January 2021 – Wage Investor Share Portfolio Tracker

January 2021

This is my first post tracking the performance of my share portfolio commencing in January 2021. The aim is to grow my share portfolio from $0 to $1,000,000 to reach financial independence. I want to Invest my wage and tracking the progress of my share portfolio. This monthly post will track the progress along the journey to achieving financial independence.

For disclosure on my share trading experience, I do have a share portfolio with another broker. Firstly, I have held the other portfolio for the past 10 years. Secondly, those funds are separately reinvested as a retirement fund. Finally, the shares are there in case of any unforeseen circumstances should anything arise in the future.

Firstly, I commenced investing with Super Hero to invest regularly into ETF’s and growth stocks through dollar-cost averaging. I am already invested in blue-chip Australian shares and would like to use this opportunity to invest in ETF’s. This will provide income distributions and individual shares for exposure to industries that I think will grow in the future. Growth shares are acquired to provide me with increased capital growth over the long term. I commenced the Super Hero account at the end of December 2020 with a zero balance:

Goal for Financial Independence

The goal for this share portfolio is to reach $1,000,000 by 2041. This would require saving at a consistent rate of $2,000 per month. I understand that I cannot maintain this every month particularly starting out as I only work part-time when studying. With persistence, I should be able to catch up once I commence full-time work.

Tracking the Progress

I have used a simple compound interest calculator to visualise my investment strategy and track my progress to achieve my goal. You can input data into the template to formulate your own strategy using the money smart calculator. This calculation is based on a 20-year horizon and assuming a conservative effective rate of 6.8%. I will need to invest in assets that will provide both a consistent return over the long term and invest in growth shares to provide exposure to higher potential returns.

My initial investment was $5,000 in some growth shares and ETF’s. I have built on that in January investing in BHP Billiton (BHP) Core Lithium (CXO) and Betashares Nasdaq 100 ETF (NDQ). The end of January 2021 finished on a high as I doubled down on my initial investment of $5,000 investing through the month. I managed to finish the month investing regularly to reach the $10,000 mark. I contributed a lot of the income I earned over my study break to make up for the leaner months to come when I am not earning the same income. My shares to date have provided me with a 5% return on my investment and I hope to continue to grow the portfolio over the long term.

Some of you may be in similar circumstances to me and are wanting to achieve financial freedom. Therefore it’s important to understand that when investing in the share market it’s not always about timing the market. More importantly, it’s time in the market. Investing is a long term commitment. Therefore, with the right mindset and research, it can be very rewarding to grow your passive income on the path to financial independence. To continue reading the journey to financial independence follow the February 2021 update here.