As we are moving our way through 2021, I am excited to share my journey with all of you! My overall goal is to transparent with the challenges, obstacles, and surprises along the way. No one’s path is the same in this life but, we can still learn and grow together. I want to provide realistic and honest information about personal finance, investing, careers and and planning to achieve financial independence that is free to everyone.
What I worked on this Quarter –
I hit the ground running this year! Here are a few post’s I wrote that you should take a look at!
Long Term Stock Market Goals –
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.
Luckily, I was able to close out all 3 or my longer swing trades in January and reinvested that money into my long-term stocks. I purchased heavily into Finance, Utilities and Consumer Staples Sectors to balance out my portfolio.
Because of that, am way ahead of my goal for 2020 as I only anticipated that my portfolio would be at about $20,235 by the end of 2021. As of right now, I am way ahead of that number with my stock portfolio coming in at $26,12.75. Overall, I’m not surprised my Lending Club balance has gone down as I am cashing out of that and getting out of the peer-to-peer lending platform altogether. If our recall in my 2020 update, Lending Club was closing their lending platform down are transitioning to basically an online bank.
I made just over $215 in stocks dividends in this 1st quarter. And, I lost $30.60 with returns from Lending Club as people are bailing on their outstanding loans. Lending Club is doing work behind the scene to try and recover some of that money but… I have low expectations that I will ever be made whole. But that was a risk that I took when I started investing with peer-to-peer lending.
Some of my highest dividends come from NYMT and EFC. Two stocks that I have not included in my long-term holding strategy. Right now, I am waiting to see what happens with those companies and am prepared to sell when the time feels right.
Goals for this next Quarter –
- As far as this blog goes, I am very excited to break into stocks and investing! I can’t wait to break down what is a dividend, what is a stock, what is a bond, etc. Really putting out quality information for you about what investing really entails and how to use that information to better yourself and your situation. So that’s going to be my big primary focus is getting information about stocks and investing, also about different careers and retirement planning as well. So that is where I really see this website going in the next couple of months and I’m really excited about it.
- Creating blog posts ahead of time. I would love to be maybe one or two weeks ahead on just blog posts just so that I know that when something happens like it did this this last month. I can go and not have to worry about rushing back to try and get a post out. I really want to take my time with and make sure that each post is accurate and detailed and really helps you guys out. So, I think that will be one of my biggest goals is creating kind of like a portfolio of post ready to go so that you guys are getting quality content regularly.
- Developing marketing content on Pinterest which I’ve seen phenomenal results for what I’ve already done in a short amount of time. I also really want to focus on building up my Instagram page and engaging with more people on their personal achievements. I do not plan on focusing on Facebook just yet. I feel like it does not really drive a lot of traffic at this stage. This is especially true because I am in the early stages of my website don’t have a lot of content up yet. So for now, I’m going to hold off on really engaging in Facebook and really focus on Pinterest and honing my skills on marketing.
- Saving pretty heavily for these next few months. There is a little bit of uncertainty at my day job right now and I want to make sure that I have all my ducks in a row with my budget and have my emergency fund all built up just in case it doesn’t go exactly how I’m anticipating it to go. I wish I could be a little bit more transparent about what is going on there, but I don’t think I can’t legally, so I won’t. But when I when I get the all clear, I will be sure to make sure that I update you guys on what going on and what that means for me. So, fingers crossed that it works out as planned.
- I’m really excited that this quarter actually sold my first photography print, I’ve had a shop on Etsy for exactly one year before I made my first sale and I think that there’s a bright future with that! I’m excited for what that means and how I’m pushing that in regard to my second website that is all about my photography and my travels. With Holy Smokes Photography, I am trying to share those adventures with people who maybe cannot visit some of those places and I’m excited for what that looks like!
Goals for 2021 –
- Be present! At work and in my personal life I find myself rushing to get from A to B to C. I am guilty of cutting phone calls short or trying to multitask through meetings and even conversations. I want to focus on slowing things down and being present with every person I interact with.
- Spend more time pursuing Photography! It is one of my passions in life and something that I truly enjoy! I have been working on getting my travel blog up and running but as of now, that is all past trips I have already taken and thought others would enjoy. I want to plan out a new adventure for this year… or maybe a couple!
- Also related to photography, I want to focus more time on creating images specifically for stock photography websites. This will hopefully be a long term passive income stream that just keeps on giving little bits and pieces back.
- Working on training my puppy! We have gotten through potty training and know sit but, we really need to work on leash pulling, not jumping and some more basic manners. We all have to start somewhere!
Long-Term Goals –
- Pay off my Mortgage and be 100% debt free! My goal is to pay it off completely by 2030. A hard target! But, if I stick to my budget and keep reminding myself why it is some important I know I can make it happen!
- Participate in a Triathlon and a Winter Triathlon. I completed a full marathon while I was stationed in Hawaii back in December of 2014. And I also completed the Baton Memorial Death March in spring of 2019. That is held in New Mexico every year and it truly an emotional experience!
- 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 a $600,000 stock Portfolio earning an average of 4% on dividends. We are a long way away from reaching that but, it’s all about those baby steps along the way!
© EuduringFinances, 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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