Is it possible to build a 10 million net worth while not working? Can it be achieved simply by investing? How much luck is required? How much effort? How much must I learn? Would the continuous accumulation of knowledge contribute to the speed of compounding?

I have no idea but I sure am curious to find out! Are you? What I do know is without the right habits and mindset, this journey will be difficult.

Welcome to my blog where I share my journey beyond FI/RE, in pursuit of 10M.

 

10 Million Net Worth Goal

I’m focusing on the fundamentals. The little details that I believe can be improved upon that will pave the way to make the 10M journey much smoother.

Here are the areas of focus.

1. Investment Progress. Evaluate and focus on the investment objectives.
2. Expenses. Understand how your expenses are evolving.
3. Alternative Income. Seek other opportunities to grow income.
4. Cash Flow. Achieve positive cash flow every month of the year.
5. Savings Rate. Achieve and maintain an average 30% savings rate indefinitely.
6. Net Worth. Track progression of net worth growth.
7. ETA 10M. Estimate how long till 10M net worth target.

I believe that if you do as the majority, your results are of those in line with the majority.

It’s in those less traversed paths you’re more likely to find the rare gems.

So, my plans are to challenge myself to take risks, exercise discipline, mature my personal philosophy and remain opportunistic.

Game on! 😊

 

Investment Progress

LBF Dividend Portfolio. The main purpose of this portfolio is to generate dividends. Thankfully, the portfolio has been doing fairly well in terms of dividend growth. It did suffer some dividend suspensions and cuts but nothing as bad as I had been expecting. At least not yet.

The goal is to hit $10,000 in dividends from this portfolio!

Current projections

There are some slight improvements to my projections most in part due to the market correction allowing me to buy more stocks at better prices.

Previous Projections

Based on current trends, 2023 looks to be the year I reach my target.

Fundrise. The goal is to reach a $50,000 portfolio. Portfolio is holding up as expected. Due to COVID-19 turmoil, my focus has been in stocks. No additional investments have been made this month.

With redemptions being temporarily suspended, I feel much better about Fundrise’s ability to weather this storm and come out the other side.

Prices for Fundrise iPO shares have not changed this month.

Interested in investing in Fundrise? Sign up here.

M1 Finance. The purpose of this account is to seek capital appreciation. I began this pie originally for experimental/entertainment purpose but my plans have changed. I like the platform and decided to continue to fund this account. However, I don’t want to spread my efforts out too thin so my primary focus will remain with the LBF Dividend Portfolio till I reach my 10K goal. In the meantime, I will be seeding this account lightly.

Currently, I am auto investing about $100 per month.

Pie Update: I removed TSLA out of the pie. I don’t understand the price action. Doesn’t make sense to me.

I have to admit the platform has grown on me and see why many people like it. The UI is constantly improving and makes creating your own PIE/ETF/FUND a breeze and fun. Great for those of you who are just getting started investing and want to purchase fractional shares of big names such as Amazon or Google. Definitely recommend the platform. If your interested, sign up with M1 Finance.

Total Investment Portfolio. I may reveal more about my total investment holdings later in the future when I feel comfortable doing so. However, I will share how my overall total investment portfolio has been performing relative to the S&P index.

I invest in individual stocks so I can veer off the S&P index in hopes for higher returns. I don’t worry about how much I beat the index by but I do worry about massively under-performing it.

What’s more important to me is achieving at minimum a CAGR of about 8-12% over the next 20-30 years. That would be sufficient enough to help me achieve many of my financial goals in the long term.

 

Expenses

Groceries: $702

Home (Maintenance): $420. Central AC had to be serviced. 5 pounds of freon had to be filled. Expect these sorts of expenses when purchasing your first house. They happen.

Auto (Maintenance): $350. The 20 year old car went for an oil change and somehow the AC wasn’t blowing cold air so that was repaired! Talk about double AC wammy. 🤦‍♂️

Charitable Giving: $300

Mobile Phone: $123

Postage & Shipping: $161. I happened to have lots of materials from my previous business manufacturers around the country needed for face masks and shields for health care professionals. I listed them on eBay and sold them all for about 80% to 90% cheaper than others just to help out. It was sad to see so many others price gouging for such supplies. Evil!

Utilities: $134. California climate credit helped keep my utilities quite low this month. Great program!

General Merchandise: $129. I changed my shopping category to general merchandise. All misc things I buy will be lumped into this category to simplify going forward. Looks like I spent quite a bit on vitamins for loved ones.

Restaurants: $81. We’re really starting to miss going out to eat. I really need my pho fix. Ordering to go is not the same. I really miss going out to get some AYCE KBBQ also. I even miss sitting at a diners with some good ol’ omelette with coffee…

If you haven’t had Poki Burritos, you must try! One of my favs. 😊

We also had some hot wings from KFC. Felt like I haven’t had those in decades. They were quite good!

Service Fees: $74. eBay service fees are ridiculous!

Auto (Gas): $62. Gas prices have been coming down quite fast lately in CA. Regular gas from Costco is about $2.40 per gallon. You can’t beat Costco! It used to be above $3.00 just a few months back.

Home (Landscaping): $40

Pets/Pet Care: $29. Saved $16 on dog food by buying it on sale. 😁

Dues & Subscriptions: $4

Total: $2609

Expenses for the month was in line with expectations.

 

Alternative Income

My primary focus is trying to grow my dividend income but noticed some other sources began to sprout🌱. So, I decided to get my 🔎out to take a closer look. 🧐

LBF Dividend Portfolio. This month brought in $282.07 in dividends, which is 33.1% higher than April 2019 dividend income. I don’t focus on the dollar amount. The percentage gains are more important to me.

M1 Finance. Everything starts small. This portfolio will not generate much dividends but dividends are dividends and I count every last bit.

Blog Income. Thank you for your support and following my journey. I hope what I share in this journey will bring some sort of value to you in your life. That is all I care about.

Swagbucks. I exchanged 4350 Swagbucks ($43 worth) for $50 visa gift card. 😏

 

Cash Flow

Objective: Keep cash flow above water for every month.

I don’t like the fact that 3 out of 12 months, I have negative cash flow. I will work to lift these areas off the ground.

There were some mistakes with last months cash flow comparison chart. Corrections were made. Making progress slowly but surely.

 

Savings Rate

Objective: Achieve and maintain an average 30% savings rate indefinitely.

If my calculations are correct, a savings rate of 30% would give me enough fire power to reach 10M net worth.

Slowly working my way up!

 

Net Worth Update

Snapshot of net worth from Personal Capital.

Net worth YTD is down by -0.1%.

Things have been holding up fairly well. My net worth figures are calculated from my personal spreadsheet. Personal Capital does not include all assets. However, It does reflect very closely where my net worth resides.

 

ETA 10M

Estimated Time Arrival (Best Case to Worst Case)

Destination to 5M: Between 10 – 18 Years (Previously 10-19)

Destination to 10M: Between 16 – 30 Years (No changes)

Calculations above assume the following:

• Minimum additional monthly investment: $1,500

Not factored for:

• Income growth

Slight improvement in the 5M target by one year!

As long as I am reinvesting at least $1,500 every month, these projections should be possible. The more I invest the better the odds move towards the shorter end of the projection.

Hopefully, I am able to make some smart investments that will help catapult my progress.

Life is unpredictable and it’s important to leave room in your projections for unexpected events.

So, the updates are in the books! Till the next update! Stay safe and healthy my friends!