Crushing $4,000 in Projected Dividend Income

I am on a mission here.  It’s weird, we just transitioned our blog to a newly hosted domain site – this just helps solidify the goal myself and Bert are trying to attempt – Financial Freedom.  I have started the year off with an initial dividend income projection goal of $3,200  and decided to not achieve it, but CRUSH it.  What exactly am I doing to do this, where is my goal currently at and why?

Dividend Income and Crushing ItThe Journey

We have begun this journey to Financial Freedom for different reasons between Bert and I.  My mindset is completely focused right now on different income streams, especially and more specifically – Dividend Income paying stocks.  I am a smooth 5.5 years into my investing career and have been fortunate enough to build an investment portfolio over $115K as this age with dividend income now, as we will dive into more deeply, projected at over $4,000!  That is a whopping $333.33 at least per month in cash flow as I run outside, sleep in my mind, read the news or make tiramisu.  So thankful and lucky, I’ve played a few cards right to this point, have done thorough research using our Dividend Income stock screener & have saved quite a bit of money every month to do this.  Humbled and am in disbelief looking back at everything that’s happened.

Feeling Behind

However, even with these metrics, I sadly feel… behind.  I know, that may sound weird, but I look at this investing community we are in, and they are all approaching over $4K in dividend income to upwards of $20K in dividend income.  I mean wow, talk about the fierce motivation out there – yes – motivation, not competition, as this is a way to Peg yourself or to see where you want to be and beyond – so thank you everyone, such as DividendMantra, StartingFromZero, Dividend Pipeline, Dividend Life, DivHut, Retireby40, Cashville Skyline, to name a few (others at the Blogroll), for helping push me to new lengths.  So I feel behind, but there are others reasons I feel behind…

My monthly expenses aren’t covered by this dividend income yet.  My car, which is a Honda 2010 Accord, has had – for some great reason – Tire problems?  I recently purchased 4 brand new tires and just last weekend, one of them popped, after a few thousand miles on it.  I know it’s because of the glorified Cleveland-pot-hole/bad-road syndrome, but wow, I was disappointed and also upset.  Upset because I know owning these types of assets are the unknown and unplanned liabilities it brings.  With cars, for example, not only is there insurance, gas, tires, oil changes and other maintenance but there are further liabilities – sudden tire pops, potential traffic tickets, automated screen capture tickets, other people driving could hit you (as I’ve been T-Boned within the last 12 months, not fun), etc.  I feel without some of these liability type assets I would be more ahead and more free, it’s weird.  This past week I have taken the public transportation 3 times and… loved it.  I felt that I didn’t have to worry about parking and paying to have my car somewhere.  I didn’t have to worry as much about my car being broken into.  I was saving gas and traffic road-rage.  It was bliss.  I also started to see what it’s like to only have public transportation and different individuals that you see.  It was eye opening.  I was happy, I liked it.  Now don’t get me wrong – I love driving my car on a highway, listening to music and being in control of being able to get anywhere that I want.  Also, Cleveland is a city where you more so need a car than don’t need one – as I am a traveling auditor and my family is ~30 miles away from me, with no public transportation to & from.  That’s why I feel behind – as I have these items that are holding me down/back and technically lengthening the process of being financially free.

Additionally, 36% of my dividend income annually is from retirement accounts.  What that means, is that, with all things constant, I will not be touching those assets or grabbing that dividend income until I am 59.5 years of age.  Ouch and dang, that is a long time from now (33 more years!).  However, as you remember – I have a plan of Maximizing my Roth IRA for 10 years and doing the match with my employer to set and forget it!  With all this being said, I still feel behind due to a large % of my dividend income being in an account that I will not touch.

Why I CRUSHed $4,000 in Income & Set a New Goal

It’s September 16 and my projected Dividend Income is approximately $4,100 going forward.  This is $900 more than my initial established goal of $3,200 at the very beginning of the year or 28% higher than the goal.  As you can recall in my August Income Summary, I up’d the ante and made my new goal at $4,250 or 6.25% more than $4K and 32.8% higher than the initial $3.2K goal.  I am out to CRUSH $4K going forward into 2015, for all of the reasons listed above.  As a dividend income investor, I am looking for a pullback without a disruption in fundamentals on blue chips stock to add to current positions & create new ones.  I spent the bulk of my time two weeks ago trying to tweak my monthly expenses to only one success – I increased my deductible on my auto insurance which decreased my premium roughly $115 for the year.  Not too bad, but that’s not too significant.  I looked to re-finance my mortgage, but I purchased my house in the fall of 2011 and the rate and price I purchased at was extremely low.  Therefore, the payback period was just too far out to take the hit on the closing costs.  Does anyone else have recommendations in decreasing my monthly costs?  My auto loan rate is very low and I had no luck with talking to 3 different car insurance carriers that had a better premium than my current one.

This is why more dividend income is necessary – to cover all monthly expenses and part of the reason why I continue to purchase high quality dividend income producing assets.  Going forward, I am even considering somehow changing how I transport myself from point A to point B as well, and experience a different side of life that way, as I think I could reduce gas costs and insurance costs, simply by… driving less?  Who would have thought, right? haha  I am buying dividend income stocks also because I feel this is what I learned in my MBA-finance program partly, what I would read about in books and, well, I understand it.  Also – I’m having a gosh damn fun time doing this research, bouncing ideas off of the community, Bert and reading what others see.  I want to keep crushing the dividend income targets and see the thorough research & actions come to life.

Concluding Summary

I’m having fun.  I’ll be honest – this blog to me is so damn fun and being able to experience this with one of my best friends has been humbling, exciting and motivating.  Every night I come home and am excited to read what others have written, respond back to comments and be a part of this community.  This platform helps motivate me in CRUSHING my financial goals and put me into a place that I wouldn’t have been without it.  I highly recommend to check out all readers mentioned above and I apologize on leaving names out – this was not on purpose!  I will continue to crush these goals for the community, for Bert and also, in a very non-conceited way – myself.  In the words of our hometown hero Lebron James – “I have a goal …and I won’t stop until I get it”  Thank you.

-Lanny

26 thoughts on “Crushing $4,000 in Projected Dividend Income

    • AAI,

      Thanks for your kind words. I appreciate all of the positive comments and it’s weird how hard I beat myself up because I always feel like I can do “more”. I think I’m at a point where this “more” means more creative ways or becoming a little more extreme with lifestyles, etc.. We shall see which direction that takes me. Thanks for the pump up! I appreciate it all, always.

      -Lanny

    • FFdiv,

      THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT! Writing the article I could feel the blood rushing through and hitting research hard right afterwards. I am always trying to find ways to push the envelope, even if it means saving $10/month or gaining an extra few dollars here and there – it all goes towards buying more assets that produce income and I love it. I am glad that it motivates and pumps you up – as that is one of the primary goals of our site – to influence/guide/motivate others – so that is a humbling comment and feeling, thank you. Let’s get up and get after it.

      -Lanny

      • FFdividend is right you guys are good at pumping up other DGI’s through your writing. Funny that I’m reading this today, it’s my first year of dividend growth investing and I’m already at 135% of my original goal and 86% of my updated goal. I’m hoping to set a challenging but possible goal for the final quarter of the year! Keep going strong Lanny!

        -Joe

  1. Congrats on revising the goal. I just posted today about my revised goals as well for 2014. This is my second increase for the year. I increased my projected annual dividend at end of 2014 to be $2200 from earlier goal of $2000 which itself was revised from $1800. I also increased my investment amount for the year to $30K.

    • DGJ,

      Thanks – it’s weird how many revised goals I’ve had, makes me wonder if I missed the ball that bad when I set them? haha. Looks like come December I will be maybe making a much more analytical approach to setting the goal for 2015, with maybe even a “sub goal” of not changing a goal haha. But congratulations on the 10% increase from your $2K mark! I know you can crush it. $30K is amazing for the year, wow, such a large capital infusion. Let’s CRUSH our goals!

      -Lanny

  2. Revising the goal to a higher amount is always a good sign. Our goal was to get $8000 dividend income in 2014 and looks like we’re on track. Our forward looking dividend is higher than $8000 at current time so that’s nice to see.

    • Tawcan,

      $8K is incredible, words can’t even fathom what that’s like right now – over $600/month, is phenomenal. Knowing you will crack the $10K mark in 2015, which I am feeling you will, is going to be awesome. Both items something to celebrate over as well. Let’s Crush these goals Tawcan, and beat this thing called, “time”.

      -Lanny

  3. Echoing what some of the others have said, you really are crushing it for your age. Most of us would love to be where you are at the age of 26. I am only a few years older and am envious of those younger than me for some of the incredible decisions that you’ve made by committing to your finances and building your passive income streams. Keep up the great work, and by the time you are 30 you will be paying for quite a bit of your life with passive income, both from dividends and other sources, I’d imagine.

  4. Lanny,

    I like the way you are putting all your spending options on the table. Autos are usually a “sacred cow” to most people. Maybe you can buy an older car which can save you money without giving up the freedom of mobility. Also, I wouldn’t worry too much about retirement accounts. You will need money when you are older and the IRS 72-t distribution is also available if you decide you want access to the funds before 59 1/2. I may use this method of equal installment payments to access my 401k accounts early when I reach FI.

    MDP

    • MDP,

      Thank you for stopping by. I agree – the car can be a very big “sacred cow” – buying an old car that is efficient and less expensive for sure in regards to maintenance & insurance. I really am not too worried about the retirement accounts, just want to do the “max” on the Roth and the max match with the firm I am with and call it a day. I do have a goal of stopping any retirement contributions at X age as well, as it’ll have a snowball on its own to carry me a “last case” scenario fund. All interest points. Thanks MDP – always appreciate your thoughts.

      -Lanny

  5. Lanny,

    You’re doing great man. And it’s awesome that you’re raising the goal even further. You’re definitely crushing it, as you so accurately put it. 🙂

    And as others have already stated, you’re doing fantastic for your age. I WISH I would have started even younger. You’ll be far ahead of where I’m at right now when you get to be my age, which is awesome. You’ll be well on your way to financial independence by the time you’re in your mid 30s. Just gotta stay consistent, which you’re having no problem with.

    Best wishes!

    • DM,

      Phew – thank you, it’s weird how it can be exhausted but yet “addictive” (may be a strong word haha) in a way to continue to invest and find unique ways to save to buy more dividend income stocks. Sometimes DM, I literally am looking back on this year thinking – where the H*ll did all of this capital come from? It helps when you have dividend income coming in for me that I reinvest back into more shares.

      I appreciate the kind words about where I am with my life/age point. You may have started a few years later, but you have definitely made that up with a portfolio sitting at $170+K and divided income, assuming all goes well, breaking through $4K year to date after this month and even closer to the $5K mark. You are definitely someone who is helping my push and seeking out ways to keep the momentum going, so for lack of better words right now – Thank you.

      Mid 30’s would be a great age to reach, I am going to find ways to make it earlier haha. I am getting old over here man! The greys are coming through, but I am sure public accounting is the primary aid there.. Regardless, I do have a feeling that in 10 years, the position I’ll be in will be much different from where I am now, which I am sure if you looked at your last 10 years – you’d say the same, assuredly.

      Thanks again Mantra, we’ll talk soon! Keep going.

      -Lanny

    • Henry,

      Thank you very much. $1K was amazing when I hit that projected and then $2.5K came, & then $4k. I am going to be aiming above $5K for my 2015 goal, just a matter of which mark. I know you are over there cruising past almost $150K in total investment assets! I have a lot of catching up to do that’s for sure, so I thank YOU for giving me something to chase. Talk soon Henry, nice work as well!

      -Lanny

  6. Excellent job, Lanny! I think crushing it is still an understatement considering the speed at which you’re increasing your dividend income.

    Keep it up! You guys motivate me to invest more and more!

    • NoMoreWaffles,

      Truly appreciate it – if we can motivate and inspire others – that is what causes us to belong to this community the most and pushes us to keep everything going. I am trying to find the right game plan now for 2015, and with a few days off coming up – I think I’ll be able to do that. Thanks NMM, appreciate the stop by and you keep killing it too!

      -Lanny

    • R2R,

      Thank you, Onward to big things, it’s because of you and the community here that is pushing me. For some reason, it’s weird, I keep getting more and more of a burst of excitement to continue to push. It’s hard though right now R2R to find that right dividend stock opportunity, but they can be found, you know? I’m always looking for ways as well to reduce expenses/increase income or a combo of both if possible to keep the cash flow coming in to purchase more assets. Always on the grind!

      -Lanny

  7. You are well on your way towards FI. No need to feel like you are behind or compare yourself to anyone else. We are all at different points on the same road heading in the same direction. Some may reach their final destination at 40, 50 or even 60. No matter. Just save and invest and enjoy life in the meantime. Have life experiences, travel and live. I think many of the FI bloggers forget that while it’s admirable to save and invest and increase our dividend income month after month, it really is useless if we don;t stop once in a while and smell the roses. For me and my apartment living, 2009 Honda Civic and never own any high fashion designer clothes, I do spend on travel and life experiences. One of the reasons I have been fortunate to visit well over 30 countries and I’m not done. Just keep doing what you are doing and invest wisely but also don’t forget to live a little for the day. It’s all about balance. Too often we convince ourselves to “work one more year” or “take that trip abroad next year” only for those adventures to never materialize because of potential health issues or worse, death. You are doing well and have an awesome portfolio. Look forward to your next update.

    • DivHut,

      Thanks for stopping by. I know I struggle with taking a deep breath knowing that I’m in an “okay” spot, but I think it has to do with how I was raised, the things that were said about my future in the past and moreso the “italian” in me. I know I need to celebrate more and take more experiences into life. I’ve been trying to keep that always in focus, to not let anything slip past me. Luckily I have a few close friends and have been/seen a lot this last year or so. Could it have been better? Sure, but I have been trying to make the best experiences out of the situation that I’m in. There is still a lot of my life that is unfulfilled, and I’m trying to do the things to fill those voids. I like that you drive the 2009 civic, something I should consider, as my Honda accord 2010 is giving me a PITA. If we put off tomorrow what we can do today, there’s the highest likelihood it doesn’t happen, I have always been a believer of that. Thanks again DH – lets continue this journey.

      -Lanny

  8. “This is why more dividend income is necessary – to cover all monthly expenses and part of the reason why I continue to purchase high quality dividend income producing assets.”

    Keep on crushing it because once your dividend income exceeds expenses, THAT’S financial freedom!

    I’ve got $20,000 per year to go on my path, hopefully in another 10 years I can get the job done 🙂
    Mark

    • Mark,

      I’m going to try to keep crushing it. Finding the right dividend stock is becoming tougher in this market, as I’m sure you know. Freedom sounds like paradise. Only 20k to go eh? I know you are hard on your pursuit, you’ll get there for sure. 10 years at the latest, but my gut says you’ll get there much earlier. Thanks for the motivation Mark, talk soon! Also, just posted about my topic on mortgage pay down vs investing, curious what you think!

      Lanny

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