Monthly Report: January 2018

I will be making some changes to the monthly reports starting from today.  From now on, I will only be sharing the dividends I receive and my savings rate on the monthly reports.  I will share the market values on my taxable brokerage account, Roth IRA accounts, and 401(k) account every quarter.  My brokerage only sends me statements quarterly for my Roth IRA accounts so it takes me a lot of time to compile the information.  From a cost benefit analysis, it makes more sense for me to just post the numbers quarterly instead of having to compute all the amounts for every stock.

Without further ado, below is the monthly report as of January 31, 2018:

January Stock Purchases: HCP, PG, SO, WELL

Life has been really busy for me the past few months, but I will try to catch up on my posts to keep everyone aware of my dividends I've been receiving, my portfolio, my stock purchases, and my savings rates.

Below are my stock purchases for January:

• I purchased 20 shares of HCP, Inc. (HCP) at $25.5799 per share in my taxable brokerage account.  This is a dividend yield of 5.79%, adding $29.60 to my taxable dividend income.
• I purchased 10 shares of Welltower Inc. (WELL) at $60.75 per share in my taxable brokerage account.  This is a dividend yield of 5.73%, adding $34.80 to my taxable dividend income.
• I purchased 24 shares of The Southern Company (SO) at $46.75 per share in my Roth IRA account.  This is a dividend yield of 4.96%, adding $55.68 to my non-taxable dividend income.
• I purchased 13 shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) at $86.50 per share in my Roth IRA account.  This is a dividend yield of 3.32%, adding $37.31 to my non-taxable dividend income.

After these purchases, my taxable dividend income will increase by $64.40, and my non-taxable dividend income will increase by $92.99.

What do you think of my January purchases?  Do you own any of the same companies?

2017 Goals Progress

On my 9/8/2015 post, I had written that the point I can retire is when my passive income I receive exceeds my expenses.  And that amount is $3,000 per month in passive income.  Therefore, my goal at that time of the post was to receive $36,000 in dividends by 2041.  I had also posted a breakdown of target dividend income goals for each year from 2015 to 2041, which can be found here.

2017 Passive Income Coverage

As another year has passed by, I'm one more year closer to financial independence and retirement.  It feels like time just keeps flying by faster and faster... and I feel it especially so because I can see my children growing up.  I still remember bringing my firstborn back from the hospital and now he's talking with his own personality.  Looking back at his baby pictures and looking at him now just reminds me of how fast time flew by.

I mention financial independence and retirement as if they are two different things, and to me, they are.  Financial independence is the point in which I no longer need to work to survive since my investments can cover my living expenses.  With financial independence, I can still choose to work if I want to; it also gives me the independence to do work that I'm passionate about, without having to worry whether my salary can support my family.  On the other hand, retirement is quitting the workforce and no longer working.

For me, my goal is to reach financial independence ASAP and aim to retire by the age of 56 in 2041.  I still have a while to go before retirement, but I'm hoping to quickly get to the point where my passive income can cover all my expenses so that I don't need to worry about supporting my family in case I get laid off (God forbid).

For purposes of my "Passive Income Coverage" posts, I will only consider my dividend income and rental income.

Below are my dividends and rental income for 2017:

Monthly Report: December 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of December 31, 2017:

Monthly Report: November 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of November 30, 2017:

Monthly Report: October 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of October 31, 2017:

Bought: CAH, HCN, HCP, K, KHC, KMB, OHI, T, WBA

Happy New Year everyone!  With 2017 behind us, it's time to reflect on our new year's resolutions, our goals, our achievements, and our areas for improvement.  I make it a habit to set new year's resolutions every year and aim to achieve as many of them as possible.  Looking back over this past year, I have achieved a majority of my new year's resolutions so I'm very happy about that.  With the start of the new year, I'm optimistic that 2018 will be just as good, if not better, than 2017.

It's been a while since I've posted, but I plan to post my monthly reports for October, November, and December before the end of this month.

October was a great month for picking up stocks, and I did my best to capitalize on that opportunity.  I also made some purchases in November and December as well.  Below are my stock purchases for the months of October, November, and December:

Monthly Report: September 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of September 30, 2017:

Monthly Report: August 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of August 31, 2017:

Bought: CAH, GIS, GWW, HCP, HRL, K, KHC, KMB, T, WBA

It's been a while since I've posted on here... Life has been crazy hectic with work and trying to raise two kids haha... August and September seemed to have a lot of great buying opportunities in my opinion as there seemed to be a lot of dips in a lot of decent companies.

Below are my stock purchases for the months of August and September:

Monthly Report: July 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of July 31,2017:

Bought: GIS, GPC, K, VZ

July was a month that saw a dip in the stock market, so I decided to capitalize on the opportunity to initiate some new positions as well as add to existing ones.  I've been making multiple purchases in smaller amounts to diversify, initiate new positions to diversify, and average down my cost basis in various companies.  The purchases have been in smaller amounts because I've also been trying to save up money for a potential large expense that may come up in the near future.  I believe that by the end of this month, I should have the minimum cash reserve I need to account for the large expense.  After that, I can begin aggressively buying up stocks in larger amounts to try to reach financial independence as quickly as possible.

In any case, see below for my purchases for the month of July:

Monthly Report: June 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of June 30, 2017:

Bought: GWW, SYY, T

Wow time flies... I can't believe it is already the end of July.  Before we know it, the summer will be over.  I have been loving the summer so far; beautiful weather to be outside and enjoy the sun.  I'm hoping to continue to create wonderful memories with my kids along the way while working hard to position myself financially for the future so I can be financially independent as quickly as possible and hopefully retire earlier than expected.  I've been continuing to find the balance between being as frugal as possible and also spending some money to create new experiences and memories for my kids.  I would like to believe that I've been finding the right balance.  Extreme frugality and letting life pass you by is something that sounds quite depressing and will possibly be a huge regret when looking back in old age.  I hope that doesn't happen to me.  I try to live my life with as little regrets as possible.

Anyways... time to post my purchases for the month of June:

Monthly Report: May 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of May 31, 2017:

Bought: GWW

Happy first day of summer everyone!  Life has been pretty busy for me, but it's also been really fun and exciting.  I've been trying to find a balance between being frugal to save up money to invest aggressively, while also enjoying life along the way.  Recently, I've been reminded how quickly time flies by (there's no greater reminder than seeing how fast your children grow up), and I want to make sure I don't let it pass me by being frugal all the time.  Life is more than just saving aggressively to reach early financial independence or retire as early as possible.  It's also about living life.  I want to create memories with my family and have something to look back on; hopefully, when my kids grow up and they reminisce on their childhood, it will be nothing but positive and happy memories.  So yea, that pretty much sums up where my head space has been at recently -- trying to find that delicate balance between saving aggressively and spending money to live a little.

Monthly Report: April 2017

I post an update every month on the taxable dividend income I receive in my brokerage accounts, the non-taxable dividends I receive from my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my taxable brokerage accounts, the market value of my Roth IRA accounts, the market value of my 401(k) account, and my savings rate.

Below is the monthly report as of April 30, 2017:

Sold On Loyal3: KO, VFC

I have sold off all my remaining positions on Loyal3 since I have consolidated all my stocks.  I also made the right decision to exit out of Loyal3 since they decided to use a new platform which would be charging a fixed fee every month to make free trades.

Bought: GIS, GPC, GWW, K

Everything has been pretty crazy for me recently... I've been swamped with work while simultaneously being sleep deprived and trying to raise two kids.  Props to all the bloggers out there who work full time, have children, and are able to blog consistently.  I don't know how you guys do it, but I have much respect.  I've been behind on my posting as I've been trying to spend as much of my free time with my kids as possible.  You only live once, and they only have one childhood, so I'm trying to make it count.

Anyways, below are the companies I purchased for the month of April: