11.89	346	$6.18	$2,137.25	$4,113.94	$1,976.69	92.49%	0.51%
MPO	$14.02	289	$12.90	$3,728.07	$4,051.78	$323.71	8.68%	0.51%
GIS	$55.18	72.943	$39.76	$2,900.00	$4,024.99	$1,124.99	38.79%	0.50%
DGS	$47.84	83.77	$44.07	$3,691.36	$4,007.56	$316.20	8.57%	0.50%
HVT	$23.70	166	$25.15	$4,174.90	$3,934.20	-$240.70	-5.77%	0.49%
BCRH	$19.40	202	$18.45	$3,726.88	$3,918.80	$191.92	5.15%	0.49%
HPE	$17.53	220	$9.77	$2,150.40	$3,856.60	$1,706.20	79.34%	0.48%
FISV	$128.22	30	$100.80	$3,024.00	$3,846.60	$822.60	27.20%	0.48%
CVS	$80.10	48	$88.52	$4,248.81	$3,844.80	-$404.01	-9.51%	0.48%
TACT	$8.90	429	$8.70	$3,732.30	$3,818.10	$85.80	2.30%	0.48%
SORL	$6.92	547	$6.82	$3,729.99	$3,785.24	$55.25	1.48%	0.47%
PNRG	$49.00	77	$48.00	$3,696.00	$3,773.00	$77.00	2.08%	0.47%
MITT	$18.44	203	$18.38	$3,731.14	$3,743.32	$12.18	0.33%	0.47%
CZWI	$14.03	266	$14.00	$3,723.97	$3,731.98	$8.01	0.22%	0.47%
FNDE	$28.12	129.85	$24.59	$3,193.03	$3,651.38	$458.35	14.35%	0.46%
CHMG	$40.60	89	$41.48	$3,691.72	$3,613.40	-$78.32	-2.12%	0.45%
FSFG	$53.25	67	$55.00	$3,684.99	$3,567.75	-$117.24	-3.18%	0.45%
RHHBY	$31.85	112	$30.80	$3,449.74	$3,567.20	$117.46	3.40%	0.45%
REGI	$12.60	282	$13.18	$3,715.35	$3,553.20	-$162.15	-4.36%	0.44%
K	$67.64	52.099	$49.78	$2,593.58	$3,523.98	$930.40	35.87%	0.44%
ABCD	$4.90	713	$5.23	$3,728.92	$3,493.70	-$235.22	-6.31%	0.44%
BVN	$12.36	282	$9.23	$2,601.60	$3,485.52	$883.92	33.98%	0.43%
HSIC	$181.65	19	$155.68	$2,958.00	$3,451.35	$493.35	16.68%	0.43%
FONR	$25.89	132	$28.05	$3,702.60	$3,417.48	-$285.12	-7.70%	0.43%
CFNB	$16.80	198	$18.85	$3,732.28	$3,326.40	-$405.88	-10.87%	0.42%
SBS	$10.80	307	$4.92	$1,510.38	$3,315.60	$1,805.22	119.52%	0.41%
WSTG	$17.05	192	$19.35	$3,714.24	$3,273.60	-$440.64	-11.86%	0.41%
DIT	$96.95	34	$106.99	$3,637.66	$3,296.30	-$341.36	-9.38%	0.41%
GPIC	$10.64	298	$12.27	$3,656.61	$3,170.72	-$485.89	-13.29%	0.40%
TIF	$95.03	33	$60.25	$1,988.40	$3,135.99	$1,147.59	57.71%	0.39%
MLP	$17.10	180	$20.60	$3,708.00	$3,078.00	-$630.00	-16.99%	0.38%
SDLP	$2.78	1107	$3.36	$3,719.46	$3,077.46	-$642.00	-17.26%	0.38%
PII	$89.22	34	$76.53	$2,602.00	$3,033.48	$431.48	16.58%	0.38%
BBBY	$29.76	101	$39.78	$4,018.08	$3,005.76	-$1,012.32	-25.19%	0.38%
CVX	$110.30	27	$86.38	$2,332.19	$2,978.10	$645.91	27.70%	0.37%
AVHI	$15.50	184	$20.20	$3,716.62	$2,852.00	-$864.62	-23.26%	0.36%
PPL	$38.67	70.806	$23.68	$1,676.52	$2,738.07	$1,061.55	63.32%	0.34%
DE	$129.30	21	$74.65	$1,567.56	$2,715.30	$1,147.74	73.22%	0.34%
WBA	$80.82	33	$36.78	$1,213.89	$2,667.06	$1,453.17	119.71%	0.33%
TLK	$35.72	72	$16.17	$1,164.01	$2,571.84	$1,407.83	120.95%	0.32%
IJR	$70.77	35	$69.52	$2,433.20	$2,476.95	$43.75	1.80%	0.31%
IBM	$144.78	17	$133.64	$2,271.92	$2,461.26	$189.34	8.33%	0.31%
CEO	$112.55	21.66	$144.63	$3,132.74	$2,437.83	-$694.91	-22.18%	0.30%
DHR	$81.24	29	$79.24	$2,298.10	$2,355.96	$57.86	2.52%	0.29%
HCN	$72.69	32.2743	$55.77	$1,800.00	$2,346.02	$546.02	30.33%	0.29%
PAYX	$57.00	40.888	$33.02	$1,350.00	$2,330.62	$980.62	72.64%	0.29%
LLY	$82.58	28	$35.93	$1,006.02	$2,312.24	$1,306.22	129.84%	0.29%
OGS	$73.44	29.737	$33.63	$1,000.00	$2,183.89	$1,183.89	118.39%	0.27%
DISCA	$24.30	79	$24.99	$1,974.52	$1,919.70	-$54.82	-2.78%	0.24%
ORLY	$202.98	9	$189.26	$1,703.36	$1,826.82	$123.46	7.25%	0.23%
DLTR	$72.15	25	$76.92	$1,923.08	$1,803.75	-$119.33	-6.21%	0.23%
TGT	$56.24	32	$59.00	$1,887.92	$1,799.68	-$88.24	-4.67%	0.22%
SAM	$158.20	11	$133.65	$1,470.10	$1,740.20	$270.10	18.37%	0.22%
WFC	$54.20	32	$45.86	$1,467.50	$1,734.40	$266.90	18.19%	0.22%
FSBK	$17.22	100	$4.51	$451.00	$1,722.00	$1,271.00	281.82%	0.21%
SJI	$34.19	47.5645	$24.18	$1,150.00	$1,626.23	$476.23	41.41%	0.20%
SGTZY	$4.38	371	$6.45	$2,392.73	$1,624.98	-$767.75	-32.09%	0.20%
WLK	$70.27	23	$44.00	$1,012.00	$1,616.21	$604.21	59.70%	0.20%
BP	$36.49	44	$39.34	$1,731.17	$1,605.56	-$125.61	-7.26%	0.20%
GGG	$115.96	13	$73.00	$949.00	$1,507.48	$558.48	58.85%	0.19%
OAOFY	$38.69	38	$28.59	$1,086.23	$1,470.22	$383.99	35.35%	0.18%
MPC	$56.35	26	$18.83	$489.68	$1,465.10	$975.42	199.20%	0.18%
ESRX	$62.49	23	$65.32	$1,502.37	$1,437.27	-$65.10	-4.33%	0.18%
DXC	$78.72	18	$68.10	$1,225.77	$1,416.96	$191.19	15.60%	0.18%
CHKP	$106.28	13	$74.85	$973.05	$1,381.64	$408.59	41.99%	0.17%
AXP	$85.53	16	$59.77	$956.29	$1,368.48	$412.19	43.10%	0.17%
POT	$17.61	77	$23.11	$1,779.18	$1,355.97	-$423.21	-23.79%	0.17%
CERN	$64.20	21	$47.80	$1,003.80	$1,348.20	$344.40	34.31%	0.17%
NNN	$40.65	31.532	$44.40	$1,400.00	$1,281.78	-$118.22	-8.44%	0.16%
STRA	$77.72	16	$48.00	$768.00	$1,243.52	$475.52	61.92%	0.16%
TROW	$82.71	15	$67.00	$1,005.00	$1,240.65	$235.65	23.45%	0.15%
CICHY	$16.90	73	$13.64	$995.73	$1,233.70	$237.97	23.90%	0.15%
TESS	$13.50	88.983	$8.99	$800.00	$1,201.27	$401.27	50.16%	0.15%
MDLZ	$44.01	27	$17.63	$475.90	$1,188.27	$712.37	149.69%	0.15%
TLSYY	$16.48	72	$14.78	$1,064.26	$1,186.56	$122.30	11.49%	0.15%
RHI	$45.27	26	$36.06	$937.56	$1,177.02	$239.46	25.54%	0.15%
KSS	$40.99	28	$43.64	$1,221.96	$1,147.72	-$74.24	-6.08%	0.14%
VSS	$112.43	10	$87.82	$878.20	$1,124.30	$246.10	28.02%	0.14%
MYTAY	$9.00	124	$13.18	$1,633.71	$1,116.00	-$517.71	-31.69%	0.14%
MRK	$64.00	17	$34.30	$583.18	$1,088.00	$504.82	86.56%	0.14%
BF.B	$49.37	22	$45.82	$1,008.04	$1,086.14	$78.10	7.75%	0.14%
CAH	$77.51	14	$72.97	$1,021.58	$1,085.14	$63.56	6.22%	0.14%
SCL	$81.93	13	$38.46	$499.98	$1,065.09	$565.11	113.03%	0.13%
BCMXY	$18.66	52	$16.07	$835.50	$970.32	$134.82	16.14%	0.12%
CMP	$68.95	14	$69.00	$966.00	$965.30	-$0.70	-0.07%	0.12%
BIIB	$290.56	3	$221.90	$665.71	$871.68	$205.97	30.94%	0.11%
ARLP	$20.20	41	$26.68	$1,094.01	$828.20	-$265.81	-24.30%	0.10%
T	$39.05	21	$28.77	$604.24	$820.05	$215.81	35.72%	0.10%
PNW	$87.11	8.950159	$34.75	$311.00	$779.65	$468.65	150.69%	0.10%
RAVN	$34.70	22	$22.60	$497.20	$763.40	$266.20	53.54%	0.10%
AAPL	$148.83	5	$94.64	$473.20	$744.15	$270.95	57.26%	0.09%
TLKGY	$20.25	36	$19.78	$711.92	$729.00	$17.08	2.40%	0.09%
PB	$64.18	11	$45.43	$499.73	$705.98	$206.25	41.27%	0.09%
KHC	$87.46	8	$25.41	$203.28	$699.68	$496.40	244.20%	0.09%
AMGN	$174.53	4	$141.00	$564.00	$698.12	$134.12	23.78%	0.09%
ICE	$66.86	10	$16.67	$166.66	$668.60	$501.94	301.18%	0.08%
EFSI	$29.80	22	$22.85	$502.70	$655.60	$152.90	30.42%	0.08%
HFC	$29.06	22	$23.50	$517.00	$639.32	$122.32	23.66%	0.08%
IDCBY	$14.19	45	$12.18	$548.10	$638.55	$90.45	16.50%	0.08%
AEO	$11.70	54	$11.93	$644.35	$631.80	-$12.55	-1.95%	0.08%
SB	$2.64	233	$7.99	$1,861.40	$615.12	-$1,246.28	-66.95%	0.08%
IMBBY	$42.94	14	$62.93	$880.98	$601.16	-$279.82	-31.76%	0.08%
DPS	$91.50	6.33676	$94.69	$600.00	$579.81	-$20.19	-3.36%	0.07%
CCFN	$48.00	12	$39.50	$474.00	$576.00	$102.00	21.52%	0.07%
WTR	$33.51	17.149122	$29.16	$500.00	$574.67	$74.67	14.93%	0.07%
PDLI	$2.23	255	$6.05	$1,542.59	$568.65	-$973.94	-63.14%	0.07%
UNP	$102.42	5.463875	$109.81	$600.00	$559.61	-$40.39	-6.73%	0.07%
TSCO	$55.74	10	$49.99	$499.90	$557.40	$57.50	11.50%	0.07%
BACHY	$12.40	45	$11.00	$495.00	$558.00	$63.00	12.73%	0.07%
NTTYY	$49.49	11	$22.30	$245.34	$544.39	$299.05	121.89%	0.07%
CLD	$3.41	158	$9.44	$1,492.23	$538.78	-$953.45	-63.89%	0.07%
HSY	$105.07	5	$90.47	$452.35	$525.35	$73.00	16.14%	0.07%
RLI	$57.98	9	$57.00	$513.00	$521.82	$8.82	1.72%	0.07%
BCS	$10.95	46	$14.02	$644.92	$503.70	-$141.22	-21.90%	0.06%
WSM	$45.63	11	$44.00	$484.00	$501.93	$17.93	3.70%	0.06%
TJX	$70.40	7	$69.00	$483.00	$492.80	$9.80	2.03%	0.06%
NAT	$5.85	82	$19.64	$1,610.79	$479.70	-$1,131.09	-70.22%	0.06%
MPLX	$36.69	13	$8.59	$111.66	$476.97	$365.31	327.16%	0.06%
IEMG	$53.06	6.25	$49.67	$310.46	$331.63	$21.17	6.82%	0.04%
MRO	$12.11	27	$29.92	$807.79	$326.97	-$480.82	-59.52%	0.04%
HNNMY	$5.30	61	$6.53	$398.52	$323.30	-$75.22	-18.87%	0.04%
TRGP	$46.10	7	$27.35	$191.42	$322.70	$131.28	68.58%	0.04%
CPLP	$3.66	75	$8.53	$639.48	$274.50	-$364.98	-57.07%	0.03%
ATW	$7.72	33	$15.00	$495.00	$254.76	-$240.24	-48.53%	0.03%
DYN	$8.86	24	$29.77	$714.50	$212.64	-$501.86	-70.24%	0.03%
LYG	$3.54	50	$3.24	$162.00	$177.00	$15.00	9.26%	0.02%
GSH	$26.00	4.59	$20.75	$95.24	$119.34	$24.10	25.30%	0.01%
MVC	$10.41	11	$8.84	$97.28	$114.51	$17.23	17.71%	0.01%
AMC	$20.50	5	$18.00	$90.00	$102.50	$12.50	13.89%	0.01%
VTI	$126.99	0.64442			$81.83	$81.83	#DIV/0!	0.01%
TSCDY	$7.02	11	$14.33	$157.63	$77.22	-$80.41	-51.01%	0.01%
QCCO	$0.56	113	$3.63	$410.25	$63.28	-$346.97	-84.58%	0.01%
PTR	$65.14	0.97	$99.24	$96.26	$63.19	-$33.07	-34.36%	0.01%
BIVV	$61.66	1	$37.77	$37.77	$61.66	$23.89	63.23%	0.01%
BK	$53.37	1	$25.01	$25.01	$53.37	$28.36	113.39%	0.01%
LGCY	$1.30	28	$15.62	$437.22	$36.40	-$400.82	-91.67%	0.00%
EVEP	$0.59	32	$21.84	$698.97	$18.88	-$680.09	-97.30%	0.00%
BPI	$9.56	1	$17.85	$17.85	$9.56	-$8.29	-46.44%	0.00%
BKS	$8.02	1	$8.70	$8.70	$8.02	-$0.68	-7.82%	0.00%
ALN	$0.42	15	$2.11	$31.65	$6.30	-$25.35	-80.09%	0.00%
LQD	$120.88	0.03311			$4.00	$4.00	#DIV/0!	0.00%
VGIT	$64.74	0.05506			$3.56	$3.56	#DIV/0!	0.00%
TIP	$113.47	0.02511			$2.85	$2.85	#DIV/0!	0.00%
SJNK	$27.93	0.06504			$1.82	$1.82	#DIV/0!	0.00%
VNQ	$84.48	0.01135			$0.96	$0.96	#DIV/0!	0.00%
VCSH	$80.14	0.00322			$0.26	$0.26	#DIV/0!	0.00%
ZAHLY	$0.01	23	$6.64	$152.72	$0.23	-$152.49	-99.85%	0.00%
DPK	$14.40	-100	$16.15	-$1,614.79	-$1,440.00	$174.79	10.82%	-0.18%
FAZ	$15.67	-100	$34.42	-$3,441.54	-$1,567.00	$1,874.54	54.47%	-0.20%
ERY	$12.44	-300	$13.49	-$4,047.39	-$3,732.00	$315.39	7.79%	-0.47%
TZA	$15.96	-450	$20.59	-$9,265.93	-$7,182.00	$2,083.93	22.49%	-0.90%

My transactions in July are listed as follows:

-->

Stock	Action	Cost	Price per share	% of Portfolio
XOM	Add	$4,300.00	$80.62	0.43%
AZO	Add	$3,038.00	$506.33	0.30%
GWW	Add	$1,346.76	$168.35	0.13%
ORLY	Add	$1,235.36	$176.48	0.12%
SAM	Add	$524.00	$131.00	0.05%
TSCO	New Buy	$499.90	$49.99	0.05%
WSM	New Buy	$484.00	$44.00	0.05%
TJX	New Buy	$483.00	$69.00	0.05%
BDX	Add	$325.43	$199.93	0.03%
AFL	Add	$300.00	$77.84	0.03%
YORW	Add	$244.32	$34.64	0.02%
VMI	Add	$217.05	$151.68	0.02%
DPS	Add	$201.17	$91.62	0.02%
UNP	Add	$201.10	$108.64	0.02%
BMTC	Add	$200.00	$42.50	0.02%
EMR	Add	$200.00	$59.48	0.02%
GIS	Add	$200.00	$53.65	0.02%
NVS	Add	$200.00	$82.68	0.02%
SNY	Add	$200.00	$48.16	0.02%
SON	Add	$200.00	$51.54	0.02%
PEG	Add	$63.64	$43.18	0.01%
PPL	Add	$27.69	$38.67	0.00%
PEP	Add	$22.23	$116.04	0.00%
SJI	Add	$12.86	$34.00	0.00%
VTI	Add	$5.63	$125.00	0.00%
VEA	Add	$3.74	$41.29	0.00%
VWO	Add	$0.69	$40.71	0.00%
LQD	Add	$0.27	$120.54	0.00%
VGIT	Add	$0.26	$64.84	0.00%
TIP	Add	$0.22	$111.11	0.00%
SJNK	Add	$0.13	$28.08	0.00%
VNQ	Add	$0.06	$80.00	0.00%
MOCO	Sold Out	-$15,583.35	$30.00	-1.56%
	Bought	$14,737.51		1.47%
	Sold	-$15,583.35		-1.56%
	Net	-$845.84		-0.08%

Purchases
I bought some more XOM around $80 which seems like a solid value stock. I continued adding to AZO, ORLY, GWW, SAM near 52-week low. I initiated new positions in TSCO, WSM, and TJX near 52-week lows. These seem to be fundamentally sound low-yield stocks oversold due to Amazon hype. The rest are part of my monthly investment plans and dividend reinvestment.

Sales
Only sale (forced) is Mocon being acquired. I made a $8433.35, or 118%, gain on this investment: can't complain. I have reinvested some of the proceeds into the stocks above, but net purchases still fell short of net sales this month, which has not happened in a long time, if ever. I still have a lot of cash so I will likely continue buying a lot of stocks in the coming months.

Here is how my assets, liabilities, and net worth have changed over the past month:

-->

	Beginning balance on 7/1/2017	+ Cash inflow /(outflow)	+ $ P/L	= Ending Balance on 7/31/2017	% P/L	% Equity
ASSETS
Current assets
Cash	17,738.04	4,803.77	0.00	22,541.81	0.00%	2.21%
Bonds	11,661.07	239.65	(1,037.56)	10,863.16	-8.90%	1.07%
Stocks	716,571.61	(1,789.55)	14,937.50	729,719.56	2.08%	71.64%
Total current assets	745,970.72	3,253.87	13,899.94	763,124.53	1.86%	74.91%
Tax-deferred retirement account	170,309.36	1,515.23	4,882.57	176,707.16	2.87%	17.35%
Roth IRA	74,464.54		(3,897.61)	70,566.93	-5.23%	6.93%
Gold	13,369.12		275.93	13,645.05	2.06%	1.34%
Other non-current assets	2,000.00	(500.00)	0.00	1,500.00	0.00%	0.15%
Total assets	1,006,113.74	4,269.10	15,160.83	1,025,543.67	1.51%	100.68%
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities
Current liabilities	533.71	(25.00)	0.00	508.71		0.05%
Long-term liabilities
Student loan	6,398.39	(21.76)	0.00	6,376.63		0.63%
Other non-current liabilities	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00		0.00%
Total liabilities	6,932.10	(46.76)	0.00	6,885.34		0.68%
Equity (net worth)	999,181.64	4,315.86	15,160.83	1,018,658.33	1.52%	100.00%

During July, my net worth increased 1.95% to $1,018,658.33, mainly due to investment gain (1.52%), in addition to net cash inflow (0.43%). My net worth finally surpassed the $1 mil milestone for the first time! This has taken me about 8-9 years starting from zero back in 2008-2009. The first million is indeed the hardest. Hopefully the second million will take me only half the time to get there.

Below is a chart of my net worth since I started tracking on a monthly basis:

My monthly performance against the S & P 500 is shown below:

-->

2017	My Portfolio Return	S & P 500 TR
Jan	2.39%	1.90%	Good
Feb	2.08%	3.97%	Bad
Mar	0.97%	0.12%	Good
Apr	2.22%	1.03%	Good
May	0.01%	1.41%	Bad
Jun	0.59%	0.62%	Bad
Jul	1.52%	2.06%	Bad
YTD	10.17%	11.60%	Bad

I continued trailing the index this month, making it three months in row now, which is somewhat depressing. The bulk of the underperformance this month can be attributed to the awful performance in my Roth IRA account which has done poorly since I adopted a new strategy, which makes me question the wisdom of the move. I am sticking with it for now but am keeping a watchful eye on it.