How did I do in the first half of 2018?
The first half of 2018 is already behind us. And I have written two different posts about my progress on my various goals. This post is just a summary of my progress on all my goals. Just take a look at my post on my Vrijheid Fonds for my review on my goals for my Vrijheid Fonds and if you want to know what my progress on my goals for my website, take a look at what did Q2-2018 brought for polliesdividend.com?
Goal 1: Receive €3,600 in dividends during the year of 2018
In the first half of 2018 I received € 1,792.73 in dividend income. At the end of the first half of 2018 my projected dividend income for whole 2018 is €3,448.
| Dividend | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| 2014 | 90.11 | 509.38 | 226.04 | 289.32 | 1,114.85 |
| 2015 | 323.04 | 634.43 | 401.28 | 414.83 | 1,773.58 |
| 2016 | 511.80 | 769.88 | 1.148.63 | 649.08 | 3,079.38 |
| 2017 | 673.10 | 923.18 | 726.82 | 758.06 | 3,081.16 |
| 2018 | 685.87 | 1,106.87 |
So with a projected dividend income of € 3,470, I’m still lacking a bit to reach this goal in 2018 ;-). My reported dividend for the first half of 2018 isn’t as high as I hoped it would be at the time of writing down my goals for 2018. I did pump up my projected dividend income with almost € 200 since Q1, but it still will be a real challenge to achieve this goal.
So this goal is still a big challenge than I original thought. Despite everything, I will still do my utmost best to maximize my dividend income for 2018.
Grade: Challenging!
Goal 2: More diversification in my Vrijheid Fonds
My Idea behind this goal is that I want to position myself appropriately to protect my Vrijheid Fonds and decrease my risk factor for when the markets really dip. In order to do this, I want to diversify geographically by investing more in European companies.
| 2017 | HY – 2018 | |
| NL/Europe | 32,24% | 33,66% |
| USA | 52,78% | 51,80% |
Geographical diversification 7/1/2018
| 2017 | HY – 2018 | |
| Stocks | 85.01% | 87,01% |
| Bonds | 6.37% | 6,54% |
| Mix | 6.79% | 6,35% |
| Cash | 1.82% | 0,10% |
Assets allocation at 7/1/2018
| 2017 | HY – 2018 | |
| Consumer Discretionary | 19.98% | 19.92% |
| Consumer Staples | 20.74% | 19.43% |
| Energy | 15.33% | 15.41% |
| Financials | 3.92% | 3.22% |
| Health Care | 5.77% | 5.95% |
| Industrials | 0.96% | 2.27% |
| Information Tech | 2.51% | 2.77% |
| Materials | 1.26% | 1.32% |
| Telecommunications | 3.57% | 2.82% |
| Utilities | 2.21% | 3.67% |
| REIT | 8.77% | 10.23% |
| Cash | 1.82% | 0.10% |
| Mutual funds | 13.17% | 12.89% |
| Total | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Sector allocation at 7/1/2018
If we take a look at these tables, you can see a small adjustment in all three tables. I’ll keep working on these diversification.
Grade: Passing!
Goal 2: Invest a total of € 7,500 new cash
In order to let my Vrijheid Fonds grow, it needs fresh cash. In the first half of 2018 I added a total of € 4,020 of fresh capital.
I have put this new cash to good use. Every month I bought a lit bit more than € 100 worth of mutual Funds for my “Safe-haven-sleep-well” part of my Vrijheid Fonds.
I bought my first German company – Bayer AG, just click on Bayer AG to read my buy-report. Furthermore I bought some extra Realty Income (O). Read this post for some more information about this recent buy. I initiated a position in 3M – MMM, just click on the ticker for my buy-report. And last but not least, I bought some Consolidated Edison (ED).
And I also did one sell; I sold my Rights Bayer AG.
If I keep this pace up, I will definitely reach this goal!
Grade: Passing!
Goal 4: €300 on passive income from side hustles
My current side hustles are:
- Google AdSense
- Bol.com
- Amazon.com
- Member’s Board
- Click here to earn some extra cash with taking some surveys
Only Bol.com and Amazon haven’t paid out to me in 2018. The other three side hustles have paid out to me.
I received € 71.65 from Google AdSense, € 70 from Euroclix and a whooping € 360 of my membership of the member’s board. For more information on my side hustle income see my latest report hustle report May 2018
To sum-up my progress in this goal; in the first six months of 2018 I made € 501.65 in side hustle money! As you can see, I already achieved this goal! So it is time to adjust my goal. My new goal is of course a little bit higher, I hope to make € 800 in passive income from my side hustles.
Grade: Passed and Updated!
Goal 5: Grow Polliesdividend.com to 36,500 views in 2018
The numbers on my site:
| Year | Views | Visitors |
| 2016 – H1 | 15,075 | 5,778 |
| 2017 – H1 | 14,455 | 4,903 |
| 2018 – H1 | 26,877 | 9,340 |
So as you can see, in the first half of 2018 I had a total of 26,877 page views. And I’m happy to report that this is an increase of almost 86% when compared to the same period in 2017. For 2018 it comes down to an average of 147 views per day (my goal for 2018 is an average of a 100 view per day).
Grade: Passing!
In this same goal I set another sub-goal. I wrote that I’d try to have a least 4 guest-bloggers on Polliesdividend.com this year. This sub-goal I unfortunately have done anything about. I haven’t had a guest-blogger yet. So if you are interested in writing a guest-post on Polliesdividend.com, please contact me by email: Pollie@polliesdividend.com
Goal 6: Write a least 75 post on Polliesdividend
In the beginning of this year I set my self a challenging goal, because I find it more and more difficult to balance my time between family, work, sport, books and Polliesdividend.
Therefore I knew I had to change my routine to reach this goal. And that is exactly what I did. And I’m happy to report that in the first half of 2018 I wrote a total of 81 blog posts!!!
I already reached my goal! Well that is really great. So I have to set a new goal. I will write at least 150 posts on Polliesdividend.com
Grade: Passing and adjusted!
Goal 7: Keep investing in my self
For my physical sharpening I have been going to the gym almost two times a week in the first quarter. My mental sharpening I did by reading two books and followed 4 webinars.
Lets take a look at the finance book on which I did a book review in the first half of 2018 (the other book I did my review a couple of days ago, so I will report it in my Q3 letter).
The Intelligent Investor – by Benjamin Graham
In my opinion, this book is a must read for all investors. If I have to sum up what I learned in this book, I would probably say that the best path to wealth in investing is patience, good research and avoiding mistakes
The Pollie-rating for this book is:
For the rest of 2018, I already have some books lying around that I want to read. Do you have a recommendation for a good book I should read? What is your favorite book about finance/investing? I like to here from you!
Grade: Passing!
Finally
Overall the first half of 2018 has been a good half-year for my Vrijheid Fonds and Polliesdividend.com I’m passing 6 out of 7 of my goals and even adjusted one!I’m proud of it!
How about you? How are you doing with your goals for 2018? Passing or failing?
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Pollie
The post How far am I with my goals for 2018 – half-year summary? appeared first on Polliesdividend.