Read any book, blog, or article about setting and achieving goals and you will see that one of the most common traits to success is to actually take the time to document your goals.
By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands—your own. —Mark Victor Hansen
With that in mind, I thought it would be helpful to document both annual and long-term goals that I have related to my dividend portfolio as well as this new blog.
When setting goals in other areas of my life–both personal, professional and financial–I like to push the envelope between what my brain tells me is realistic and what is absurd. There is a tendency to set goals that we know we can achieve, as nobody likes to fail.
However, setting goals that seem very difficult to achieve can result in unbelievable growth.
You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential. —Steve Garvey
Alright, on to the goals.
Long-Term Goals
When talking about long-term goals, these are goals that I envision being at least 10 years down the road–and possibly more. The expectation is that these will be more “living” goals than the annual goals, as depending on how well I do each year that may reshape the outlook for these goals.
- Produce $20,000 in annual dividend income
- Overall Yield-over-cost (YOC) is > 6%
- Successfully chronicle the journey all the way
- Active (and hopefully valued) member of the DGI Community
2018 Goals
Given that the Divvy Dad Portfolio and this blog were created in May of this year, some of these goals may be a stretch. However, as stated above, that is what pushes us outside of our comfort zone and is where we can truly accomplish great things.
- Produce $2,500 in annual dividend income
- Build portfolio where YOC is > 3.5%
- Establish REIT coverage in portfolio that produces $500 in PADI
- Create a blog to chronicle my DGI journey and publish at least 1-2x per week
- Support and participate in the DGI Community
- Satisfy the criteria to join The DIV-Net
For more details on the results of my 2018 goals, be sure to check out my 2018 Goal Recap.
2019 Goals
As you can see above, 2018 was quite successful and therefore I’ve tried to get a bit more aggressive with some of the goals. In addition, I have introduced a taste of my non-dividend FIRE goals as well.
- Brokerage: Build PADI to $6,500
- Rollover IRA: Build PADI to $4,300
- Retirement: Produce $21,500 in Income Distributions
- Collect $4,500 in Dividends from Brokerage Account
- Increase Net Worth by 20%
- Increase Safe Withdrawal Rate Income by 30%
The Ultimate Goal
Our ultimate goal is to retire early–we are targeting in our early 50’s if all goes well–and to move to a cabin in the mountains. Now it will not be a rustic cabin by any means, as we do want to fatFIRE, so we expect it to be large enough to welcome our children and their families.
For many years our absolute favorite family vacations have been to visit the amazing National Parks and spend our days hiking the trails, and then spend a relaxing evening in the cabin having dinner and enjoying some lively discussion.
And therefore we want to establish a residence there that we can pass down to our children and hopefully instill that enjoyment for many generations to come.