My Dividend Investing Goals For 2026
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First off, I owe you an apology — I missed last week’s newsletter, and I’m sorry about that.
I work hard to make sure I get an article out every week, but every now and then, life just gets in the way. There are usually at least a couple of weeks throughout the year where I just can’t squeeze it in, and last week happened to be one of them.
With that said, the time off did help me think long and hard about this week’s newsletter. As we get ready to close out 2025, I’ve been doing a bit of reflecting on the year and thinking about what I want to accomplish next.
Highlights From 2025
I came into the year with the portfolio sitting at around $86,500 and am currently just over $119,000 as I’m writing this. While we didn’t beat the market this year (we’re up just over 9% YTD according to Charles Schwab), we still added more than $30,000 in value — easily the most we’ve ever added in a single year.
On the dividend income side, we officially crossed the $4,000 mark. Going into the year, my goal was to hit $3,600, which averages out to $300 per month. I’m proud to say we blew that out of the water.
My Projected Annual Dividend Income For 2026 | Source: Snowball Analytics
We also welcomed two new positions to the portfolio — Watsco (WSO) and Zoetis (ZTS) — both of which have grown into relatively large positions already. I’m excited to own these for a long time.
Lessons / Key Takeaways
Overall, it was a good year. 2025 marked my fifth full year of investing, and it was a solid year of growth in more ways than one.
You’ve heard me say this before, but investing really is a lifelong journey of personal development. Russ and I talked about this quite a bit in a recent video together, and the more time goes on, the more true it feels.
There’s always something new to learn — about the market, the companies you own, about people, and about yourself. Here are a few of the biggest lessons and takeaways I spent a lot of time thinking (and writing) about this year:
Investing is an “infinite game” where there is no finish line. Because of that, I don’t need to rush to get rich — it’ll happen eventually. I’d much rather go for consistent, sustainable returns than chase explosive ones. Explosive returns might make you feel cool, but they can just as easily blow up in your face.
The market is in a constant state of flux, and it’s made up of people who are never perfect, precise, or predictable. Human beings are messy, emotional, and sometimes don’t think straight, and because the stock market is so heavily influenced by human behavior, it’s inherently unpredictable. That’s why the market can never be fully “efficient,” and it’s why building a resilient, well-balanced portfolio matters so much.
One of the things that initially drew me to dividend investing was the idea of earning a passive paycheck just for being a shareholder, and the fact that you don’t have to sell your shares someday to benefit from the investment. Both of those things are still true, and I might be even more gung-ho about dividends now than when I first started. But over time, I’ve found more philosophical reasons for why dividends matter to me. I like having a cash-based relationship with the companies I own. While it doesn’t guarantee anything, I do think paying a dividend creates an added layer of accountability for management. And ultimately, a dividend is a true, unfakeable testament to a company’s operational performance over time.
One other thing I’ve been thinking about lately: as much as I love reading — and get a lot out of writing book notes — I think I need a bit of a break from finance/investing books.
The last couple I tried reading just didn’t grab me. Even Morgan Housel’s latest book — and he’s one of my favorite writers — I ended up stopping halfway through because I just wasn’t into it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that these books are bad. I just think I’m getting to the point where I feel like I’m reading the same ideas over and over again.
On one hand, that’s probably a good thing. It means the learning curve is starting to flatten. But it’s also a bit of a bummer when it feels like you’re not learning much that’s new.
With that said, I’ll still be reading quite a bit in 2026. I just plan to shift more toward biographies and other things that pique my curiosity.
That likely means fewer book notes this upcoming year, but it’ll also give me the chance to really spend more time going through the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters. One of my goals by the end of 2026 is to finish taking notes on all of them (I’m currently through 2003).
Goals For 2026
Alright, now onto the good stuff: my investing goals for 2026. There are a few things I’d like to accomplish, but here are the big ones:
Reach $175,000 in portfolio value. Obviously, this one is partly outside of my control. I’ll need another solid year in the market to pull it off, but I wanted to set a big goal for myself. I have to give a shoutout to my friend Ari and our Deep End chats for pushing me to think bigger.
Reach $5,000 in projected annual dividend income. We added almost $1,000 in PADI this year, so I don’t see why we can’t do it again next year. We’ll see what happens though.
Reach 625 shares of SCHD. Right now, I’m sitting at just over 500 shares, and I’m buying about two shares every week through automatic dollar cost averaging in my Roth IRA. Between that and reinvesting dividends, I think this is very doable.
Whew! I think this officially goes on record as my longest article yet. My apologies for the long-windedness. I guess after missing last week, I just had a lot to share. It’s good to be back.
With all of that said, now I want to hear from you: what are your investing goals for 2026? Write to me here and let me know.
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