Thursday, January 17, 2013

Milestone: Portfolio Value Reaches $70,000

Today my portfolio's value reached $70,000 for the very first time, closing at $70,128.67, thanks to a strong performance from my stocks to start the year. This milestone comes just four months after reaching $60,000 last September. As I have mentioned elsewhere, my secondary investing goal is to achieve a satisfactory total return on my investments, and a steadily increasing portfolio value is an indication of progress toward that goal.

The next milestone is $80,000, which I might be able to reach later this year.

20 comments:

  1. Congrats! I'm sure you'll be passing $80k earlier than expected.

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    1. PIP: Thanks! It's tough to predict portfolio milestones because they depend a lot on what the market does. If the market were to stay flat for the rest of the year, then I would probably reach $80K just from dividends and new capital by September.

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  2. Congrats! You'll be at 100k before you know it, especially when you get to save more from your new job.

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    1. AAI: Thank you! It will be a great day when my portfolio reaches $100K. I'll be able to call myself a hundred-thousand-aire. :)

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  3. That's fantastic! I look forward to seeing what you buy with your savings in 2013.

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    1. ADY: Thanks! I look forward to seeing your purchases this year, too.

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  4. DGM,

    Fantastic. Congratulations!

    I also believe you'll be hitting the $80k mark before you know it. The increased savings and effects of compounding will ensure you keep hitting these milestones faster and faster, almost regardless of the market fluctuations.

    Keep up the great work.

    Best wishes.

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    1. DM: Thank you! A nice benefit of compounding is that the time interval it takes for a given increase in value becomes shorter as my portfolio gets larger. To give an example, a $10K increase requires a 20% gain for a $50K portfolio, but only a 10% gain for a $100K portfolio, which should take less time to achieve. Thus, if I keep track of when each $10K increase occurs, I should see the interval between increases get shorter over time.

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  5. DGM, Congrats, it is a great result. Do you have any other investments besides this portfolio? I am asking to know how jealous I should be :)))

    Recently I was depressed seeing you guys having quite large portfolios and great dividend income, so I sat down to calculate my investments. Although my TD account is only 5k worth right now, with all my other investments such as ROTH, 401k, Lending Club, I am actually at 65k total, which made me happy.

    Great result man, best luck in reaching your next milestone.

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    1. Martin: Thanks! Besides my portfolio, I have around $20K in employer retirement plans, which I plan to consolidate when I start my new job.

      Please don't get depressed when looking at the portfolios of other investors. Remember that individual circumstances can vary substantially -- some people start to invest at a younger age, others have higher job incomes, investors choose different stocks that perform better or worse, etc. -- so portfolio sizes will be different. What is most important is whether your portfolio is meeting your personal investing goals. If it is, then that's all that matters.

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    2. Nice portfolio. You mention employer retirement plans, but the balance is quite a bit lower than your dividend portfolio.

      I've always maxed out my 401k contributions for the tax benefit before building other savings but it seems like you're doing something different.

      What are the pros/cons of your strategy?

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    3. Anonymous: I confess that I haven't paid much attention to my employer retirement plans until recently. My current focus is on building up the portfolio in my taxable account, which has the advantage of more flexibility (no restrictions on money into or out of the account) but the disadvantage of taxation. In the second half of 2013 -- once I start my new job and its associated retirement plans -- I may divert some of my savings into those retirement plans if I see a greater benefit of doing so.

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  6. DGM - I am in my late 40's, have a portfolio many times larger than yours, and from an investment perspective I would trade places with you in a heartbeat! The reason - while you have a chance to save/invest more going forward, short of inventing a time machine, I cannot get any younger. This makes the power of compounding much more available to you than to me.

    Looking out many years, and based on your current portfolio, if you invested $10,000 a year and earned a compounded return of only 6%, you would have a portfolio in excess of $500,000 by the time you hit my ripe old age! You are well on your way my friend…

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    1. DoD: Thanks! I am certainly looking forward to how the power of compounding will help my portfolio grow over time.

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  7. Good job DGM! The past year has been very kind to investors as stock prices soared. I recently checked my account as was pleasantly surprised. Anyways, it's a joy to follow along and read your articles and about your purchases. You are a wealth of knowledge, thanks for blogging and writing professional caliber articles on seeking alpha!

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  8. Congratulations DGM. Enjoy the net worth milestone. Just don't forget that net worth should ultimately track your dividend income progress :)
    Integrator.

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    1. Integrator: Thanks! While I don't know how closely my portfolio value and dividend income will track each other, I expect that an increase in one will generally coincide with an increase in the other.

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  9. Congrats Dividend Growth Machine! You went from 60,000 to 70,000 in fairly short amount of time. I'm sure that you were aided by the special dividends that we saw in December. Keep it up!

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