.

Starting July 2017 we have been tracking our fixed yearly expenses. We would like our dividends / passive income to cover these expenses in totality. In a way it tracks our progress to FIRE. As of today 2.27% of our annual expenses are covered through dividends (using TTM yield). It excludes variable expenses like groceries, gas etc. We ran into some additional expenses related to our home. We ended up adding a new expense category for home maintenance and made it a permanent fixture in our expense report. Additionally, it seems like fire department (FD) tax is included in our escrow amount. That lead to a marginal reduction in our expenses. One of the recurring expenses is Mrs.DG's car loan (at 1.9%). We have it till January 2019. I seriously contemplated paying of this loan earlier to free up cash flow, it made no sense as the gains are marginal. It made better sense to invest in stock market or make additional mortgage payments. How is your progress towards FIRE?

I started dividend investing in January 2015, its been about 2.5 years. My dividends have been increasing steadily and i am quite happy with my progress. However, context matters. What % of my expenses is met through dividends? It seems it is more indicative of my progress then the actual dividend increases.