Month: March 2018

Financial Independence Progress Report for March 2018

/ humblefi / Leave a comment

March 2018 is done and with that, the first quarter of 2018 is done. March is one of my favorite months because almost all my funds send me dividends on a quarterly basis. Lets see how the numbers look for March 2018.

Caveat: Though then March numbers look green all over, note that the numbers got murdered in February….perhaps I need a year-to-date number….will think about it.

3/31/2018
Emergency Fund 83.33% 83.33%
College Fund ($80K) 63.66% 64.54%
Passive Income (2017 vs 2018) $1254.31(3/2017) $1396.05 (3/2018)
Retirement Fund 81.63% 82.79%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund (via HSA) 6.17% 9.77%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance policy)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Passive Income Stream
    • My passive Income for March 2018 is 11% higher than March 2017. Not much of a gain, but it is greater than average inflation percentage of 3%.
    • I was considering the Rule of 72…the rule that predicts when your money will double. If I continue at 11% (caveat in next point), my money will double in 7 years….wouldn’t that be nice for FI 🙂
    • Anyways, 11% increase was achieved more by new investments than dividend returns and additional investments are drying up this year. But, nice to think about it hey…more on this coming later!!
  • Additional Investments
    • Investments in taxable accounts
      • I sold VHDYX, captured the gains and moved the money into my MUNI funds. Why?
        • Tax equivalent yield for VCADX is 4.5%.
        • VHDYX yield is 2.75% and I get taxed on top of that. It is possible that VHDYX will add some capital gains but it looks like we are almost done with the bull market…so, we can discount this.
        • When the prices drop later this year, I will invest back into VHDYX…lets cross that bridge when we get there.
    • Investments in tax-deferred account (IRA)
      • In Dec 2018, I took some profits and set up a a cash fund set up to take advantage of the next investing opportunity. This month, I cashed out profits from a couple more funds and added to the cash fund.
      • Unlike 2008, I want to have a cash fund ready to take advantage of lower asset prices in the next bear market!!
      • I also bought some more of VGSLX…a REIT fund….REITs have dropped almost 10% this year….so, seemed like a good time to buy into this and dollar cost average down my REIT investments.
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Financial Independence Progress Report for February 2018

/ humblefi / 2 Comments

February 2018 is done and gone and I am late by 11 days in publishing this….bad bad bad. Was a bit lazy at the end of last month and life caught up to me. Better late than never!

That said, lets look at the numbers for February, 2018. Nothing big to report…

  • The dividend stream is settling down to an even pace since I have no extra money to add to the dividend funds.
  • The stock market swoon in February 2018 had its effect on my portfolio also…look at the nos in red below.

Looking forward to March’s quarterly dividends!

3/11/2018
Emergency Fund 83.33% 83.33%
College Fund ($80K) 64.47% 63.66%
Passive Income (2017 vs 2018) $408.50(2/2017) $657.17 (2/2018)
Retirement Fund 82.17% 81.63%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund (via HSA) 6.17% 6.17% ….lost login again 😦
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance policy)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Passive Income Stream
    • My passive Income for February 2018 is a couple hundred dollars higher than February 2017. This is mostly the result of a push towards adding to my MUNI funds through 2017.
  • Additional Investments
    • Investments in taxable accounts
      • Nothing to report
      • Got really attracted to the idea of selling my investments in VHDYX (up 10-12%) and moving them to MUNIs…divided yields are about the same and the MUNIs are federal tax free….had to pull myself back.
      • Holding off until I capture the quarterly dividends in March, 2018.
    • Investments in tax-deferred account (IRA)
      • In Dec 2018, I took some profits and set up a a cash fund set up to take advantage of the next investing opportunity.
      • This month, I moved some of the cash fund into a REIT fund….REITs have dropped almost 10% this year….added to my investment in VGSLX to dollar cost average down some of my investments.