It’s just over the halfway point of the year, so it’s time to check if I’m on track to meet/exceed my 2019 Portfolio Goals.
What’s nice about the mid-year review is that it offers plenty of time to make some adjustments should it look like I might fall short of my goals.
As you may recall, I set 3 Portfolio goals for 2019. I’ll briefly review them here, but see my 2019 Portfolio Goals post from this past January for all the details.
Writing down my goals is supposedly a key for success, so let’s see if it’s been working for me thus far.
Revisiting my Portfolio Goals for 2019
1) Invest at least $10,000 of new capital in the Portfolio
Compared to years past, planning to invest $10,000 was a low bar. However, I was only confident in half that amount heading into 2019, so $10K felt like the right number.
Until early June, I’d only made one purchase, so it seemed like I was correct in being conservative. However, I was able to make 4 new purchases last month that boosted my investment totals.
At the halfway point, I’ve made 5 buys and 1 sale for a net investment of $7,993.72. With nearly $8K invested so far, I look like a good bet to reach my goal.
PROJECTION –> SUCCESS
2) Reach $11,000 in projected annual dividend income
I started off 2019 with a projected annual dividend income of $9,276.42, and reached $10,078.38 by mid year – about an $800 gain.
Now if I gained $800 in the first half of the year, you might be thinking I should be able to do it in the 2nd half as well, and that would put me at nearly $10.9K by year’s end. That’s true, but I’ve already invested ~80% of my planned capital, and can’t expect to do that again in these final 6 months.
At the beginning of the year, I laid out a path in which I could reasonably get to $10,600 in projected annual dividend income if things went according to plan.
To exceed that and reach $11K, I thought I’d have to invest my planned $10K at a yield higher than 3% (my Portfolio yield at that time), reinvest my dividends at a yield higher than 3%, and see dividend raises north of 8%.
While my invested capital has been at an average yield of 3.91%, my reinvested dividends have been below the 3% mark, and I’m fairly confident that I’ve not seen an average of 8% dividend growth on my raises (and raises were providing the most weight in my plan to reach my goal).
Thus, to hit my goal, I believe I’m going to have to invest more than the $10K I planned. This is possible, but not guaranteed.
PROJECTION –> POSSIBLE WITH MORE INVESTING, OTHERWISE IT’S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN
3) Obtain $10,000 in actual dividend income
I compiled $8,460.35 in dividend income in 2018. At the beginning of 2019 I targeted a 15%-20% increase to put my projected dividend total in the $9,729.40 to $10,152.42 range.
At the halfway point of 2019, I’ve collected $4,943.25, but this already includes 3 of the 4 2019 Pepsico (PEP) payouts due to their payment schedule.
If I add in my forward dividend income projections for the remaining 6 months of 2019, I calculate annual dividend income for 2019 to come in at $9.890.52.
This total does not include a Main Street Capital (MAIN) special dividend expected in December. It also doesn’t include any new forward dividend income that will show up in dividend payments in the final 6 months of the year from reinvested dividends, dividend raises, or new capital investment.
It’s going to be close with regard to reaching $10K in dividend income. If I was going to invest any more capital, doing so this summer will have a greater impact on helping me reach this goal than investing later in the year.
PROJECTION –> IT’S GOING TO BE CLOSE, BUT SOME NEAR-TERM INVESTMENT WILL PROBABLY GET ME THERE
Summary
Looking these goals over, I’m very confident that I’ll reach my $10K investment goal. However, the other two goals are still in question. Ironically, it appears I can achieve these other two goals with some investment beyond my $10K goal. So, if I just focus on investing a bit more than the remaining $2K I had planned, it could be all-around goal success.
However, I can’t wait too long for that investment, as delaying would make it nearly impossible to realize the $10K in actual dividend income (goal #3). In this case, I wouldn’t have invested early enough to realize any of the additional forward dividend income I added due to the investment.
Goal success is there to be had, I just need to be a bit more focused on making some additional investments.
Did you set some 2019 goals related to your dividend portfolio? If so, how’s it looking? Are you on track for achieving your goals, or do you need to step up your efforts? I look forward to your comments.
Moving along Nicely ED,
In regards to “reinvested dividends have been below the 3% mark”. I have been struggling with the same thing as I have not hit my expected growth rates and came to a similar decision of the possibility if having to contribute more funds. One thing I have done is turn is turn off the DRIP on about 25% of my portfolio and use those funds to reinvest in higher yielding (3 to 4%) stocks. Hopefully this will lessen the need for additional cash.
Hi, Ken. You’ve got a good strategy to help recover some of that growth.
With the 2018 Q4 market drop, my Portfolio ended 2018 at its high yield for the year – that 3% mark. So, I wasn’t too surprised that my reinvestments have come in under that level.
I’m typically reinvesting with an average in the 2.5%-3% range, so I can live with that. In general, I prefer to automatically reinvest my dividends, as opposed to turn them off and be more opportunistic with the reinvestment. Looking back, I probably could have been more conservative in my projection at the beginning of the year, given that my Portfolio yield was unusually high at that time.
I don’t think it will take too much more cash to try and reach my goals, so I’ll take a look at what I can do to increase my investments a bit.
Appreciate the comment. Thanks for popping in.
Goal number 1 is the main one you have control over, so if you can achieve that then you’re definitely doing something right. Looks like you’re well on track either way – you never know your luck in the 2nd half of the year with those dividend targets!
Cheers, Frankie
I agree, Frankie. I still feel I’ve got some control over my goal destiny.
I’ve still got some time to do something about it, but as I said, I can’t delay too long.
Thanks for stopping by!
Looking good at halftime ED. Don’t sweat goal #2. Looks like #1 and #3 are going to happen.
Just remember to make sound investment choices and not force anything to attain a goal.
I feel good in my standing at the half way point, PC. Although, after further evaluation, I think goal #3 will happen, but goal #2 may not. More investment will be necessary for goal #2, and I’m not sure I will make that happen. I certainly won’t force anything, but if I see an opportunity to attain all goals in the scope of my normal activities, I may go for it.
Thanks for stopping by!
You have simple and effective goals ED. With the first goal pretty much in the books, it will be interesting to see how it goes with the rest of them. I have a feeling that you will achieve at least two out of your 3 goals this year 🙂
For me, the financial goals are looking pretty well this year so far. I couldn’t say the same for my fitness goals, though 🙂
Good luck during the second half of the year, you can do this!
I’m thinking 2 of 3 goals will be achieved as well, BI. Thanks for the encouragement.
I saw you were proceeding well with the financial goals, but well behind on the fitness goals. That’s well explained though, as life certainly got busy for you this past year! Time is hard to come by when raising a child.