Hoping to put this account to good use in sharing my journey & perhaps any who read my posts can learn from my mistakes and achievements.

I’m certainly hoping to continue to learn from others, I’ve been missing these types of conversations so I decided to start off fresh here with focus.

Cheers!

But maybe instead I just reach a point where I earn enough that just working a part time job for the years before normal retirement instead becomes viable and I have a better work/life balance.

And if nothing else, regular dividend income takes pressure off how much I need to pull from my accounts.

I want to hit the milestone on earning an average of $1k a month, if my investing remains increases a bit I may achieve this by the end of the next year or two.

Early retirement would mean earning at least $5k a month… so I don’t know if I can actually achieve this before my normal retirement age.

To give a brief rundown of what my account earns me in dividends:
2022: $500
2023: $1,400
2024: $2,400
And 2025 my estimate is so far $7,800… though by this year I’d fully sold off my largest individual stocks and reinvested, so 2025 is supercharged; I expect dividend growth to slow down from here…

Also from the realization that all of my retirement accounts would be out of reach until almost the age of 60 unless I was willing to pay ridiculous early withdrawal fees.

I learned about the concept of bridge accounts, the FIRE movement, & that high yield dividend accounts weren’t a crazy strategy

as a floor to ensure at least $6k of my own money would be added in addition to reinvesting all dividends my accounts would earn.

I should back up a moment, this focus on dividends came from a simple revelation… I am tired of working and want to speed up my journey towards retirement lol

the majority of my stocks, some brought profits some brought losses I would use to reduce taxes.

I started buying ETF’s, REITS, etc over individual stocks. All at this point brought in higher dividend yields than my previous portfolio. And in 2024 I promised myself I would add at least $500/month

My brokerage account. I bought various individual accounts beginning in 2019, no real focus or plan. In 2023 I stumbled upon some channels which changed how I would view this account.

Dividend Income was a vague and not realistic idea to me prior to now. But my mind was changed, I began selling…

I’ve been funding my IRA since 2020, taking advantage of contributing the full amount each year but there’s no substitute for time. At best this account will be more like an emergency fund rather than a reliable source of retirement income.

Lastly, and what I plan on focusing on for my posts -