The Dividend Family Guy

LED Bulb powered Santa With all of the holiday spending out of one's system it always seems easy to not buy anything in January.   By not buying stuff you are able to save a good bulk of your income.   With the new budget in place I set out to do exactly that. In an effort to be completely transparent with our money I created the budget and went over it with Mrs. DFG.   She had a few questions but overall was OK with it.   We both understand it is important to save for retirement (hopefully early.)   However with five children it can be challenging to create a plan where you are saving 75% of your income to reach FIRE.   This is especially true for the DFG as I am the sole income and will be out of work in a month. Category Spent FrugalMaster Notes   Housing/ Insurance $2,282 Still paying extra $700 in principle.   However after reading some Frugalwoods I may alter this. ...

  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 mi...

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 plen...

Ah my first negative savings rate month of the year!  It was a perfect storm of an unexpected home repair turned remodel, vacations and other purchases.  To say my summer was (and still is) busy is an understatement. Category Percent of Spending Notes Home 38% Half of the spending is the mortgage and extra principal payment.  The kids bathroom toilet seal broke as the flange is warped and the bolt popped out.  Over time this caused subfloor damage.  I tore it up and ended up deciding to remodel the whole bathroom myself.  It has been great learning to do ceramic tile.  To try to cut my utilities I am also upgrading to an ultra-efficient Niagra .8 GPF toilet .  I installed one downstairs and the flush is powerful and and gets the job done.  It is good for the environment and saves me money.  Besides that we have been busy painting 2 bedrooms and general house maintenance....

The wheels on the commute go round and round...pexels.com Ever since I became a disciple of MMM I have dreamed of biking to work.  This dream has some roadblocks specifically I don't own a bike and my drive to work was 49 minutes solid over a rolling 23.4 miles.  To bike it would have taken me 2 hours and 10 minutes each way.  I am not in that great of shape and would not be able to function at work by the time I got there.  Even 49 minutes each way was hard on me and the family.  I switched to that job back in October 2016 with the hope of being an IT architect and bringing in more income.  The hope also included my family being OK with a longer commute. While work was more satisfying my personal life slowly deteriated.  My back problems worsened sitting for that long of time.  I would rush in the morning to get the kids to school, speed to work and still be late.  When I finally got to work I was already stressed out.  R...

April had some unexpected travel expenses from the death of my brother .  A few nights in a hotel and eating out triggered a few hundred dollars in travel and food expenses.  I think this is why having some type of cash buffer or emergency fund is very important for those just starting out on their Frugalmaster exercises.  When you live well below your means you tend to not worry about money as much and always have some extra cash just in case. That buffer also helped me finish paying off my daughters school trip to Washington DC.  The trip was $500 total and she has been helping around the house with extra chores and kid watching to help pay it back.  They also stopped at Gettysburg and Flight 93 (911 crash site) Memorial. April Expenses I am not quite to the 50% mark yet but my expenses for the month where 62% of my normal income.  I say normal because this month the government paid me back the taxes they had over collected.  This ...

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...

The FrugalMaster exercises took a break in July as the DFG family went to Niagara Falls for a family vacation.  There was also a payment due on our vacation in August for the condo rental.  Both were realized expenses this month so let's take a look and see if I was able to save for July Income was slightly above normal 2 ordinary paychecks, some dividends in my taxable account and finally some hustle money.  We  had an old washer and dryer sitting in the garage for over 6 months.  It was on Craig's list and we finally got a buyer.   The sweet smell of cold hard cash finally was mine.  They didn't even haggle and gave me what I was asking. I am also now getting cash rewards plus a bonus using my Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit card.  We pay it off in full every month so as to not incur any interest.  Instead the bank pays us and we get 30 days to pay it off.  Not a bad deal.  Vacations and other charges got u...

May was mostly quiet here in the DFG household.  My daughter was baptized and we celebrated that.  My older daughter had a birthday slumber party.  That is always interesting to see how teenage girls act these days.  They were all good kids and even went to bed at a reasonable hour.  Even on the finance side it was mostly quiet.  I will write about some of changes in another article that in the long run will benefit my family and I.  Now let's get on with the show and see if I came out ahead this month. Income I posted my dividend income already.  It was lower compared to last year due to some changes and dividend cuts.  Nevertheless it was still income I did not have to work for. On my paycheck side it was steady Eddy.  The only difference was I started my investment in my company's employee stock purchase program.  It is a great deal as long as you hold the stocks long enough to avoid short term capital gains tax...

After reading an article about education and learning from Mr. Money Mustache last week I starting thinking about my kids and their upbringing vs. how I was raised.  There was lots of discipline but also a tremendous amount of freedom.  That combined with loving parents taught me many lessons in life that I believe have led me to a great career and the joy of raising a large family.  The one thing that worries me the most is a fear that my children do not value gifts or money they receive as much as I did as a child. As a child I remember talking with my sister days before my birthday.  We share the same birthday one year apart.  We would spend the time talking excitedly about what we might get for our birthday.  Gifts were usually only on birthdays or major holidays.  Easter baskets filled with candy, or presents on Christmas or birthdays. Growing up with one TV that didn’t get the best reception left us with plenty of time to day drea...

I missed a positive month by a mere $89!  On the bright side I did that with only 2 weeks of pay.  But DFG there are 4 weeks in January you say.  That is correct.  This was yet another crazy month in my world.  A friend had called me up in November regarding a job opening where he worked.  You own your career is the mantra an old boss taught me.  It was 30 minutes less of a drive to/from work and I liked working with my friend in the past.  Another thing a friend of mine taught me is you should go on interviews or at least do phone ones even if you are not looking for a job.  You never know when the hammer will fall and you will be sitting at home without a job.  Just like public speaking, the more you do it the easier it gets.  Long story short I progressed through the process and was offered a similar salary but with better health benefits and vacation.  All signs pointed to yes so I started 1 week into January....

Income & Expenses My paychecks from my new job have smoothed out and I now have a good understanding of what my monthly income from work will look like.   My healthcare costs roughly quadrupled with the move.   This was compensated by a higher salary but it still hurts to see how health costs vary from small companies (with less claims) to larger ones.   Dividends for July were a slight drop from last year but that did not affect my income in any major way (yet.).   I think when I am living off of them any dividend cuts or stock splits will have to be watched very closely to avoid income loss. As for expenses there were no surprises there.   We did a planned vacation that was covered by income for the month.   It was in state since my wife is in her third trimester and we needed to stay close to home.   Next year it will be back to the beach (thinking Maine this time).   One of the perks of my new company is I can book hotels t...

May was a triple paycheck month so it will be hard to beat it's savings rate.  With my new salary June wasn't so bad even after paying a semi-annual car insurance bill. I am officially one month late on this since it is now August.  I have been busy getting things ready for the baby due this month.  This past week I took off of work to spend time with the kids while I am still getting sleep.  We had fun at the zoo, the county fair, hiking in the woods and exploring a cave.  My daughter and I even spent a couple of days working on a couple of projects out in the garage.  Some great memories were created and all on a budget.  We will explore if I stayed on track when I write July's.  For  now let's take a peek at quiet June. Income This was the first month at my new job.  My health insurance is weird as I pay the premium for the full month in the first paycheck.  This has made it hard to set up a nice reoccurring payche...