Progress Report

Financial Independence Progress Report for January 2017

/ humblefi / 7 Comments

The first month in the new year is done and it is time for the monthly update!

For the first time in the last couple of years, I am struggling with what should be my yearly goals for 2017. There are some basic goals that I will carry over from last year…like college fund, retirement fund, etc. But my struggle is mainly with the housing goal and that in-decision is affecting a couple other goals. But, I think I am getting closure on this issue and will update on the decision soon.

But for now, lets look at the numbers for Jan 2017.

02/05/2017
Emergency Fund $60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 47.95% 49.58%
Passive Income (2016 vs 2017) $592.90 (01/2016) $441.42 (01/2017)
Retirement Fund 64.27% 65.07%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.5%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance policy)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for Jan 2017 (441.42) is appx 30% lower than Jan 2016 ($592.90). This is a big decrease but an expected one 🙂
      • I sold all my ESPP shares from a previous employer and moved them into a couple different mutual funds. Basically cashed out for better risk diversification….shares in only one dividend company vs shares in many dividend paying companies.
      • The ESPP shares had an odd dividend payout frequency: Jan, April, July and October. Post the sale, dividends for these months will take a hit this year, but they will be more than compensated by investments with normal cycle of dividends in Mar, June, Sept and December.
  • Additional Investments
    • International exposure
      • Just like prior months, I continued to increase my exposure outside the US. Stocks in United States are way to overvalued and frothy in my opinion. I want my passive income stream to come from many countries all over the world as a good means of diversification.
      • So, I added to my existing investments in an Emerging markets fund (VEIEX) and Developed Markets International fund (VTMGX).
    • Build a tiny cash fund again
      • Since I have stopped investing in US stocks, I am accumulating that money in a money market fund. When the market tanks later this year, I want to have a small cash fund accumulated to take advantage of the dip.
  • Medical Fund
    • I signed up the family for a High Deductible Health Insurance Plan and got access to a Health Savings Account (HSA). $6750 of pre-tax money can be saved in it. HSA money is eligible for all valid medical expenses…free of federal and state taxes.
    • This will begin the accumulation of the Medical Fund. I have accumulated a couple of nasty health issues through all the ups and downs in life…this makes a medical fund an absolute necessity for my later years.
    • My hope is that the family medical expenses are small enough to be able to pay out of pocket now and let the HSA funds compound over the years. Lets see how it goes.

Financial Independence Progress Report for December 2016

/ humblefi / 8 Comments

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Here is wishing you a happy and prosperous 2017. May all your dreams and aspirations come true!!

December is a happy month for all dividend investors and so it was for me too! Passive income coming into my account is validation for the FI path and also motivation to continue the FI journey with even more vigor! Lets look at the numbers for Dec 2016.

12/30/2016
Emergency Fund $60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 47.95% 47.95%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $1281.58 (12/2015) $1983.06 (12/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 63.44% 64.27%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance policy)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for December 2016 ($1983) is appx 54% higher than December 2015 ($1281.58). This is a big increase and a totally unexpected one.
    • The positive surprise was due to more than expected capital gains distribution from VDIGX and VWELX. I will take it…however they come 🙂
  • Additional Investments
    • VEIEX(Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund))
      • Just like prior months, I continued to increase my exposure outside the US. Stocks in United States are way to overvalued and frothy in my opinion. So, I have continued to increase my exposure to countries outside the US. I want my passive income stream to come from many countries all over the world as a good means of diversification.
      •  This time, I invested in a new fund: an Emerging markets fund called VEIEX. This fund invests in many emerging market countries like Brazil, India, Russia, China, Taiwan and 20 more countries around the world.
      • If you want more details on VEIEX, please get it directly from the horse’s mouth: VEIEX.
  • Passive Income Goal
    • My 2016 goal was to reach $750 pm in passive income by year end. December is done…and my per-month dividend stands at $801.99. Hurrah!
    • 2016 had lots of ups and downs…including a phase of unemployment and no salary for a month at least, a nasty health issue and what not. So, achieving this goal and exceeding it by a small amount of $50 makes me very happy.
    • Sometime back, I wrote an article called How much freedom did I buy today? I read that article again today and decided to compute the number of hours of freedom I have bought with $801 of passive income per month.
      • My Passive Income goal is
        • $4000 per month (Why $4000 pm?)
        • $48000 per year
        • $131.5 per day ($48K/365)
      • It is the end of 2016 and my passive income is $801 per month.
        • How much freedom will $801 pm buy me?
          • $801/$131.5  =>  6.09 days per month => 146 hours per month => 4.7 hrs a day (31 day month)
        • To put this in perspective, here is the amount of freedom $801 of passive income will buy me:
          • 4.7 hours      of absolute freedom every day!
          • 6.09 days     of absolute freedom every month!
          • 73.08 days    of absolute freedom every year!
          • 2.35 months of absolute freedom every year!
    • For 2017, I will aim for a challenging monthly passive income target of $850 pm. Wish me luck!

Financial Independence Progress Report for October 2016

/ humblefi / 8 Comments

October was a big down month! There was enough volatility in the month to show some RED in the nos. There were deals to be had in the early part of the month and I thought I made out good….until the later part of the month wiped out the gains 🙂 Let us see what the numbers say for October.

09/03/2016
Emergency Fund $60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 45.65% 47.95%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $628.60 (10/2015) $551.80 (10/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 66.36% 63.44%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • College Fund Portfolio Increase (in green above)
    • I got some extra money left over after September and pushed that money  into the college fund. Even though October was a down month, the additional cash offset it.
  • Retirement Fund
    • This portion of my portfolio took a good solid hit in October. I lost almost 3% and the way early November is looking, it is not done going down.
    • Major reason is the increased uncertainty from US elections and the interest rate increase/decrease uncertainty from the FED.
    • I am definitely continuing to invest and am picking up stocks at lower cost i.e. Dollar Cost Averaging full speed ahead! So, all good for now.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for October 2016 ($551.80) is appx 14% lower than October 2015 ($628.60). This is a big reduction but an expected one.
      • I sold some stocks from a previous company’s ESPP and spread the money into different funds. These funds do not distribute dividends like my ESPP stocks in Jan, April, July and October. So, all these months will show a reduction in 2016. But, the overall dividends for 2016 will increase and will show up in December of 2016 when all the other funds declare their dividends.
    • Additional Investments
      • VTMGX (Developed markets across Europe, Canada and Australasia)
        • Just like last month, I continued to increase my exposure outside the US using VTMGX. Definitely lowered my cost per share via Dollar Cost Averaging this October.
        • If you want more details on VTMGX, please get it directly from the horse’s mouth: VTMGX.
      • VWELX (Vanguard Wellington Fund)
        • Bought into this fund also quite a bit this month.
        • I already have another balanced fund in my portfolio: VTMFX: 50% stocks and 50% tax-efficient bonds. VWELX is another competitor for my balanced fund dollars…I always have atleast two funds competing in the category…manager diversification and hence risk diversification as well. 
        • VWELX is not as tax efficient as VTMFX since the bond portion is not tax-efficient. But I want risk diversification more….
    • My 2016 goal is to reach $750 pm in passive income by end of 2016…October is done…and my per-month dividend is at $603.04 pm.
      • Target Dividend: $9000 pa
      • Current Dividend (year to date): $7321
      • Balance to make up in the next 3 months
        • $9000 – $7321  => $1679 over the next 2 months
      • Unless a black-swan event happens in the next two months, it looks like I will make it…hurrah!!
    • I had kept some cash aside to invest in a dip….the temptation to get to $750 in passive income per month was very high in September and I could could not resist and burnt some of it. In October, I used up the rest of the money to buy the dip. October is historically volatile…and it did not disappoint this time…so, the purchases this month will help in the coming year!
    • I anticipate another volatile month in December 2016…post the FED’s decision on interest rates….scrambling to accumulate some cash for that. Lets see…

Financial Independence Progress Report for September 2016

/ humblefi / 6 Comments

September was another slow month. History says that September is more often than not a volatile month. But, I did not see enough volatility and hence no deals to take advantage of. Let us see what the numbers say for September.

09/03/2016
Emergency Fund $60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 44.92% 45.65%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $1036.87 (09/2015) $1176.74  (09/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 65.01% 66.36%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Portfolio Increases (in green above)
    • As blog readers last month pointed out, many numbers are green this month also! I am thankful for that.
  • Portfolio changes
    • No portfolio changes this month….still adding to the cash fund I set up July. I did spend some of this money on VTMGX and VWELX (Vanguard Wellington) on a small dip in Financials but no major buy as the markets were more or less flat.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for September 2016 ($1176.74) is appx 10% higher that September 2015 ($1036.87). Where is the additional money coming from?
      • A decent portion of the increase is from VTMGX (Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund) dividend payout.
    • Why VTMGX?
      • I started diversifying my passive income streams across geographies last year and boosted it a lot more this year. The world is much more volatile nowadays and it is hard to predict where the next problem will come from.
      • So, I wanted to spread my portfolio’s risk across many countries of the world. 15% of my passive income investments is outside the US….when I see some good deals, I will increase my exposure outside the US but I will choose a different fund…I want another fund diversify fund risk and fund manager risk as well.
      • But, this will come later. If you want more details on VTMGX, please get it directly from the horse’s mouth: VTMGX.
    • My goal is to reach $750 pm by end of this year…September is done…and my monthly dividends are still at $557 pm.
      • Target Dividend: $9000 pa
      • Current Dividend (year to date): $6770
      • Balance to make up in the next 3 months
        • $9000 – $6770  => $2230 over the next 3 months
      • It all depends  on December being a good month….crossing my fingers!
      • I have kept some cash aside to invest in a dip….the temptation to get to $750 in passive income per month was very high in September and I could could not resist and burnt some of it…..But, I will wait this month for a market dip. October is historically volatile…so, maybe there will be an opportunity.

Financial Independence Progress Report for August 2016

/ humblefi / 7 Comments

August also has come and gone without much fanfare. Another very slow month…so slow that I felt like doing something just to make it less boring. But, I reminded myself that it is the lull before the storm that I anticipate may start in September (historically a rough month). But, lets look at numbers for August.

09/03/2016
Emergency Fund $60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 44.30% 44.92%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $297.54 (08/2015) $391.93  (08/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 64.66% 65.01%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Portfolio Increases (in green above)
    • Nothing great to talk about…I still think that the positive gains of this year will not stand the test of time…..insane valuations will always come crashing down.
  • Portfolio changes
    • No portfolio changes this month….still adding to the cash fund I set up last month. If there is a good market dip (saw DOW drops 200-300 pts), I will use the cash to buy the dip.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for August 2016 ($391.93) is higher that August 2015 (297.54). This restarts the streak of 2016 dividends being more than 2015 dividends for the corresponding months. The streak got broken last month because I was in the middle of some portfolio changes….happy to get it back this month 🙂
    • My goal is to reach $750 pm by end of this year…it is already August…and my monthly dividends are appx $433 pm.
      • Target Dividend
        • $9000 pa => $750 pm
      • Current Dividend
        • $5593 pa => $466 pm
      • Balance to make up in the next 5 months
        • $9000 – $5593  => $3407 over the next 4 months
        • I have kept some cash aside to invest in a dip….I could invest it right now and increase my chances of making my target of $750 pm dividend income. But, I have chosen to wait a bit for value by waiting for a market dip and then using the cash. September is another big month for dividends. Based on how September does, I will decide.
        • I think I might squeeze through….keeping fingers crossed.

Financial Independence Progress Report for July 2016

/ humblefi / 6 Comments

July has come and gone without much fanfare. After June, one of the two biggest months of the year for dividends, July feels disappointing actually. But, let the numbers speak rather than my emotions 🙂

08/01/2016
Emergency Fund ($72K)$60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 42.53% 44.30%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $604.87 (07/2015) $579.61  (07/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 61.64% 64.66%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Portfolio Increases (in green above)
    • I cannot believe that any of the positive gains will ever stand the test of time. It is the markets going crazy on us with insane valuations. So, I will not waste my time talking about it.
  • Portfolio changes
    • I did some more portfolio changes….hopefully for the last time this year. The main idea was to capture some gains and move them into a couple of new fund options. And also set aside some money for the cash fund.
    • I wrote about this here. My new mutual fund investments are VWELX and VDAIX.
  • Cash Fund
    • I started a cash fund in May since I anticipated a few days of down market towards the end of June…with the interest rate drama, Britain’s exit from Euro decision, etc. I used the fund completely to buy the Brexit dip.
    • I have started a new cash fund in July again…nothing big..two hundred dollars a month max. And some cash to seed the fund came from capturing some of the gains from some of my mutual funds.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for July 2016 ($579.61) was surprisingly lower than that of July 2015 (604.87). I was wondering why this happened…..and then I remembered on seeing the numbers. When I was jobless early this year, I sold some ESPP stock I had and used the money to buy VWITX (National MUNIs). I got to sell some ESPP without any additional taxes….the espp sale replaced some portion of my salary loss. The ESPP stock dividends are slightly more than the National MUNIs but at tax time, the MUNIs will score because the gains are tax free. I got the diversification I wanted but it came as a surprise.
    • My goal is to reach $750 pm by end of this year…it is already July…and my monthly dividends are appx $433 pm.
      • Target Dividend
        • $750 pm => $9000 pa
      • Current Dividend
        • $433 pm => $5196 pa
      • Balance to make up in the next 5 months
        • $9000 – $5196  => $3804 over the next 5 months
        • I think I might squeeze through….inspite of July’s weak dividends.
      • Lets hope for the best!!

Financial Independence Progress Report for June 2016

/ humblefi / 6 Comments

June is finally done! It is one of the two biggest months of the year for dividends. And it did not disappoint me 🙂 Lets look at June’s numbers. In a later post, I will do my quarterly review for the 2nd quarter and see how I am doing for the yearly goals.

07/02/2016
Emergency Fund ($72K)$60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 42% 42.53%
Passive Income (2015 vs 2016) $1038.14 (06/2015) $1741.69 (06/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 61.31% 61.64%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Dollar Cost Averaging
    • In May, I reduced my Emergency fund and moved some of it into a new Dividend mutual fund (VDAIX). I was keeping the remaining money as a Cash Fund to invest on the next market downturn….and boy…did Brexit provide that for me.
    • Brexit turned out to be a boon for me. The market dropped on two consecutive days in a big way….DOW dropped by 600 points and 300 points on consecutive days. Thanks to the people of United Kingdom for this!
    • I had a couple thousand dollars left over from the emergency fund makeover and pushed all the money (and some) into my passive income streams. Yeah for dollar cost averaging….this cash infusion will make its presence felt over the years via dividend compounding.
  • Cash Fund
    • I started a cash fund in May since I anticipated a few days of down market towards the end of June…with the interest rate drama, Britain’s exit from Euro decision, etc.
    • I used the fund completely and now I am officially out of cash…I mean I am so out of cash that I had to borrow money from my wife to pay the bills for this month. I am never going to hear the end of this for sure 🙂
    • So, for the next 3-4 months at least, I will have to run a very very tight ship 😦 Hey, the sacrifices will pay off in the long run right? And the dividends coming in will hopefully keep me motivated and help me ride out the low-cash situations.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for June 2016 recaptured the increase in dividends over the same period last year. June 2015 had a dividend income of $278.52 and June 2016 has a dividend income of $378.08 …a decent year-over-year increase.
    • My goal is to reach $750 pm by end of this year…considering we are at the half way mark for the year and my monthly dividends are close to $400 pm, I can see now that I am going to reach it….eagerly waiting for the day when this event happens!

Financial Independence Progress Report for May 2016

/ humblefi / 7 Comments

If April was the slowest month year-to-date, May was not that far behind 🙂 But, on the positive front, May 2016 is better than May 2015!  And, I can’t wait for June’s dividends…it is the second biggest month in terms of dividends for me. So, if we are done with May 2016, it is an exciting time for me. Lets look at May’s numbers.

06/05/2016
Emergency Fund ($72K)$60K 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 41.25% 42%
Passive Income Streams ($4000 pm) $235.30 (05/2015) $371.51 (05/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 61.08% 61.31%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Portfolio changes continues this month….
    • In April, I made changes to my Capital Appreciation bucket. I wrote about it here. In May, I have strengthened my dividend portfolio with a new mutual fund investment.
    • In May, I reduced my Emergency fund by $12K and moved a quarter of it into another Dividend mutual fund. I am sure Vivienne is smiling on this reduction in cash holding. You can check her out at WellRoundedInvestor.com, ….she is a FI blogger way ahead of the curve!  She has always encouraged me to invest some of the idle cash 🙂 Lo and behold, I did it.
    • The period of unemployment I went through this year has motivated me to generate more dividends and accelerate my journey towards FI. So, I decided to invest some money from the emergency fund and accelerate my financial independence.
  • VDAIX (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index)
    • I have initiated a new position in VDAIX…this completes my multi-pronged approach to build a solid dividend platform. More details in another post.
    • This fund invests in many companies that have a history of increasing dividends. If there is a discussion of quality companies, the companies in VDAIX has to be part of that discussion. The fund’s portfolio is listed here.
    • I am going to Dollar Cost Average into this over the next few years and build another solid portfolio investment.
  • Cash Fund
    • I have started a small cash fund to keep handy…I anticipate a few days of down market towards the end of June…with the interest rate drama, Britain’s exit from Euro decision, etc.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive Income for May 2016 recaptured the increase in dividends over the same period last year. May 2015 had a dividend income of $235.30 and May 2016 has a dividend income of $371.51 …a decent year-over-year increase.

Financial Independence Progress Report for April 2016

/ humblefi / 3 Comments

April is a slow month for dividends in my portfolio. But, after a couple months of no paychecks, seeing regular paychecks in April was such a joy! In celebration of that, I pumped a couple hundred dollars into making sure that future paychecks via dividends are a certainty 🙂

Lets look at the numbers now.

04/30/2016
Emergency Fund ($72K) 100.0% 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 39.33% 41.25%
Passive Income Streams ($4000 pm) $544.13 pm (04/2015) $509.15 pm (4/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 57.96% 61.08%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Portfolio changes continues this month….
    • I wrote about my Capital Gains gut check here. As part of that exercise, I divested all my holdings in VTCLX (Vanguard Tax Managed Capital Appreciation) and VTMSX (Vanguard Tax Managed Small Cap).
  • Additions to my new investment vehicle…
    • Last month, I initiated a position in Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares (VWITX). I wrote about it in my March Progress Report.
    • I took all the money from the sale of VTCLX and VTMSX and moved them into VWITX.
    • The gains are Federal Tax free and AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) free as well. I would still have to pay CA state tax for VWITX though.
  • Dollar Cost Averaging
    • Did not have cash to dollar cost average (DCA) my funds this month…but I did boost my investments to dollar cost average VTMGX (Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund….my non-US exposure mutual fund). I want to have some of my passive income streams to not come from US companies. VTMGX diversifies my passive income streams to include companies from Greater Europe, Greater Asia and Canada.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive income for April 2016 ($1016.87) broke the positive trend of current year month winning over previous year’s month as April 2015 ($544.13). Hmm….
      • ….this was expected as my portfolio changes led to a some days where my money was not working for me…a gap of a couple days between closing of accounts and moving them into new accounts.
    • I compute Passive Income per month as (total passive income in this year) / number of months completed this year.
      • Total passive income is a sum of dividends + capital gains distributions.
      • April Passive Income = (total passive income in this year) / 12 == $201.98 which beat the 2015 April number ($172.40 per month)
      • Doing it this way keeps the monthly passive income more realistic because I can instantly know which of my monthly expenses are covered by this amount. I keep a separate tracker for this which I will write about at a later date.
    • My intermediate goal is to get $1000 pm in passive income first. My estimation for 2016 is that I will reach $750 pm. Lets see if I can push it some more 🙂

Financial Independence Progress Report for March 2016

/ humblefi / 4 Comments

March is the first quarterly dividends month i.e. month of good news. And some more good news on the job front….I got one 🙂 After a month of hard fought interviews, I have started on a new job. Learnt a lot of lessons in the period of unemployment…will put these lessons to work this year. But, March has been a super positive month for me!!

Lets look at the numbers now.

03/31/2016
Emergency Fund ($72K) 100.0% 100.0%
College Fund (80K) 37.11% 39.33%
Passive Income Streams ($4000 pm) $744.05 pm (03/2015)% $1016.87 pm (3/2016)
Retirement Fund ($900K) 57.76% 57.96%
Roof for our Family($750K) 00.00%
Medical Fund 00.00%
Life Insurance Done (term life insurance payments initiated)

Main Takeaways this month

  • Unemployment Induced portfolio changes
    • Unemployment lead to almost two months of no income 😦 But, some good came from this. I had almost $40K invested in one company stock…part of an Employee Stock Purchase Plan from one of the companies I had worked in the past.
    • I wanted to de-risk this  investment by selling it and moving it to a fund of many different stocks but could not for fear of capital gains and resulting tax inefficiency.
    • In the two months of no income, I sold half of the $40K bundle. This keeps the total income the same. I distributed the money into a couple different mutual funds and hence reduced the risk of $40K riding on one company’s stock.
  • New investment vehicle
    • I took part of the de-risking money from my ESPP sale and put some unused money in my checking account into Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares (VWITX).
    • My design of passive income streams is based on 6 key design principles. The second of the five is: For each risk bucket, have a minimum of two investment vehicles….get some competition going you know 😉
    • For the MUNI bucket, I already have an investment in VCADX, the California only muni fund. I wanted to add some competition and also diversify the MUNI bucket by adding a National MUNI fund (no federal tax). I would still have to pay CA state tax for VWITX, but the CA munis  have gotten so expensive that it is crazy to invest in it now. So, I am diversifying with a National MUNI fund.
  • Dollar Cost Averaging
    • Did not have cash to dollar cost average (DCA) my funds this month…but I did boost my investments to dollar cost average VTMGX (anguard Developed Markets Index Fund….my non-US exposure mutual fund). I want to have some of my passive income streams to not come from US companies. VTMGX diversifies my passive income streams to include companies from Greater Europe, Greater Asia and Canada.
  • Passive Income Stream
    • Passive income for March 2016 ($1016.87) continued the winning trend vs March 2015 ($744.05).
    • I compute Passive Income per month as (total passive income in this year) / number of months completed this year.
      • Total passive income is a sum of dividends + capital gains distributions.
      • March Passive Income = (total passive income in this year) / 12 == $156.62
      • Doing it this way keeps the monthly passive income more realistic because I can instantly know which of my monthly expenses are covered by this amount. I keep a separate tracker for this which I will write about at a later date.
    • My intermediate goal is to get $1000 pm in passive income first. My estimation for 2016 is that I will reach $750 pm. Lets see if I can push it some more 🙂