Revised Goals for 2023

The weather here in Central Wisconsin as of Friday, September 15, has certainly cooled off from the triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures that were set just weeks ago. It is predicted that the high temperature today is going to reach 75 degrees Fahrenheit, which is an ideal temperature in my opinion. With probably just a few days here and there of this type of weather left, I am definitely going to get outside before typical fall and winter weather hit us.

Anyways, taking into consideration the financial and professional impact of my recent job loss, now is probably a good time to adjust my goals a bit for the three and a half months that we have remaining in 2023.

Image Source: Pexels

My Updated Financial Goals for 2023

1. End 2023 with a six month emergency fund

My recent job loss has drove home the importance of a healthy emergency fund. I currently have an emergency fund of about three months of living expenses. And while it looks like I will be blessed to quickly land back on my feet, three months just doesn't seem like an adequate emergency fund after having experienced my first layoff. That's why I'd like to just over double my emergency fund to six months of living expenses.

2. Conclude 2023 with net annual forward dividends of at least $4,300

At the time of writing, my portfolio is expected to generate net annual forward dividends of $4,221.86. Since I am going to be focusing on building up my emergency fund, I either won't be investing for the rest of 2023 or capital deployment will be quite minimal. But dividend increases over the next few months should help me surpass $4,300 in net annual forward dividends before the year is over.

3. Reach $120,000 in investments and $140,000 in net worth

My cash flow is likely going to be less for the next few months than what it had previously been throughout this year. This is why my goal is to simply have the value of my portfolio remain around $120,000. And as I slowly build up my emergency fund, the thought is that I can increase my net worth by around $5,000 from the current mark of nearly $135,000.

My Personal Goals for 2023

1. Publish approximately 360 Motley Fool articles

Prior to my layoff, I was going to crush my goal of publishing at least 450 Motley Fool articles. In fact, I was on track to publish over 520. But given the circumstances, I will have to settle for the roughly 360 that were published.

2. Publish at least 90 Seeking Alpha articles

Until my layoff, my goal was to publish one Seeking Alpha article each month. My new goal is to publish 90 Seeking Alpha articles for this year. Based on the 15 that I already have had or will have published as of writing, this is a modest goal of five articles per week. As I get settled into Seeking Alpha and a new role at a Marketplace service, I may up this goal for 2024.

3. Publish one blog post each week.

Out of all my goals, this is the only one that is going to remain the same. I like where I'm at right now with publishing to the blog. It's still a nice hobby to update readers on my progress on the journey to achieve financial independence.

Concluding Thoughts:

Have you ever updated your goals as the year evolved?

Thanks for your readership and please leave your comments below!

Major Life Update And Two Takeaways

I'm going to keep this blog post especially short and sweet. The weather here in Central Wisconsin is beautiful today on Saturday, September 9: It is currently 74 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny.

With that aside, let's get into the crux of this post.

My Contract Was Not Renewed

Each September, The Motley Fool sets its budget for the next fiscal year. Due to the significant economic changes since I started in 2021, tough decisions and cutbacks had to be made. Thus, my contract was not renewed for the next fiscal year.

Going into it, I knew this would be a possibility. But I was fine with it because of the autonomy over my schedule the opportunity provided me. I was able to spend more time with my nephew and avoid commuting to work.

The First Takeaway: An Emergency Fund Provides Peace of Mind

Having a roughly three month emergency fund helped to cushion the blow a bit. Fortunately, I look to have a new opportunity in the works that I will elaborate on more as it unfolds.

For the rest of this year, I am going to be working on building my emergency fund further to six or seven months of expenses for good measure.

The Second Takeaway: Things Happen for a Reason

A couple of years back, an opportunity fell into my lap. But because I was settled into Motley Fool and progressing from writing five articles a week to ultimately 11 before I was laid off, I passed on said opportunity.

I had always wondered what might have been had I taken the opportunity and ran with it. Now, by God's grace, I have another chance.

Concluding Thoughts:

As disappointing as news of my job loss initially was, I feel blessed to have wrote almost 900 articles for Motley Fool. And I'm looking forward to my next opportunity.

Discussion:

Have you ever lost a job?

Were you fortunate enough to have an emergency fund?

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below.

August 2023 Dividend Income

As I'm writing this blog post on Saturday, September 2, you wouldn't know that fall is less than three weeks away. The high temperature here in Central Wisconsin is expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit today!

Anyways, with August now in the books, now would be a good time to look at my dividend income for the month. Let's dive into it!

In August 2023, I received $305.77 in net dividends. That works out to a 10.6% growth rate over the $276.48 in net dividends that I collected from my portfolio in May 2023.

My net dividends received in August 2023 were 46.3% greater than the $209.05 in net dividends collected in August 2022.

Digging deeper, I received $289.95 in net dividends from 31 companies within my Robinhood account. I collected $15.42 in net dividends from three companies in my Webull portfolio during the month (inclusive of the $0.06 in ADR fees for British American Tobacco). Finally, I received $0.40 in net dividends from 16 companies within my M1 Finance account in August 2023.

The net dividends that I collected from May 2023 to August 2023 surged higher by $29.29, which was the result of the following activity within my portfolio:

My net dividends received from United Parcel Service (UPS) were $8.13 more in my Robinhood and M1 Finance accounts, which was due to the timing of the dividend payment.

I collected an extra $3.66 in net dividends from TJX Companies (TJX) within my Robinhood portfolio. This was also the result of the timing of the dividend payment.

My net dividends received from Clorox (CLX) were $0.04 higher in my Robinhood account, which was due to the 1.7% increase in the quarterly dividend per share announced in July.

I collected $0.28 in additional net dividends from British American Tobacco (BTI) within my Robinhood and Webull portfolios. This was the result of the variability of its dividend payments.

My net distributions received from Energy Transfer (ET) grew by $0.22 in my Robinhood and Webull accounts, which was due to the distribution bump declared in July.

I collected an extra $0.15 in net dividends from Main Street Capital (MAIN) within my Robinhood portfolio. This was the result of the 2.2% increase in the monthly dividend per share announced in May.

My net dividends received from Realty Income (O) grew by $0.01 in my Robinhood account, which was due to the 0.2% increase in its monthly dividend declared in June.

I collected an additional $0.27 in net dividends from NNN REIT (NNN) within my Robinhood portfolio. This was the result of the 2.7% lift in the quarterly dividend per share announced in July.

My net dividends received from Texas Instruments (TXN) rose by $7.44 in my Robinhood account, which was due to my dividend stock purchases in May and July.

I collected an extra $8.36 in net distributions from Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) within my Robinhood and Webull portfolios. This was the result of the 2% distribution per unit increase declared in July and my purchase of 16 more units in June.

My net dividends received from Air Products & Chemicals (APD) were $3.50 higher in my Robinhood account, which was due to my purchase of two more shares in April.

I collected an additional $2.64 in net dividends from General Dynamics (GD) within my Robinhood portfolio. This was the result of my purchase of two more shares in June.

My net dividends received from Lowe's (LOW) were $0.41 more in my Robinhood and M1 Finance accounts, which was due to the 4.8% raise declared in May.

I collected an extra $0.20 in net dividends from General Mills (GIS) within my Robinhood portfolio. This was the result of the 9.3% dividend hike announced in June.

My net dividends received from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) were $6.02 less in my Robinhood and M1 Finance accounts, which was due to the timing of the dividend payment.

Concluding Thoughts:

My net dividends surpassed the $300 milestone during the month of August. And given trends of my capital deployment, I anticipate that this will be my last middle-of-the-month quarter under $325 in net dividends.

Discussion:

How was your dividend income for August 2023?

Did you receive any first-time dividend payments in the month?

I appreciate your readership and welcome your comments below!

August 2023 Dividend Stock Purchases

As I'm writing this blog post on Friday, August 25, the weather here in Central Wisconsin isn't too bad: It is sunny today and the high temperature is expected to be 88 degrees Fahrenheit. This is much better than just a couple of days ago, when the temperature topped 100 degrees!

With that aside, I anticipate that my capital deployment for August 2023 is complete. Thus, now is a good time to discuss my stock purchases for the month. Let's dive in.

The first stock purchase that I completed for the month of August was 0.5 shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) at an average price per share of $128.52. This brought my position in the advertising giant to 20 shares, which I am happy with for now as I shift my focus toward building a position in Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG).

My next stock purchase that I executed during the month was 0.5 shares of Amazon (AMZN) at an average cost of $128.30 per share. Just as is the case with GOOGL, my AMZN position is now in a decent spot at 20 shares. That's why I plan on pausing incremental purchases in the e-commerce and cloud juggernaut for the time being.

The first dividend stock purchase that I made for the month of August was 30 shares of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) at an average price per share of $34.89. As a leader within the alternative asset management space, BAM is diversified across so many of the mega-trends that will define the future of the global economy. These include renewable energy, data centers, and artificial intelligence. The transaction added $38.40 to my net annual forward dividends, which equates to a 3.67% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I completed during the month was 15 shares of VICI Properties (VICI) at an average cost of $30.02 per share. Interested readers can check out my buying rationale for the stock in my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post. This buy boosted my net annual forward dividends by $23.40, which works out to a 5.2% dividend yield.

The third dividend stock purchase that I executed for the month of August was three shares of AbbVie (ABBV) at an average price per share of $153.05. Again, curious readers can visit my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post for the investment thesis. The transaction lifted my net annual forward dividends by $17.76, which is equivalent to a 3.87% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I made during the month was two shares of Lowe's (LOW) at an average cost of $224.37 a share. Once again, readers can peruse my August 2023 Dividend Stock Watch List blog post for a better understanding of why I like LOW. This decision increased my net annual forward dividends by $8.80, which equates to a 1.96% dividend yield.

The fifth dividend stock purchase that I completed for the month of August was two shares of Hershey (HSY) at an average price per share of $215.05. Readers can find my investment thesis in a Motley Fool article on the stock published earlier this month. The transaction bumped up my net annual forward dividends by $9.536, which works out to a 2.22% net dividend yield.

My next dividend stock purchase that I executed during the month was eight shares of Iron Mountain (IRM) at an average cost of $60.79 a share. Intrigued readers can scan my recent Motley Fool article on the stock (and Energy Transfer and FedEx) for my investment thesis. This buy helped my net annual forward dividends to climb by $21.20, which is equivalent to a 4.36% dividend yield.

The seventh and final dividend stock purchase that I made for the month of August was 17 shares of Leggett & Platt (LEG) at an average price per share of $27.73. My buying rationale is as simple as the fact that LEG is a beaten-down Dividend King with a reasonably safe dividend considering the current economic environment that it is facing. The decision boosted my net annual forward dividends by $31.28, which equates to a 6.64% net dividend yield.

Concluding Thoughts:

During the month of August, I put $3,921.12 of capital to work. Against the $150.376 in net annual forward dividends that were added to my portfolio, this works out to a 3.84% weighted average dividend yield.

Dividend announcements in August (e.g., Medical Properties Trust's dividend cut) collectively reduced my net annual forward dividends by $25.43. As a result, my net annual forward dividends grew from almost $4,085 at the start of the month to nearly $4,210 heading into September.

Discussion:

How did you fare in regard to capital deployment in August 2023?

Did you open any new whole-share positions as I did with BAM?

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment below!