$10000 Milestone Reached

I have some good news. The portfolio balanced crossed the $10000 milestone. This was a key 2020 goal of mine and is definitely a psychological boost for 2021. If you recall, I had to sell most of my stocks and so I’m in the process of rebuilding my dividend portfolio. The beginning stages of building the portfolio seems harder. That’s because the dividends earned in the beginning are small and the compounding effect is negligible. But, over time, I have no doubt that the portfolio will continue to grow and grow and grow.

Are Portfolio Balances Important?

Well, yes and no. As a practical matter, I rarely look at my portfolio balance. This is a dividend blog and I’m pursuing a dividend growth investing strategy. So, what matters more to me are the strength of the dividends, and whether they are continually increasing over time. Because I’m not looking to sell my stocks anytime soon (hopefully never), the actual balance of the portfolio doesn’t matter that much to me (although I recognize that there is a correlation between the size of the portfolio balance and the overall total dividends earned).

This is especially true in my retirement years. Some retirees (and others) try to live off their portfolio balance so that they can be consistent with the 4% rule. In other words, some investors will actually sell a portion of their portfolio every year. So, the size of the portfolio balance could make a huge difference to that investor. I, on the other hand, have no intention of selling, so long as the dividend companies remain stable and worthwhile investment companies. During my retirement years, I hope to live off the dividends and not off the sale of the stocks.

Can I Guarantee That I Won’t Be Selling My Stocks In The Future?

No. That’ mainly because I can’t predict the future and I don’t know what will happen. All I can say is right now, I have zero intentions of selling my stocks again before retirement.

But, this experience has taught me an important lesson about making decisions and discipline. A lot of individuals, myself included, have agonized over whether one should pay off the mortgage early or invest. A lot of times, the decision comes down to either a mathematical equation or psychology.

Those investors who champion getting the best rate of return would argue that you should pay the minimum balance on your mortgage and invest the extra payments so that over that 30 year time period, you would end up with far more money than if you paid off your house early before waiting to start investing. That’s a very valid point and definitely works out on paper.

However, what this experience has shown me is that it’s very hard to maintain a consistent approach for 30 years. When I initially started this blog, it was my second attempt at dividend growth investing. Then, I had to sell most of my stocks, and now, I’m starting over. So, you could say this is my third attempt at this strategy.

Back when I started a second time, I never thought I would sell, and yet I did. As the saying goes, life is what happens when you make plans.

But despite the setback, I am not deterred. Rather, I am more embolden than ever to keep pressing on. So now, the real question is, what ‘saying’ will next ring true. It’s either going to be “three strikes, you’re out” or “the third time’s the charm.”

Conclusion On Reaching The $10000 Milestone

I’m very excited about achieving this $10000 milestone. It’s important to hit small milestones from time to time as doing so helps with motivation.

Thank you all for the support and continued readership. I am working on my financial plan for 2021 and on starting a new chapter in my life: namely creating a YouTube channel. More details to come in the future.

But, for now, I just wanted to let you know about this important milestone that was reached.

What are your thoughts on this post? Did you reach any new milestones recently? Let me know by commenting below.