Goals

2019 Goals – Year End Review

December 30, 2019 by All About Interest

Below are the goals I set at the beginning of the year:

Reach 600k in market value for my DG portfolio
Failed. Portfolio is around $540k. I sold part of my holdings to pay a larger than expected tax bill and also used some proceeds to fund a rental property purchase. My portfolio didn’t recover quick enough to get to 600k. I don’t plan on purchasing any rentals this year so I can put a lot more into my portfolio.
Reach $21,000 in forward 12-month dividends
Achieved 12/30/19. Forward dividends barely broke through the $21k mark. I have some calls I sold on AT&T “in the money” that expire in January which I don’t plan on rolling forward so the forward dividend will take a hit in January unless I can replace this high yielder. It will likely be after April before I can start reaching new highs in this area.
Earn $20,000 in dividend income
Failed. I hit $18,104 in dividend income for the year. However, this is 30% higher than the income from 2018 so still a win. When I sold some stocks around April it hurt my dividend income for several months and I didn’t recover in time.
Increase Net Worth to 1.1 M
Failed. Net Worth is currently at $1,069,000. I missed the goal by $31,000. I plan to really watch my expenses closer in 2020.
Buy ~~two~~ three rental properties
Achieved. Technically I did buy three properties but I sold 1 so the net was 2. I’ll call this one a win. I now have 7 rental properties.

Rental profits after maintenance & vacancy expenses are $2675/month. This is a nice chunk of change and can cover a lot of my normal expenses. My ultimate short-term goal is $6,000/mo passive income from real estate plus investment accounts.
Reach total forward passive income of $45,000
Achieved. I’m at around $53,000 in passive income. My 2020 goal is $55,000 and 2021 Goal is $65,000.

Well I hit 50% of my goals. Not great but I’m not too far off on the ones I failed at. I had set some fairly lofty goals. I’ll have to think about my 2020 goals so I can realistically hit them all this year.

I hope everyone else hit their 2019 goals for the year!

Goals for 2019 & 2018 recap

January 10, 2019 by All About Interest

So 2018 is officially over. I hope everyone had a great year and achieved all of their goals! It’s been a crazy and active year over here at All About Interest.

First let’s see how we did on our 2018 Goals.

2018 Goals:

Reach 500k in market value for my DG portfolio, at $375k end of Dec. 2017. (Done and posted 09/05/18) This was a huge goal that I wasn’t sure I could meet. I crossed the 500k mark much faster than I thought but the portfolio dipped back below the 500k mark in December. There will always be ups and down in the market.
Reach ~~$13,000~~ $18,000 in forward 12-month dividends. (Done and posted 12/13/18) I upped this goal a LOT from my initial goal mainly because I was using options to juice my portfolio. This year I won’t have as much capital from new options since I already have a decent amount of leverage there. I broke through the $18,000 mark in December.
Earn $11,320 in dividend income , 40% increase from 2017. I actually earned $13,919 for the whole year but didn’t make a post about it. This was also a Success!
Increase Net Worth to 750k, I know it says I hit this in 2017, which I did but I’m adjusting real estate values to a more conservative number. This was also completed, I never posted about it but my Net Worth at the end of 2018 was 960k. 4/4 so far!
Buy two more rental properties, making the total 5 rentals. (Done) (Rental #4 was bought and posted 05/11/18, Rental #5 was bought in December and posted 12/14/18)

This was a huge success. I met all 5 of my goals for the year, and blew past most of them!

New Goals for 2019:

Reach 600k in market value for my DG portfolio
My portfolio took a hit in December as did pretty much everyone’s. While I don’t care as much about the total value as the dividend income, it’s still a metric I’m going to track. It should still go up over time.

Reach $21000 in forward 12-month dividends
This means increasing my forward dividends by about $3,000 annually. This also equates to a portfolio valued at 600k yielding 3.5%. That’s really my aim this year.

Earn $5000 in options premiums
I’m going to be tracking options premiums and hope to break this number.

Earn $19000 in dividend income
This is more than 50% higher than my 2018 goal. This might be a challenge but with forward income already well over $18k I think I can manager this one.

Break $45000/year in total forward dividend + rental income
This may be a real challenge but I love challenges and something to strive for!

Buy two more rentals to equal 7 total rental properties
This will depend a lot on the market. What I mean is that prices here haven’t gone down and the interest rates to finance property have gone up a lot. It’s hard to hit my requirements for cash flows but we’ll see.

Increase net worth to 1.16 Million (960k to start the year)
At current income levels this should be achievable. With market volatility this one is a wild card.

Produce 1 article per week for my blog, 52 articles in total.
My blog viewership has gone down a lot since i quit posting as often, this isn’t a surprise. I’ve just added an SSL certificate so you’ll notice the http(s) now in the address and it doesn’t say it’s not secure now. I’m going to get more serious about documenting my journey this year as things have settled down somewhat.

How’s everyone else doing on their goals for 2019? How did you do in 2018?

My goal update posts can be found here.

Goal Achieved – Welcome Rental #5

December 14, 2018 by All About Interest

If you missed it, I purchased rental #4 back in March. It’s currently rented but I had a great experience and created a lot of instant equity with a possible flip opportunity. You can find that posting here.

Now let’s welcome rental property #5. My goal for the year was to purchase two more rentals. I just closed on this rental about a week ago. I have been watching the local market and looking for any potential good cash flowing opportunities.

What’s amazing is that I rented the property the day after closing! I literally was looking for tenants during the financing process and scheduled someone the day after closing. They immediately loved the property and handed me a deposit check. I’ve already secured a 1 year lease on the property for my asking price of $1,800 and they want to move in within 10 days. Call it lucky or I picked a good property, either way I’ll take it!

Basically what my goal is with these properties is to get a COC (cash-on-cash) return of at least 10%. This can be difficult to do and has a lot of factors involved but essentially that means if I spend $50,000 to purchase a property, I need to profit 10% or $5,000 on it that year.

A few other criteria I look for are 3+ bedrooms, 2+ baths, good neighborhood (this is key, Location! Location! Location!), single story, brick home, and meets the 1% rule. The 1% rule basically means that the rent should be at least 1% of the purchase price. So if I paid $100,000 for a property, I should be able to rent it for $1,000.

Currently, I buy and rent properties based on the above-mentioned criteria. If the property is furnished, the rent might vary. The tenant can bring in their own furniture and home appliances. This would be because a lot of clients prefer the latter option. Many tenants are also picky about their kitchen, bedding, ventilation, windows, and so on. When a tenant asks for suggestions about where to buy things, giving suggestions might not be a problem. For example, if a tenant wants to know where he/she can find the best mattress, I can ask them to contact local retailers. Else, I could also recommend them to read mattress reviews at Sleep Education or elsewhere, so that they can know the available options. Having said that, for those who require things like these they have the option to rent it too. Contacts for the same could also be provided.

Previously, all of my rental purchases have been for 3 bedroom properties besides the restaurant building turned rental. There’s always a higher demand for starter homes than for larger homes. There are also more of these homes on the market though. There are almost no 4+ bedroom houses for lease around here. So I took a gamble and made an offer on a larger home, 4+ bedroom, 2500+ sq ft.

The House: 4/3 + bonus room, 2500 sq ft.

Here are the purchase numbers:

Purchase Price: $170,000

Down Payment – $42,500

Closing Costs – $5,100

Repairs/Maintenance ($500):

Total Cash Costs – $48,100

Rent/month – $1800
Expenses/month – $1,185.89

Cash on Cash return (before m/v) – 15.32%
Cash on Cash Return – 8.58%

Here are the numbers:

Appraised Value: $175,000
Principal Balance: $127,500
————————————————————
Total Equity: $47,500.00

Monthly Liabilities:
Hazard Insurance: 107.25
P&I: 744.06
Property Taxes: 334.58
————————————-
Expenses – $1,185.89
Estimated Vacancy & Maintenance (15%): $270
———————————————————————–
Total Expenses – $1455.89
Current Rent: $1800 (Leased until 12/31/19)
=================================
Monthly Profit – $344.11

So I took a gamble with a larger property and it’s paying off so far. It also has a brand new roof, new hot water heater, brand new backyard deck, so if I can keep my maintenance/vacancy costs to 10% or $180/mo I’ll have a COC of 10.8%. I think this is doable and I’m off to a good start with it being instantly leased.

All properties are fully rented! I love the feeling having all properties leased and knowing someone else is paying for the mortgage while i collect checks. So far, being a landlord has been everything I thought it would be. There’s definitely been some maintenance issues but so far I’ve had good tenants which is 90% of the battle. The time/work has been well worth it.

TOTAL Monthly Net Profits on all rentals:

#1 – 302.81 (leased through 06/30/19)
#2 – 221.58 (leased through 11/30/19)
#3 – 510.13 (leased A through 04/3021 & leased B through 02/29/20)
#4 – 238.91 (leased through 05/31/19)
#5 – 348.69 (leased through 12/31/19)
==============================
$1,622.12/month

I keep track of my rental property cash flows on my real estate page here: https://allaboutinterest.com/real-estate

Goal Achieved – $18,000 in Forward Dividend Income

December 13, 2018 by All About Interest

I reached another one of my goals for the year. I’m on a roll! No pun intended. The next 12 months from now will bring in a minimum of $18,000 in dividend income ($1,500 a month)! That’s without any raises or new contributions.

I just recently posted a $12,000 forward dividend milestone in the spring and have been aggressively adding capital and using options to boost my dividends.

I originally started a dividend growth strategy at the beginning of 2012. There have been some ups and downs with personal challenges getting in the way but it’s extremely motivating and exciting to see my upwards trajectory of higher dividends “rolling” in every quarter.

At this stage in my portfolio, I can really feel the compounding working its magic. I’m increasing my income level at a much faster pace organically without even making contributions due to dividend increases. My snowball is in motion and moving faster than ever! It keeps growing and increasing speed every day!

Stay tuned, there’s much more in store that I’ll be posting about including some other goals achieved.

I hope everyone has a great holiday!

Goal Completed – Yakezie Challenge

August 7, 2014 by All About Interest

I started the challenge back in January and posted an article titled, I Started The Yakezie Challenge. I basically had 6 months to achieve an Alexa Rank below 200k. My original ranking in January was 432,171.

I’m happy to report that not only did I break the 200k mark, I broke the 100k mark! On July 2nd , I hit 99,649 Alexa Rank. The number has since gone back up to 110k but it always fluctuates.

I just wanted to thank all of my loyal readers. The blog started as just a way to hold myself accountable and jot down on paper my trades. I’ve met many like-minded investors and have been welcomed into a community full of friendly and helpful people that usually have a similar goal, FI.

This is my 2nd goal completed this year. I have a long ways to go to reach all 10 goals that I set in January, 2014 Goals.

How are you doing towards your own goals?

Goal Achieved – Closed on Rental #3

April 9, 2014 by All About Interest

On April 4th, I met my first goal of the year! I closed on my third rental property

There was a delay with a lot of rain to finish repairs but it will be on the market for lease as of 04/10.

I’m starting the property at $1350/mo in the hopes of getting at least $1300/mo in rent.

I still have 9 more goals to reach this year. If I had to guess which one I’d hit next, I’ve have to say it would be to reach 25k page views in a month. I’ve passed 22k twice this year, once in January and once in March so far.

Some of the goals I’ve set may be a little of a stretch this year but I’ll certainly do my best to reach them.

All of my goals are posted on my goals tab.

Goals for 2014 (and 2013 recap)

January 3, 2014 by All About Interest

2013 is over and I’ve updated my goals for the new year. I believe these are the most aggressive financial goals I’ve ever set. It will be fun and challenging to try to achieve them all.

2014 Goals:

Reach 375k in market value for my DG portfolio
This one will be tough if the markets have a correction. I won’t mind though because I care more about dividend income.

Reach $14000 in forward 12-month dividends
This mean increasing my forward dividends by another $5500 annually. This will be tough.

Earn $5000 in options premiums
Very doable if the markets keep going up. However, it will be much harder if the market corrects as I’ll get assigned shares.

Earn $10000 in dividend income
This is double my 2013 goal. Again, very challenging but I think I will make this one.

Break $1500/mo in forward dividend + rental income
If I add a third rental then this one shouldn’t be too difficult.

Buy a third rental property
This will require a significant amount of cash as a down payment and will take some planning.

Increase net worth to 800k (596k to start the year)
At current income levels this should be achievable. The market could throw a wrench in this one though.

Produce 12mwh (12,000kwh) of electricity from solar
This is enough to cover more than half my usage from last year

Bring my total electric usage down to 17,500kwh (previously 19,233kwh for 2013)
Using LED bulbs, lighting timers and conservation, I will attempt this goal.

Reach 300k Pageviews
This one could prove difficult as this is triple my current pageviews.

Hit 25k Pageviews/month
Again this is difficult and about double my current views.

Finish the Yakezie challenge
I’m starting this week and hope to drop my Alexa ranking under 200,000 from 450k now.

I’ve also included how well I did in 2013. I met all goals but one which I consider pretty darn good. The goal I missed was a little out of my control as interested rates did not keep dropping, instead they marched back upwards.

2013 Goals:

Pay off my second lien by February 2013 on my primary residence saving $380.35/month. (done and posted in January)
Reach 180k in market value for my DG portfolio (completed and posted on 07/23/13)
Reach $6500 in forward 12-month dividends (completed and posted on 07/20/13, shooting for $8500 now)
Earn $3000 in options premiums (upped from $2500 on 02/18) (completed and posted on 07/12/13)
Earn $5000 in dividend income (completed and posted on 12/13/13)
Refinance primary residence at or below 3% on a 30-year fixed. (failed, interest rates didn’t cooperate)
Increase net worth to at least 450k (334k in Jan.) (completed and posted on 10/19, shooting for 525k now( met in Dec.))
Sell my car and buy a newer vehicle. (done in March and posted, bought an Audi S4)

My goal update posts can be found here.

Goal Achieved – $5000 in Dividend Income

December 14, 2013 by All About Interest

I didn’t even break the $2000 mark in dividends received in 2012. I’ve just passed through the $5000 goal that I’ve set for this year. I still have a lot of payers left so it will be fun to see how much I beat the goal by.

I’m thinking of setting a $10,000 goal for next year!

I’ve now hit all of my goals I set besides the refinance of my primary mortgage at 3% or less. Unfortunately that one is out of my control with interest rates much higher now.

I’ve completed 7 out of my 8 goals so far this year. All of my goals are posted on my goals tab.

Goal Achieved – $450k Net Worth

October 19, 2013 by All About Interest

I started the year with a net worth of 334k. I set a goal to reach 450k this year and achieved this goal probably last week since I just got around to updating my numbers on my net worth page. I’m now shooting to break 525k by the end of the year. I will just need a little cooperation from the market.

The only achievable goal left will be to hit $5k in dividend income which I’m on pace to hit sometime in December.

I hope all my readers are meeting and exceeding their goals this year!

I’ve now completed 6 out of my 8 goals so far this year. All of my goals are posted on my goals tab.

Goal Achieved – $180,000 Portfolio Value

July 24, 2013 by All About Interest

I started the year with a portfolio value of 94k. In less than 7 months I’ve almost doubled my portfolio value. This is mainly due to purchasing new positions using fresh capital but the market is also up considerably.

I hit this goal sooner than I expected so I will now shoot for 250k in portfolio value by the end of the year. I’m on track to hit all of my goals I set besides the refinance of my primary mortgage at 3% or less. Unfortunately that one is out of my control with interest rates now near 4.5%.

I’ve already completed 5 out of my 8 goals so far this year. All of my goals are posted on my goals tab.