Bad News

By | July 27, 2017

I started this blog in 2016. It was a monumental achievement. I always wanted a blog, but never found a theme I liked until now. Blogging helps keep me motivated to pursue my dividend growth investing strategy. Truth be told, this is not the first time I tried dividend investing. Years ago, I started using Computershare to invest in DRIPs. It was great, for a while. Then, life happened.

I honestly don’t remember why, but I felt the need to liquidate my account. It was the last thing I wanted to do. But, I felt like I had to do it. All the benefits of compounding gone. So, in 2016, I started over. I vowed to myself, that I will do whatever I can to see this DGI strategy to the end. I believe in the strategy and I definitely intend to keep it going. But, sometimes, life just throws curve balls in your way. All you can do is do the best you can under the circumstances. The difference between then and now is that I have this blog and the support of the DGI community. Well, I have some bad news.

Liquidating Assets

My take home pay for the next two weeks (after taxes, etc) is a whopping $1193, which is much less than I was expecting. My mortgage payment alone is about $1100. So, there’s no way I can survive on that. Because of recent setbacks, my last remaining emergency fund is about $1600 in Robhinhood. So, now I’m faced with the prospect of having to liquidate that account in order to eat, and pay my other bills.

I’ve held onto those stocks for more than a year, so my taxes should be less. Currently, I have 15 shares in Coca Cola, 10 shares in Realty Income and 2 shares in Apple. I plan to reduce my portfolio so I keep only 1 share in each company. I honestly didn’t want to do this. It feels like what I did years ago, when I liquidated all my assets. But, there are important differences this time around.

My dividend portfolio is comprised of individual stocks held in either Computershare or Capital One Investing. None of the stocks in the portfolio that I track on this blog is held in Robinhood. Again, because Robinhood’s portfolio was only meant as a kind of secondary emergency fund of last resort, I didn’t count or track its data on this site.

Also, my intention is not to sell any stocks in my portfolio for any reason (except a cut in dividends or an otherwise failing company). I plan on holding these companies until I retire. Even in retirement, I’m not planning on selling shares, but simply living off the dividends. But, because I am completely broke today, I have to liquidate the assets I have in my Robinhood account. So annoying! My only other option is to live on my credit cards, which I’ve already rejected. The main reason is that I already have a credit card balance of $3000. If I start using my other card, I know the balance is going to go up and I can’t afford another huge credit card bill right now.

What About My Great News?

I recently wrote about some great news coming my way. Well, the truth of the matter is, it hasn’t arrived yet. Once it arrives, I’m sure it will alleviate a lot of the stress. But, until then, I just have to keep living life as best as I can. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to use any of the funds to replenish my emergency fund, but I might take $1000 of that amount to do that. These past few months have taught me the value of having an emergency fund. Dave Ramsey teaches that you should start off with a starter emergency fund of about $1000. So, that may be my initial goal as soon as my great news kicks in.

Future Paychecks

Because I’m still in a transition phase with my current job, I don’t expect my income to be stabilize until around September. I do believe the amount I’ll be receiving for the next year will be less than what I’m used to, but hopefully more than the $1193. So, budgeting for the next couple of months is going to be super tight. I really hope that $1193 is the LOWEST it will ever go.  It’s very tough to live on that amount, even if I get paid twice per month. I have huge plans which may have to be seriously modified if that’s going to be my current paycheck every 1st and 15th of the month.

Conclusion

I didn’t want to make this a long post. Thank you for reading. It’s just that I checked all my bank accounts today, and realized that I’m super broke. Thankfully, I was still able to purchase a 6-pack of beer. Having to liquidate my Robinhood account is the last thing I wanted to do, but it is absolutely necessary in my current position. Once I do that, the next two weeks will be covered. Now, it’s just a matter of time to see what happens around August 15. Interesting times!

 

12 thoughts on “Bad News

  1. singledadmoney

    DivPort – Sorry to hear the bad news. Sometimes you have to do what is right for you to get by. Once this setback is out of the way, follow the baby steps to get back on track. It looks like things will turn around for you in September. Keep your chin up and your plans and goals in mind (and on paper).
    singledadmoney recently posted…Debt vs. Saving vs. InvestingMy Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Appreciate it Brian. I’m actually hoping August isn’t bad, but I really hope it gets better before it gets worse.

      Reply
  2. Project2035

    Ahh tought your closing the blog and selling everyting. No big deal here. Enjoy life, no need to strees for such things. Nobody died. Your healthy, have a work ect. Relax! 🙂

    My grandfather told very important thing that I will remember all of my life on 2008 Chrisymans when global economic crisis was at its worst. People lost their obs, pensions were cut ect. And my family discussed and argued that its really really bad now. Then he told that this is not a big deal, because he rememvered 1944 Christmas which he spent up in a tree barlly dressed up with minus degree, because at that day WW2 front came to his home which was buirned to the grownd. That was a bad moment when you are 16 and you return and find your home burrened to the ground, your family gone and your on bare foot, have nowere to go (same thing happined to neighbours as well). Now that a bad situation for sure. Then everyone stoped complaining about how bad it was back in 2008 December.

    So all is well here 😉

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      P2035, no, definitely not shutting the blog down. There’s a quote I like. It goes, “I cried because I have no shoes, until I saw a man with no feet.” It’s a reminder that things could always be worse and that I should count my blessings. Thanks for the reminder.

      Reply
  3. DivHut

    The curve balls of life hit us all from time to time. Clearly, liquidating your portfolio is a last resort effort as I can tell by your writing that you really, really did not want to sell your shares. I commend you for going that route as opposed to simply racking up more CC debt as I’m sure others would opt to do. I guess the silver lining with all this bad news is that you are able to sell your shares on a high note. Imagine if the market was in the tank and you still needed to liquidate your portfolio only it would have yielded a much smaller pay day. From these lows you can only go up.
    DivHut recently posted…Recent Stock Purchase July 2017My Profile

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    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      You know, I read and hear all the time that you should not invest in the short term because the market might be down when you need the funds. That lesson didn’t sink in during those educational times because I’m like, that would never happen to me. I honestly didn’t even think about it either until your comment. So true!

      Reply
  4. Project2035

    This is why we need that emergincy fund i guess so that we would not end up selling stocks at very low price. I guess this was one of reasons for 2008-2008 crash when people lost their income and started to sale their investments to pay their bills

    Reply
  5. DividendSolutions

    Hey DP,

    sorry to hear that you have to battle really tough times. Sometimes life throws some nasty curveballs, there is nothing to avoid them. If these aren’t about money, they get to you in another “area”, no chance of avoiding them all. – in 2015 i had to deal with some life changing events and a ton of stress but i “survived” and got out of that tunnel. And that’s what it is all about in my opinion. Battling through tough times, never quit!! “It may be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever”…
    Best wishes for you…

    Regards,
    DividendSolutions

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Appreciate the kind words. It can’t rain forever but sometimes when it rains it pours. Just waiting for some sunshine.

      Reply
  6. Mr. Robot

    Hi DP,

    Sorry to hear that you have to take some more extreme measures to get by this month. I would like to give you the same kudos as DivHut for not adding to your creditcard debt with a probably much higher interest rate. Good on you for taking the emotions out of a tough decision.

    So suck this one up and continue with your other investing accounts once this roadbump has come and gone. We’ll be here cheering you on!

    Kind regards,
    Mr. Robot
    Mr. Robot recently posted…This is my buy for July 2017My Profile

    Reply
    1. Dividend Portfolio Post author

      Thanks Mr. Robot. Bumps in the road are never fun but it’s gonna be sweet once they are behind me

      Reply

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