On December 24, 2024, we signed the sales contract for the commercial property. On March 31, 2025, we handed over the keys.

Since then we’ve scaled back operations and now only do B2B work for a small group of clients. The goal was to free up time and focus on the investments.

Eighty percent of the sale proceeds were invested gradually during April and May 2025. The rest sat in an interest-bearing account that pays monthly interest and allows penalty-free withdrawals.

For the past 19 months we’ve been taking a normal salary from the company via this interest-bearing account. Those funds have now run out. Next month, for the first time, we’ll have to withdraw capital from the investments to cover our salaries.

With that, we officially go from being an HVAC installation firm to an investment company.

I’ve lived with this transition for 19 months. Still, the idea of not reinvesting dividends – and even having to sell holdings – makes me deeply uncomfortable.

One of my mottos is: “Once it’s in, it’s in.”
(In plumbing, once a pipe is installed, it stays put. You don’t go back and change it.)

That’s why my latest chart – the one that tracks total portfolio value, not just dividends – has become my security blanket. The year-by-year value chart is the only one that counts now. From 100% Dividends to 70/30.