At the beginning of 2020, I started a new M1Finance portfolio where I picked several dividend stocks to invest in. The goal is to achieve similar returns to the SP 500 index but beat it in terms of dividends. As of the writing of this article, I’ve contributed $73,000 of my own money into this portfolio. By the end of this year, I will have contributed $77,000 ($25,000 initially and $1k contribution per week). In this article, I’ll share my M1Finance portfolio, how I’m doing against the market, my thoughts on the current stock market, and how I am doing against my FIRE schedule.

FIRE update

As of 11/25/2020, I am +$732,642.71 ahead of schedule! That means if all of my other assumptions (i.e. pay stays the same, 8% annual return in the stock market) hold true for the next 2 years, I’ll have $732,642.71 more than the expected $4,000,000. At this pace, I’ll be able to hit my FIRE number in several months! However, I don’t have any plans to actually retire early ahead of the 2-year schedule. In my main brokerage account (not this M1Finance portfolio), I’m up 30% YTD. I think it’s safe to assume that this is the high-point of the market, so I’ll be staying the course until the end of 2022 in case there’s a market correction coming. If it comes, I’ll still have a strong income to continue buying. If it doesn’t, I’ll gladly retire with more.

M1Finance Performance Summary

• My portfolio is up +29.09% YTD. When compared to VTI (total stock market, +27.04%), my portfolio is outperforming it by +2.05%.

• I have unrealized gains of +$14,033.16, with $959.78 in dividends

Transactions

• I haven’t made any changes to my M1Finance pie since June’s update. 

Thoughts on the stock market

• TSLA got inducted into the SP 500. What a ride it’s been for Tesla and its shareholders--up 667% this year! I have a post that’s half-written about my biggest financial mistakes. It includes my on-and-off relationship with Tesla. So stay tuned!

• The stock market is red hot right now. In the past month, airline and bank stocks have soared 30% and 20%, respectively. The news of a vaccine for COVID-19 has been a big catalyst in making this happen despite the rising number of COVID cases and shutdown 2.0. I believe the markets are reacting this way because there is at least a timeline now for when we can expect to go back to normal. Investors hate uncertainty.

• Bitcoin (BTC) is back! It finally broke $18k again and this time it is holding steady. I’m a proud owner of 0.25 of a bitcoin.