I like to review the progress at least once a month to determine where I am with respect to meeting/achieving my goals.
These are the goals for 2015:
- Invest at least $35,000
- New investments in January amounted to just $1200.00 as part my weekly Sharebuilder purchases. I did not have any other investments. This amounts to about 3.42% of my goal. This is definitely less than what I would have liked for a month. Need to catch up in the next few months.
- Receive at least $2,500 in dividends
- I received $235.85 in dividends in January. This represents 9.43% of my annual goal. January dividends are misleading because 1st month of the quarter are my highest. I project to receive about $300 for the next two months combined. Also, dividends from DIS are one a year and are received in January and hence this won’t be a regular stream of income for the remainder of the year.
- Achieve at least $3,200 in projected annual dividends
- My projected annual dividends stand at $2280.80 at the end of January. Again, this hasn’t improved much compared to Dec 2014 due to lack of new investments. Need to catch up on this in the next few months.
- DO NOT have a portfolio of more than 45 stocks/ETFs
- Currently hold 38 stocks/ETFs. I did not initiate any new positions in January.
Based on the numbers so far, I have to make considerable progress in the amount invested and projected dividends goal. These two go together and therefore, I have to focus a bit more to invest some capital in Feb and March to catch up.
The goals page will be updated to reflect the progress.
Dividend Growth Journey 
I think it’s very smart of you to write these updates as the year progresses. This way you can easily track those long term goals in short and small increments and make adjustments along the way. Dividend income seems to be on track. We all know those end of quarter results are always big. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks DH. The monthly review of the goals is definitely a good thing. It definitely helped me last year and because of that, I revised my goals (upward) twice last year as the year progressed.
So far, so good. Any particular reason you didn’t put more capital into play during January? Also, when you get to 45 companies, will you sell one to add one, or just reinvest in existing positions?
Not sure of any specific reason for low investments last month. I was busy with work for most of the month in Jan and until last week. So I didn’t spend enough time to narrow down on any stocks. Hopefully I am able to make at least 1 purchase in Feb in addition to my weekly purchases.
45 companies goal is just to restrict myself from diversifying too much too fast and not having reasonable sized positions in the ones I hold. Therefore, with this goal, I am forcing myself to reinvest in existing positions if valuations are good. I also plan to sell a couple of positions sometime this year (ARCP, C for example). So let’s see how this goal progresses in the next few months.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
I like the idea of consistently keeping track of your goals. It makes you not lose sight of what you are striving for and it breaks things down to a manageable level. Good luck in the upcoming months to reach your investing goal. Keep pushing yourself!
ADD
Thanks ADD. I really like to review the goals once a month just to make sure I am on track or at least making progress. Like after reviewing them now, I know that I need to catch up on investments to meet my $35K goal.
Thanks for stopping by.
Nice to see that you are coming along fine with your goals, DGJ. I dont review my goals as often, but its good to check up on them regularly.
Thanks for sharing
R2R
Thanks R2R. I typically review them once a month and it helps me to either focus on some goals or revise them upward if needed (like I did twice last year).
Thanks for stopping by.
It takes a lot of modesty to post about your goals progress so often. You surely deserve a special credit for that! If you sell some of your less brilliant holdings and reinvest money in your most brilliant ones, I’m sure you’ll see some results (if valuations are good). Keep it up!
Thanks DivGuy. I am just reviewing more frequently than others so that I can revise the goals if needed and also helps me focus on goals that I might be lagging behind.
And yes. I am planning to sell some of my holdings (ARCP since they have cut the dividend and possibly C since it is not really a dividend stock and not a growth stock either). So Let’s see how it goes.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.