Another day, another dollar. Another year, another opportunity to reach the American Dividend Dream! This is my first post with regards to setting goals but I believe these are necessary in helping to lay out a plan for the future. Without planning, we could sway off the path and hurt our ability to reach freedom from the 9 - 5 job. I believe goals need to be challenging, yet achievable. If you continually set goals that are too extreme, you will continually disappoint yourself which could hinder your ability to keep going. With that being said, lets look at my goals for 2015:
Goal #1 - Receive $4,500 in dividends!
This is a pretty steep increase from my 2014 dividend total of $2,766.66 but I also think its attainable. At a 3.5% average yield of new purchases, I would have to add an additional $50,000 to my portfolio throughout the course of the year to get the additional $1,733.33 in income... IF there wasn't compounding of capital already added. With dividend growth from my companies and compounding of those dividends, I am looking at adding around $40,000 to hit my goal. With my recent purchases this year, I have already added $8,000 of that $40,000.... $32,000 left! Phew, that's still a lot after writing it out.
Hitting this goal would mean I will average roughly $375 per month! It amazing to think that with that kind of income, I could pay for groceries, cable/internet and phone bills every month.
Going along with this goal, I want to have forward dividends of over $5,250 by the end of the year. Currently my portfolio is hitting an average of 9% dividend growth per year which means if I hit the $4,500 goal, my forward dividends would be around $5,000 without adding any new capital. I expect that I will make a few purchases in the November/December time period which will push this total over the $5,250 mark.
Goal #2 - Connect more with the blogging community!
I have just recently stepped into the blogging community after reading posts for years. So far, I love it! The support that this community has for one another is one of a kind. It is a great avenue to talk to people that have the same passion for financial independence that I do.
In the past year, I have felt this feeling of lonesomeness as I started to really embrace this lifestyle. My wife is my biggest supporter but beyond that, I don't feel comfortable talking to family members or friends about this journey. You can see their struggles with money or they want to live in the here and now so they go out and buy the next best thing or a new car. But, then I hear them complain of the monthly payments. I can't connect with them because when they ask "I'm sure you feel the same way" I really do not have an answer. Our main expense right now is our house but beyond that, we have no car payments, no credit card debt and my final student loan is less than $100 per month.
Our frugal lifestyle was joked about when we told people we did not have cable or internet (we do now though), we did not want center pieces or flowers at our wedding beyond the bouquets because they were too much or we could not go to a fancy dinner because it was too much. However, saving an extra $5,000 or more over the past few years by not paying for those things, added roughly $175 in dividends this upcoming year which is compounding over and over again. It may not be a lot, but every little bit helps and they just do not understand that.
My specific goals are: Comment on posts that you all write; Write a minimum 2 blogs per month; Reply to all comments on my site; and Stop lurking so much!
Goal #3 - Save as much as possible but live life!
The final goal for 2015 is a bit open ended. There are 2 reasons for this: 1. I'm not getting any younger and 2. We plan on having a kid in 2016.
I say save as much as possible because the goal for this year is to travel a bit more while we do not have any youngsters running around. Good news is that we have a lot of points saved up on our credit card to use towards costs for flights, hotels and rental cars. Once again, we have a ton of weddings this year so traveling could include going an extra day or two before the wedding to check out the town and relax. With that being said, our only vacation this year involves going to the beach for a week. I'm hoping we will get to go to Austin, TX and Brazil... but we will see.
As for living life, like I said ... none of us are getting any younger. I played baseball my entire life and it is something that I really enjoy. I have been so busy with work the last few years that I have not had the time to play in any leagues. I subbed in for a few softball games but I really want to join a league to play a whole year. The leagues only cost about $60 so it is a great low cost way to get a little exercise, network with colleagues and get the competitive juices flowing again! I would also like to get to a few concerts and say yes to more experiences, whatever they might be.
We only live once, but once is enough if you do it right. So, create lasting memories with friends and family now because once your old and gray, memories will be all you have.
Well there you have it. Three goals that are attainable yet challenging enough to make me want to keep pushing myself to greatness!
As always, thank you all for the support that you provide and I look forward to chatting with you all in 2015!
ADD
Well - knocking $8,000 right off the top, and in the beginning of the year, is a nice way to start the year on the right foot. Plus you should see the benefits of the early investing throughout the rest of the year, both in added dividends, but additional compounding through dividend growth, etc.
ReplyDeleteGood to see another softball player as well. I play in several leagues throughout the course of the year and love the fact it gets me out and active without the boredom that just going to the gym can create.
As for the DG and online community, I'm glad you're a part of it and are looking to expand your involvement. There is a ton great folks in the space, and I know we're happy to see new blood and motivated investors. Odd that I consider myself a veteran since I have a couple of years under the belt.
Best of luck this year in both blogging and in nailing your goals.
It certainly is. I still have about the same amount still to invest, but not sure what to buy yet. Any suggestions? I know it goes against the grain in the community, but I'm thinking of buying SLCA. It does pay a dividend, although has not increased it for 2 years. CSX just reported earnings and said in their conference call that frac sand actually increased in demand over the last quarter despite what people may think by looking at SLCA's stock chart. It could be a great opportunity to pick up some nice capital gains.
DeleteYea, I started playing softball because baseball games were just taking way too long. 3-4 hrs for a 9 inning game or 1 hr tops for a 7 inning softball game... I'll stick with softball!
You've got some nice goals over there as well and we both seem to be right around the same growth path. I look forward to watching you progress in 2015. Good luck!
Wow $40,000 to invest is a pretty big goal. But its always better to aim as high as you can because if you fall short, you're still pretty high up. Good luck in 2015!
ReplyDelete$40,000 is quite steep but having two incomes certainly helps! Luckily, that total is now down $8,000 to $32,000 to invest the rest of the year.
DeleteI see you've started this journey recently and congrats! I started off investing small amounts of money seen here: http://americandividenddream.blogspot.com/p/dividend-income.html and have worked myself up over the years. Every little bit counts, the best decision ever is to start as early as possible.
Thanks for stopping by. Good Luck
$40,000 to invest for 2015 is a big goal. That's a great goal to have. I love your last goal though, saving is important but at the same time you need to enjoy life. :)
ReplyDeleteGotta live life a little bit. I also think it helps bring you back to realize why we are all on this journey to begin with... to do what you want when you want to do it.
DeleteThanks for stopping by Tawcan
ADD,
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with the goals this year!
That's a lot of capital you'll be adding to the portfolio. Great stuff. Keep at it!!
The blogging community is great. I've said it a few times now, but there really wasn't much of a "community" at all when I first started blogging. There was just me and a few other bloggers. But it's blossomed into something really great and I'm glad that I had something to do with that. Every additional member of the community makes us all stronger.
I hear you on saving and still enjoying life. I've never really had a problem with that thus far, but I've also not saved as much as some others who save 70% or 80% of their net income. I've kept it as extreme as reasonably possible while still enjoying life. Luckily, most of what I enjoy is free or low in cost. And sometimes we get lucky. We spent all day at Epcot today, but saved the $500 in tickets (we took Claudia's son and two of his friends with us) and parking fees because she has a good friend that works for Disney that was able to get us in for free. Major score. Always opportunities to be frugal while still having fun.
Best wishes.
Thanks! I will be ecstatic if we eclipse that goal this year. That will add roughly 1500-2000 in dividend income to our growing snowball, its a wonderful thing.
DeleteAwesome job on the free tickets! I've never been to any of the Disney attractions, but would love to get there one day. If I ever received free tickets, I would be there in a heartbeat but I've always heard that experience it quite capital intensive.
Great point on having fun and being frugal. My wife and I go boating a lot with friends That have boats. We always have a blast and as the saying goes... Whats better than having a boat?... A friend with a boat! It's a great low cost way to relax and get a catch up.
Thanks for stopping by!
You and I really share numbers 2 and 3! The reasons you have for starting your blog are the same reasons I started mine. Not many people you can talk to about this kind of thing in real life, but the DGI community is wonderfully open and friendly, which helps a lot. I hope you achieve all 3 in 2015!
ReplyDeleteThis community has been great for me. In "real" life, I navigate a tight rope between talking too much and not talking enough. I try to get a conversation going on the topic with different people in my life to try and gauge their interest... sometimes they like the conversation and others I can see it is uncomfortable. I've found only a 1 or 2 that take a liking to it which is great but now I have you readers!
DeleteYou've got yourself a nice portfolio already and being a few years younger than I, you will most likely see great benefits from investing so early, congrats!
Good luck to yourself in 2015
I know this post is a few months old now but it really resonated with me. Especially number 2 with this community.
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating that there are so many dividend growth/ financial independent blogs out there. Its such an open and supportive community that really makes the journey feel less lonely.
I just started my blog as well to mainly keep my own records of what im doing but also to share my struggles and gains.
Thanks for posting these goals. They are really helpful.
Thanks for commenting. You are the first person who commented on an older article, I really appreciate that! As for #2, this community certainly is fantastic. Stick around a while and keep reading, the experience only gets better!
DeleteYou've got a great start over there so keep up the great work!