Victory Lap

Once you achieve Financial Independence, you may choose to leave salaried employment but with decades of vibrant life ahead, it’s too soon to do nothing. The new stage of life between traditional employment and Full Retirement we call Victory Lap, or Victory Lap Retirement (also the title of a new book to be published in August 2016. You can pre-order now at VictoryLapRetirement.com). You may choose to start a business, go back to school or launch an Encore Act or Legacy Career. Perhaps you become a free agent, consultant, freelance writer or to change careers and re-enter the corporate world or government.

Discovering Retirement Blind Spots – Part Two

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IV. Discovering Retirement Blind Spots – Part Two

By Fritz Gilbert, TheRetirementManifesto.com

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The full report includes three other graphs focused on the gap between retirees and pre-retirees, each of which includes some important discoveries.  For brevity, the main findings for each topic are summarized below:

Things That People Miss About Their Career

what will you miss when you retire

A surprisingly large 62% of retirees miss the Social Interaction from work, whereas only 29% of pre-retirees expect that to be an issue.  With a 33% gap, this was one of the largest retirement blind spots discovered by the survey.

The other two big blind spots related to what you’ll miss from your career include missing Mental Stimulation (38% retirees vs. 21% pre-retirees) and a Sense of Identity (31% vs. 22%)

FRITZ:  I’ve written extensively on the many non-financial benefits we receive from work, and yet it’s something that most pre-retirees continue to underestimate.  The most successful retirees discover ways to replace the non-financial benefits they once received from work, such as social interaction, mental stimulation, and a sense of identity highlighted by this study.

ERIC: I see this all the time among my clients who are still working. At this stage in their lives, they primarily associate their jobs with a paycheck and bonus. Their eyes are focused on the prize money at the finish line. They fail to see the psychological income that does not show up on their paystubs in the form of intellectual stimulation, purpose and meaning, and the most ignored component of all, social interaction.  I can’t put a number on how much of your work paycheck comes from psychological income, but in my experience it’s a significant amount that until you retire you are probably seriously under-estimating.  Most people assume that the primary challenge of retirement planning is financial when, for most people, the real challenge is replacing the psychological benefits from their work days with new activities that provide meaning and purpose as well as social interaction.

Challenges of The Retirement Transition

the challenges of retirement transition

The highest response rate for transition challenges was finding the right Balance of Structure, with 39% of retirees citing that as a challenge.  Fortunately, it appears that many pre-retirees also recognize this will be a challenge, with 45% citing it as a concern.

In other areas, pre-retirees are also more concerned with the challenges than appear to be warranted by the actual experience of retirees.  In particular, pre-retirees responded with a higher % of concern than retirees for each of the following categories:

  • Anxiety Over Future  (30% pre- vs. 23% post-retirement)
  • Meaning/Purpose    (33% pre- vs. 23% post-retirement
  • Outdated Identity     (27% pre- vs. 20% post-retirement
  • Mental Stimulation (30% pre- vs. 18% post-retirement
  • Finding Happiness  (23% pre- vs. 18% post-retirement

The Retirement Transition Isn’t As Smooth As Expected

having a difficult transition to retirement

A concerning 52% of pre-retirees “mostly agree” that the retirement transition will be smooth, whereas only 32% of retirees feel the same.  This 20% gap is a warning to all pre-retirees and is further strengthened by the 26% of retirees who responded “mostly or strongly disagree” (vs. only 5% of pre-retirees).  The reality is that transitioning into retirement is more challenging than most folks expect.  A good takeaway for pre-retirees is to expect some turbulence during the transition.  Ignore this retirement blind spot at your own risk.

FRITZ:  It’s interesting to study the above results.  While retirees tend to have better scores than pre-retirees on specific challenges, a much higher percentage of retirees report some difficulty in the transition compared to the expectation of pre-retirees.  In fact, only 51% of retirees Agree/Strongly Agree that the transition was smooth, compared to 70% of pre-retirees who expect it will go smoothly.

ERIC: I think that most people in the planning phase only think of the positives of life in retirement. They seriously underestimate how big of a transition retirement can be. In fact, other industry surveys show this disconnect between expectations and reality. The greatest source of disconnect usually happens after the “honeymoon” period wears out. That typically happens within the first two years of retirement. I call this the “messy middle”. Many people associate retirement with a new beginning without ever acknowledging the ending of our prior stage in life or recognizing that all transitions in life usually involve a period of introspection and uncertainty before finding the necessary clarity and direction to move forward. Only a few of us skip out on the “messy middle.” I think it’s best when we plan for some turbulence ahead so that when we are shaken out of our comfort zone we’re neither surprised nor paralyzed from making the required adjustments. I like to remind my clients that a plan is just a guide meant to be revised as new data comes in. Keep iterating forward!

V. Which Components Lead To A Good Life in Retirement?

The final section of the survey was, in hindsight, a bit of “Motherhood and Apple Pie.”  What does it take to lead a good life?  Ask anyone, and you’ll likely see similar responses to what was revealed in the survey.  In the survey, you’ll see we asked both pre- and post-retirees to rank these components.  Results were similar between both groups, so for this summary, we’ll simply rank the components identified by those already retired, in descending order:

Components Rated as Very Important

  •  Healthy Living (77%)
  • Time Management (68%)
  • Financial Plan (53%)
  • Relationships (52%)
  • Purpose/Meaning (41%)
  • Self-Identity (27%)

VI. Conclusion

We thank the 1,734 of you who participated in this joint study and hope all of you have found the results to be useful. We trust the findings on retirement blind spots will be helpful for those who are planning their retirements in the coming years.  To reiterate the key blind spots, below is the conclusion of the key points from the Full Study write-up:

Major Retirement Blind Spots 

  • You’ll miss more than just the paycheck when you retire. You’ll miss the mental
    stimulation and social interaction associated with work. Start now cultivating new social
    connections and finding new sources of mental stimulation to replace the psychological
    benefits of work.
  • It will take you longer to shed your work identity than you expect. This will be primarily a
    challenge in your early days in retirement. Don’t hang on to an outdated image of who
    you were in the past. Retirement gives you the freedom to re-invent yourself.
  • The transition from full-time work to life in retirement won’t go as smoothly as you
    expect. You’ll struggle initially to come up with a new sense of purpose and meaning. Be
    patient, but not complacent. Only you can figure out what’s important to you!
  • Finding the right balance of structure in your schedule will be a greater challenge than
    you currently likely anticipate. Making time for activities that bring joy and fulfillment is
    important. A schedule is not a bad thing if it reflects your values and aspirations.
  • Once you retire, you’ll worry less about money issues and more about your health and
    that of your loved ones. As you plan your retirement think beyond just money issues. Take
    a holistic approach that incorporates all the important areas of your life. Emphasize
    balance.

In closing, it’s reassuring to see that the life satisfaction scores were highest among people who have been retired for more than two years.  The future is bright.

Learn from those who are ahead of you on the retirement journey.

Your retirement will be better as a result.

Your Turn:  If you’ve already retired, what was your biggest surprise about the transition?  If you’ve not yet retired, what’s your biggest takeaway from this study, and are there any modifications you’ll make in your planning as a result?  Let’s chat…

 

Fritz Gilbert is the Founder of The Retirement Manifesto, a Plutus Award winning blog dedicated to helping people Achieve A Great Retirement.  After 30+ years in Corporate America, most recently as a Commodity Trader, Fritz retired as planned in June 2018 at Age 55.  He and his wife are looking forward to extended travel and “giving back” to their community through charitable work in retirement. This blog was published on his website on May 18, 2023 and is republished here with his permission. 

Shining the Light on Retirement Blind Spots (Part 1 of 2)

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By Fritz Gilbert, TheRetirementManifesto.com

Special to Financial Independence Hub

We all have blind spots.

For those who are planning on retiring in the next few years, retirement blind spots can be dangerous.

Wouldn’t it be helpful…

  • …If we could get a list of our potential retirement blind spots, based on feedback from actual retirees?
  • …If we could utilize the experience of actual retirees to help shine the light on shortfalls in our planning?
  • …If someone would tell us what we should really be thinking about as we plan for retirement?

Today, we’re doing exactly that.

We’ve got a special post for you today, a post that has required hours of work by Eric Weigel, my partner on a special survey we conducted with the readers of this blog, among others. It’s the most comprehensive survey ever conducted by this blog, and you will be interested in the groundbreaking results.

After all, you are the subject!

  • If you’ve already retired, you told us about your actual experience.
  • If you’re planning on retiring, you’ve told us your expectations.

By comparing the responses of the two groups, we’ve compiled a list of potential blind spots that anyone planning for retirement should be aware of.

It’s time to put on your sunglasses.

Below, we’re shining the light on the retirement blind spots we discovered by analyzing your responses.  This is one of the longest posts I’ve ever written, but the content is invaluable.  If you don’t have time to read the entire post, skim through the charts and read the conclusion for the 5 most important retirement blind spots you helped to reveal.

Today, we’re shining the light on the most important blind spots you should be aware of as you plan for retirement. Click To Tweet

Shining the Light on Retirement Blind Spots

On March 1, 2023 you received an e-mail from me with a link to a survey, which was titled “Retirement Attitudes & Perspectives.”  In total, 1,734 people took the survey.  Most were from this blog, but we also reached out on various channels focused on retirement planning, including Eric Weigel’s page (Retire With Possibilities), The Modern Elder Academy, The Retirement Coaches Association, and personal social media pages.

Eric Weigel, author of Reimaging Retirement, developed the survey and compiled the results (a special note of thanks for the hours he’s invested in this project).  He has completed an impressive Final Report with all of the survey detail, which I encourage you to read.  The title page is presented below, which is linked to the full report.

Click on the image to read the full report

The primary goal of the research was to compare retirement attitudes & perspectives between those on the cusp of retirement to those who have already retired.  How do attitudes change pre- vs. post-retirement, and what can we learn to shed light on potential retirement blind spots for those who are approaching retirement?

To start, the following chart summarizes the demographics of respondents:

demographics for study on retirement blind spots

We were pleased that over 90% of the respondents fell in the “retirement sweet spot” (Ages 51+).  We also had a perfect blend of pre- vs. post-retirees, with 54% classifying themselves as retired, 45% planning to retire (half of whom expect to retire within 2 years), and 1% who had no plans of retiring.  70% of the responders were male, and 86% of the respondents were married.

Below are the summarized results of the survey, which will be presented as follows:

Table Of Contents

  1.  Combined Results (Both Pre- And Post-Retirees)
  2.  “Retired Only” Responses
  3.  Discovering Blind Spots – Part I
  4.  Discovering Blind Spots – Part II
  5. Which Components Lead To A Good Life In Retirement?
  6. Conclusion – The Top 5 Retirement Blind Spots

I. Combined Results (Both Pre- and Post-Retirees)

In this section, we’ll present highlights from the entire population.  In the next section, we’ll compare pre- vs. post-retiree responses, followed by a deep dive into the retirement blind spots revealed by comparing responses between the two groups.  In each of the sections, Eric and I will provide our commentary.

Ability to Manage Finances

To start, it’s important to note that our sample population was a select subset of the population at large, drawing as it did upon readers of this blog.  Our sample population is a more knowledgeable group, as demonstrated by the following chart that self-rates your  “ability to manage finances.”

Question: How would you rate yourself in terms of your ability to manage your finances?

retirement blind spots finances
For all graphs, an “A” is the highest score, and an “E” is the lowest. 

FRITZ: I like the fact that our sample was drawn from a more select group of the population. It allows you to compare yourself to a group that is more representative of your peers.  That said,  Eric and I have discussed the possibility of conducting this survey with a more representative group of the entire population, which would yield some interesting results when compared to this population of retirement blog readers.  If we are able to execute that approach, we’ll provide the results in a post dedicated to those results, stay tuned.

ERIC: I agree with you, Fritz. Our survey respondents seem to be well prepared for life in retirement. Even respondents still working and planning their retirement seem to have taken responsibility for their own well-being. While the transition from full-time work to retirement is for most people a very significant life event with its own set of challenges, our respondents seem to be ready for the challenge and well-positioned to iron out any issues that might creep up.

Strong Scores On Lifestyle & Mindset Attributes

Perhaps this is another potential impact of our sample bias, as we had a high percentage of the survey participants scoring well on the lifestyle and mindset attributes that contribute to a good retirement.

In addition to the desire to learn new things (chart shown below), our respondents also rated high in many of the areas that contribute to a good retirement, summarized below for brevity (read the Final Report for details).  Responses are sorted in descending order based on % of “A” responses:

  • Emotional Intelligence                         (A – 48%, B – 44%)
  • Life Satisfaction                                    (A – 41%, B – 46%)
  • Desire to work on meaningful goals (A – 41%, B – 40%)
  • Healthy Lifestyle                                   (A – 37%, B – 43%)
  • Quality of Relationships                      (A – 31%, B – 44%)
  • Suitability of Home & Environment   (A – 31%, B – 44%)
  • Discipline in Allocating Time              (A – 27%, B – 47%)
  • Positive Habits                                      (A – 25%, B – 49%)
  • Having A Plan For Retirement            (A – 20%, B – 47%)
  • Transferability of Vocational Skills    (A – 20%, B – 35%)

lifelong learning is a key to retirement

FRITZ: There are various personality traits that foster a good retirement, and I’m pleased to see the high scores from the participants.  All of us have to learn how to live our new lives in retirement, and embracing a desire to learn serves people well as they make the transition.  The strong scores on the other attributes are good indicators that our respondents are (and will be) leading good lives in retirement.  Each of the attributes included in the bullet list above are worth serious consideration as you finalize your plans for retirement.

ERIC: I was pleasantly surprised to see high scores across all question categories. I think that when it comes to leading a happy and fulfilling life in retirement we already know what we have to do. Of course, we all define success in our own unique ways, but the trick always seems to involve taking some sort of action that moves us closer to our goals. In a sense what makes for a successful life in retirement is not a great mystery, but fulfilling our own vision requires a commitment to using our time, energy, and money in a way that creates true happiness and fulfillment.

II. “Retired-Only” Responses

This section of the survey was designed to determine the retirement attitudes determined to be important by folks who have already retired.  In essence, it’s establishing the baseline used later in the study to compare what pre-retirees think will be important vs. what post-retirees think is important in retirement.  The larger the gap between the two populations, the higher the odds that the issue is a retirement blind spot.

How Well did you Prepare for Retirement?

Many of the questions in this section focused on preparation for retirement, with a focus on both the financial and non-financial aspects of planning.  In general, survey respondents did a good job in preparing.  We’ll touch on the financial preparation first, then provide a summary of the non-financial responses. Continue Reading…

Timeless Financial Tips #5: Trust the Evidence

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Lowrie Financial: Canva Custom Creation

 

Evidence-Based Investing – Your Best Chance to Hit Your Long-Term Investment Goals

By Steve Lowrie, CFA

Special to Financial Independence Hub

If I could, I would grant amazing investment returns to every investor across every market. Unfortunately, that’s just not how it works. In real life, we must aim toward our financial ideals, knowing we won’t hit the bullseye every time.

That’s why I recommend evidence-based investing: or investing according to our best understanding of how markets have actually delivered available returns over time, versus how we wish they would. Our “best understanding” may still be imperfect, but it sure beats ignoring reality entirely.

Luck-Based Investing and Random Returns

Many investors try to pick and choose when and how to invest based on what they or others are predicting will happen next. All evidence suggests their success or failure will be driven far more by luck than skill. Worse, going down this path, there is a very high probability they’ll end up with worse results versus a properly structured “buy and hold” approach.

Some deliberately embrace this approach, hoping to “beat” the market. Others come to it accidentally, by reacting to financial behavioural biases such as panic-selling or spree-buying. Either way, these sorts of investment portfolios typically devolve into a disheartening assortment of holdings over time, offering little sense of where you stand in relation to your own goals or overall market performance. The odds stack steeply against your achieving any carefully planned outcome: provided you had one to begin with.

Evidence-Based Investing and Portfolio Planning

In contrast, evidence-based investors adhere to decades and volumes of time-tested, peer-reviewed analysis by academics and practitioners alike. In aggregate, we seek to answer an essential investment challenge:

How can an investor increase the probability they’ll capture the highest expected market returns, given the levels of investment risk they’re willing to accept?

The answers point to a two-step strategy:

1. Build It. Prepare your personal portfolio:

  • Allocate your investments between broad asset classes.
  • Widely diversify your bonds and equities to reduce the unnecessary risks inherent to individual bond or stock picks.
  • Tilt your overall portfolio toward factors with higher expected returns, according to your personal financial goals and risk tolerances.

2. Keep It. Sit tight with your carefully constructed portfolio for the long term, to ensure you capture the expected long-term growth from your various market allocations. So, stay invested through thick and thin and set aside enough cash reserves to cover upcoming spending needs.

At the risk of repeating ourselves (which is, after all, the theme of this “Play It Again, Steve” financial tips blog series), evidence-based investing translates into building and maintaining a portfolio that looks something like this:

three key portfolio construction decisions

Keeping It: The Hardest Thing

It’s one thing to build an ideal portfolio. It’s another to keep it in balance as intended. In fact, thanks to our behavioural biases, I would argue it’s the hardest part.

For example, what will you do after the stock market has been surging, and your 60%/40% stock/bond allocations end up being closer to 70%/ 30%.? You’ll probably want to let your overweight allocation to high-flying stocks ride, hoping to score even more. That’s because recency and other behavioural biases trick us into believing the party will never end. However, the more prudent, evidence-based move is to sell some of your equity allocations (selling high) and use the proceeds to buy more humdrum fixed income (buying low), until you’re back to your original 60%/40% mix. Continue Reading…

Do you have a case of the “What If’s”?

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An Interview with Brian Watkins by Billy and Akaisha Kaderli, RetireEarlyLifestyle.com

Special to Financial Independence Hub

We at RetireEarlyLifestyle love to bring you retirement stories of people we have met. There’s no one right way to get to Financial Independence, and we are happy to bring Brian’s adventure to financial freedom to you.

Thank you, Brian, for taking the time to answer all our questions!

Brian Watkins enjoying his last year of teaching

Retire Early Lifestyle: Could you tell us a little about yourself, and how old you are?

Brian Watkins: Hi, as of 14 months ago I quit my job as a teacher, a position I held for 22 years, and at 48 decided to travel and enjoy a different lifestyle. I wanted a life with more freedom and less obligation to debt. I had spent a lifetime accepting that debt was part of the American lifestyle and just wanted something different.

REL: What got you started investing and when?

BW: In my very first year of teaching, I was broke and struggling from month to month. At work I saw sign that read “Free Pizza….. in the Library.” Not sure what the rest of the sign said but I was down with free pizza, so I headed to the library. Little did I know that with a slice came some financial advice. By the time I left I was investing $100 a month in a 403B and only going to see a $70 difference in my check. The lesson: live on less and invest!

REL: When did you know you were ready to retire and what motivated you?

BW: At 46 both my mother and father passed within six months of each other. I really didn’t want to risk working till death. So at that point I started working on my exit plan.

REL: What do you do for income generation?

BW: When I turn 55 I will be eligible to withdraw from my pension. I have a 403B in place that will be eligible at 591/2 and I currently live off the sale of my condo. My overall goal has been to live off 4% of my total investments.

REL: What do you plan to budget annually for your retirement?

BW: I had an educated idea of what my expenses might be but purchasing your book and tracking my expenses helped me more than you’ll ever know. In my first 12 months I spent $16,542. Eight months of that was for two people. My annual budget broke down as follows:

REL: Can you share with us anything about how your portfolio is structured?

BW: My current portfolio is 75% equities, 25% bonds.  

Puerto Galera, Philippines

REL: You are one of the new generation of Early Retirees who are well versed in a digital lifestyle. How have you used this technology to enhance your retirement?

BW: I have actually learned so much from the retirees who are digitally inclined. I use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for those countries IP address that my bank blocks. I have a Google voice number so that I can call (or text) a U.S. number from Google Hangouts using wifi only.

The most important people to me have the Cash App and I can send or receive money on it and have it deposited for free (3 day waiting period) or for a fee same day. Continue Reading…

Why my goal to live off dividends remains alive and well

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Image myownadvisor/honestmath.com

By Mark Seed, myownadvisor

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Some time ago…yours truly wrote a controversial post about the intent to live off dividends and distributions from our portfolio.

Well, a great deal of time has passed on that post by my thinking and goals remain the same – as least in part for semi-retirement!

Read on to learn why my approach to live off dividends remains alive and well this year in this updated post.

Why my goal to live off dividends remains alive and well

First, let’s back up to the controversy and offer a list why some investors couldn’t care less about my approach and why dividends may not matter at all to some people:

  1. The trouble with any “live off the dividends” approach is that you’d need to save too much to generate your desired income. Fair. 
  2. Dividends are not magical – there is nothing special about them. Sure.  
  3. A dollar of dividends is = a one-dollar increase in the stock price. True, a dollar is a dollar. 
  4. Stock picking (with dividend stocks) is fraught with under performance of the index long-term. I’m not convinced about that. 
  5. You can never possibly know long-term how dividends may or may not be paid by any company. Fair. 

In many respects these investors are not wrong.

You do need a bunch of capital to generate income.

Dividends are part of total return. [See image at the top of this blog.]

Stock selection can open up opportunities for market under performance.

And the negativity doesn’t stop there …

Some financial advisors will argue your investing world starts to shrink if you demand 2% or 3% (or more) income from your portfolio, so dividend investing leads to poor diversification.

My response to this: I don’t just invest in dividend paying stocks. 

Further still, some advisors will argue picking dividend paying stocks may lead to negative outcomes and too many biases.

My response to this: while I believe markets are generally efficient, I also believe that buying and holding some dividend paying stocks (while there could be market under-performance at times) does not necessarily mean I cannot achieve my goals. In fact, that’s the entire point of this investing thing anyhow – investing in a manner that keeps you motivated, inspired and helps you meet your long-term goals.

Consider this simple sketch art from Carl Richards, who is far more famous than I will be, and author of the One-Page Financial Plan and more:

Keep Investing Super Simple - Goals and Happiness

Source: Behavior Gap.

From Carl’s recent newsletter in my inbox:

“Pretend you live in some magic fantasy world where all of your dreams (according to the investment industry) come true, and you actually beat an index every quarter for your whole life. Congratulations!

So here’s my question: You landed in Shangri La, according to the financial industry. You beat the index. But you didn’t meet your goals. Are you happy?

The answer is “No.”

Now let’s flip that scenario on its head. The worst thing in the world happens to you (again, according to the investment industry). You slightly underperform the index every quarter for your whole life. But because of careful financial planning, you meet every one of your financial goals. Let me repeat the question: Are you happy?

And the answer is obviously… “Yes.”

Stop worrying about beating indexes. Focus instead on meeting your goals.”

Amen.

Finally, some advisors will argue that dividends and share buybacks and other forms of reinvesting capital back into the business can be equally shareholder friendly.

My response to this: Well of course that makes sense. Dividends are just one form of total returns.

But you know what?

The ability to live off dividends (and distributions from our ETFs) will be beneficial for these reasons:

1. I continue to believe there are simply too many unknowns about the financial future. So, living off dividends and distributions will help ensure our capital remains hard at work since it will remain intact.

2. If we are able to keep our capital intact we don’t need to worry as much about when to sell shares or ETF units when markets don’t cooperate. We can sell assets as we please over time.

3. Living off dividends is therefore just one way I’m trying to reduce sequence of returns risks. See below.

BlackRock - Sequence-of-returns-one-pager-va-us - December 2022 Page 2.pdf

Source: BlackRock.

As such, we’ll try to live off dividends and distributions in the early years of semi-retirement to avoid such risks.

4. I/we don’t necessarily believe in the 4% safe withdrawal rule. It’s impossible to predict next year, let alone 30 or more investing years.

5. I’m conservative as an investor. Seeing dividends roll into my account help me psychologically to stick to my investing plan.

6. Dividends is real money, tangible money I can spend if and when I choose without worrying about stock market prices or gyrations.

7. It is my hope dividends (and capital gains) can work together to help fight inflation. As consumer prices rise, as the cost of living rises, the companies that deliver our products and services will rise in price along with them.

8. I like dividend paying stocks for a bit of the “value-tilt” they offer. 

9. Canadian dividend paying stocks are tax-efficient. With my RRSP growing more with U.S. assets, I tend to keep Canadian dividend paying stocks in my TFSA and inside my non-registered account.

In a taxable account Canadian dividend paying stocks are eligible for a dividend tax credit from our government. This means taxation on dividends are favourable, it is a lower form of tax; lower than employment income and interest income. This will help me in the years to come.

Will I eventually spend the capital from my portfolio?

Of course I will.

But with a “live off dividends” mindset I can sell assets or incur capital gains largely on my own terms during retirement. I plan to do just that.

Why my goal to live off dividends remains alive and well summary

This site continues to share a journey that includes how passive dividend income can fulfill many of our retirement income needs – whether that might be covering our property taxes, paying our utility bills, delivering enough monthly income to cover our groceries, fund some international travel or all of these things combined.

Here was one of my recent updates below.

We’re now averaging over $3,300 per month from a few key accounts.

(Hint: likely more next month!)

We’re trending in a great direction thanks to this multi-year investing approach and I have no intentions of changing my/our overall approach.

I firmly believe our focus on the income that our portfolio generates, instead of the portfolio balance, is setting us up to deliver some decent semi-retirement income.

Our goal to live off dividends and distributions remains very much alive and well for the years ahead.

I look forward to your comments.

Mark Seed is a passionate DIY investor who lives in Ottawa.  He invests in Canadian and U.S. dividend paying stocks and low-cost Exchange Traded Funds on his quest to own a $1 million portfolio for an early retirement. You can follow Mark’s insights and perspectives on investing, and much more, by visiting My Own Advisor. This blog originally appeared on his site on March 27, 2023 and is republished on the Hub with his permission.