I'm Bringing FTSE Back: Linking My Portfolio Yield Goal to the FTSE 100 Yield

It is a bank holiday over here in Blighty.* As such, no markets open today. So time for some spring cleaning instead.

As most of you know I have a series of investing goals that I look to achieve over the course of each year.

These I use to assess my performance periodically throughout the year (see, for instance, my Q1 review in April).

These goals are regularly tweaked and changed as appropriate. Sometimes this is because they have been achieved already (great). Other times it is because I want to focus on a new specific goal (keep aiming high). And on other occasions it is because the goals don't quite seem fit for purpose (oh dear).

This current adjustment is due to the last of those reasons. Not being fit for purpose.

2015 Goals: Weaving "Work Freedom Day" into my Annual Goals

A little while back I wrote an article on "Work Freedom Day" and how it is a powerful method by which to increase your saving rate and decrease your expenses.

Already I have started to insert the progress made along the calendar into my monthly dividend update (see February's post, for instance). But now it is time to think targets and to tuck this idea into my investment goals for the year.

So how to do it? Well, first let's see the lay of the land.

2015 Goals: Trimming the Trading Fees

Investing is a potentially lucrative move to make. However, it is not one which is without its costs. One of the often forgotten costs involved in investing are the trading fees. They are such a part of the investing landscape it is often the case we just pay them without much thought. But should we be overlooking their importance so easily?

For British investors the fees chiefly amount to the commission charge paid to your broker and stamp duty paid to the government (although not all London listed companies require payment of stamp duty). And, of course, when buying foreign equities, although we may lose the stamp duty we have to factor in the currency exchange charges.

Over the course of the year these can add up.