the dollar journal

[thedollar]

@zbigi

I think it's a lot more complex than that. Otherwise we should all just be 100% invested in Africa and Asia. Productivity/technological advancements are the main drivers of long-term economic growth not necessarily population growth.

[thedollar]

Bought $13k META at around $100

[thedollar]

Loss update:

September: -$181,662
October (so far): -$169,636

[herp]

Bought $13k META at around $100

I bought 32 shares for $168

[thedollar]

I bought 32 shares for $168

Well it's doing a little better now. Let's see where it goes. Still holding.

I'm down $500k on TSLA from when it peaked in November '21. Still holding though.

Have about $20k in leverage (margin loan) and $900k in cash.

My NW dropped $460k in '22.

My SWR calculated on a bare bones budget increased from 0.33% to 0.35%. Sadly my actual expenses were around 0.72%.

Dividends in '22 were down by around $10k compared to '21 because I sold a lot of stock in the beginning of the year.

I made a bunch of stupid decisions last year that I hope to recover from in the coming months...

[Henry]

2022 Nasdaq was like picking up Aileen Wuornos at a Florida truck stop and refusing to get out for a year.

[thedollar]

I don't want my life to be controlled by my addiction to social media.
I don't want my life to be controlled by my addiction to sugar.
I don't want my life to be controlled by my addiction to food.
I don't want my life to be controlled by media.
I don't want my life to be controlled by ads.
I don't want my life to be controlled by other people's opinion.

I have to repeat these every day or I will live a life of mediocracy
By default these things will impact my life if I don't make a conscious choice everyday

I'll run every day and eat only vegatables, fruit and meat so my diet can't be fucked up by modern "processed food" that make you addicted.

I will delete twitter, IG and FB from my phone.

I feel like I'm back to square one. I have a significant chance of increasing my NW, but people near me are holding me back. I have a significant chance of reaching peak physical condition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlY90lG_Fuw

[thedollar]

Revamp. A lot of crazy stuff happened last year. I got off course. I sold stocks. I did a huge project. In the end everything has pretty much evened out and I am at around the same NW as last year. So no real gains but everything isn't lost. I don't own as much in stocks as last year but I have a lot of cash to invest.

Now I want to go back to focusing on cashflow and dividends because I did that for quite some time and it was nice to "build" something (a cash flow) and meanwhile it allowed me to look at expenses (both monthly and larger one-off purchases) in terms of how much true cash flow costs (a lot!) or how much a saved expensed is worth in CF equity. I.e. would I rather buy a car for $60,000 that looses value each year or a dividend stock paying me $3,000 each year and increasingly more so for every year I own it. Also, I feel like if you can pay for your expenses with dividends and they increase every year you have pretty much "won" the game and don't need anything else.

I expect the equity return will take care of itself as I am well diversified.

Current stocks paying me 500-1,000 DKK ($75-150) per month:
A.P. Møller - Mærsk: 2,150 DKK (probably a one of a kind dividend this year)
Microsoft: 1,027 DKK (raises have previously been around 10%)
Apple: 888 DKK (just raised 4%)
Novo: 801 DKK
Realty Income: 520 DKK
Tryg: 500 DKK
3M: 476 DKK

I want to increase the list above so I can pay for all my expenses with dividends. I also have a lot of other smaller positions paying me dividends that I track every month.

These are the dividends I received this year so far:

Jan: $308
Feb: $4,649
Mar: $8,060
Apr: $418
May: $1,026 (so far)
Total: $14,460
TTM: $1,835
Goal: $3,000

My TTM has previously hit $3,000 before I started selling a lot of stocks last year and the goal is to hit that number again. With $3,000 each month I should be able to pay for all my expenses and in addition I am going to try to cut some expenses as well. I just recently purchased Realty Income, Tryg, 3M, KO, JNJ and Allianz in order to boost the dividends. Now looking at BTI, GSK, Nordnet, Salmar, SBUX, STG, Rio Tinto and MOWI. They all have decent yields above 4%.

Dividend history:
2017: $3,211
2018: $14,455
2019: $22,379
2020: $25,590
2021: $38,621
2022: $23,158
2023: $14,460 (so far)
Goal: $36,000

[thedollar]

Bought $13k META at around $100

Now worth around $30,000

History:
2017: bought at around $50
2022: sold at around $200-220
2022: bought at $100
Now: $233

Guess I got lucky with trading Meta the last few years. I still believe in it long-term.

[thedollar]

Trailing 12 Months monthly dividend income:

$266,52 jan-18
$306,58 feb-18
$642,73 mar-18
$785,85 apr-18
$961,34 maj-18
$1.013,48 jun-18
$1.034,47 jul-18
$1.036,94 aug-18
$1.052,60 sep-18
$1.071,91 okt-18
$1.057,79 nov-18
$1.093,45 dec-18
$1.112,33 jan-19
$1.123,46 feb-19
$1.129,00 mar-19
$1.211,50 apr-19
$1.248,57 maj-19
$1.321,85 jun-19
$1.404,57 jul-19
$1.552,16 aug-19
$1.635,65 sep-19
$1.664,51 okt-19
$1.728,69 nov-19
$1.810,10 dec-19
$1.844,96 jan-20
$1.892,25 feb-20
$2.127,23 mar-20
$2.099,57 apr-20
$2.054,65 maj-20
$2.091,40 jun-20
$2.072,33 jul-20
$2.019,71 aug-20
$2.014,62 sep-20
$2.022,73 okt-20
$2.051,24 nov-20
$2.043,93 dec-20
$2.072,10 jan-21
$2.606,61 feb-21
$2.394,74 mar-21
$2.567,93 apr-21
$2.839,09 maj-21
$2.797,05 jun-21
$2.818,74 jul-21
$2.837,81 aug-21
$2.829,45 sep-21
$2.872,30 okt-21
$2.937,55 nov-21
$2.956,62 dec-21
$2.825,74 jan-22
$2.859,36 feb-22
$2.942,21 mar-22
$2.752,06 apr-22
$2.468,15 maj-22
$2.433,72 jun-22
$2.333,12 jul-22
$2.243,80 aug-22
$2.228,43 sep-22
$2.071,74 okt-22
$2.002,80 nov-22
$1.952,61 dec-22
$1.863,12 jan-23
$1.736,91 feb-23
$1.980,69 mar-23
$1.834,51 apr-23
$1.908,09 maj-23
$1.949,56 jun-23


This will be the primary metric I will try to track and improve financially. In terms of physical health I will be working out every day (walking/running/sports). To improve mental health I will spend as much time with family and friends as possible and try new things.

[herp]

Now worth around $30,000

History:
2017: bought at around $50
2022: sold at around $200-220
2022: bought at $100
Now: $233

Guess I got lucky with trading Meta the last few years. I still believe in it long-term.

Quite the run since last fall. I haven't run the numbers very carefully, but it looks like it's back to near its previous valuation.

No plan to sell as it's part of my "low/no dividend dart throwing" portfolio of large- and mid cap stocks.

[thedollar]

Quite the run since last fall. I haven't run the numbers very carefully, but it looks like it's back to near its previous valuation.

No plan to sell as it's part of my "low/no dividend dart throwing" portfolio of large- and mid cap stocks.

Good thing you didn't sell!! It sounds like a really good strategy of buying large profitable companies and holding them long term. That's what I will try to do as well and additionally also holding index funds as a backup.

[thedollar]

What a year! Feels a little like a "lost" year for me. My networth is still hovering around the same figure (might have gained a couple hundred thousand $, but nothing that moves the needle). My stocks returned 45%!! but I have a long-term investment in a smaller company that lost some value and one of my real estate funds also lost a little bit of value. I'll try to sell the stake in the smaller company and invest more in stocks instead.

Well, I did travel a fair bit during the year visiting Sweden, Germany, Austria, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Poland. I upped my physical training with a huge leap towards the end of the year and I'm now weightlifting or running every day. For the new year I'll try to continue my streak and do the workout earlier or in the evening in order to not spend to much of my day on it. Still feel like the few hours I use every week is the best investment I could possibly make. For the new year I'll try improving my diet as well.

In 2023 I didn't do much work or investments-wise basically. That's nice, but I'd love to progress in some way as well, so I might try to start a new company or get a job next year. I'd love to travel to the US and some exotic place as well in 2024.

Goals for 2024:
- Travel to US
- Go skiing
- Travel to southern Europe
- Travel to some exotic place (Asia, New Zealand, Bora Bora?)
- Continue running and weightlifting 4-6 times a week
- Participate in a running event
- Reach new PR on 5k (below 25 min) and 10k (below 50 min) distances
- Start a company, project or job

[thedollar]

The greatest run-up of the stock market ever and my net worth is about the same as 2021.

I even owned some of the greatest stocks. Well, TSLA dropped since 2021. And much of my NW was tied up in private investments that didn't fare well. I'm so done with those types of investments. I'm going all stocks when it's possible.

[Lemur]

Could not find in your journal @thedollar, where are you from?

The post on Fri May 05, 2023 4:20 am is relatable.... I am in the same boat. 2023 marked a shift for me from growth focus to dividend/cash-flow focus. Though I still hold SoFi but I'm about ready to dump that once again to spread out into JEPI, JEPQ, VGIT, VTV.

There is some FOMO (NVDA for instance) but when the party ends and crashes, I'm looking forward to my portfolio not taking as much as a dump as everyone else's.

How has this shift into dividend metric changed your mind on the way you see work and investments in general?