Friday, October 25, 2013

Milestone: Portfolio Value Reaches $100,000

Today my portfolio's value reached $100,000 for the very first time, closing at $100,291.68. It occurred as a result of some large capital gains this week, with two notable examples being MSFT (up 6% today) and NSC (my largest holding, up about 10% this week). This milestone comes just two and a half months after reaching $90,000 in mid-August. 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.

It was nice to hit the six-figure mark before the end of 2013; quite frankly, I was surprised it happened so quickly. Now that I've crossed that threshold, I think it makes sense to set milestones by larger increments, and $25,000 seems reasonable. Thus, the next milestone will be $125,000. I anticipate reaching it fairly soon because the rollover money discussed in a recent post should hit my Roth IRA in November. It will be interesting to see what my portfolio value will be at the end of the year.

Milestone history for portfolio value:
  • $100,000: October 2013
  • $90,000: August 2013
  • $80,000: March 2013
  • $70,000: January 2013
  • $60,000: September 2012
  • $50,000: March 2012

33 comments:

  1. Congrats on the milestone. They say the first $100k is the hardest. Now it will only get easier.

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    1. FFd: Thank you! The nice thing about compounding is that it actually should get easier to reach each additional $100k.

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  2. Congratulations! Great blog so far. I have been following your blog and was wondering if you'd start showing your 401k contributions as part of your portfolio going forward?

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    1. Anonymous: Thanks! The first contributions to my new employer's retirement plans were made at the end of September, so I will start reporting the statuses of those plans, beginning with my monthly review for October.

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  3. DGM,

    Congratulations! That's really, really fantastic stuff. Your milestones are happening faster and faster. Only two months to climb $10k. I bet you didn't imagine it all happening this fast?

    I feel like we're all graduating. There are a number of us young dividend growth investors that all started around the same time with similar starting balances and a number of us are all above $100k now. I think that the community we've built has at least something to do with that.

    Keep it up!

    Best wishes.

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    1. DM: Thank you! It does indeed feel like a kind of "graduation." It's nice to be a member of the six-figure club of dividend growth investors!

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  4. Congrats on the achievement DGMachine! $10K in 2.5 months is awfully fast. Wishing you the best for your next goal.

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  5. Congratulations DGM! Superbly done considering the short time frame and the fact that the amount you've actually invested is only half of the increase since January.

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    1. w2r: Thank you! The strong market gains thus far in 2013 helped a lot. While I won't see those capital gains every year, regular contributions of new capital (and the dividends coming from new investments) should help smooth out changes in my portfolio's value over time.

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  6. Congrats! I know it feels good to scratch off some serious milestones. Unfortunately I had to cross off $100k twice as I had to withdraw some capital for the downpayment for our house. Hoping to never see the sub-$100k level again. Keep up the good work!

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  7. DGM,

    Congratulations! Feels great I'm sure. I looked at my 401k yesterday and also hit a surprising and significant milestone. Starting to seem a bit too easy. I hope we keep going a while before the eventual pullback.

    -RBD

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    1. RBD: Thank you, and congrats on reaching your 401k milestone.

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  8. That's some crazy growth there DMG. Good job! You can see the growth accelerating each time aside from march-august 2013. I think there was a slight market correction in there somewhere around 3-4% or so. I'm curious how much you are adding to your account each month. I'm only able to fund about 1k per month to my account so my growth is far slower than yours seems to be.

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    1. Captain: Thanks! To answer your question, this year I've been averaging about $1,500 per month in new capital; despite some of the financial fluctuations during the year, that happens to match the average monthly contribution I made in 2012. Going forward, the higher salary from my new job should allow me to invest at least $2,000 in new capital per month. I won't have a good read on the new average until a few more months have elapsed.

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  9. Great to see your progress, I just started dividend investing and hope to reach 100k By next year.I follow your blog. Keep going!

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    1. DMom: Thank you, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement. Best wishes as you work toward $100k!

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  10. Congrats on 100k. I bet you hit 200k even faster now. Keep up the good work.

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    1. AAI: Thanks! Your amazing progress has helped motivate me, so I'll keep doing the best that I can.

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  11. Congrats on reaching the milestone! I have reached mine too a few days ago!
    Looking forward to reach the next goal!

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    1. Martin: Thank you and congrats on reaching your $10K milestone! I look forward to seeing the progress that each of us makes toward our next milestones.

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    2. I can see how fast it goes when it reaches the momentum. like a snowball... rotating faster and faster. It is amazing and powerful.

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  12. Congrats on the milestone DGM. That's great work!

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  13. Congrats on hitting 6 figures DGM! You've had some awesome picks!

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  14. Congrats on reaching the 6 figure milestone! You are killing it! Keep up the good work.

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  15. Congratulations!!!
    $ 100,000 USD is a powerful and psychologically very important number!
    My own depot currently amounts to 16,000 euros. I am still far away from 100,000! But when I see that others have achieved it, then I want to do it too!
    Thanks for the motivation DRM!

    regards
    Dividenden-Sammler

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    1. D-S: Thank you -- best wishes as you work toward your investing goals!

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  16. I am years away from my Dividend Investment Portfolio hitting $100K. So Pumped for you! That is a fantastic mental milestone

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    1. Evan: Thank you! I wish you all the best as you work toward $100K.

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