The Dividend Family Guy

Well as the month of April comes to a close I finally got around to totaling up my dividends from March.  There were some increases most notably HMN with an 8% increase (see my review here ).  Also upon review I came across some dividend cuts so now I have to decide on selling or not.  I should sell but if they are worthless and still paying a dividend I tend to hold on to them.  For example AGNC had a big sell off yesterday as the declared that dividend cut and now I missed the boat. There was no additional capital put in March however my year over year dividends increased by 551%.   Checking out my dividends page the total dividends for March came to $63.48.  I am OK with that for now however I need to make further changes after using Dividend Life's cross-over calculator .  According to it I need to be saving 20% a year just to reach financial independence by the age of 65.  I still think the emergency fund should come first but now ...

Windstream (WIN) is spinning off a REIT that will encompass most of its fiber/copper and real estate assets.  The goal of this appears to be a fancy way of ridding itself of debt.  The new company is called Communications Sales and Leasing, Inc. (CSAL).  As a stockholder will this be in my favor?  Let's take a look. For every 5 shares of WIN I will receive 1 share of CSAL.  For example if I owned 1000 shares of WIN, after the spinoff completes I will own 1000 shares of WIN plus 200 shares of CSAL.  The dividends will change from an annual $1/share for WIN all the way down to $.10.  The CSAL dividend is expected to be $2.40 per share annually. WIN does mention it will sell its stake in CSAL to reduce debt. I was confused by the next snippet in the letter to shareholders.  If you can explain it to me I would appreciate it.   The quote is "After giving effect to the interest in CS&L retained by Windstream, each shareholde...

Argggg!  My first red month of the year.  No More Waffles wrote a post on to rent or own and you should read it (and the comments).  It really hit home last month (and this one too) as my home continues to fall apart.  The 20 year old furnace started acting up.  Winter was still in full swing in March so I couldn't just turn it off.   If I were single I could keep the house warm with space heaters and the ol' gas fireplace.  But the family demands comfort from me!  Such high expectations from 1st world citizens. I have been putting a couple hundred dollars into it each year for the past 4 years.  Sure it provides my family with heat in the winter and cool dry air in the summer.  However it is one of my nemesis'.  I feel like the dad in the Christmas Story going down to the basement to do battle.  In this house and my last I could usually guess the problem and order the part online.  This time I had no clue and...

What is wealth to you?  For most of the frugal and seekers of financial independence it means having more time to spend enjoying life.  Whether that is traveling or spending time with your family you have that choice.  Both my parents worked until they died (father) or retired (mom).  The time they spent with us kids was precious and my mom always says her happiest days in her life were raising us kids. The problem I have is I also enjoy time with my family but between working for the man and the responsibilities of being a parent I find little time to spend having fun with kids.  With that in mind I guard my time wisely at work so that I don't have to bring it home while still doing a good job.  I also constantly look for ways to save more money at home to invest while not compromising our current standards of living. Everyone values things differently.  For me wealth is time and who I spend that time with.  How do I increase that weal...

February is my best month so far this year and my best month ever since I started watching my expenses in 2013.  Between no more car payments and some other adjustments I was able to cut my spending and work towards my goal of rebuilding my emergency fund.  Let's take a closer look and see where I saved and where the DFG family went over.  Yes it is almost the end of March but better late than never. Income I have decided to follow some of my fellow bloggers and not look at any windfalls (bonus, tax refund, etc.) that might fall within the month.  I will look at my fixed budget (based on 2 paychecks in a month) and track whether or not I stay within that budget.  By keeping it simple I will have a consistent budget which will help me with my spending. What about big purchases or travel?  That will come out of the emergency fund.  So if I do not have enough cash for it, it doesn't happen. I liked the features of Quicken 2015 from Dividend...

I know some fellow bloggers have side income/hustle listed in there income/expense reports.  Just wanted to let everyone know I have yet to receive any income from this blog (not that that was my intent).  What are my secondary sources of income? Well the first would be obvious.  Income from investing in dividend paying stocks.  That money I currently just put right back in automatically to purchase more stocks.  That is income I will not see for some time.  I am fine with that as I know it is buying me time I will get back some day as long as I keep investing. The second is any interest I get from banks for loaning them my cash in savings or checking accounts.  So I get paid to use their services like mobile banking and online bill pay.  No fees and these services do make my life easier.  The only time we buy stamps is around Christmas for cards. The third stream is from shopping.  I am not a mystery shopper but I do use Eb...

I am trying something new this month by listing out my dividends received by company.  The key thing to note is the Life column.  This represents how reinvesting your dividends has a snowball effect.  I also think it is a good representation of how much of your life you're getting back. It may start off small but over time you will receive more dividends which will buy more stock which will lead you to the ultimate goal of financial independence.  When you reach that goal 100% of your life and time is again yours (unless you have kids.)  If you have kids like me at least you will get your time back when they are out of the house (kidding/I enjoy my time with them.) Company Held In Dividend Paid (Qtr.) Amount Received Shares of Life Note AGNC Taxable 0.66 6.05 0.279 EROC Taxable 0.07 0.38 0.1532 Div...