Goals update – August 2015

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 August amounted to $4,341.70. August was better compared to the last few months. Used the volatility in August to add some extra capital.
  • I made 2 big purchases in August (WFC and UN) in addition to my regular weekly purchases.
  • Total investments in 2015 so far equals $20,899.93 which amounts to about 59.71% of my goal. I am still behind in this goal by a huge margin. Need to invest over $3,500/month for the next four months to meet this goal. It is going to be difficult. 
• Receive at least $2,500 in dividends
  • I received $177.35 in dividends in July. So far I have received $1,688.56 in dividends this year. This represents 67.54% of my annual goal.
  • I will be able to achieve this goal based on this pace with increased investments and dividend increases.
• Achieve at least $3,200 in projected annual dividends
  • At the end of August, my projected annual dividends stand at $3,115.47. This is a huge bump compared to my July’s $2,908.21.
  • The new investments definitely helped. But that is not the ony reason. Few stocks announced dividend increases in the last few months that I did not capture earlier.
  • Also, VER (formerly ARCP) reinstated the dividend after eliminating it at the end of 2014. This increased the projected annual dividends by over $65.00.
  • With continued weekly investments, I should be able to achieve this goal.
• DO NOT have a portfolio of more than 45 stocks/ETFs
  • Currently hold 42 stocks/ETFs. I initiated a new position in Wells Fargo (WFC) in August.

The goals page will be updated to reflect the progress.