I can’t say I’ve ever been one to write down my goals. However, over and over I hear how productive it can be to write them down, how it should increase my odds of achieving them. So, in the interest of trying something new, I thought I’d take a crack at writing down my investing goals for the dividend Portfolio for 2018. If nothing else it should be a kick to look back at these a year from now and see how I did.
I did have one dividend portfolio goal I set in 2017, but I didn’t write it down (as usual). It was to achieve $7,200 ($600/mo. average) in annual forward dividend income by year’s end, which I did.
Since this is my first time writing down goals, I’ll keep the number of goals to a minimum. I suspect that over the years I’ll be able to better refine the goals I set, or the specifics that go along with achieving those goals. So without further adieu…
Portfolio Goals for 2018
1) Invest at least $15,000 of new capital in the Portfolio
I must say, I feel pretty good about this one, mainly because I’ve been able to do this each of the past two years. So you may be asking, “Why not set the goal higher?” Well, my first child will be off to college this coming Fall (not sure where yet), and who knows what kinds of expenses I’ll see.
2) Generate $1,800 in options income to then invest in the dividend Portfolio
This one is a big unknown. I only started trading options early last year, and while I deemed it to be successful considering I generated over $1,200 in about 10 months, the fact is that maybe things just fell my way last year. Maybe I won’t be so lucky this year, and I’ll find it much more difficult to generate options income. So, I’m throwing out a target of $150/mo. on average – about 25% more per month than I was able to achieve last year.
3) Reach $8,700 in annual forward dividend income
I’m starting 2018 with an annual forward dividend income of about $7,317 (or $609.75/mo.). The goal number would require nearly $1,400 in forward dividend income be added over the course of the year. This would put me at an average of $725.00/mo. by year’s end. I think I can get to around $8,400 without too much trouble if I: a) invest the $15K + $1.8K mentioned above at my current portfolio yield of 2.52%, b) reinvest the $7,317 in forward dividends mentioned above at my current portfolio yield of 2.52%, and c) pick up about an average 6% dividend raise across the current portfolio holdings. Interestingly enough, the largest chunk of that increase in annual forward dividend income would come from the dividend raises. Getting to $8,700 in annual forward dividend income could be possible by investing more than $15K in new capital, generating more than $1.8K in options income, by investing the new money (or the reinvested dividends) at a higher yield than 2.52%, or getting a larger average dividend raise than the projected 6%.
Summary
There you have them… 3 investing goals for the dividend portfolio for 2018. They seem achievable if things fall into place for me. Perhaps they’ll prove to be too conservative, or too aggressive… time will tell.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Have you found writing down goals to be beneficial? Have you noticed increase levels of success as a result? Please share what’s worked for you.
Congrats on writing down your goals ED. I think having written goals are important. For me, I started writing down my goals about two years ago. In addition to writing down goals, I find that having a system to be able to track your progress regularly is important as well (depending on the goal). So, two years ago, my goal was to get out of credit card debt. I did that, not just by writing out the goal, but also by developing the plan, and tracking that plan on a spreadsheet. Today, I do the same with my dividend portfolio.
Nothing wrong with maintaining a little bit of flexibility with your goals. And it’s good that you’re not making the goal super easy to reach. But, good luck as you work towards your goals. Looking forward to tracking your progress in 2018.
Hi DP, it’s great that writing down your goals has been so effective for you. Hopefully, I see the same impact. Thank you for sharing your experience on this.
Solid goals and they all seem pretty achievable. If you hit that forward dividend mark by the end of 2018 then 2019 should see you crossing over into the $10k territory which is huge. All the best in 2018.
It’s funny you should say that, because that’s exactly what I was thinking as I wrote down that goal. I thought if actually get to $8,700 in 2018, then I should be able to cross over $10K the next year. Wow! Now that someone else thinks that’s possible, I’ll just have to make it happen! Thanks for the comment, JC!
Hi ED,
Congrats on writing down your goals for the first time! I like that you calculate realistically what you need to do to achieve them and have clear targets.
I think it’s not just writing your goals down which matters but you also share them with FI community which should bring even more motivation to achieve them 😉
Best of luck in 2018!
-BI
Thanks, BI. Sharing with the community will certainly motivate me to try to succeed. I’ll need all the luck I can get, too.
Nice goal, you could have stuck with the safe number of $8,400 but are pushing yourself further. I will be following along 🙂
– Desi Guy.
Welcome, Desi Guy! We’ll see how I do with reaching the goal. I did move the goal out a bit as a challenge. I’m glad you’ll be following along… more eyes on me will push me to want to succeed. Thanks for commenting… hope to see you again soon.