I like to review the progress at least once a month to determine where I am with respect to meeting/achieving them.
These are the goals for 2014:
- Invest at least $20,000
- With just 1 new purchase in June (BAX), I have invested $18,075.95 so far in 2014 until end of June.
- Thanks to aggressive investing in the first few months of the year, I have almost hit the goal. I hope to hit the mark in the next month or so and hope to continue to add more to my portfolio.
- Receive at least $1,200 in dividends
- With an extra $128.09 in June dividends, the total for the year has hit $640.29 which represents 53%. This coincides with 50% of the year gone by.
- The new investments earlier this year should continue to add some more dividends through the rest of the year and I hope to achieve this goal a little early and maybe exceed it by a margin.
- Achieve at least $1,800 in projected annual dividends
- With the new purchases in the recent months and dividend increases announced, my current projected annual dividends stand at $1,734.66.
- With additional purchases through the rest of the year this should be achieved with ease.
- Have a portfolio of at least 25 stocks/ETFs
- Currently have 25 stocks/ETFs counting Google as 2 symbols even though I just hold 1 of each.
- With additional investments through the rest of the year, I should get even more.
Overall, I am happy with the progress though the first half of the year. I am on target (or even slightly higher) towards reaching the goals. I wish I could have invested more over the last couple of months, but with the markets not taking a breather, it is getting very difficult to find good stocks at reasonable valuations.
The goals page has been updated to reflect the progress until this month.
Dividend Growth Journey 
Hi DGJourney,
You mention having at least 25 positions – do you have any upper limit to the number of stocks that you may eventually purchase?
Looking forward to reading about the next step you take in your journey!
I don’t have a upper limit right now since I am sure I won’t have too many stocks this year. Also, I still feel that there are lot of dividend champions that I want to buy and haven’t initiated yet. But eventually when I reach a point that I have when I feel I have too many, I will have to look at it and limit my new positions.
Thanks for stopping by.
DGJ,
Nice job! You’re killing your goals already, and you’ve still got six months to go. Looks like you’re going to have a great 2014. Keep it up! 🙂
Best wishes.
Thanks DM. Maybe I set the goals too low since I never expected to invest so much during the first few months.
Thanks for stopping by.
Great job! You’re close to achieving most of your goals! At this rate you’re going to need to increase them before the year ends.
Thanks. I did not expect to invest so much at the beginning of the year. I might have to bump them up a bit in the next couple of months.
Thanks for stopping by.
DGJ,
Congrats on a great month here! I’m in the same boat with investing more capital than I expected so far this year, it’s definitely a good problem to have and we both deserve a good pat on the back. Keep up the excellent work 🙂
Thanks. Yes, it is better to invest more than expected than the other way around. Of course, the last couple of months has been really different compared to the first 4 months of the year. I haven’t invested as much as I would have liked. With the markets going up non stop, it is getting difficult to find value. But can’t hold forever. I need to make some investments consistently to keep this going.
Thanks for stopping by.
DGJ,
Throw your old goals sheet away since you were obviously “sandbagging.” LOL!!! Great job with your investments and keep adding coal to the furnace!
MDP
MDP,
LOL… I know the goals are not relevant anymore with just 6 months gone by. Honestly, at the beginning of the year, I did not expect to invest so much. I was sitting on lot of cash from the last 2 years and realized what a mistake it was and just invested quite a bit in the first few months.
I am looking to revise my goals for the year and hopefully by this month, I should come up with some updated ones.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
DGJ
Like I mentioned earlier, I have revised my goals for the rest of the year. Hopefully, I am able to meet those goals.
https://dividendgrowthjourney.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/revised-goals-2014/
Thanks for your continued support.
Great job being ahead of pace on most of your goals. Keep up the good work and keep looking for value. I’m in pretty much the same boat where I’m sitting on more cash than I’d like to. I’ll probably make a purchase or two next week to try and remedy that a little bit.
Thanks for your feedback. I also revised my goals for the year to make sure I keep pushing myself.
https://dividendgrowthjourney.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/revised-goals-2014/
Thanks for stopping by