A Review Of The Timeline I Need To Reach My Barista Goal

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As we enter the last month of 2023, it will be a good time for a review of my goals, whether I am keeping pace of my timeline, and what will I need to do moving forward to ensure things go according to plan.  This is also the right time as the results of all the companies have been released and I have recorded the total amount of dividends I have received for the whole of 2023.

Revisiting this post in March, the most optimistic projection is to achieve my Barista FIRE number of SGD 24K dividend per year by end of 2024 (SGD 25.75K to be exact) and my FIRE number of SGD 36K dividend per year by 2027.  I am pleased to announce that for the whole of 2023, the total dividends collected is SGD 23.29K, and that means I am a mere SGD 710 away from my Barista FIRE number.  

In my March post:


With the continuous dollar cost averaging I am doing, I am quite confident that I will be able to hit my Barista FIRE number in 2024, even if the REITs are under pressure from high interest rate environment to reduce their distribution per unit (but hopefully not).  Using the results in 2023 as a gauge, Mapletree Logistics Trust, ParkwayLife REIT, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Hong Leong Finance have increased their distribution per unit, Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust and Singapore Technologies Engineering have more or less maintained their distribution per unit, while Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust have reduced their distribution per unit.  As such, I believe the diversification within my portfolio with REITs and financial institutions will be able to support the dividends income goal.

However, I know I need to be cautious as if there is a market downturn or crash that affects the entire market, be it recession, stagflation or any other unforeseen black swan event, all companies will be affected and definitely there will be a significant cut in dividends.  However, as usual, I cannot control what I do not know, and I can only make do with what is within my means.  It will be great for me to continue to work full time at least for the whole of 2024, to see what the full year dividends actually amounts to.  Since I am still working, I can control the amount of income I need to bring in monthly to continue to supplement my investing capital and expenses.  That, I believe, is the beauty of aspiring towards Barista FIRE.  It offers all the flexibility I need, depending on macro-economic circumstances, both controllable (my working income) and uncontrollable (dividend income).  

Nonetheless, still hoping and working towards the ultimate FIRE goal by 45 years old.  Barista FIRE, here I come...!

Comments

  1. SS9 December 2023 at 04:32

    Congrats for almost reaching your intended goal this year! As you said, we cannot control what we cannot foresee, so we can only handle any contingency as it comes. Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BFIRE9 December 2023 at 15:45

      Hi SS
      Yup, just do what we can and hopefully the rest falls into place. Even if it doesn't, just be flexible about it. Flexibility comes at a price though, that is we need a buffer for everything. So for me, Barista FIRE is my buffer. Dips in passive income can be covered by part time income. Hopefully all things work out fine! Happy Holidays!

      Delete

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