My latest chart

Building charts in spreadsheets is incredibly satisfying. The attached chart below is my latest and even though I told the world's most perfect husband that this is the last one on this spreadsheet, I know deep down that's probably not the case.

The right bar in the chart shows expected dividends for 2025 while the left bar shows actual dividends. The left bar is divided into blue for ordinary dividends and red for extraordinary dividends.

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It's always a competition

I really have a hard time being grateful for the development of our dividends, I always want them to develop better. It's probably the winning mentality in me because I don't see this as money, but rather stacks competing against each other. Having received more dividends after four months than we received in all of 2017 is better than I give the portfolio credit for.

Now the hunt has begun for 2021, the second year of the pandemic. Every time I look at this chart, I am reminded of the pandemic's impact on the world.

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I take a win where I can, a loser can't be picky

Although we failed to meet our April dividend target, April 2025 was, thankfully, better than April 2023, if only marginally.

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Boy, was I wrong!

Since I overestimated the exchange rate when preparing the spreadsheet for 2025, I was confident that I would have the tolerance on my side. Not once since 2017 has my fixed exchange rate between SEK/USD been to my disadvantage, quite the opposite. However, it took no more than two months, March 2025 to be exact, before the market showed who really is in charge.

The deficit that began in March 2025 only deepened in April 2025 and will likely continue to deepen further during both May and June 2025. I will not change my fixed exchange rate, but I will swallow the bitter pill and hope for the best in the second half of 2025.

The fact that I miss the goal for April and probably also May and June doesn't take away the joy that my Google Sheet is now flawless.

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Is tax the rich left-wing language to ruin the rich?

The left in Sweden is no different from the left in other countries. The solution to all their problems is to tax the rich. Something they already do.

On April 24, 2025, EkonomiFakta reported tax revenues by income group. In Sweden, approximately 60% of total tax revenue comes from taxes on labor, primarily income taxes and general payroll tax. However, there is a big difference in how much different individuals pay in taxes, because the tax rate is progressive and increases the more you earn.

In these calculations, tax is defined as the sum of the taxes we declare ourselves in our income tax return. Most of this tax primarily relates to municipal and state income tax, capital tax and municipal property tax. Various tax deductions, such as earned income tax deductions and more, made in the income tax return, reduce the final tax on which the return is based.

In 2023, the income group with an annual income exceeding $80,000 contributed, they constitute 4% of taxpayers, with 24% of total tax payments.

The same year, the income group with an annual income below $19,900 contributed, they constitute 73% of taxpayers, with 12% of total tax payments.

Based on these facts, can one truly say that the rich pay too little in taxes, and above all, how sustainable is this? We are definitely not among the 4% with the highest annual income, but we have also started thinking about moving from Sweden as soon as the world's most perfect teenager finishes his university education. As the Swedish social contract fails, our willingness to work and pay taxes in Sweden is decreasing.

AI generated image with Grok