They say that the retired life is the slow life but that is far from the actual truth. At least in my experience. The key is to keep yourself challenged with new goals and the days will pass with anticipation for the future.

It’s been rare to find moments in my life after reaching FIRE when I found myself bored or unexcited about the future. Likely due to my interest in investing. It never gets boring because there is never an end to how much you can learn about how the world works.

Why $10M? It’s the perfect long term goal challenging enough yet allowing for balance in life. I chose this target for a few reasons. One being, the goal should be a fairly easy goal to reach so long as I keep my disciplines and execute as planned. The goal does not require me to take huge risks and only require a modest annualized return on my investments.

If I chose a $20M target, my answers to achieve such goal would likely push me into starting a new business.

Balance in life is important and the goal is to minimize the number of regrets when looking back in the future.

Let’s get into the Q1 update shall we? 🤠

 

Investment Goals

• 2020-3: Generate $10,000 in dividend income
• 2020-3: Invest at minimum $1,500 per month into the dividend portfolio.
• 2020-3: Reach a $50,000 Fundrise Portfolio.
• 2020-5: Maintain steady portfolio growth between 6% to 12%
• 2020-6: Invest $100 per month into M1 Growth Pie.

 

Generate $10,000 in dividend income

The chart above is a projection of how things could turn out few years down the line. It helps me get a general idea of what to expect if things continue as they are today. My expectations are generally lowered in all my projections. I don’t account for many extras purposefully for psychological reasons.

It looks like I may hit my target for $10,000 in dividend income by around year 2023.

 

Invest at minimum $1,500 per month into the dividend portfolio

The LBF Dividend Portfolio had a total net inflow of $9,877.64 YTD ($3,292.54 per month) by the end of Q1. Well above my target of $1,500.

 

Reach a $50,000 Fundrise Portfolio

Q1 2021 Updates:

• Purchased 315 equity shares into Fundrise iPO for $9.54.
• Invested $1,000 into Fundrise Portfolio.

I don’t invest in many private firms anymore like I did in the past but Fundrise is an exception. However, my expectations for returns are modest at most for the level of risk I am taking here. I plan on holding till IPO and expect returns between 300%-350% in the next 4-6 years.

Fundrise Portfolio Value: $34,523.21 (69% completed)

 

Maintain steady portfolio growth between 6% to 12%

Total portfolio value is up above the low end of the bar. My expectations for market returns this year are low. I would not be surprised if we ended the year treading sideways around here.

I share this chart with you so I can show you how important I believe cash is when investing. It shows you how fearful or not I am in relation to the state of the markets. Cash I would hold at most today is 12%. Lowest is about 3-4%. Higher cash holdings indicate that I feel the markets are frothy reserving more cash to position myself for better opportunities. You should never run out of cash to invest.

 

Invest $100 per month into M1 Growth Pie

A hundred here and a hundred there. Next thing you know it’s worth a few thousand dollars! Everything starts small. Regardless of the amount your investing each and every month, build the right habits. I strongly encourage everyone who has not began investing to start today and choose a few individual companies to invest in. It may open a floodgate of knowledge to follow from doing so.

As of April 4, 2021

Made some adjustments to the M1 finance LBF Growth Pie.

Updates to Pie for Q1 2021:

New positions

• Add Ticker: REGN @3% of portfolio.
• Add Ticker: ARKG @4% of portfolio.
• Add Ticker: IIVI @3% of portfolio

Weight Adjustments

• Weight Adjustment: Ticker AAPL from 7% to 6%
• Weight Adjustment: Ticker ADBE from 8% to 7%
• Weight Adjustment: Ticker CRWD from 2% to 3%

Trades

• 1/25/21: Sell CVNA – $100.01 (Rebalancing)
• 2/4/21: Sell BA – All shares
• 2/4/21: Sell LULU – All shares
• 2/4/21: Sell SPCE – $100.01 (Rebalancing)
• 2/25/21: Sell AMT – All shares
• 3/8/2021: Sell VIAC – $99.03 (Rebalancing)

The M1 growth portfolio is more active than my core investments. Turnover will be slightly higher due to the occasional rebalancing.

And that’s a wrap for investment updates!

 

Income, Cash Flow, & Savings

Here are the goals:

• 2020-3: Achieve positive cash flow every month of the year.
• 2020-5: Increase annual income by 6% every year.
• 2020-6: Maintain long term average savings rate at or above 30%

 

Achieve positive cash flow every month of the year

I am making slow and steady progress here. March is not the greatest month due to some large expenses lumped into this month.

Increase annual income by 6% every year

Income is up 36.2% YTD for Q1 2021 compared to Q1 of 2020. A strong start boosted by investment income.

 

Maintain long term average savings rate at or above 30%

Another strong start to the savings rate ending Q1 at 47%. This will likely come down due to some additional travel expenses coming up for the year.

My plans are to cap savings rate at about 30%. Anything above that will be considered a bonus and will be spent or shared with loved ones.

 

Net Worth Update

I have one simple goal when it comes to the net worth:

• 2020-6: Increase net worth by at minimum 6% annually.

Update: Removed goal to maintain 6% lifetime CAGR.

 

Increase net worth by at minimum 6% annually

Snapshot of net worth from Personal Capital.

Net worth YTD: +4.5%

I’ll take it! 3 months into the year and things are headed in the right direction.

 

ETA 10 Million

Estimated Time Arrival (Best to Worst Case)

I estimate how long it will take me to reach my goal of $10M net worth.

How long will it take me to reach $5M? Between 11 – 21 Years

How long will it take me to reach $10M? Between 19 – 36 Years

I made more adjustments to my calculations. I further lowered my expectations on returns, spending expectations and accounted for some inflation down the road.

That’s it for the update! Till the next! Invest religiously!