McDonald's Increases Its Dividend

McDonald's Corp (NYSE: MCD) has just declared an increase to its quarterly dividend, from $0.55 to $0.61 (an 11% increase), starting on December 15.

Well, it seems people keep gobbling up McFood and drinking McCoffee even during tough times. I know that I do, although I try to keep it to the occasional visit. I want to fatten my wallet, after all, not my waistline!

I hold shares of MCD in my RRSP account. Based on my cost of purchase, this new dividend brings my yield to a juicy 4.4% (as opposed to a 3.3% yield based on current price).

Spending Money on the House

Last week, I went ahead with our plan to replace another set of windows on the house. When we started replacing the windows 2 years ago, we decided to go with a gradual approach based on the amount of cash we could afford to pay each year for those renovations instead of using the line of credit or another form of financing to replace them all at once.

So before winter we will have new windows for the 3 upstair bedrooms. This will be good for 2 reasons. First, as a quality of life issue for Princess, as the old windows were very hard for her to open and close (they were heavy and would often stick). Second, the new windows will be provide much better insulation, so this should save us some money on heating.

Still, this is a fairly big expense at slightly over $3 000, so in order to have the cash available to pay for the windows I will cut back on my monthly DRiP purchases. This means I won't reach my stated goal of dividend income for the year, but I can live with that.

Net Worth Update

As of September 1st, my net worth was $128 775 (up 1.9% from $126 412). If I exclude house-related assets and liabilities, my net worth was $87 442 (up 2.5% from $85 336). Another good month, considering that we were on vacation. Of course, we didn't spend a lot for vacation (we seldom do) and the stock markets were generally good to me.

Assets ($189 874, up 1.2% from $187 623)

• Bank Accounts $4 509 (up 1% from $4 466)
• Emergency Funds $2 368 (up 4.5% from $2 265)
• RRSP Accounts $56 426 (up 1.9% from $55 371)
• Non-Retirement Investments $27 878 (up 3.8% from $26 865)
• Home $98 430 (stable)

Liabilities ($61 099, down 0.2% from $61 211)

• Credit Cards $3 934 (up 2.9% from $3 822)
• Mortgage $57 097 (down 0.4% from $57 353)
• Line of Credit $0 (stable)

Ratios

• Debt / assets: 0.321 (down from 0.326)
• House value / total assets: 0.518 (down from 0.525)

Next may see some rise on the credit cards, as well as some additional expenses for the house. We have been late in ordering the second batch of replacement windows, and I need to get to it if we want them to be installed before winter (about $3K). My car is also being repaired right now, because the air conditioner failed and the driver's window electric motor is dying (about $700).

On the other hand, I'll soon be maxed out on the mandatory contributions to the employment insurance and Quebec Pension Plan, so my net pay will increase for the rest of the year.