Weekly Wrap-up, September 20

Weekly Wrap-up

Another week, another wrap-up! The weird thing about doing these weekly posts is that time seems to fly by so much faster than it used to. Maybe that also has something to do with the really nice weather outside since I’ve been out biking and running most of my free time. Yes, I’m a happy camper!

The week started off pretty great with an award from Brandy over at Busted Budget. Thanks, Brandy! I’ll try to whip up a post soon. Did you know that she once got an A on a paper inspired by a South Park episode! How cool is that? South Park truly offers quite some critical analyses and interesting viewpoints from time to time. The Underpants Gnomes are widely popular in academia, for example.

This past week I was also really happy to receive my first dividend payment from food giant McDonald’s. To me this is a huge milestone and, hopefully, the first in a very long series of dividend goals being crushed. It got even better two days later though, with both My Dividend Pipeline and Dividend Warrior reporting that McDonald’s increased its quarterly dividend by 5%.

Never before have I been this pumped to save and invest! That’s why I started looking into new companies to invest in once my paycheck hits next week. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one checking out GlaxoSmithKline to increase my future passive income. Lanny from the Dividend Diplomats also added GSK to his quickly growing portfolio.

Another post from a dividend aficionado that really resonated with me this week comes from the pen of Jason from Dividend Mantra. He discussed how using extreme frugality in the beginning turns into an ever increasing tailwind later on. The effect he describes is exactly what I hope to achieve by saving a ton of my income right now.

Brand-new blogger Robert from Dividend Dreamer clearly shows why starting out early is a great idea. Since hearing about the Dow Jones on the news when he was a kid, the index has multiplied over 17 times. Incredible if you think about it! Too bad most people don’t seem to take advantage of time in the market considering the quite abysmal average net worth of US households like Noonan wrote about.

Kapitalust Steve seems hell-bent on being in the market with as much money as possible for as long as possible though. By not buying a new iPhone 6 this week he estimates that he saved himself over $170,000 in future wealth. Paying over $1,000 for a phone seems ridiculous to me too – and that’s coming from someone who loves high end tech.

What Steve did great this week was to not follow the herd and buy into the latest Apple-mania. He actually researched the pros and cons of owning a new iPhone before making a rational decision. That’s exactly what Jason from Island of Investing wrote about this week: don’t be afraid to go against the crowd, you might just find a much better way.

Of course, make sure you don’t overestimate your own capacities. In drawing out your ideal journey to financial independence, for example, it’s important to define the right milestones and goals. It’s like Zee said, setting an aggresive path is good if you wish to do a better job, but you may end up getting disappointed when you fall short of your goals and abondon your project entirely.

However, something that bothers me to no end is when other people get in the way of reaching my goals. Frankly Frugal Finance’s Kipp experienced exactly that when he found out that the 401(k) of his wife’s company charges a 10% transaction fee. I’d be ranting and raving all day too if I were him!

It’s a good thing that we can count on Debt Debs to cheer us up! Apparently, a convention for personal finance bloggers called FinCon is taking place as you read this. Of course, most of us won’t make it there, so that’s why Debs decided to start a Frugal FinCon Fiesta. Lots of awesome bloggers have joined her, so be sure to check out their hilarious Q&A’s!

That’s all, folks! Have a great weekend!

26 Comments

  1. Yeah there are 2 guys on my team that got their pre-ordered iPhones this week. They get new ones every year although there is nothing wrong with their old ones. I secretly smile knowing they have credit card debt while I am building a nice portfolio.

    1. Having credit card debt and buying luxuries like that completely baffles me to be honest. Why in the world would you not pay off your debt first?!

      I can imagine you secretly smiling all the time when you see your portfolio grow month after month. 🙂

  2. NMW,

    Appreciate the inclusion!

    Congrats again on your first dividend. The first of many, I’m quite sure. 🙂

    Keep up the great work. Have a great rest of your weekend.

    Cheers!

    1. Ha, I bet you must be delighted! The craze over iPhones is something I have never understood though. But who cares? More future dividends for you!

  3. Hey NMW, thanks so much for mentioning my post, and for stopping by to read it and share your comments! I really love these weekly wrap-up’s you do – a very entertaining post in it’s own right! And congrats on your recent first dividend – hopefully that helps keep the inspiration up to continue building on it!

    1. Thank you for the kind words, Jason!

      Receiving my first dividend has made me more determined than ever to go down this route, even though most people think it’s near impossible. I guess we’ll find out in the long run.

      Have a great weekend,
      NMW

  4. I’m so glad I bought the 8 shares of BRK.B instead of the iPhone 6 Plus. I honestly get more satisfaction from those 8 shares than a shiny new iPhone.

    Maybe I’ll eventually in the distant future buy an iPhone 6 off Craigslist or eBay when some other new revolutionary Apple phone is released 😀

    And think of me next time you get McDonald’s dividends – I’ve spent $9 so far on my roadtrip eating at McDonalds 😛

    Thanks for the shout out!

    1. I can imagine! The pay-off in the future will be huge!

      Buying smartphones second-hand is actually a very viable strategy. Hardly anything depreciates as fast as smartphones and tablets.

      Thanks for contributing to my FI journey, Steve! If I’m drinking cocktails on a sunny beach somewhere in the near future, you’ll know that’s because of you! 😉

      Cheers,
      NMW

  5. Thanks, a lot for mentioning our Frugal FinCon Fiesta! It was a lot of fun!
    You don’t do so bad yourself getting around to a lot of blogs, Waffles. 😉

    1. You’re welcome! Had a lot of fun with some of the questions and answers! I still have 10+ blogs that joined the Frugal Fincon Fiesta to go through though, so not doing as well as hoped. 🙂

      Thanks for visiting!

    1. Zee,

      I’m glad you like the articles I picked! Really loved yours, so I had to include it.

      Cheers,
      NMW

  6. Nice write up. I certainly don’t get this iphone hype. My neighbour is planning on buying one and then he is complaining he can’t save any money… Typical. I rather buy more stocks instead of an Iphone.

    Cheers,

    Geblin

    1. Geblin,

      I don’t get the big deal about Apple products in general, but that’s on me probably! 🙂 Steve thought the exact same way as you, so he bought Berkshire!

      Thanks for visiting again,
      NMW

    1. Ha, no problem! Thank YOU for the nomination. As soon as I have time I’ll write an extensive post on your questions. 🙂

      South Park is awesome! So many critiques from that show are lost to people because they think it’s a childish show.

    1. Thank you, means a lot of me. Put quite a lot of work into these types of posts!

      I would love to join you guys, but I doubt I’ll make it. It’s far away, bang in the middle of a really busy period at work and quite expensive for me too. But never say never!

      Cheers,
      NMW

  7. NMW,

    I see you included me in your weekly wrap up. Thanks. Hopefully, I can contribute something to the community of dividend investors. I certainly am gleaning some really useful information from the community, and I plan to continue to do so. Thanks again.

    Keep cranking,

    Robert the DividendDreamer

    1. You’re welcome, Robert! I really liked your article because of its personal style.

      Keep it up!
      NMW

Leave a Reply to debt debs Cancel reply