Dividend Growth Portfolio - Objective: Retire by 50

[Rasec]

(01-24-2017, 07:46 PM)RyanCMason Wrote: Hi Rasec,

Do you keep track of your income from your various investments year over year?  Great job by the way!

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you mean. This is a screen shot from Merrill Lynch where I have my taxable account (only 1 account with all my holdings). I've never seen this before but it allows to track performance in a given period. My 401k is with vanguard and it has a similar feature (it's 1 account as well with all funds). So yes, both brokers allow to track YoY performance.

My Google doc file doesn't, however. It tracks continuous performance, maybe there's a way to do it but I haven't researched it.

Let me know if I didn't answer your question.

[Rasec]

Psychological barrier of $2000 per Q has been hit!! 



Next stop, $3k per Q!

[EricL]

Awesome, congrats Rasec!

[ChadR]

Congrats on hitting $2k per Q. I missed it by $4.36 since BP dividend didn't hit my account in March like it did last year.

[RyanCMason]

(04-03-2017, 01:34 PM)Rasec Wrote: Psychological barrier of $2000 per Q has been hit!! 



Next stop, $3k per Q!

Wow way to go.  I believe I had $2000 for the first time this quarter as well.  I normally just track monthly but like the idea of breaking it down this way.

[cannew]

Nice growth of income. It's the income and growth that will enable you to achieve your goal. Are you reinvesting the dividends?

[Rasec]

(05-03-2017, 09:26 AM)cannew Wrote: Nice growth of income.  It's the income and growth that will enable you to achieve your goal.  Are you reinvesting the dividends?

Thank you!

Yes, all positions are on a DRIP at the moment. 




Quick update on my 2017 goals:

Investments:

• Invest $75k in "new cash" in the market (outside 401K) - on track, $29k invested so far. 
  
  
• DRIP all dividends - check
  
  
• Max out 401K by end of H1 2017 - on track
  
  
• Hit $10k in forward dividends / year - on track
  
  
• Discuss tax plans with a CPA with experience in international taxes and tax planning - hired a CPA but he was only versed on US tax law, to follow up
  
  
• Solve issue with IRS (basically they've owed me ~$4.5k for several years) - Solved! Hurray! 
  

Keep improving my CV

• Do an executive course in Marketing / Business Management / Leadership at a top school in the US - to follow up
  
  
• Apply to at least 2 jobs outside my company and interview for those roles - to follow up
  

Work life balance

• Visit at least 1 new country - Going to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau in a couple weeks.... basically all China! 
  
  
• Spend more quality time with my son, sign up for one activity together (maybe soccer?) - on track
  
  
• Play in 4 squash tournaments (played 3 in 2016) - on track, played 1 in Feb and I'm signed for another one in June. 
  
  

[NilesMike]

Rasec I admire your goal setting very much. Good job sir.

[Rasec]

Well friends, I got offered a new job back in Europe, it's a very good deal so I'll likely be making my way back across the pond by the end of this year! If that's the case, I spent 5 amazing years in the US and I'll always have this country in my heart (and an American firstborn)! 

I have a few doubts regarding my portfolio and I'm unsure what to do, knowing there's risk in every decision, here are the options I could think of:

1) market is at all time high, I could sell everything by the end of this year, pay 15% capital gains, take the cash to the new country and then evaluate if I buy a house or invest in ETFs/Funds. Taxes in the new country are 2x the US, so investing in dividends is likely not the best decision, as I would be paying almost 30% on dividends (also on capital gains) plus the complexities around tax withholdings, etc.

2) Transfer my holdings to an international broker like Interactive Brokers, but now pay 2x taxes on dividends and capital gains and just deal with it... 

3) Find a way to keep it all under US taxation law somehow... this would be ideal, I'm just not sure if there's a legal way to do it. 


In any case, I would have to leave Merril Edge as they don't deal with non residents, so I'm looking for a new broker which accepts international clients, always a bit of a stressful situation. 

Questions:

- Ideally, I'd like to keep a bank account in the US in usd, a credit card associated with it and eventually a brokerage account all linked, do you know of such an option for non residents? Or will I always need a physical address in the US for that?

- What broker do you recommend based on low fees, to move my positions from ME to?

- What is the best way and with the lowest fees to transfer a large amount of money from usd to Euros in case I decided to sell? I remember I paid an insane amount on fees when I moved from Europe to the US a few years ago. 


As anyone gone through this process which can share their learnings? 


Thanks



PS: 401k will stay where it is, I believe it's the best for now.

[Caversham]

(11-05-2017, 12:22 AM)Rasec Wrote: Questions:

- Ideally, I'd like to keep a bank account in the US in usd, a credit card associated with it and eventually a brokerage account all linked, do you know of such an option for non residents? Or will I always need a physical address in the US for that?

- What broker do you recommend based on low fees, to move my positions from ME to?

- What is the best way and with the lowest fees to transfer a large amount of money from usd to Euros in case I decided to sell? I remember I paid an insane amount on fees when I moved from Europe to the US a few years ago. 

I've recently been getting e-mails from IB about a new debit card that can be tied to your IB brokerage account.  I don't know much about it, but it could be a solution for your bank+brokerage+credit card question.

I've been using IB for several years now and am quite happy with it after switching from a more traditional brokerage.  The fees are low provided you have 100k of assests.  The only downside is that there is essentially no DRIP program.  I'm also a US resident, so I can't speak for the non-US resident experience.

[Rasec]

I'm getting more inclined to sell everything and move the money over.

[Rasec]

I've cashed out today, sold everything, almost cried in the process 

Now it's time to move the cash overseas and take a hit on the $ to € conversion 


For a while I was excited I could beat the market but... next time around I'll just go with ETFs (saving on taxes and ... well, the market may as well just beat me).



In any case, the amount of wealth (dividends + growth) generated in such a short period of time has been staggering! It was better than all my expectations at the start of the process!