My April investment income went down to $96.83 from $98.43 the month before. This is because I didn’t add to my investments and the stock market went down. I won’t be adding to my investments this month either and it looks like the stock market is going down more so my investment income will probably go down again. This is a little frustrating since I was looking forward to getting over the $100 mark but as soon as I’m able to start adding to my investments I should reach the $100 goal.
Disclaimer: This is not my actual investment income. To get this figure I first add up my retirement savings, emergency fund, and any other money I consider permanent savings. What the total of my savings would earn at 6% interest for a month is my monthly investment income. My goal is to get this amount to $1000 a month. If I have $1000 in monthly passive investment income I will be able to retire early.
It isn’t such a bad thing for the market to drop. That is when I usually buy shares to get them on sale. That helps to goose the dividend income on down the road.
Dan – I wish I had a little money to put into stocks right now. I’m not too worried about the market drop since I plan to make most of my money from dividends rather than price appreciation.
Curious, why 6%?
Alex – I just decided on 6% as a reasonable return. I know it is higher than the 4% conventional wisdom suggests as a reasonable withdrawal rate. I’m sticking with the 6% figure though to keep things consistent and because so far I haven’t had a problem making that return.