Hello everyone! Bert and I are staring at the finish line of our busy season right now, but we are still trying to pump out articles when we can. What better things that get us pumped up then hitting milestones with our investing that we do. We know how excited each and everyone one of us gets when we hit a new milestone. However, I don’t think anyone has really stopped to think and has said – being a dividend investor brings a plentiful milestones along the way. Check out what I’m talking about.
Monthly Dividend Income
Think about it – each and every month that either I or Bert has posted about dividend income for the month, we are setting new fricken records. Look back at my February – my income was 17% higher than the prior year! This was my BEST February of dividend income yet, yes it was a milestone February in the books! Bert, also had a milestone for his income. As a dividend investor you get to achieve and taste the fruit from the seeds that you are planting and can see that EARLY and OFTEN. This keeps you motivated, as I know it does for me, to keep going, because you are able to see the short-term impact in a long-term journey. It truly is bitter sweet.
Portfolio Milestones
Ah ha! How well timed is this article? Bert has just eclipsed an illustrious 6 digit milestone last week and damn, that has got to feel great! Bert went from a small triple digit to portfolio and has added a comma with a few extra digits to it in just a few short years. Speaking of…. I have hit a new milestone of $250K+, but I have yet to right on it. See with consistent saving (as we save/strive to save over 60% of your income), plus investing and reinvestment, the portfolios can sky rocket fairly quickly over time.
Then, in my 2016 portfolio review, when looking back – I hit a milestone of the most I had ever invested, ever, in a single year! Just when you think you’ve done as much as you could, you end up pushing yourself to new lengths. Now, these are more longer-term milestones in the dividend investing journey. Bert’s took years to get to, for my $250K crossing – that has taken me technically 8 years to get through, but obviously much, much less time from $100K to $250K than it took to get to $100K, the power of time and compounding is so damn real!
New milestones along the path
Then, there are the new milestones that hit you without even noticing it or even realizing you are steping into new challenges. From looking back at 2016 – I never thought it could ever be imaginable to fully maximize your 401K, not because of the dollar amount, but what that meant to my ability to invest in my taxable account, which ended up not being the case. In fact, I was not only able to fully max my 401K in 2016, but also my health savings account and of course – the IRAs (split b/w traditional and Roth due to income limits). Just like that, three milestones – maximizing three taxable accounts in the same year, never has been done on my lifetime, and now I’m trying to make it two times in a row!
That’s what’s interesting about this journey. You are expanding your mind, concepts and new strategies along the path. Given that – you have new goals, new mindsets and you begin to go through more difficult situations that end up being part of the routine of being successful at this. It’s very funny and it does make me laugh a bit, looking back, knowing that you started with nothing and that by sticking to something that it pays you back 10 fold. So damn lucky. Yes, the milestones definitely provide further motivation to keep going, because it all matters. Yes – every dollar and every hour matter!
Blogging Milestones about Dividend Investing!
Most importantly – Bert and I have been able to really celebrate milestones about dividend investing through our blog and the community here. We have hit over 400 posts by the end of last year and are chugging our way to 500 this year! Talk about milestones – we also hit more views than any other month, ever, back in January, as well as even our fun little adsense earnings that we do receive from the small/limited ads we do have. Also – we now have 4 articles that have over 50+ comments on each! That is truly amazing and never would I have thought that to be imaginable. Additionally – we were featured on many blogs, including Rockstar Finance quite a few times – which is just a true honor and great humbling feeling that we are viewed as two young guys just pushing their way through financial freedom and auditing & issuing 10-k’s while doing so.
Just amazing – seeing those items above just bring it all to real life. I love dividend investing and there’s no way I am ever going to stop, slow down or stop producing articles for everyone here in this community, simply because of how many people are in this together on their path to freedom.
Conclusion
All in all – the milestones – some are short, some are long, but it’s very rewarding, satisfying, and brings such enjoyment seeing the community, yes YOU the community experience these milestones at the same time that we are experiencing ours. DivHut has portfolios for the baby, J. Money has two small portfolios going and those are hitting milestones and just seeing where everyone has started and where they are now, and heck – where I KNOW where they will be very soon – is very, very exciting to me. So thank YOU for allowing myself, Bert and everyone to enjoy these milestones together, as we all couldn’t be where we are without eachother.
Now – let’s get back to kicking ass, saving often, consistently investing, dividend reinvesting and pushing our path to new milestones on the journey to financial freedom. Talk soon!
-Lanny