Crossing the $40k Mark

Lanny is not the only person to hit a milestone this year.  We are only 6 months into 2014 and I reached my ending market value goal of $40,000.  Through a healthy dose of appreciation, dividend payments, and a Roth 401(k) match from my employer, my portfolio has finally crossed this benchmark.

How Did I Get There?

At the beginning of the month, I my portfolio’s market value was sitting at $37,766. I was fresh off of two purchases, HCP and T, which added ~$2,700 to my portfolio.  At this point, I had pushed my savings account to the limit and had to take my foot off of the accelerator.  Fortunately for me, I had three major factors working in my favor that made up for my lack of overall investment activity. The combination of  dividends, my employer contribution, and market appreciation pushed me over my $40,000 goal! My summary for each factor follows.

    1. Dividends. Thanks to my intense capital infusion in the second quarter and some larger than expected dividends from mutual funds and etfs, I have received $205 in dividend income during June.  This is by far my best month of dividends received to date, topping March’s record of $140.  I will not go into too much detail here, as I will post a detailed summary after I receive my final dividend on June 30th.

  1. Employer Match.  This one kind of snuck up on me.  To make a long story short, I was not expecting to receive the employer match until the August.  However, I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that I was set to receive the match this month.  Every year, I contribute the maximum amount my employer will match.  How can you say no to free money?  Based on our plan, I received an additional contribution of $1,544.76.
  2. Appreciation. Alright, so this has had the least impact on my portfolio this period.  However, it had just enough of an impact to push my portfolio over $40,000!  After adding dividends and contributions to my portfolio, my other investments have only increase $305.67, or .1% from my 5/31/14 final market value. While some stocks saw some very productive months, my portfolio was hampered by my investment in ARCP as the company continued its downward trend. While I am not on pace to beat the market this month (S&P 500 is up 1.9%), I would prefer my portfolio to slide during the last month of the quarter so my dividends can purchase a great number of shares.

Mission Accomplished. Time to Re-rack my Goal!

I can’t believe that I was able to cross this mark so quickly. I knew that I was pushing myself at the beginning of the year when I set my target at $40,000, but if you told me I would have crossed this mark in June I would have told you that you are nuts.  As Lanny mentioned when he crossed the $100k mark last week, PUSH YOURSELF; all of us our capable of reaching our goals with a little hard work and dedication.  With that being said, I can’t just stop at $40k.  I need to re-rack my investment goal so I have something to strive towards in the last half of the year.  It is time to crack open the budget and figure out where a realistic but challenging new market value goal.  I will have a new goal for you after June 30th when I write about my month end review.

Thank you all for following me for the last couple of months.  I have learned a lot from all of you since Lanny and I began this blog.  Your investment advice, ideas, and successes have encouraged/motivated me to keep investing.

~Bert

8 thoughts on “Crossing the $40k Mark

  1. Congratulations Bert! I’m extremely impressed you beat your record for dividends paid in a month by a large percentage! You’re on your way to big things, you and Lanny both. The two of you have truly helped push a young investor like myself to continue to work hard and stay the course. Here’s to seeing you pass the $50K mark and then $100K in the future!

    Joe

    • Thanks Joe! I appreciate your kind words. I love this community for the reasons you said. Watching the success of other investors helps motivate me to reach my goals and keep pushing myself. Best of luck on your journey as well. Make sure to keep us posted.

      Thanks again.

      Bert

    • Thank you very much. Hopefully I am only a couple of years away from $100k. You aren’t too far off of your goal so far. If you keep up your current growth pace and some appreciation, we should both be at the finish line together come December. You have a very solid portfolio. Keep up the great work.

      Bert

  2. Bert,

    Congrats on the success thus far. Crossing over $40k is the start of really wonderful things. You’re doing great.

    And nice job with the record dividend income. The success is tangible. That’s real-life cash money, baby. 🙂

    Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

    • Thanks DM. It has been a lot of fun actually receiving the dividends this year. Over the last year/year and a half, I have been so focused on my projected annual dividend income. I am now finally starting to enjoy the benefits of dividend income.

      Thanks again for stopping by!

      Bert

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *