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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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