Expected Dividend Increases in April 2017

It has been a long, long time since we have published one of these articles on our website.   For those of you who are not familiar, for the first year and a half of our website, every month we published a listing of Dividend Aristocrats that we are expecting to announce a dividend increase in the coming month.   Why did we bring back the article this month?  Well, because there are some epic names (both Aristocrats and non-Aristocrats) on April’s listing.  Let’s dive in!

Continue reading

Bert’s March Dividend Stock Watch List

The first quarter is racing to a close here!  It has been over a month since my last stock purchase, T.Rowe Price Group, and I am starting to get the itch to buy again!  The market has presented a few opportunities that caught my eye over the last few weeks.  Here are the three stocks on my March watch list and hopefully you will be writing about another purchase article soon!

binoculars-354623_640

Continue reading

5 Ways to Save on a Vacation – Diplomat Style

Okay, so now that busy season is over, my wonderful girlfriend is doing quite a bit of a “fun” full court press for a vacation or a trip of some sort.  With the stress that’s occurred over the last few months – an all inclusive deal is being talked about.  Now – I won’t go off and pay for or book any vacation on the spur of the dime, the first mention of doing one or the knee jerk reaction.  The old-old Lanny would have done this maybe 10 years ago or so, but not Mr. “on the path to financial freedom” Lanny and how much further can we save for it and/or reduce the cost?  However – I do agree a trip, new adventures and a break is WELL needed and definitely think it would be a perfect idea, right now, yesterday and tomorrow.  So what did I/We do to analyze this?

Continue reading

My Annoying $100 Loss

Over the last few weeks, my wife and I have been dealing with a slightly annoying situation at our home that in total, has put us about $100 in the hole.  Usually on this site, our non-stock annoyances are a result from the expenses of owning a car or some service provider unexpectedly increase their bill.  Not this time though and unfortunately, my wife and I had to bite a $100 bullet and accept the loss.

Continue reading

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) Dividend Stock Analysis

Whoa!  Shaking off the cobwebs on  my full-on dividend stock analysis skills here.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve independently wrote an article on one dividend stock out there.  Given that my busy season has wound down, I though tit would be a great time to shake the rust and really dive into a company that I not only own, but is a highly visible company in the market place.  With the tides in the market thus far this year, the increase of rates, the election, etc.. the stock market has never been so unpredictable.  With that, we need to have a sense of security to the cash we have saved in order to deploy the appropriate capital to a company.  In terms of security – here is dividend stock that is of high quality as it relates to network and data security… Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO).

Continue reading

February Dividend Income From YOU the Bloggers!

It is that time of the month everyone!  For the last few weeks, everyone in the dividend community has taken the time to post their stories and discuss their progress towards financial freedom.  If you have followed our blog, you would know that we do our best to compile, share, and discuss as many of those stories and dividend income summaries as possible.  While we wish we could include everyone, unfortunately, because of time (especially during our busy season) we cannot include the dividend income summaries for every single blogger out there.   There just isn’t enough time.  This month, we were able to compile 19 dividend income summaries, slightly less due to busy season (ARGH!!!)!  So everyone, check it out.  Here is our February Dividend Income Summary from YOU in the blogging community.  ENJOY! Continue reading

No Choice but to Roth

Hello everyone!  I know the article title may seem puzzling, trust me, as I didn’t like typing that phrase out myself.  However, there are certain things that you “know” when starting the year, that you may struggle to come to light with, when it comes to your finances and this happens to be one of them.  Obviously this isn’t a purely negative article, but it’s something I have had to come to light with – if I want to contribute to an IRA account this year, no matter what, I have to do a portion into my roth account.  Find out why below! Continue reading