Did I Meet My 2015 Goals?

It is hard to believe that it is 2016 already!

Let’s see how I did in achieving my goals for 2015:

To review in more detail my goals for 2015, please visit the post here: Scott’s Goals for 2015

1) Max Roth IRA ($5,500) as soon as possible – Pass
The final contribution into my Roth IRA happened on March 9th. While this wasn’t as early as previous years, I still count this as a pass. Contributing as early as possible , I feel, is important in order to achieve the best long-term results.

2) Generate at least $4,100 a year in dividends – Pass
I was excited to beat this goal by receiving $4308 this year. In fact, in 2015 I averaged $359 per month, nearly what it took me all year in 2011 to achieve ($379)! Will there be another 10-fold increase over the next 4 years? $43,000 a year? Probably not since that would require a portfolio worth over $1.4 million at 3%!

3) Invest more in low yielding but higher growth stocks – Pass
While I didn’t invest as much in the low-dividend high-growth category as I was hoping, I did make a number of purchases. I invested a total of $675 in Disney and $1616 in Visa in the year 2015. Combined with additional purchases in previous years, I hold $1000 of Disney and $9,983 of Visa. I also own $23,000 worth of Apple. Disney has a yield of 1.35%, Apple of 1.98%, and Visa only of 0.72%. My yield-on-cost in Visa is actually up to 1.08% thanks to its excellent dividend growth. I would have invested more in these kind of companies, but the way 2015 played out there were too many higher yielding stocks that had dropped in price that I was able to pick up at a discount.

4) Invest in biotech/ immunotherapy companies – Pass
In addition to the Johnson & Johnson that I own, I also purchased a couple of companies that are focusing more on immunotherapy and targeted treatments. In 2015 I purchased $5400 worth of Amgen, a biotechnology company that pays a great dividend (2.46%) and has been raising it significantly in recent years. It doesn’t have the aristocrat status that JNJ has but is on its way to achieving that. My second and more risky biotechnology purchase is a much smaller company called Inovio Pharmaceuticals. I put about $2050 into INO. INO does not pay a dividend; I’m holding this solely for capital appreciation.

5) Improve Two Investing content – Pass
At least I think so. Other than Johnny not contributing a single post (come on Johnny!!), I was fairly active in writing at least a couple articles a month. I am also very proud of the literally hours and hours (I’m not joking) that I have been putting in to making my dividend investing Google spreadsheets. I also released a separate international version. I’m working on some exciting updates to them for 2016! (More details soon).

I feel pretty confident in saying that I exceeded these goals. In the future, I’ll have to try to place more reach goals or ones that are difficult to achieve. I thought the $4100 in annual dividends was a stretch, but I blew by that! I might try and check my progress 6 months into the year to update the goals if needed.

How was your 2015? Did you meet your investing and personal goals?

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8 Responses

  1. Glad to hear all the goals have been shattered for the year. Although I don’t set any goal for myself I’m still happy with my results. I know as long as I stay the course, reinvesting dividend along with regular contributions things will move along faster and faster (the ol snowball effect). Thanks for sharing your spreadsheets also! Although I didn’t use your exact sheet I did use much of it to help construct my own portfolio page which was in need of updating. My only issue is that it’s a bit laggy since I own around 30 stocks I have to pull at least 1 data point from. Keep up the good work!

    • scott says:

      Hi Captain Dividend,

      Staying the course and reinvesting those dividends. (And maybe buying more on days like today, market’s down 2% right now) is the way to go!

      You’re welcome on the spreadsheets. Where exactly are you having lag issues? I own 40 stocks and it doesn’t seem to be lagging too much.

      Scott

  2. FerdiS says:

    Hi Scott –congratulations on achieving your goals, especially growing dividend income to just over $4300 in 2015! That’s a great accomplishment…

    I’m wondering if Johnny is just too busy, or if he’s lost interest in your mutual endeavor? Perhaps you should rename the blog One Investing? 🙂

    Cheers
    FerdiS, DivGro

    • scott says:

      Hi FerdiS,

      Thanks! Hope 2016 will be a good year as well.

      Johnny definitely has not lost interest. I talk to him about investing quite a bit. But, I do hope he’ll write a couple posts this year. He has been very, very busy with work. He’s doing a surgery residency in DC and has probably been working over 100 hours a week for months on end. I’d get burned out for sure working that long. I think (hope) he’s doing okay though.

      However, the Two Investing name will persist. Not only does it refer to Johnny and I, but also because we use dividend investing and options, both strategies that I intend to keep pursuing.

      Thanks again for visiting!
      Scott

  3. Richard says:

    Well done. What are your goals for 2016?
    Richard recently posted…Hello world!My Profile

  4. Nice job on the goals. What are your plans as far as options go? I am leaning more towards selling cash secured puts instead of just waiting for the stock to drop after taking a profit. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Nice job.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer
    AKA — Seeking Dividends

    Follow me on Twitter– Seeking Dividends@DividendDreamer
    dividenddreamer recently posted…Will I Be Called Out?My Profile

    • scott says:

      Hey Robert! Thanks for commenting. I’m 100% with you on selling puts. It would be a great way to generate some income and pick the entry point for buying the stock. The recent volatility is great for collecting higher premium. However, if a stock drops a few percent in a single day, I might be more inclined to just out-right buy some shares of it ASAP. The stock could just as easily pop back up the next day. If the intention is to buy the stock, selling puts (because of the time component) may be more difficult.

      I’m hoping to do a combination of both.

      Scott

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