I have been so busy that I haven’t been blogging much recently.   Busy doing my taxes, and doing a second round of tax planning such as determining how much I can put into a Roth IRA for 2009.   Once I figured that out I had to determine how to invest my Roth IRA contribution.  I opted for the Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund.

Since Balhiser LLC has not yet made me fabulously rich, I still have a full-time day job.  I upped my 401(k) contribution percentage to take advantage of the new $16,500 maximum for 2010.  I also made some decisions about whether and when to sell some restricted stock and stock purchase plan stock.   I did not exercise any options.

Total personal and business debt is about $30K and $10K respectively.  I’m looking at ways to pay down both.   My best guess is that I can cut them down to $10K and $5K by the end of the year.

Rental property income is currently showing positive cash flow which can be channeled towards reducing business debt.   Advertising expenses were incurred to help find prospective renters, but were relatively modest.  It’s time to to order new business cards.   I’m thinking of changing my featured title from “Finance Guru” to “Financial Blogger.”

I’ve been making some subtle portfolio adjustments.  The recent large 1-yr run up in stocks has persuaded me to do some mid-year re-balancing.   The S&P is up 42% in the last 12 months, the Russell 2000 is up 55%, and Ex-US stocks are up 50%.  I’m reducing my new-found over-exposure to stocks by some selling and some call option writing.   (I haven’t purchased any puts yet, but I’m considering it.)   I’m putting the proceeds into 1) paying down my home-equity line of credit 2) TIPS funds at Vanguard, 3) Tax-Exempt bond funds.   All these adjustments are relatively minor, amounting to less than 5% of my securities holdings.

Finally, a CIA update.  The Crazy Ivan Account (CIA) is up nicely, closing today at $22,661.  Current holdings are $11,876 in SPY, $12,496 in cash, and a ($711) short position on a covered Sept SPY call.