Goals for 2020

I recently discussed if I reached my goals for 2019. In this post I will elaborate on my financial goals for 2020. Here goes!

1. Deposits

New money is the fuel to my dividend machine! I've setup two monthly (automatic) payments.

• € 300,- towards my tax free retirement account.
• € 300,- towards my regular investment account.

I will increase my regular deposits toward my investment account to € 300,- per month, so € 3.600,- for this year.

For my tax free retirement account I can can still deposit around € 10.000,- tax free because my employer pension does not fully reach the tax treshold, therefore I am eligible to fund my tax free retirement account with my own money. Last year I deposited around € 1.900,-.  For this year I am setting a goal of € 3.600,- for this year.

Finally I would like to increase my ownership position in the company where I'm employed. I work as a consultant for a midsize consultancy firm specialised in real estate and area development. I currently have a medium stake which I'd like to increase a bit. So therefore I will save another € 1.800,-.

So all in all I want to deposit at least € 9.000,- this year towards my various investments. This is almost 60% more than I deposited last year. However, I think this is achievable!

2. Forward dividend income

Currently my dividend income is around € 1.700,- before tax. With the combination of invested capital, dividend growth en reinvestment of received dividens I am hoping to reach a forward dividend income of € 2.050,- (before taxes). This would mean an increase of 20%.

This it! It's just two simple goals. The first one is actually the most important. The 2nd is mostly a derivative and something I don't have a lot of influence on. I decided to not set another goal, for instance for blogging, as I don't want to feel obliged to write if I don't feel like it. Best of luck to you all in 2020!

Goal Review of 2019: How Did I Do It?

Last year I wrote about my goals for 2019. This post will describe whether I reached these goals or nog. In short, my goals were as follows:

1. Deposit at least € 4.000,-

• € 1.800,- regular investment account
• € 1.400,- tax free retirement account
• € 800,- employer stock program

New deposits are the fuel to my dividend growth machine. So how did I do it?

• I deposited just over € 2.200,- in my regular brokerage account. So pass!
• I deposited just over € 1.900,- in my tax free retirement account. Another pass!
• I purchased € 1565,- worth of stock certificates in my employer stock program. You can read about it here. Three passes!

All in all I deposited about € 5.700,- which is more than expected. A halfyear pay raise at my job definitely helped to advance on these goals.

2. Annual forward dividend income of € 1.400,-
I wanted to reach a annual forward dividend income of € 1.400,- (before tax). Currently the meter says about € 1.700,- (slightly rounded upwards). So this one is a beat as well! There are two major reasons.

1. I deposited more money into my regular brokerage account; and
2. I now add my employer stock dividend to my annual forward dividend income.

Even without the last reason I still would have reached my goals, albeit with a much smaller margin.

3. Four quarterly buys
Another pass!

1. Quarter 1: AT&T
2. Quarter 2: Unilever
3. Quarter 3: Brookfield Renewable Partners
4. Quarter 4: Johnson & Johson
5. Bonus buy in Quarter 4: Brink

4. Regular blogging

Finally I wanted to blog more regularly about my dividend portfolio and my progress. I had about 50 blog posts this year. The majority were minor updates about dividend raises but I am satisfied nonetheless. It keeps me motivated in order to reach my goals. For me, that's the most important reason of blogging.

All in all it was a solid year. In a next post I will provide an overview of my goals for next year. Thanks for reading!

How was your 2019? Did you reach all your goals?

Goals for 2019

I've read a few posts of fellow bloggers about their goals for 2019. Earlier I promised I would tell a little bit more about my plans for this year. Here goes!

1. Deposits

I've setup two monthly (automatic) payments.

• € 50,- towards my tax free retirement account.
• € 150,- towards my regular investment account.

I am eligible to fund my tax free retirement accounts with roughly € 1.400,- this year. So 12x € 50,- is € 600,-. From last year I expect to receive a tax break of € 800,-. In May 2019 I will use this money to fund my tax free retirement account for the remaining contribution room.

Finally I would like to increase my share in the company where I'm employed. I work as a consultant for a midsize consultancy firm specialised in real estate and area development. The firm is owned by its employees and everybody has the oppurtunity to participate. The value of the company and its shares is based on a fixed formula where the last three years of earnings and the forecast for the current year are averaged and multiplied by a factor. Share owners receive a dividend and the amount depends on the company earnings and liquidity position. I currently have a small stake which I'd like to increase a bit. So therefore I need to save another € 800,-.

So all in all I want to deposit at least € 4.000,- this year towards my various investments.

• € 1.800,- regular investment account
• € 1.400,- tax free retirement account
• € 800,- employer stock program

2. Forward annual income (dividend portfolio)

Currently I am expecting to receive around € 1.200,- (before tax) in dividends in 2018. Because of new deposits (see #1), dividend reinvestment and dividend growth, I am targeting an annual forward dividend income of € 1.400,- (+16%). Let's break it down:

• New deposits: +€75,-
• Reinvestment of dividend income: +€50,-
• Dividend growth: €75,-.

3. Four quarterly buys

I am planning to purchase new shares on a quarterly basis. I am pooling together monthly deposits and dividends to purchase new blocks of shares for around €700,- each time. Since last year I pay a platform fee of €5,- per month but this fee is deducted from any transaction costs in that month. So this works out to one "free" trade per month for a cost of €60, per year. This new fee structure is used by various cheap brokers in The Netherlands, so I really have no alternative.

4. Regular blogging

Because of my new monthly deposit and the fact that I am planning to buy on a quarterly basis gives me a lot lot of motivation to invest more time in my writing. Mainly for my blog but perhaps some Seeking Alpha articles as well. The extra income is nice but that's not the goal persé. I am targeting to write a weekly blog (so about 52 blogs in total). 

So that's it for now. Let's see how this year turns out!

What do you think of my plans?Are your plans for 2019 ready? 

Goals for 2015!

Halfway 2013 I started my journey of becoming a Dividend Growth Investor. 1.5 years ago I sat down and calculated income goals for the coming 30 years. These goals (annual dividends received) were based on the assumed dividend growth, yield, monthly deposits and stock price appreciation. So far I've been killing these goals!

I am not going to change these goals because they are meant to be long-term goals. It's great that I am ahead of these goals for now but there are obviously going to be times when I might not be able to contribute as much to my portfolio. But just like last year I am going to set annual goals. These goals could differ from my long-term goals. It's just a method of keeping myself motivated and to keep pushing myself this year to reach more goals.



I decided to expand the theme of my goals a bit and to include some non-financial related goals. Without further ado, here is my list of goals for 2015.

• Deposit €350 per month (on average)
• Receive €950 in annual dividends
• Write 24 premium articles for Seeking Alpha
• Lose 10kg (currently at 98kg)

In general I think my goals are ambitious but not completely out of reach all together. I'll just have to work hard, earn some extra money and put aside time to write SA articles. I am off to a good start, my 2nd article of the year just got published! In the next few days I'll put out a reminder post for this article.

I am not going to set a goal for the value of my portfolio because I am hardly in control to reach that goal. Market gyrations have far too much influence on the portfolio value. I just can't expect to earn 20% for another year. 

I'll keep all of you updated about my progress towards reaching my goals for 2015. Finally I hope all of you will reach your goals in 2015, whether they are financial or not!

Review of goals in 2014

Last year around this time I put out some goals for 2014. These goals relate to my dividend growth portfolio. A year has passed since then, so let's take a look at how I've done!

Goals for 2014

I roughly stated four goals:

1. Deposit €300 per month (€3.600 in total)
2. Receive dividends of €550
3. Make one purchase each quarter
4. Reach a portfolio value of €18.000 (least important goal, because I can't control reaching this goal by any means.

Financial Goals for 2014!

Halfway 2013 I started my journey of becoming a Dividend Growth Investor. I sat goals for the coming years. These goals (annual dividends received) were based on the assumed dividend growth, yield, monthly deposits and stock price appreciation. For the first year this came at $500 or roughly €380 (EUR.USD-rate was around 1.3 at the time).