Money and Finance

2015 Review; 2016 New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year! I decided to do my year end review and new year's resolution now as holidays tend to become chaotic. I will still do the buys and month reviews. Black font are my original goals, red font are my updated, and blue fonts are my comments.

2015 Goals

1) Invest at least $26,000 in my taxable accounts by December 31, 2015.

I had big dreams this year. My original intent was to invest a thousand dollar per paycheck...but life got in the way. My total amount invested this year was $18,000 (included expected November and December). To put that into perspective I spent 2990+ hours or 124.58 days or 34% of my year in a cubicle to save $18,000 or at a rate of $6/hour. Yep.

2) Receive at least $1,000 $1,750.00 in dividends.

As of October 31, 2015, I received $1,573.71. If I added in my expected November and December contributions, I am approximately about $1,875 so I guess goal achieved!

3) Build a patio. Not going to happen. Not enough space and time.

What was I thinking? I’m not a carpenter and I don’t have time for this.

4) Take a vacation or staycation. First vacation in 26 years!

Went to Hawaii. Beautiful place. I used to laugh at people who said “the atmosphere was an assault on my senses” because such statement made no sense. After seeing colorful Hawaii compared to brown Nebraska...I finally understand. If you are one of those people who uses that phrase...my apologies.

In other news I was sent to Washington DC for a week for passport/ID fraud training...that was something different.

5) Have a net worth of $40,000, 50,000, 60,000 80,000 100,000! in my taxable accounts, 401k, Roth, and bank accounts. Go big or go home.

At my October check-in I was at $85,000 but with the stock market going crazy I’m probably back down to $50,000. Net worth isn’t as important as cash flow but having a positive growth sit in your stomach a lot easier than losing your principal.

6) Open a sharebuilder Motif Loyal3 account and invest regularly in consumer defensive stocks.

Done. I invested $9,500 into my Loyal3 account and accumulated over $500 in capital gains. In one year my loyal3 produces $274.35 in dividends. My only regret was not having more capital to invest in WMT. But HSY is looking good right now.

7) Learn how to code. Java, C++, HTML, Javascript, software tester, w.e. Just anything to get started. Not going to happen this year.

I took two classes in Big Data/Hadoop and two classes in SQL. I need one more class in Big Data and two more classes in SQL to get those certificates. I am not sure if my employer will pay for it next year.

8) Create my flower garden/veggie garden. Done.

Done.

9) Purchase 100 shares of KO, 60 80 shares of JNJ, and 20 shares of PEP. New Goal: 100 shares of UL or ADM.

I bought 100 shares of KO, 98 shares of T, 65 shares of JNJ, 93 shares of ADM, 47 shares of UL, and 6.9 shares of PEP.

I will flip 2 more shares of T. I will flip 7 more shares of ADM. I will eventually work on JNJ, UL, and PEP when prices are right. SO and WEC are my two big utilities for 2016.

10) Max out my 401k. Not possible this year. Will try again next year.

Saved $10,000 in my 401k. Many of you know that I invest not for my early retirement but my parents retirement. The fact that I saved $10,000 in my 401k is nothing more than amazing. To put that into perspective I saved $3.34 per hour worked.

11) Max out my Roth IRA. Done.

Done. $3,000 was buying FCISX in my Edward Jones and $2,500 of reits in my Scottrade.

12) $2000 2100 2200 2300 forward dividend.

I’m not sure if I met this goal or not. I’m currently at $2,227.39 with half of November and December to go. I still have T and HASI dividend increase plus my buys. I may or may not have met this goal.

2016 Goals

1) Invest $26,000.

Let’s do it again. Let’s try a thousand a paycheck. If my overtime remains stable I should theoretically be able to meet this goal.

2) Receive at least $2,800 in dividends.

At $2,200 in forward dividend I should be able to meet this goal.

3) $3,500 forward dividend.

If I reach $2,300 by December I need to somehow find $1,200 in forward dividends by the end of next year. Hopefully the dividends keep rolling in.

4) Max out my Roth IRA

5) Max out my 401k.

6) Make regular contributions to my Loyal3.

7) Rebuild my garden.

8) Make $500 from online surveys. Cash Crate/ Inbox dollars.

9) Have a net worth of $125,000.

10) Re-balance my portfolio. 70% of my portfolio should be in consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities.

Lessons I learned from my second year of investing. Invest in risk and you will pay for your recklessness. If you seek yield, yield will seek you. Basically if you buy crap you get crap. Buy quality and get quality.

11) Go back to Hawaii.

12) Become more interesting.

Besides investing and sports...I’m not very fun to be with. I would like to become more interesting. Read more books. Learn a hobby. Travel more. Something. I would like to learn how to lockpick. Not to rob houses but I always found it interesting. I would like to write, spell, and use better grammar. My job involves looking at fragmented words and sentences to make coherent conclusions. That is why my writing is so awkward compared to other bloggers.

12) Learn to not feel guilty when I'm spending money.

*Portfolio updated. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

- Long-term Dividend Goals
If you happened to notice on my Goals page I've updated it some to reflect my long-term dividend goals. In this post I'll detail where and how I calculated the numbers for my dividends. The Dividend Goal is the amount of forward 12-month dividends...

- Recent Buy: Ko
On Wednesday, September 2, 2015, I bought 25.8065 shares of KO at $38.75/share for total of $1,000.00 in my Loyal3 Account. This brings me up to 103.1683 shares of KO in my retirement fund. I consider this to be a full position and will not add unless...

- New Year's Resolutions + Happy New Year
I hope you had a great Christmas. These are my goals for 2015. Investing Goals 1) Have a 12 month annual expected dividend of $1,500. 2) Receive $1,000 in dividends. 3) Create a sharebuilder Motif Loyal 3 account and invest regularly in defensive...

- 401k Update - January 2016
Hi Everyone, So a follow up post to the Dividend Income - the 401K Portfolio update. I said that I would post about the 401K when big changes were made or about twice a year in July and January. Usually in June and December, some of my...

- 401k Update - July 2015
Hi Everyone, Hope all is well. I continue to embrace the blogging community and I continue to love it. Just a quick post tonight about my 401K Portfolio. I said that I would post about the 401K when big changes were made or about twice...

Money and Finance