Hey everyone! This week has been another wild week in the market. Some stocks were hitting ultimately highs again and some were hitting lows. Whichever the direction Mr. Market takes, I wanted to take time to write a post about the crossing of a major plateau if you will – the $100,000 portfolio value mark. This journey has been bittersweet as I take time to reflect that number and will share with you my thoughts…
Mr. Market continues to hit all time highs, with the S&P landing at 1962.87 as of market close on June 20th, 2014. Year to date the market is up 6.2%, which is nothing to scoff at. For us dividend-value investors, this pushes price to earnings ratios to higher levels and some-what retracts the undervalued companies out there. This isn’t a bad thing, but causes us to fine-tune our glasses to look even further for a value purchase. Given the huge upswing, I did purchase Target (TGT) this past week, as it was down almost 10% on the year and the company announced a heft 21% dividend hike, a dividend increase that has gone for 42 years now. There are value purchases out there, but one must be keen on it and be disciplined in the research.
Given that the market is at the all-time high and that I made a recent infusion into Target at $2,750 total – my portfolio has crossed one plateau that is on investor’s minds – the $100,000 mark. I am 26 years and 3 months old and I can officially say that my portfolio is worth over $100,000. There was an article on DailyFinance.com in 2012 that showed only 8% between the ages of 25-32 had over $100,000 saved/invested. It’s nice knowing that I at least fit into that small range, but I still feel there is more room to grow/more room to push me to bigger levels.
The significance of the $100,000 means more to me than just the number. It’s a number that my father had never had and a level that my mother doesn’t have. My mom is 7 years away from reaching the age of being allowed to receive distributions, I’ve tried hard managing her portfolio, and have actually performed well for her (invested total capital of approx. $22K and turned that into almost $34K), but she lacks infusing any additional capital. My mother is twice my age with less than half of what I have in terms of portfolio value. It kills/burdens me to think like that. That is a reason why I push myself so hard, because I know how hard everything is for her and how hard my life seemed to be when I was growing up. I love you mom and will continue to think of new ways to make your life easier.
My portfolio value, as of June 20th, 2014 is at $103,917. I crossed the plateau by $3.9K, and would cross the $100K mark without the TGT purchase via market appreciation alone this week. Value truly does nothing for me, just means my yields are lower and stock prices are higher – I actually want the portfolio to go down, so that I can purchase more stock at better prices or so that my dividends re-invest at lower prices. Does this high value stop me from purchasing stocks? No, of course not. Bert and I continue to research and find the diamonds in the rough and make the capital infusions necessary to add more dividend income to our portfolio. Bert recently purchased AT&T and HCP a couple of weeks ago, I purchased AT&T as well, with Health Care REITs and Target within the last 4 weeks alone.
The portfolio crossing has knocked one goal off my list, but this could change due to a drop in the market, so I will always be on the update with this goal. However, I still am ever more pumped to continue to be strapped with fresh capital to infuse my portfolio and enhance the dividend income amount! We can do it everyone, WE CAN DO IT. Continue to push yourselves to new lengths, new boundaries and when people are bouncing out – YOU BOUNCE IN. When people tell you to sell – you look the other way. Stay disciplined, stay motivated and stay focused on your goals, as Bert and I also try to do the same. This is a community effort to break the mold, let’s keep it that way, as we wouldn’t want it any other way. Thank you all again in celebrating this milestone with me! I know I will take a deep breath for a second as I drink my coffee this morning, which only cost me roughly $0.37 ; ), and think about the path traveled to get here. Cheers to all your weekends and please comment on your thoughts below!
-Lanny