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Showing posts from 2017

Job-loss and soon to be Job-less

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Needs work but only $45k Back in September it was made known to our office that the mother company would be shutting us down.  No good reason was given other than they did not wish to renew the lease on our building??  That made no sense and no one questioned it at the time.  I have been through this before but had never seen the ax fall on my head in my 19 year career.  So in 2018 on April Fool's Day I will become job-less. Following the stages of grief I was at first shocked, then angry, then freaked out and am now at a place of calm acceptance.  I haven't really bothered to look for another job yet as I wanted to enjoy my holidays stress free. Stress free because they are giving me a very small severance but more importantly because I have savings and the ability to vastly reduce my expenses.  I have already halved my internet/TV, cell phone and car insurance bills.  In a tighter squeeze all unnecessary spending would be cut.  I have confidence I can g

October and November 2017 Dividends

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Cake I made for my son's 8th Birthday! The holidays are upon us and I remembered this morning that I never posted my previous months dividends.  I was busy switching over to a new spreadsheet to track them.  It gives up to date statistics and I can now see my yield on cost.  I will share my new sheet and my financial statement sheet in another article. October is a slow month for my portfolio.  There were $36.60 in dividends earned by my little workers.  That represents a 235% increase in dividends compared to the same month last year.  The majority of that was from additional purchases of dividend growth stocks made throughout the year.  However I also collected repeat dividends from great companies like KO who increase brought me an additional $.54 just by hanging onto the stocks. Stocks that paid me dividends: MO, AFSI, CNQ, KO, GE*, and WSR November was solid with $329.14 in collected dividends.  This represents a 48% YOY increase.  While there was some new s

My Holiday Wish

I write this after being up since 3 AM with 3 sick kids.  Sorry for the bad grammar.  I was watching a movie the other night while wrapping presents for the kids and it dawned on me that the movie is what I want to do for the rest of my life.  The premise of the movie was something like a well-to-do family with a single income loses that income.  The spoiled kids loose everything and the family looses the house.  The father had been kind to a stranger and the stranger crosses paths with them while they are homeless.  He takes them into his house, he dies, and leaves his estate to them.  Through the process of being homeless and working for this guy they learn that things are not important in life.  Being kind is more important and the family heals and becomes super awesome.  The estate is basically a Christmas tree farm.  The guy was rich (but frugal) and gave the trees away for free to anyone who stopped by (and he also took trees to those in need.) I have always wanted a far

October & November 2017 Frugal Master Results

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  October was another merry Halloween.  I started using a new spreadsheet to track things more like a business.  It is like a balance sheet with income/expenses and assets and liabilities.  The big thing is it is a total picture.  Before I was only tracking after-tax items.  With this spreadsheet everything is tracked.  The 2 most important cells on the sheet are the monthly cash flow and the net-worth.  These two indicators tell me whether I am saving every month and how things are tracking overall (am I getting closer to FIRE.)  The good news is I am tracking the right way.  The bad news is I have had negative cash flow for the past 4 months.  This is contrary to my savings rate which was 26% for October.  All of that is in my 401k contributions. Upon doing this I have discovered I am still spending more than my after tax income.  What a lie I have been telling myself.  I have accepted my financial mistake and learned from it.  The new plan is to actually save afte

December 2017 Dividend Growth Watchlist

Company Name Symbol Industry No. Years Dividend Yield Sector EPS% Payout +/-% vs. Graham Lazard Limited LAZ Financial Services 10 3.33 Financials 45.81 67.0 Williams-Sonoma Inc. WSM Retail-Home Products 12 3.05 Consumer Discretionary 44.19 54.8 Altria Group Inc. MO Tobacco 48 3.89 Consumer Staples 33.00 100.6 Cracker Barrel Old Country CBRL Restaurants 15 3.07 Consumer Discretionary 57.90 139.8 Brinker International EAT Restaurants 13 4.14 Consumer Discretionary 54.87 n/a Archer Daniels Midland ADM Agriculture 42 3.21 Consumer Staples 60.09 3.2 Cardinal Health Inc. CAH Drugs 21 3.12 Health Care 53.92 46.5 Old Republic

Black Friday Deals for 2017

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Pexels.com (not my turkey) While searching for great Black Friday deals I came across a few that are hands down the best deals around for this year.  In fact they are so good they apply to all future years in your life. Deal #1 Don't go anywhere or do any shopping.  This alone could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.  Instead invest that money and earn lifetime interest via the power of compounding.  Plus the reduction in stress will add 10 years to your life (I am sure I read that somewhere.) Deal #2 Spend the gift of time.  After you perform deal #1 you will have time on your hands.  You could spend that time sitting in front of the TV or playing electronic games.  But you could spend your valuable time by giving that gift to your loved ones.  Play with your kids or challenge the spouse to a game of ping-pong or Monopoly. Deal #3 Eat in.  Since you will not have shopped until you dropped you will have plenty of time and energy to cook a deliciou

November 2017 Dividend Growth Watchlist

Company Name Symbol Industry No. Years Dividend Yield Sector EPS% Payout +/-% vs. Graham AmTrust Financial Services Inc. AFSI Financial Services 12 5.41 Financials 65.38 (33.3) Lazard Limited LAZ Financial Services 10 3.45 Financials 45.43 65.5 Williams-Sonoma Inc. WSM Retail-Home Products 12 3.02 Consumer Discretionary 44.96 57.4 Brinker International EAT Restaurants 13 4.95 Consumer Discretionary 51.01 n/a Meredith Corp. MDP Publishing 24 3.92 Consumer Discretionary 50.00 15.4 Archer Daniels Midland ADM Agriculture 42 3.13 Consumer Staples 54.01 1.3 Old Republic International ORI Insurance 36 3.75 Financials 48.72 (18.8)

August & September 2017 FrugalMaster Results

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Our yearly trip to the Zoo With October close to being over I just remembered I am two months behind on sharing with you how I am progressing in my quest for financial freedom.  Sharing with the community is important as it might give hope to those who are just starting to save and are looking for some inspiration or tips. It is important to me because it is almost like confession of my financial sins.  Some months I am an angel and some months I am possessed with the consumerist devil. August Home, food, shopping and utilities (including cellular) dominated the month of August in that order.  I continue my extra principal payments in an effort to have the house paid off in10 years. Food came in second which includes eating out and junk food. If I could persuade the family to eliminate the unhealthy and unnessacary our food bill for 7 would only have been $641 or $92 per person.  My wife's sister and her family were in from out of town for a week.  In retrospect we s

September 2017 Dividends

Company Symbol Held In Dividend  Amount Received September Notes Archer Daniels Midland ADM IRA 0.320  $                       32.00 Archer Daniels Midland ADM Taxable 0.320  $                         2.16 BHP Billiton Ltd BHP Taxable 0.860  $                         1.72 7.5% increase BHP Billiton PLC BBL Taxable 0.860  $                         1.72 7.5% increase Brinker Intl EAT IRA 0.380  $                         8.36 11.8% increase Chevron CVX Taxable 1.080  $                         2.16 Emerson Electric EMR IRA 0.480  $                       24.00 Exxon Mobil XOM IRA 0.770  $                       85.47 Exxon Mobil XOM Taxable 0.770  $               

Investment Disclaimer

This webpage is provided for general information only and nothing contained in the material constitutes a recommendation for the purchase or sale of any security. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at dividendfamilyguy at gmail dot com.