2019 in Review and Financial Goals for 2020

7 January, 2020 | Investments | 17 seen

I'm 34 years old now and I have a goal to save one million dollars by the time I will turn 60. Just 26 years to go. I've been documenting my journey towards financial independence for the last three years already.

In today's article, I will review the past year of 2019 and take a quick glimpse at the New Year of 2020.

Make sure to check out previous yearly review articles here:

• 2018 in Review and Financial Goals for 2019
• 2017 in Review and Financial Goals for 2018

In 2019 I made a huge shift from a focus on peer to peer lending and cryptocurrencies to option trades..For now, I can surely tell - options trading is the best thing I have discovered in 2019.

Naked puts on dividend stocks I would like to hold forever; covered calls and vertical spreads on SPX (SP 500 index) and GC (gold futures).

I was introduced to the options world from a fellow Italian investor/trader Massimo, who I first met at the start of January in Tbilisi, we have been in close contact ever since. Last time we met in person in Milan, Italy at the end of 2019 at the lovely family-run Osteria. Guess what we talked about? Verticals, iron condors, straddles, call bears, put bulls, ratio back spreads, you name it. 

Massimo! If you are reading this - Ciao to you!

Options trading is like a game of chess. It's a strategy. And you can earn quite good money if you master the game.

You can lose even greater amount though. As they say, it eats like a sparrow, but shi*ts like an elephant. So did happened to me, when in November I lost more than $5,000 from bad managed options trades.

Investment Goal #7 - Selling Puts to Own / Generate Income

Structure of Investment portfolio

Structure of the investment portfolio at the end of 2019

Investments in stocks take the biggest share from the pie. Combined value from US stocks (55.4%), Baltic stocks (15.8%) and other European stocks (6.5%) in total makes 77.7% from my investment portfolio. The rest is left for peer to peer lending (11.6%), Crypto (8.6%) and some little cash waiting to be deployed (2.2%)

In 2019 I was focusing solely on the US stock market. To increase my investments there I sold off some of my Baltic stocks and decreased stake with peer to peer lending. This is the trend I'm looking to continue in 2020 as well.

At the start of 2019, I planned to invest about 53% from my annual net income (money I made in 2018), the planned amount for 2019 was $11,871.70, I managed to invest some $2,000 more ($13,936.62) by the end of the year. I exceeded my initial plan by $2,064.92 In 2019, on average I was investing at the pace of $1,161/mo. In 2018 the ratio was  $922/mo, while back in 2017 ($1,000). 

That's the growth I like. I should note that the real boost to the portfolio comes from the options trades, which helped to make about $10,000 gross.

Net Worth value

Net Worth value at the end of 2019

At the end of 2019, my total net worth was $33,712.35, while the highest recorded net worth was at the end of October 2019 - $35,475.40, but the come the November and I was hit by bad managed options trades and took a big loss. Luckily I almost recovered by the end of the year. 

Also, I should note that the difference from Invested and the end Value at the end of 2019 was negative  -$3,387.52 if counted since the inception in 2017. 

In other words - the value growth  since inception has been negative -9,13%, while year to date value growth rate was positive +2,95%

I have been into this negative territory since June 2018. By the middle of 2019 almost recovered and then again dropped a bit.

Now, the good news - In 2019 dividend yield (on cost) for my investment portfolio was 6.88% (6.30% in 2018; 5.50% in 2017), here is the breakdown by positions

• Mintos.com peer to peer lending: EUR 575.35 (yield 14.78%)*
• Nasdaq Baltics: EUR 404.49 (yield 7.19%)*
• EU stocks: EUR 264.47 (yield 12.82%)*
• US stocks: EUR 1064.60 (yield 5.71%)**
• Poloniex.com crypto lending: EUR 12.17 (yield 0.43%)***

Now, in total in dividend income for 2019 I received €2,321.04 / $2,590.95)

*during the year I have made several withdrawals from Nasdaq Baltics, Mintos and EU stocks, that's the reason why yield might look so hight at the first sight.

** In the case with US stocks I mostly invest in high yield stocks and ETF's but as I invest very active, the yield is lower as the capital hasn't accumulated yet.

*** I completely withdraw from crypto lending in 2019, Instead, I trade options with Bitcoin and Ethereum

In general, it means that in a true passive income I made $7.10 daily, by doing nothing much, just keeping stake at great companies and lending out money via peer to peer platforms. On the other hand, I can spend about an hour a day to research, analyze,  make future decisions.

Dividend income 2017-2019

In three years, since 2017, the portfolio has earned pretty decent $4,722.05 dividend ($664 in 2017; $1.466.83 in 2018; $2,590.95 in 2019)

When looking at TTM (trailing twelve months) at the start of 2020 I can already see a TTM at $2,637.71 for 2020.

Speaking of what:

Financial goals for 2020

This is probably my favorite part of these income type series blog posts - forecasts/ goals. Before setting financial goals for 2020, let's see what I said for this year:

I'm looking to invest 53% (my age + 10%) from income I've made in 2018, that's about $11,871.70. 

Also, I would love to keep at least 5% in cash. 

For 2019 I'm looking on a minimum $2,045 annual dividend income (about $170/mo or $5.60 daily)

I'm looking to reach net worth value $30,000 by the end of 2019. 

I reached most of my goals, except I run short with a 5% cash goal (at the end of 2019 it was just 2.2%) but overall  - wow, what an amazing year. Reaching most of my goals feels awesome.

For 2020 I'm looking to invest 54% (my age + 20%) from income I've made in 2019, that's about $16,313.79.  Investing more than $16K a year would ask to invest at a rate of $1,333/mo - it might look hard but is doable. I believe most can be achieved using dividend income + income from options trades. 

For 2020 I have a minimum $3,600 annual dividend income (about $300/mo or $9.86 daily) Also I'm looking to generate a minimum $6,400 from options trades

I'm looking to reach a net worth value of $50,000 by the end of 2020. 

Last,  but not least - income generated form dividend income + options trading + options trading on crypto helped me to generate about $10,000 or a 29.79% yield in 2019. I'm looking to have at least 30% yield in 2020

Keti's Bistro

4 January, 2020 | Restaurant reviews | 13 seen

Keti's Bistro is another stylish  Tbilisi restaurant located on Tamar Chovelidze street 3 (opposite to hotel Stamba)

My better part took me here just before the New Year 2020, and I found this place quite a chill. 

We agreed to order here some steaks before going to the Christmas market opposite the Radisson hotel. As we were out with our almost 18-month baby girl, we wanted to make sure we will go to a place with a lot of space and few people. During our time at Keti's bistro we were the only guests and that helped. Baby girl was happily running throughout the bistro, while we enjoyed the food. Win-Win

Steak in mushroom sauce in Keti's Bistro

The steak was good. Sauce? Not this time. Potatoes? They were eatable. 

Christmas style interior at Keti's bistro

Hotel Lenno (Italy)

3 January, 2020 | Hotel reviews | 14 seen

4-star hotel Lenno is set in an elegant building just off the main road, and right on the shore of Lake Como, in the fantastic Gulf of Venus. There is free Wi-Fi.

We booked this hotel in mid-November 2019, during our week-long trip to Italy/Switzerland and paid about $110 per night. We arrived here from the lovely town of Lecco

We were lucky and managed to get a baby crib for our 16-month old daughter:

Hotel Room at Lenno hotel

The room was spacious, we even managed to order some food to our room and paid just some EUR 30 extra for some pizzas and salads:

Ordering dinner at Lenno hotel

At Hotel Lenno you can taste typical Italian dishes and prestigious wines, enjoying an enchanting view on the lake.

At Lenno hotel I learnt that it's OK to order a glass of Merlot for dinner. Now I know one more smart word - Merlot

Lake Como near Lenno hotel

From Lenno hotel you can visit Como by boat and return to the hotel in the same day, or take the funicular railway up to Brunate and admire the lake from above. Multilingual staff can provide tourist information.

Tbilisi Christmas Market 2020

2 January, 2020 | | 14 seen

In today's Piece of Life series, a brief photo story from the Christmas market held near Radisson Blue hotel Tbilisi. 

To get here we took a taxi from our apartment to Keti's bistro. After finish steaks and Cokes we were ready to explore the market. The little one was excited the most.

Christmas market in Tbilisi 2019/2020

From traditional Georgian souvenirs to hot wine. All the classical Christmas market stuff.

People at Christmas market

I did find this picture funny  - smoking is still very popular in Georgia, especially among young people. I wonder what it will be like in 10, 20 years?

The main Christmas tree in Tbilisi

Christmas decorations in Tbilisi

Christmas decorations in Tbilisi

Happy new year everyone!

New Year's Eve Fireworks 2020 Tbilisi

1 January, 2020 | | 15 seen

As every year I contribute to fireworks photography, 2020 was no exception, from our Tbilisi apartments balcony I made dozens of long exposure night photography.

A sturdy tripod, ISO 400-3200, f stop 3,5 up to f11 and exposure from 4 sec up to 10 seconds. The magical beauty of night photography.

Tbilisi fireworks 2020

With SPX still trading I found myself running from the balcony to inside the room to check if SPX has reached 3224 levels (at the end it closed above 3230)

Long exposure to fireworks photography

Fireworks from Tbilisi 2020

That said, have a very prosperous 2020. Trade safe

0 DTE SPX Trading Challenge

31 December, 2019 | Investments | 39 seen

I've been trading options since March 2019, I have been trading verticals since September 2019. Option trading is not easy, it can hurt. Money can be made and more money can be lost - been there seen that.

In my short options trader career I have tried naked puts, covered calls, futures, indexes - a lot has been learned and a lot is still to be learned. I prefer learning through practice, and that's how 0 DTE SPX Trading Challenge was born.

I like 0 DTE over longer-term options - money is made (or lost) during the trading day, less time in the trade, less stress. Actually the potential return in day trades are much higher than in those with longer-term (take 7 DTE, 45 DTE and so on)

Challenge starts just a day before Christmas on December 23, 2019, to make me accountable a separate FB group - 0 DTE SPX Traders has been created. 

Rules are simple

• Trade for one year or till the end of 2020
• Enter trade every Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Start capital: $500

Idea trading with such small capital is as follows - $500 equals the minimum spread width of $5. Once there is enough premium collected to widen wings by another $5 it shall be done or lot size should be increased to two.

Now there are some additional rules I'm looking to implement before entering each trade:

• when constructing calls add +0.8-1% reserve from the futures price on that day

For every trade, I'm looking to collect at least $30 (after commissions), as of writing this I'm paying $2.4 per leg, $4.8 for vertical. In an ideal scenario, it would take about 5 weeks to increase buying power by $500, but time will show.

I might use futures to hedge any suffering positions

What am I expecting at the end of this challenge

• Huge learning and good knowledge
• $1,000-$5,000 in profit
• up to 150 trading days
• Grow FB group to ~ 250 active members

Now, the challenge is on. Especially for this challenge and not only I have launched a FB group 0 DTE SPX Traders - come and join to see the journey live and not only.

Georgian Museum of Fine Arts

28 December, 2019 | Museums | 38 seen

Georgian Museum of Fine arts is located on Rustaveli avenue just opposite to Tbilisi parliament building. The museum has been opened for public just recently at the end of 2018. It is interesting to note that currently, it is the only building in Georgia built purposely to house art exhibitions.

The museum houses over 3500 artworks, created by over 80 artists during the last 70 years.  The museum exhibits private art collection of the family of Dr. George (Gia) Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardadze, founders of Magticom, the largest telecommunications company in Georgia.

There is an entrance fee of GEL 15 (2019), we paid a half-day long visit here in early November 2019. There is a cafe inside the building and an elevator. In total there are 5 floors of exhibition halls.

The exhibition hall at Georgian museum

According to Wikipedia: Dr. George (Gia) Jokhtaberidze and Manana Shevardnadze started collecting art in 1990s. After successful entrepreneurial endeavors, Dr. Jokhtaberidze started buying art for personal interests. During one of the shopping visits, the gallery was about to ship art to a foreign country for very low prices. Soon Dr. Jokhtaberidze came to realize that if art was scattered around the world without proper collection, documentation and exhibition, art would be lost forever. 

Probably this was my greatest surprise learning that museum is private and not run by some state agency or something.

Georgian art

Since most of the art was created during the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain, the art was not yet well-known. Thus, the mission was born: to collect, restore and preserve Georgian art. In the beginning, the mission did not include the idea to build a completely new museum building, the idea was to collect and donate all the art to state museums. However, due to the collapse of the USSR and subsequent economic and civil turmoils, the state museums were left in dire situation and would not be able to accept all the art

Georgian enamel

After collecting art for over 23 years and succeeding in leading the largest telecommunication company in Georgia, Dr. George Jokhtaberidze saw an opportunity to buy real estate right in front of the building of Parliament of Georgia. An opportunity was quickly turned into a plan to build a complex of buildings that would become the Georgian Museum of Fine Arts and the Art House.​

Lecco town in Italy

27 December, 2019 | Tourism objects | 15 seen

Lecco is a small city in northern Italy, some  50 kilometers (31 mi) north of Milan. The city lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como.

The Bergamo Alps rise to the north and east, cut through by the Valsassina of which Lecco marks the southern end.

We visited the town of Lecco for a couple of hours in mid-November 2019, during a week trip to Italy/Switzerland. Really stunning.

Como lake near Lecco

The lake narrows to form the river Adda, so bridges were built to improve road communications with Como and Milan.

There are four bridges crossing the river Adda in Lecco: the Azzone Visconti Bridge (1336–1338), the Kennedy Bridge (1956) and the Alessandro Manzoni Bridge (1985) and a railroad bridge.

Piazza XX Settembre, in the centre of the town, and the San Martino mountain.

Archaeological finds demonstrate the presence of Celtic settlement in the area before the arrival of the Romans. The latter built a castrum here and made it an important road hub. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Lombards captured the town in the 6th century; they were followed by the Franks, who made Lecco the seat of a countship and, later, of a frontier Mark.

Emperor Otto I spent a long time in Lecco, crushing the 964 AD revolt against the Holy Roman Empire led by Lecco's Count Attone. Later it became a possession of the Milanese monastery of St. Ambrose. Conrad II also stayed in Lecco, in the attempt to free it from the church, but as the result of the ensuing wars the city was subjected by Milan. It subsequently followed the history of the Duchy of Milan and of Lombardy. In the early 16th century it was briefly ruled by the condottiere Gian Giacomo Medici.

How to Setup Charts with Interactive Brokers

24 December, 2019 | Investments | 77 seen

This is a quick tutorial on how to setup / enable charts in Interactive Brokers to trade stocks, ETFs, indexes e.t.c.

For the last couple of months I've been trading 0 DTE SPX, for charting using either Google Finance or Trading view - both are great to get a basic view on what's happening.

Google charts are indeed great to follow up on what's happening, while Tradingview offers some customization, like to add RSI and many other indicators. But as I'm using TWS platform form Interactive Brokers (Lynx Broker) I decided there should be an easier and more native wat to do charting inside the TWS, and there is. I just didn't know about it.

Creating custom charts with Interactive Brokers

From the portfolio page right-click any of holdings to open the popup menu - chose - Charts -> New Chart

In the next window, you can configure your chart - candle sizes e.t.c

Creating a custom chart with Interactive Brokers

Once you are satisfied, click OK and enjoy your chart

Creating a custom chart with Interactive Brokers

To add RSI or other indicators, from the chart page click on Edit - > Studies to find indicators you are interested in and you should be good.

Trade safe!

Tori 'Cafe-Restaurant' near Akhaldaba

21 December, 2019 | Restaurant reviews | 10 seen

Tori is a small roadside cafeteria located near the town of Akhaldaba.

We have made a stop and dinned here at the end of June when traveling to Borjomi

Cafe Tori Restaurant

Well, what can I say about this place? A typical roadside cafeteria, you can get here some coffee and decent food. Prices seemed kind of expensive, maybe because the cafe is located on a pretty touristic route close to Borjomi.

Road to Borjomi

There is free parking available in front of the restaurant.

A decent place to take a break from the road.

Grand Hotel Del Parco - Bergamo Airport

20 December, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 11 seen

The Grand Hotel is a modern, peaceful hotel set in parkland just 6 km from Bergamo.

It offers air-conditioned rooms and suites, a fitness centre and free parking. A scheduled shuttle service to/from Bergamo Train Station and Orio Al Serio Airport is available on request.

We booked this hotel in early November 2019, for a night after landed at Bergamo airport. Nothing fancy, but a decent 4-star hotel for budget money near Bergamo. We paid about USD 68 for a one night stay here.

Grand Hotel Del Parco - Bergamo Airport

Each elegant room has parquet floors, a flat-screen TV with satellite channels, a minibar, and a modern bathroom.

The Hotel Grand Del Parco offers a large buffet breakfast. Room service is also available.

The hotel is in Stezzano, 5 km from Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport and a 5-minute drive from the A4 Milan-Brescia motorway.

Breakfast at Grand Hotel Del Parco 

Weekend trip to Baku, Azerbaijan

19 December, 2019 | Travel guides | 21 seen

At the start of August 2019, we traveled to Baku Azerbaijan.

For me, this was my first time in Azerbaijan. Our trip here was in the frames celebrate a birthday in one of the former Soviet Union member country capital cities, so far we have been to Yerevan, Tallinn, Vilnius, Kyiv, and now Baku

To get here, we booked a train ticket from Tbilisi and traveled from Tbilisi central station. Before entering Azerbaijan we had to apply for an e-visa online (which has to be done some 5 days before departure).

Now, huge was our surprise arriving in Baku and trying to buy return trains tickets to Tbilisi - it turned out every ticket was sold out. We were left with no other option but to book a direct Baku - Tbilisi flight from Baku airport (see: About Buta Airways Baku - Tbilisi fight) 

Anyhow, this was one of the best birthday trips so far, we booked a 5-star hotel at Fairmount Flames tower, used taxi ride app to ride in (and out) the city. And spent our time in some of the best Baku restaurants. Keep reading to learn more.

• Planing a trip to Azerbaijan: How to get a Prepaid SIM Card with Internet
• How to Get around in Baku by using Taxi Mobile Application Bolt
• Georgia / Azerbaijan Border Crossing by train (Gardabani / Boyuk Kasik)

Tesla Stock Project

17 December, 2019 | Investments | 36 seen

It was on early November 5th, 2019 morning, I was reading an interesting story about a guy buying a Tesla car for his sons 9th birthday, here is the story in brief:

What is #TSLA4Tesla project? I am not into cars. My son, Arian, 8 years old, is different. He loves cars. Sometimes back, he got in love with Tesla. He asked me to buy a Tesla. I didn't need a new car. However, seeing Arian's craze for Tesla, and my love for trading stocks, we made a deal to trade TSLA stocks to see if we can buy a real Tesla.

Here it the blog: #TSLA4Tesla project

Now, I'm not into cars neither, though TSLA stock has been on my radar for a while, I even have sold some Iron Condors on in the past.

I decided to start a new project - with the goal to own 100 shares of TSLA stock.

To get there I will use options trading strategies only*.

Vertical spreads (calls and puts, and iron condors). The ultimate goal after having 100 shares of TSLA stock is not to buy a new TESLA car but to sell covered calls on TSLA stock (the easiest and less riskiest options strategy)

As on November 5th, 2019 I TSLA share is traded at $317,47. To have 100 shares it would require about $31,740 in the capital.

To start my journey towards 100 shares of TSLA stock by selling only options I started with following call bear spread:

BOT 335/337 NOV 15'19 CALL @ $0.51

If this option expires worthless I keep $51. If we could manage to collect $51 every 10 days after a year we could potentially collect $1,861.5. For that money, we could buy ~ 6 shares of TSLA.

Now in total, it would ask ~ 16 years to get there (for the simplicity of this article I'm not taking into consideration losing trades or commissions).

That doesn't sound impressive, but on the other hand, having almost free $2,000 a year sounds quite good. So why not?

Let's see will it ask me 16 years to acquire 100 shares of TSLA by selling options on it or hopefully I could get there in 2-3 years?

*Depending on results after the first year I might use additional funds to get there sooner but for right now only options trading on TSLA stock

Mushtaidi Park in Tbilisi

14 December, 2019 | Tourism objects | 39 seen

Mushtaidi park and garden in Tbilisi is great for activities with kids - it features a Ferris Wheel, choo-choo train, carousels and more. The entrance in the park is free, but there is a fee for carrousels. 

Park is well maintained and quite popular among locals. I first discovered this park a couple of years ago while cycling around Dinamo arena. 

Sculptures at Mushtaidi park

The Mushtaidi is one of the oldest parks in Tbilisi and was founded in the 1930s. The first garden on the site of 5 hectares was opened by Mir Fetekh-Agha Seyed Tavrizi, who arrived in Georgia from Iran in 1828. He was a religious leader of the Shiites in Azerbaijan in Iran. The name of the garden-mushtaid was also derived from its clerical rank. Source (Mushtaidi Garden - Mushtaidi Park)

The foundation of the Mushtaidi Garden is based on a sad story. (Google Translate form Georgian, see: მუშტაიდის ბაღი – Mushtaidi Park)

Mushtaidi was married to a beautiful Georgian woman - Nino, who bought her in Istanbul's captive market. Exiled from Iran, he chose Tbilisi to live at his request. The woman was no longer alive in Tbilisi, her parents were ill and had not died for a long time, she died in six months.
Beloved wife Mushtaid buried in front of the house and planted lots of red roses on her grave, mourning for her beloved wife. Around the grave resembled a large number of roses, shrubs, shrubs and tree plants, so began the cultivation of this remarkable garden, long and still referred to as the Mushtaidi Garden. Mushtaidi dug a 12-mile canal to irrigate the garden.

Attractions at Mushtaidi park

In the background: King David towers. This scenery resembles me a bit from New York's Central Park

It was on the open stage of the Mushtaidi Garden that Nicos Pirosman first saw the French singer Margarita. Others were holding concerts in the garden. Exhibitions were also held there, inviting visitors. That is where the first air balloon in the Caucasus was launched in 1882.

Ferris Wheel

Tens of thousands of unique plant varieties are planted in the Mushtaid Garden, including deciduous: gleedichia, elm, orphan, soap tree, paper tree, mulberry, and coniferous: Eldar pine, cedar, chop tree, many other shrubs and flower species, vines and more . The park is spread over 16 hectares. It also has its own nursery where tens of thousands of ornamental plants and flower buds are planted each year. There are many varieties of Chinese and Gorilla vines in the vineyard.

Used sources: მუშტაიდის ბაღი – Mushtaidi Park

Azcot Hotel in Baku

12 December, 2019 | Hotel reviews | 13 seen

Set in a 19th century building on Fountain Square, Azcot Hotel is located in the heart of Baku and offers air-conditioned rooms with a flat-screen satellite TV. It features a 24-hour front desk and free parking on site.

We booked Azcot Hotel for a one night stay (actually paid for two nights) in early August 2019, and paid for our stay about USD 120. We booked two nights because we had a plane back to Tbilisi in seconds night evening, not willing to spend the whole day on legs we booked two days.

The building and location where hotel is located is great. The service is OK, the interior is old and asks for renovation.

The stay at Azcot hotel partially reminded me a stay a couple of years ago in Tallin's Olav hotel, see: St.Olav Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia

The hotel is run by Azeri/Russian team. As we stayed the previous two nights at the 5-star Fairmount hotel it's hard to give an objective review for Azcot hotel, but I will try.

The most important thing about Azcot is that is very good located next to the Fountain square. The rest doesn't matter actually.

Azcot hotel in Baku

Each room has a minibar, heating, safety deposit box and a private bathroom with free toiletries.

Also it should be added, all electricity plugs are US version. (at least in the third floor)

Breakfast is served daily in the dining hall. Several restaurants, cafés and bars are a 5-minute walk away. Azcot Hotel is within a 15-minute walk away from metro stations with access to the city centre.

Interior at Azcot hotel

The old city is and Kirov National Park are within a 10-minute walk away. Guests at Azcot Hotel can relax in seating and lounge areas, some with antique furnishings. Boyukshor Lake is a 20-minute drive away.