July was not a good month (really the last two week) for any of my investment accounts, nor were the first couple days of August which are reflected in my IRA value as 8/3/07.  The value of my IRA accounts dropped nearly 7%.  I saw large decreases especially in my mortgage industry related investments, AHM (American Home Mortgage) and WM(Washington Mutual).  AHM, as I chronicled earlier, I managed to sell before it effectively became a company on the brink of bankruptcy.  I’m glad I got out where I got out.  My shares of WM, Washsington Mutual, has also suffered in light the subprime fallout.   I hold Washington Mutual not for it’s mortgage business, but for it’s overall banking business.  I think it’s well run bank and that knows how to serve retail customers.  However, I should proceed cautiously with my holdings as it might be more affected by the mortgage collapse more than I’ve anticipated.   In my taxable account, I’m planning on selling some of my holdings, but I wanted to wait till after the quarterly dividend paid out later this month.  Hopefully the market will continue to rebound as it did yesterday so I won’t have traded 10% capital loss loss for a 2% dividend gain.

The price I quoted on AHM is the price I sold at earlier in July.  The company has since annouced bankruptcy and is worth less than 50 cents.