One thing has become apparent to me over the past 5 months. I underestimated the snowball. I underestimated just how large the snowball can grow in just a short amount of time. Another thing that has become apparent to me is that I am terrible at setting financial goals for a whole year. Back in December 2017, for the first time, I set some financial goals for the year 2018. Well, five months into the year 2018 I have met those goals! I am actually quite happy about achieving my goals. On the other hand, I realize I need to re-evaluate the way I set yearly financial goals.
In December of 2017, I set two main financial goals. The first was to add a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 5 new stocks to my portfolio, the Dividend Empire. The second was to surpass the $8,800 mark in dividend income. I am happy to say, I have achieved both. This was far sooner then I expected. I began looking as to how I reach my goals so quickly. It figured out three reasons for such a quick success. Those reasons will help me next time I set yearly financial goals.
Now granted, when I set those goals in December 2017, I did not envision that I would be slightly restructuring my portfolio in January of 2018. That moment of opportunity for restructuring resulted in the sale of one stock (UHT) and the purchasing of 188 shares of O, 58 shares of ED, and an additional 21 shares of SO. Those three purchases added $688.20 in forward dividend income for the year. Minus the UHT sale and I still had a net dividend income gain of $201.20 in forward annual dividends. This was a significant piece that helped me achieve my goals so quickly.
The second reason, of course, was the market correction that left many stocks trading at a nice discount and created some nice buying opportunities. Taking advantage of those opportunities, I made the purchases of 25 shares of PG and 18 shares of PEP. Those two purchases added $126.91 to my yearly forward dividend income. Taken altogether, all of my purchases over the past 5 months added $328.11 to my forward annual dividend income.
The third and final reason, was that I seriously underestimated the snowball. The snowball grows on its own! I have never tracked my monthly dividend growth until I started this website. And this was the first year I have been able to track my year over year growth rate. It has really been enlightening. I seriously underestimated just how much dividend increases from companies can add to one’s forward annual dividend income. As of this post, all of the dividend increases I received have added up to a total of $244.55 to my yearly dividend income. That is incredible!
And with that, the goals I set in December have been accomplished. And now, I decided new goals should be set in mid-year. Next month, I will set new goals for the final six months of the year. I’m thinking of setting goals in the different way for the last six months. Maybe instead of one strict goal number, I will set multiple levels to achieve with the highest bar being the top prize. This will be exciting! How are the rest of you doing with your goals? Are you on course to break them? Have you broken them already? Let me know in the comments below. 🙂
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