The Dividend Family Guy

June Camping In this post we are going to take a peak into how the DFG family spending went for 2017.  The main points of interest are: How did spending compare to last year Were we frugal or cheap Was savings on track for achieving financial independence Last year we switched to using Mint to aggregate all of our data.  It also has a decent budgeting tool which I setup just to see how it works and how we do against it.  As events changed over the course of the year the budget was adjusted.  It has some nice features like adding your various savings goals  to it.  For example I added Travel and Retirement goals to the budget.  This allows me to save first for my goals and then budget the remainder.  The other feature I like is the ability to put in sporadic items like my insurance (every six months).  It will create a budget item and split the estimated cost over the time period you specify.  This ensures I am setting aside enough cash each month for the bill

December is the holiday season, a time of giving.  While I gave to many charities I find worthwhile companies gave to me (and hopefully you) in the form of dividends.  While it is usually one of the best months it was not for me because I did capitalize on some gains which reduced my dividend income slightly. Stock Dividend (USD) ADM 36.13 CVX 2.16 EAT 8.36 FINL 2.75 FLO 5.44 GAIN 12.50 GME 38.00 HP 0.70 IBM 19.50 INTC 0.01 KO 9.25 MCD 0.94 MCY 31.25 ORI 74.67 QCOM 10.26 TGT 31.00 UHT 16.63 UL 2.50 VFC 0.46 WSR 9.50 XOM 87.01 TOTAL $399.05 Com

Company Name Symbol Industry No. Years Dividend Yield Sector EPS% Payout +/-% vs. Graham Chowder Rule Archer Daniels Midland ADM Agriculture 42 3.19 Consumer Staples 60.09 3.9 16.0 Lazard Limited LAZ Financial Services 10 3.12 Financials 45.81 78.2 19.3 National Healthcare Corp. NHC Healthcare Facilities 14 3.15 Health Care 60.00 6.5 12.3 Old Republic International ORI Insurance 36 3.55 Financials 55.88 (9.2) 4.9 Altria Group Inc. MO Tobacco 48 3.70 Consumer Staples 33.00 111.3 12.0 Target Corp. TGT Retail-Discount 50 3.80 Consumer Discretionary 52.10 39.4 16.9 Muncy Bank Financial Inc. MYBF Banking 17 3.59