I feel like I blinked on New Year’s Eve and then January was over! It just flew by for me! It was a little rocky but overall, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I struggled with writing; you could even call it writer’s block. I knew what I wanted to write about but when it came down to it, it was like pulling teeth.
What helped was, reminding myself that I have control over what I do and when I do it. I’m the one making my own deadlines, and I am the one who is plotting the route all this is taking. I need to make sure I am going slow and steady, so I know I am putting out quality content that is genuine and well prepared. Less, is sometimes more. This process is a marathon or maybe an Ironman? It is not a sprint, and I don’t want to rush blindly through it.
So, I only pushed out 2 posts –
Also, did I mention I lost 10 pounds this month too! I’m over 31% of the way to hitting my goal weight! Woot, woot! And, I had a really good month with dividends and my newest side hustle!
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. I try and stay close to this breakdown – The majority of my dividends come from the Real Estate Sector and the Finance Sector.
Overall, January was a rough month for the stock market. We saw a sharp drop and the S&P 500 took a pretty nasty hit! My portfolio ending up dropping just under 1%. It closed out the month with a balance of $30,744. My Lending Club account dropped under $300 and has dwindled down to 6 outstanding loans.
For January, I received just $5 in interest from Lending Club and almost $115 in dividends! My highest dividend came from one of my favorite stocks, NYMT at a whopping $40 again! NRZ came in second with just $9.75. And my smallest dividend return was a whole $0.12 from STAG.
| Stock Symbol | Dividend Amount | – | Stock Symbol | Dividend Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APTS | $0.35 | – | NLY | $6.38 |
| BNS | $3.35 | – | NRZ | $9.75 |
| DIN | $0.80 | – | NYMT | $40.00 |
| EFC | $8.25 | – | O | $0.49 |
| EMN | $0.76 | – | PM | $8.75 |
| GSK | $2.55 | – | PPL | $4.15 |
| JPM | $7.00 | – | QSR | $0.90 |
| LTC | $1.90 | – | STAG | $0.12 |
| MDLZ | $1.40 | – | STOR | $8.09 |
| MDT | $1.89 | – | TD | $1.19 |
| MRK | $1.38 | – | USB | $5.52 |
I am dabbling with trading stocks again and have been using the cash on hand from my dividends to make some short-term trades. I completed 3 trades in January leading to a nice return of $0.07! Oh yeah, the big bucks! Two positive trades and one negative that almost wiped out all my hard work! But the battle is winning 51% of the time so 2 out of 3 is not too shabby!
I then reinvested the cash by purchasing more long-term shares in NLY, O, and OHI.
Side Hustles –
Now, time to introduce the newest side hustle… donating plasma! It’s actually better than I pictured it would be! I made four different donations and plan on continuing to donate once a week for the foreseeable future! The “New Donor Rates” were pretty hard to pass up so, I earned $500 for those four donations! I still have two more donations at the “New Donor Rate” before I drop down into the returning donor category. But I anticipate earning about $180 a month moving forward! So, more to come on that later!
What I want to focus on in (Next Month) –
I am slowly making progress on getting the Podcast up and running and hopefully, that should be coming out by the end of February. (COVID and weather have thrown in some challenges…) If you would like to be on the podcast just let me know! You can email me directly at enduringfinances@gmail.com and we can set something up!
I am very excited for February! I have a photography event I am going to where I will be able to meet an amazing photographer and some like minded people. It should be a really good experience! And I might be going camping towards the end of the month! So, I am working on getting my camper shell all set up and hopefully ready to withstand some colder weather.
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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