Three years and three or so months ago, my portfolio crossed the first six digit mark in it’s existence. Back in June of 2014, the dividend investment portfolio crossed $100,000 in market value. Now I never posted about the portfolio crossing $200,000, but something about $300,000 had a nice ring to it. It took me over 5 years to get to $100,000 and only 3.25 short years to triple that amount. I hope we all can take a pause to think about that for a second, as my article will be focused on HOW I was able to garner a $300,000 portfolio and how YOU can too. Check out how I was able to cross and crush through the $300,000 dividend stock portfolio mark!
Journey from $100K to $300K
It would not be an article without mentioning that this is a great example of the benefit of being a dividend investor, as another milestone was reached and crossed! Further, I know that if I am able to do this with my investment portfolio, then so can anyone else. I will list out the main areas that have allowed me to cross another threshold in my journey to financial independence. See how I was able to cross over $300,000 in market value on my dividend stock portfolio!
- The main action I have taken was to ensure I had a high savings rate. Bert and I have a strive to save 60% of your income each and every month. I believe that nothing really matters more than your savings rate, as that is the fuel to ignite your investments, which mine specifically being my dividend investment portfolio. If I did not save such a high percentage, there is no way that I would be able to see this sort of level.
- I received over $21,000 in dividends from mid-2014 through September of 2017. That is a LOT of reinvestment, which points me to the article – the Power of Dividend Reinvestment is real and I truly benefited from this action. This total easily takes on a whole year of additional capital that I even add to the market on individual stock purchases, glad to have the soldiers on my side!
- I maximized my tax-advantaged accounts in 2016 and thus far into 2017, and this action has paid off. In a summary post, titled, “How I Kicked Uncle Sam’s A$$!“, I showed the benefit of maximizing your 401(k), Health Savings Account (HSA) and Traditional IRA (or as much as you can with a traditional IRA, in my case). This saved me over $5,600 in federal taxes, which allows more cash to be invested in the market, I’ll take it!
- Continuous investment into the stock market. I have tried to make every dollar count in this game, starting from my savings described above. This year alone, outside of 401(K) and HSA investments, I have invested approximately $13,000, and when paired up with over $6,200 in dividends, adding quite the bang to the portfolio. Also, I am not trying to time the stock market, and never will, truly sticking to maintaining consistency and buying when a company is undervalued.
- Not to say this is least on the list nor the last, but there has been an extreme amount of side hustle income that has been generated over the last few months. We are not talking big dollars, but a rewards cash out on my credit card here & there, as well as selling items on eBay and cashing out on swagbucks, goes a long way. Remember everyone, it all adds up, every single dollar, every single time. This has helped the capital stay on my side of the court.
the $300,000 snapshot and what’s next
Here is a beautiful snapshot of the $300,000+ being read on my stock portfolio worksheet.
Wow, $304K as of October 15, 2017. In actuality, my dividend stock portfolio crossed the $300K mark around October 4th, for reference. I typically don’t like to write these articles (such as my Crushing it articles when I cross big dividend income milestones), until I know that I have high jumped over the bar and have a higher percentage chance of staying on the other side. A funny way to look at this is if the stock market dropped by 1.50%, I would be below this threshold. This very well still could happen, but I know in less than two weeks I’ll have another $870 going right back into it with my 401(k) and HSA.
Now, the big question is this, “What is next and how do I get there?”. Honestly, I cannot clearly define that, except, I plan on doing more of what I have been doing, as it has worked. I try to make decisions on the market that aren’t emotional, staying consistent with my retirement account investments, as well as buying when the dividend stock metrics look attractive. As I described in my Quarter 3 goals update, I still have the $10,000 in dividend income mark to reach, which will be extremely difficult. Further, the market value of the portfolio doesn’t mean too much to a dividend investor, just as long as nothing catastrophic is happening to the companies that are held within the vault. As long as dividends keep growing, the companies remain viable and fundamentally sound, my portfolio can drop to $200K tomorrow for all I care. Even if that happens, I’ll be ready to pounce on the opportunities that will be shown.
How does everyone feel about the portfolio being at $300,000? Think that’s a milestone and do you think $500,000 is the next big one? Is there something that you can add to bring up other points & suggestions, as well? I know the stock market has continued the trend upwards and it’s becoming harder out there to find opportunities. I know Amazon (AMZN) has continued to shake things up, so always being on the look out with a form of capital ready is a smart thing, if you are in that situation. I know I am. I appreciate everyone for stopping by and checking this out. Now I want YOU to continue killing it out there, crush your goals and set new milestones for yourself! I said it earlier, if I can, then, YOU can. Good luck and get after it!
-Lanny