I am not going to lie… I am really excited for 2021 to be over and to be heading into 2022! As with all things in life, 2021 was full of ups and downs. I started the year off in a very bad place mentally, emotionally, and physically. The first few months of 2021 were like pulling myself through quicksand and I was in a really, really bad place. But then, I took control of the aspects that I could change and starting laying down tracks to get out of the quicksand. I weighed the pros and cons and took a calculated leap of faith. During the end of 2021, I quit my “corporate” job and started working for myself fulltime-ish.
Since then, I’ve been splitting my time between this Finance Blog and my Photography Business. It’s nice to see that the hard work and risk is slowly starting to pay off! I earned just over $650 by selling Prints, a 2022 Calendar, and Stock Photos online with my Photography. But… that came with about $1,010 in expenses for running the website, shipping and producing products, and investing in equipment and other things for the future. I ended 2021 averaging one sale a week during the last quarter. If that continues into 2022 I will be doing alright!
2021 was focused on laying the foundation to build off of in the future with my business. I honestly didn’t expect my photography to do as well as it did as it was my first real year trying (again)! I earned two, 5 star reviews on Etzy and had my first really awkward request from someone to exchange “services” for a specific photograph they wanted to be taken…. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, especially as a female who works in the online world. But the positive interactions really do outweigh the negatives one when you are doing something you are really passionate about! (And you remember to not take it personally!)
One of my highlights from 2021 was talking with a guy who was visiting Amsterdam. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to see on his last day there but, he saw my post about visiting Amsterdam and reached out for some travel advice. We ended chatting back and forth for a while until plans were finalized for him!
I love getting to see people learn and grow. I’ve been able to talk offline with a few people about setting goals, managing their finances, and ways to improve certain aspects of their small business. It gives me the motivation to keep chugging along and trying to create honest and valuable content to help people for a long time!
My Best Performing Finance Posts In 2021 –
- How I Made $1,000 Charging Lime Scooters
- Food Storage and Its Importance With Supply Chain Shortages
- What Is A Thrift Savings Plan?
My Best Performing Photography Posts In 2021 –
- Snorkeling Hanauma Bay On Oahu, Hawaii
- Plitvice Lakes National Park In Croatia
- The Bamberg Cathedral In Bavaria, Germany
One of my biggest struggles right now is staying in the moment and staying on top of short-range commitments and deadlines. I love Jack Welch’s quote that sums it up perfectly…
If I am going to be successful and have the work/life balance I want in the future, I need to focus on getting my weekly tasks done and then preparing the mid-range tasks as much as possible. Basically, I need to be a little more disciplined with my weekly workflow and become a little bit more productive! My thought process is to frontload the research and writing during the winter months. Which would leave the spring, summer, and fall months to have more time to travel, go camping, and work on my photography in nicer weather. Right now, my workflow process is not tight enough to cover the additional desk and computer work in the winter. So, changes must be made!
Stock Market Portfolio –
My goal for my stock portfolio is function as a long-term dividend account. My diversification strategy is broken-down by different sectors and areas.
The majority of my dividends come from the Real Estate Sector and the Finance Sector. I ended the year with almost $31,000 in my portfolio and a little over $300 left in my Lending Club Account.
December was another high month in dividends as we get closer to earning $100 every month! I earned dividends from 30 different companies with my highest earners being SO, EFC, and AVGO!
Stock Symbol | Dividend Amount | – | Stock Symbol | Dividend Amount |
---|---|---|---|---|
AMGN | $1.76 | – | KO | $6.30 |
AVGO | $8.20 | – | LMT | $2.80 |
BAC | -$5.46 | – | LTC | $1.90 |
CCI | $1.47 | – | LYB | $1.13 |
CMI | $1.45 | – | MSFT | $0.62 |
CNP | $4.93 | – | NEE | $2.70 |
CVX | $1.34 | – | O | $0.49 |
D | $1.26 | – | PFE | $1.56 |
DUK | $1.97 | – | PSX | $2.70 |
EFC | $8.25 | – | SO | $9.90 |
ENB | $2.21 | – | SU | $4.17 |
FLO | $1.05 | – | TROW | $3.24 |
HD | $1.65 | – | TRV | $1.76 |
JNJ | $1.06 | – | UNH | $4.35 |
KHC | $3.20 | – | V | $0.96 |
Looking Back On 2021 –
In 2021, I did not focus on adding money into my stock portfolio. I was working on maxing out my 403b with my employer and if I wouldn’t have quit, I would have accomplished that. I ended up only adding a few hundred dollars that I earned from charging scooters into stocks. I don’t anticipate adding a lot in 2022 as the business is still in the foundation phase and I don’t have a lot of money that I can afford to invest right now.
I earned over $930 in dividends, and I made one day trade in 2021!
I only had about $50 on hand to complete the trade but, I still managed to earn a little over $2 within a few minutes. Leading to a return of 5.4% which is not too shabby!
All in all, I brought home over $1,000 this year in passive income and a little bit from trading stocks. I saw my stock portfolio return just under 22% between dividends and market growth of individual stocks! Woot, woot! My best months in the market were December and March.
January 1st, 2021 | – | December 31st, 2021 | |
---|---|---|---|
Stock Portfolio | $22,726.83 | – | $30,940.34 |
Cash on Hand | $10.71 | – | $20.34 |
Lending Club | $1,367.81 | – | $305.20 |
$24,105.35 | – | $31,265.88 |
Starting out 2022, I have just under $31,000 invested in long term stocks, and just over $300 invested in Lending Club. With a return of 5-6% next year, I should see my portfolio increase to around $32,500 and I estimate that I will earn about $1,200 in dividends. I should start earning $100 a month towards the end of the year! With Lending Club, my goal is to not lose any more money this year! While I have made my initial investment back with a little extra, I don’t expect to see a big return this year or in the future.
I also recalculated my Net Worth, which we know is assets minus liabilities. I have seen a huge jump from under $100,000 last year to just over $180,300! A large part of that is because I was dumping more than a third of my paychecks into my 403b retirement account and because the market did extremely well too!
Goals for 2022 –
- Spend time creating images specifically for stock photography sites. This will hopefully be a long-term passive income stream that just keeps on giving little bits and pieces back.
- Go on a backpacking trip in the mountains and get lots of pictures, fishing and exploring in!
- Lose weight and pack on some muscles! I enjoy weightlifting and the pump that comes from hitting those weights!
Long-Term Goals –
- Pay off my Mortgage and become 100% debt free! My goal is to pay it off completely by 2030… A hard target and will depend upon how business goes!
- Participate in a Triathlon and a Winter Triathlon. I completed a full marathon while I was stationed in Hawaii back in 2014. And I also completed the Baton Memorial Death March in 2019 which is a full marathon ruck march.
- Build a Dividend Portfolio that generates around $2,000 per month. That would equate to about $24,000 annually, just from dividends. With my current diversification strategy, that would mean about a $600,000 stock Portfolio earning an average of 4% on dividends a year. (Not counting market value increases) We are a long way away from reaching that but, it’s all about those baby steps along the way!
© EuduringFinances, 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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