2020 year-end review and thanks

When I checked my Goals page I realised that I haven’t updated that page in a while, it was still in Dutch! So that means it has been collecting some virtual dust for quite some time. I have since remedied that and updated it not only to English but also to incorporate every goal and result of the past years!

I also found out that even though I did set goals for 2020, I never actually posted them here. It must have slipped my mind at the beginning of the year. But do not worry! I did write them down somewhere and I’m still able to share them with you:

• Receive €1500,- in dividend: The last dividends are yet to come into my bank account, but I already know that I won’t be making this goal. I did come close however! How close? You’ll find out in my December dividend report in early January.
• Increase forward income to €1500: With all our extra finances going towards buying the land beneath our house (skipping the need for a mortgage) there was only our monthly deposits. Together with the devaluation of the dollar in 2020 we ended the year on €1400,- post-tax. Inching forward and the lack of significant progress is a bit frustrating sometimes.
• Side-hustle €500: I think I totalled on €35,- so I need to step up my game here.
• Save €7500 towards downpayment of our mortgage: We payed off an extra €1105 this year. The rest went to buying our land,
• Write a 30 blogposts: Nope, 16 in total.
• Spend less time with my phone (30 min/day): Essentially the same as last year, off to a great start and some succes in between but I still average an hour + everyday. Thats at least 365 hours of screentime this year. Granted some of it was work-related but thats maybe a few hours.
• Spend more time with my family: Well with the different variations of lockdown here In The Netherlands this was a pretty easy goal to reach 🙂
• Read 6 self-improvement books: I’ve read the following books: The Infinite Game (Sinek), Ladder der Leiderschap (De Bondt), Never Split the Difference (Voss), The Culture Code (Coyle), Politieke Intelligentie (van Oosterhout) and working on Handboek Teamcoaching (Vroemen).
• Exercise 2-3 times a week: This is a succes, granted the last two months of the year I failed miserably due to some illness but the rest of the year was great!
• Start with meditation: I’ve only recently started in November, so its definitely a work in progress.

All in all I’m pretty happy with my results for the year, especially considering it was during a global pandemic.

As much as I’m on this (FIRE) path for myself and my family, I use this blog as a way to document my journey and keep myself accountable. But truth be told, I never would have kept publishing reports if not for you, my readers. So here is a big shot out to my regular commenters of the past year(s):

Paul from Engineering Dividends
Bert & Lanny from Dividend Diplomats
Broke Investor
P2035
DividendPortfolio
ReverseTheCrush
DeKleineKapitalist (Dutch)
DeKleineDividendBelegger (Dutch)
DividendPortfolio.nl (Dutch)
Mr. Groeigeld (Dutch)
MooiDividend.nl
PolliesDividend (inactive)
Dividendcompounder
DesiDividend
TimeintheMarket
My Dividend Dynasty
PassiveCanadianIncome
Jordan from MoneyMaaster.com
Tom from DividendsDiversify
Keith from DivHut
Bob from TawCan
DAH from DividendsAndHobbies

Thank you all for your support, inspiration and motivation and a happy New Year!