Is This Technically Beer Money?

Sometimes I will admit that I have a bit of a strange way of looking at money. Or, perhaps it is not necessarily strange at all. I mean, down to basic things, I tend to often look at the cost of things in terms of hours worked.

In other words, before I take the plunge and buy something, I ask myself, "How many hours do I need to work to pay for this?" And then I ask, "Is it worth it?"

When it comes to investing my money in the stock market, there are a multitude of things I look for in a company. It's not always down to, for me, whether or not I use a company's products. Although, sometimes it is.

What do I really want? Solid companies with solid consumer appeal that are profitable, offer regular dividends, regularly increase dividends, and that have strong products built to last in consumer interest for years to come.

Did I mention I like to drink beer? Well, if I have not, in fact I do. And when it comes to beer, there are all sorts of brands and varieties I like. IPA's, for example, are a personal favorite. I do like beers like Schlafly, out of St. Louis, Missouri. I enjoy beers from New Glarus Brewing in New Glarus, Wisconsin.

I will still go for an occasional Blatz. An old-time Milwaukee favorite that is still brewed today. I usually pick some up when I am in my old Milwaukee neck of the woods on business trips.

My day-to-day go to beer, though, is Miller Lite. And I suppose in an odd way, thankful that's my current beer of choice since Bud Light went and screwed the pooch on a very stupid marketing campaign that they say wasn't a marketing campaign that quite clearly was indeed a marketing campaign.

Anyway, that's for another day, folks. Although, I have a ton say on the matter if you want to know my take on The Springboard, a blog I write.

But on the topic of beer and stocks, there is of course the fact that Miller Lite is just one of many brands made by Molsen Coors, stock ticker symbol TAP. I drink enough of their product that it makes sense to own the company. And besides, it's a good company.

In other words, it checks all the boxes, right? Strong company with strong consumer appeal, good profits, good dividends and so on and so forth. Granted, the dividend is nothing to write home about. Weighing in at $1.64 per share or a 2.7% annual dividend yield.

I measure my interest in cases of beer yield. Yeah, see? I told you that sometimes I have a strange way of looking at money.

Now, taking Walmart's current price for a 30-pack of Miller Lite coming in at right around $21, I can measure how many 30-packs of beer my dividends will buy, and then measure that against how much beer I might drink in a given year, and then determine how many shares I need to buy in order to essentially drink my beer for free throughout the year.

I mean, is that really all that strange? Hell, when you think about it, it may actually be brilliant.

Granted, it does mean I have to make a bit of an initial investment to get my free beer. Does that make it really free? Well, kinda yes. Here's why. It's a solid company with solid consumer interest that consistently pays its dividends and often increases them, and so the underlying value of the shares themselves not only can be expected to hold their value. The value of the shares can reasonably be expected to increase in value.

So, I get free beer plus I get a winning stock. Win, win.

What's my cost? Let's say I average 1 30-pack of Miller Lite in a year. That's obviously 52. The current share price of TAP is $60.69, and again, the annual dividend per share is $1.64 and a 30-pack of beer is around $21.

So, to get all 52 cases of beer for free I need to generate $1,092 from 665 shares. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. That's only an investment of $40,385. Not bad just to generate a little bit of beer money, I suppose. And to top it all off, I can drink to the fact that my $40k is safe and sound and maybe worth $60k-$70k in a few years.