Updates

RECI is officially on the board. Pulled the trigger on the first 4,000 shares - I like round numbers. This is the third pillar of the dividend machine and it feels good to finally have skin in the game here. Quarterly payer at 3p per share, so that's £120 heading my way in April. The ex-dividend date is projected around March 12th, so if things go well I'd love to sneak in another 1,000 shares before then to bump that April payout to £150. 5,000 is a nice clean number. After that, the focus shifts to opening the NCYF position - the fourth and final pillar. Once both RECI and NCYF are running alongside SMIF and LGEN, the lumpiness of the payments really starts to smooth out. Monthly income from SMIF, quarterly from RECI and NCYF on alternating months, semi-annual from LGEN. Small dopamine hits landing regularly instead of waiting months between paydays. That's what keeps the motivation locked in. It's gonna be epic when all four positions are complete, but slowly does it. Feed the pile.

Well... I've been doing a bit of an audit on myself and my businesses. Tax season after all. I ran every single bank statement through AI and found some interesting things. My accounting is now 90% cheaper than it was before and more accurate thanks to some Python script wizardry. This was actually a fun process - it helped me reflect on goals for the year ahead, where I can cut some stuff, where I can add some other stuff, and just how I live. As I transition into this work optionality mode, I thought it wise to diversify a little. Did some deep research on new positions, payouts, dividend histories - the usual goblin due diligence. Decided on building new positions in 2 companies this year: RECI (real estate credit) and NCYF (high yield bonds). I'm not sure how far I'll get, but we'll give it a good stab. It's important to make these hardcore targets and plans because ultimately if you fail, you'll still be 50/60/70/80% of the way there - which is better than having no plan at all. Expect a RECI buy imminently. I found some money down the back of the sofa with my AI accounting that I thought wasn't there.

End of January buy done a little early. Deployed 4,546 shares into the SMIF Hoard - that's the final £4,000 of new money going in. Total now sits at 77,276 shares with 22,724 to go. Base dividend locked at £386.38/month. Here's the plan: the big June dividend payout should cover those remaining shares to hit 100k. Things are super uncertain right now - business volatility, USD exchange rate headwinds, navigating fires daily - but I'm choosing my moments to lock in value where I can. Might try to sneak in another 2,724 shares to round up to a clean 80k - the goblin brain likes tidy numbers - but if business doesn't perform, I'll live with the messy number for now. Expect lighter investment months ahead, but the focus is now shifting to pumping up the dividend portfolio. There's a key ex-div date in April I'd love to hit with a chunk, but never say never. Annual gym renewal and other life costs are coming up - that's exactly what this SMIF baseline is for. Peace of mind when the entrepreneurial life gets rocky.

First buy of 2026 is in. Deployed 6,530 new shares into the SMIF Hoard at 87p per share - just over £5,300 of new money. Total holding now sits at 72,730 shares with 27,270 to go. Here's where it gets nerdy: I'm projecting one more buy at the end of January (~£3-3.5k of new money), and that should be the last new money going into SMIF. From February onwards, all fresh funds get funneled into the dividend portfolio instead. The big June dividend payout from that portfolio is earmarked to push SMIF to the 100k mark. The math checks out - SMIF is effectively on auto-pilot from end of January. Focus now shifts to growing those dividend projections higher and higher. I still can't quite believe I'm in this position. There's a real disconnect between the numbers on screen and real life at this point, but it's years of hard work to get here. Surreal.

Christmas Eve check-in. December has been more challenging than expected on the business side - exchange rates have been brutal and that always stings. The SMIF dividend payout of £331 is due on January 5th, so the decision on how much goes into the pie will be made then. Projecting it'll still be £5,300 in new money, plus using the full £331 dividend to buy on top of that. Will post the actual numbers once the buy is complete around the 5th. That's a wrap on 2025 for the Wealth Goblin - see you in the new year.

Just deployed another 6,110 shares into the SMIF Hoard for approximately £5,300. Total holding now sits at 66,200 shares - well on the way to that 100k target. Business had a strong month, and if things keep going this way, expecting to drop a similar buy at the end of December. The pile grows.

Wealth Goblin comes out of the shadows. I am apprehensive to share this as I keep most of my financials bottled up but hey I'm the Wealth Goblin and I'd like to share finally what I am doing. Here it is, laid out in black and white... well... the colors of the site. Expect updates here monthly based on what I have done with income at the end of each month but at the moment, full steam ahead for the SMIF Hoard train.