The Dividend Family Guy

November and now December have flown by.  Besides the drive my new job is great (and challenging).  This time of the year is always challenging for the budget with all of the holidays and family  gatherings.  My food costs always jump as turkeys and hams are eaten and cookies are baked (and also eaten). My Christmas budget was set earlier this year and saved for.  Come end of December we will see if I stayed on track this year  or if I went way overboard with my gift giving. What I earn and spend always seems to fluctuate so staying under budget all the time is a near impossible feat for me.  It does give me guidance though so I will continue to use it.  What has worked best is just don't buy anything unless you really need it.  No impulse buying will also help to keep you on track for the overall year.    Even though we were over budget the savings rate still remained positive at 29% Food and car insurance...

Company Name Symbol Industry No. Years Dividend Yield Sector EPS% Payout Span-America Medical Systems SPAN Medical Equipment 17 3.20 Health Care 41.56 Old Republic International ORI Insurance 35 4.20 Financials 51.37 Donegal Group Inc. A DGICA Insurance 14 3.43 Financials 53.92 Auburn National Bancorp AUBN Banking 15 3.15 Financials 40.91 Muncy Bank Financial Inc. MYBF Banking 16 3.17 Financials 40.45 VF Corp. VFC Apparel 44 3.08 Consumer Discretionary 58.33 Qualcomm Inc. QCOM Telecomm Equipment 14 3.11 Information Tech 55.64 Universal Corp. UVV Tobacco 46 3.92 Consumer Staples 64.29 Lyons Bancorp Inc. LYBC Banking 16...

I am beginning to realized I am always over budget on some category(s) each month and under on others.  I was over on 2 and under or on target for 4.  I guess that is good but I am starting to wonder if budgets are right for me.  I will dwell on that this holiday season and see if I want to further simply my life come next year. Income was below normal Not only can I not keep under budget on everything but I can't keep my income steady either.  The job market is extremely hot in the software industry and I changed jobs again.  This time I have taken on a role in the industry as an architect.  It  only took me a long 18 years but I finally did it!  I am going from bi-weekly paychecks back to twice monthly paychecks.  With the slight delay I only pulled in 3 weeks of salary for the month. Needs were over budget I had sent out for a reimbursement for my wife's vehicle.  There was a recall on a part that we had fixed b...

Well it is near the end of the month and I think I missed this boat.  These stocks are doing great this month but then again the DOW just crossed 19,000 today.  It is actually kind of scary that there hasn't been a market correction.  With that said some companies have stayed on the list. GAP finally fell off the list and replaced by one of the more talked about stocks lately in the community, V.F. Corp. One of my goals for the year is to get my wife's spousal IRA opened so when the time is right I can invest for the both of us.  Time is flying and I need to get my contributions in place in the next couple of months. Give thanks! Dividend Family Guy  

It was not a very active month from the new portfolio .  A grand total of $10.82 of cash was deposited into my accounts.  I will probably leave it there and take the dividends from next month together with this month to make my next purchase based on probably my December top 10 Company Symbol Held In  Dividend Amount Received October Notes Coca-Cola Co. KO Taxable $0.350  $0.70 Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ Taxable $0.175  $0.44 General Electric Co GE Taxable $0.230  $0.93 Coca-Cola Co. KO IRA $0.350  $8.75 I think I need to buy some more Coke to help even out these months.  Not much to say here as I am saving most of my life changes for my monthly income/expense/whatev...

September was a tough month on the FrugalMaster 9000.  Little time to exercise the frugal muscles in me with the kids back to school (and all the expenses that come with it).  Luckily I had some income luck to cover those expenses. Income was above normal This was the second of the "three paycheck months" for the year.  My current job pays me bi-weekly so two of the months each year has an extra paycheck in it.  On top of that I got a $150 bonus for transferring my IRA.  This interest of sorts will get added to my taxable income for the year but since I usually get a refund the tax on it will be little to none. Needs were over budget In short I was over by a good $1400 this month.  There were several things that caused this.  Some were planned and some not so planned. I was dropping my son off at school one day.  As I left the school and turned onto the road I started hearing this clicking noise coming from a tire....

Company Name Symbol Industry No. Years Dividend Yield Sector EPS% Payout Cracker Barrel Old Country CBRL Restaurants 14 3.48 Consumer Discretionary 58.45 Ameriprise Financial Inc. AMP Financial Services 12 3.01 Financials 36.45 Old Republic International ORI Insurance 35 4.26 Financials 49.02 Span-America Medical Systems SPAN Medical Equipment 17 3.48 Health Care 43.84 Donegal Group Inc. A DGICA Insurance 14 3.41 Financials 52.88 T. Rowe Price Group TROW Financial Services 30 3.25 Financials 52.17 Cummins Inc. CMI Machinery 11 3.20 Industrials 55.93 Gap Inc. GPS Retail-Clothing 11 4.14 Consumer Discretionary 51.98 Target Corp. ...

My Motif account is working again for me so I am able to put my watchlist into a Motif and watch how it does over time.  This month I had it put together weeks ago but havn't had time to write about it until now (almost October). The list hasn't changed much and all of these are great buys for the market we are currently in.  The biggest surprise was that Flowers Foods (FLO) finally creaped into the DFG watchlist.  The chart below is all data from the beginning of the month so I am sure some things have changed.  What hasn't changed is all these companies paying dividends for over 10 years and still going. Many of these companies are on other DGI watchlists out there so I am starting to have a little faith in the ol' DFG Stock Screen .  SPAN seems to be one that no one talks about because of it's size I am guessing.  However at 17 years it is doing far better as a dividend growth stock than some big guys like Cisco. Company Name Symbol...