2019 was my 2nd year of setting some financial goals for my Portfolio.  Usually, the goals are centered on minimum levels of investment and generating additional dividend income.

Throughout the year, I tried to be mindful of the goals I set as I managed my Portfolio.  However, no extraordinary efforts were made to achieve the goals.

As in 2018, I set 3 goals.   Below I’ll list the goals I had, review where I stood with each at mid-year, and then where I ended up with regarding to achieving the goal.

Let’s get started…

 

Review of 2019 Portfolio Goals

1) Invest at least $10,000 of new capital in the Portfolio

This investment amount goal was lower than in previous years, but it felt like the right amount given my cash forecast for the year.

Portfolio investment definitely got off to a slow start in 2019, as I didn’t make any investments until April.  However, investment heated up in June and by mid-year I was well on pace to meet my goal.  At the halfway point, I’d made 5 buys and 1 sale for a net investment of $7,993.72.  Looking good.

By the end of September, I’d invested another $3,487.35, despite 3 additional sales during Q3.  I’d met my annual goal at the 3/4 pole.

In Q4, I made 2 more sales, but failed to re-invest all the proceeds.  With prices climbing as the market rose, I decided to hold some of those proceeds for 2020 investment.  Unfortunately, the net Q4 investment was -$1,619.94, and this brought my annual net investment total to $9,861.13… just shy of my goal.

So, technically I didn’t meet my goal, but I feel like it was a success anyway, especially since I crossed the threshold during the year.  Let’s call this one achieved.  Are you with me?

 

2) Reach $11,000 in projected annual dividend income

Since I started off 2019 with a projected annual dividend income of $9,276.42, I needed to add $1,723.58 in additional forward dividend income during the year in order to reach my $11K goal.

Considering I added $1,959.44 during 2018, this shouldn’t be an issue, right?  Well, 2018’s forward dividend income improvement was the result of investment that was over 3x my planned investment for 2019, and the result of an awesome year of dividend raises in 2018.

As it turned out, by mid-year 2019, I’d reached $10,078.38 of additional forward dividend income – about an $800 gain.  If I could do that again in the 2nd half of 2019, I’d be close, right?

Unfortunately, at the half way point of 2019 I’d already put to work ~80% of my planned investment, and as I detailed above, my net investment by the end of 2019 wasn’t much more.  It was going to take more invested capital, or something better than my projected 8% dividend growth on my raises in order to achieve this goal, and neither happened.

However, I gave it a decent run, and my forward dividend income reached $10,804.29 by year’s end.  Not bad.  This brought me to an average monthly dividend income of $900 moving forward.  This feels like a good launch point as I head into 2020.

 

3) Collect $10,000 in actual dividend income

Ah… $10K in actual dividend income… quite a milestone number to try and achieve.  Considering it was in my projected target range for 2019, it seemed like a good goal to set.

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.  $10K was near the higher end of the this range, but it seemed like a reasonable target.

At the halfway point of 2019, I’d collected $4,943.25, a tad shy of 50% of my goal.  However, this already included three of the four 2019 Pepsico (PEP) payouts (due to their payment schedule), making the possibility of $10K a bit more challenging than the halfway number revealed.

After adding in my forward dividend income projections for the remaining 6 months of 2019, I calculated annual dividend income for 2019 to come in at $9,890.52.  However, this did not include a Main Street Capital (MAIN) special dividend that I expected in December.  It also didn’t include any new forward dividend income that would show up in dividend payments in the final 6 months of the year from reinvested dividends, dividend raises, or new capital investment.  So this goal was certainly still achievable as the 2nd half of 2019 began.

However, the same Portfolio stock sales that reduced my net investments and nixed my chance at reaching $11K in annual forward dividend income, also hindered my chances at obtaining this actual dividend income goal, too.  However, I had just enough momentum to cross the finish line.  It turns out that I didn’t achieve this goal until December 31st, when my Crown Castle International (CCI) dividend hit my brokerage account.  One can’t get any closer than that!

All totaled, my Portfolio generated $10,049.68 in dividend income for 2019, waiting until the last day of the year to reach $10K.  Goal achieved!

 

Summary

Three goals, two achieved… same as in 2018.  Although, I was certainly much closer to falling short this time around.

New capital investment of $10K (still giving it to me, right?) and actual dividend income of $10K were reached, but I missed my annual forward dividend income goal of $11K by $200.

In the end, it was an overall success as my Portfolio continued its ascent, in value and dividend income.

My 2020 goals should follow this post in the days ahead, so keep an eye out for that.  I might look to add another goal or two this time around.

 

Were you able to achieve your 2019 goals, financial or otherwise?  Did you encounter any unexpected obstacles during the year?  I look forward to hearing how you did in the Comments.