Intro..
For those of you new to this website, in this post, I discuss the recent changes I made in my dividend portfolios, and sometimes I discuss my portfolio diversification strategies as well.
Stock markets have been performing well recently, and most of the stocks in my portfolios are at or near a record high.
Recession fear is fading away as economic outlooks have improved sharply in recent weeks. Therefore, the market may continue to move higher from here until investors find another problem to get panic.
For those who timed the market and sold their stock investments last December might have missed over 20% gains right after the Christmas Eve.
In fact, it would be a costly mistake, and better-off by stay invested and ride through the market volatilities.
For instance, imagine an investor with around $300 000 portfolios decided to sell his investments during the last December sell-off, and have been waiting to get back to the market until how.
In reality, he might have missed more than $60 000 gains this year; that is a big opportunity cost.
Of Course, it is hard to watch when our investment values get hammered during the market sell-offs, but volatility is the nature of the stock markets. Therefore, if we can navigate through the storms, then we can enjoy a big upside later.
As many experts say, the timing market is almost impossible. And, no one can successfully predict market movements for a shorter-term. If someone can predict it successfully, then they can rule the world.
But, based on history, stock markets move high over a long time. Thus, I will stay invested in a good and bad time.
As I always say, I am still in the assets accumulation stage. Therefore, I will keep adding profitable businesses to my investment portfolios and keep reinvesting the dividends to enjoy the compounding growth over the long run.
Recommended books for dividend growth investors:
- Get Rich with Dividends: A Proven System for Earning Double-Digit Returns by Marc Lichtenfeld
- The Single Best Investment: Creating Wealth with Dividend Growth” by Lowell Miller.
Portfolio Changes
In my Canadian portfolio, I decided to exit the Boardwalk REIT (TSE: BEI.UN) position and moved the money somewhere.
Almost two years ago, BEI.UN reduced its distribution; however, the company operations and revenues got improved a lot after that, but it did not reward its unit owners with distribution hikes.
And, it’s distribution yield is very low (around 2%) stick with it. Thus, I decided to exit the position with a little profit and purchased some REITs with little higher yields using the portion of proceeds raised from the sale.
I have some money left in the account and will add a new REIT soon.
In my U.S portfolio, I sold my AT&T position and purchased my favorite dividend growth ETFs using the proceeds. I have been doing these changes for the last couple of months in my U.S portfolio for diversification purposes.
Now, let us look at the purchases I made last month.
Canadian portfolio
Last month, I sold 100 units of Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (TSE: BEI.UN) and added some REITs using the proceeds raised from the sale.
U.S portfolio
In my U.S dollar portfolo, I sold 37 shares AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) at 37.08 and purchased my favourite dividend growth ETFs using the proceeds raised from the sale.
International Portfolio
I just added 2 units of ZDH (Canadian hedged) international dividend ETF and 4 units of IDV (another international dividend ETF in U.S dollar)
I will continue to build my international portfolio using the international dividend ETFs (ZDH.TO & IDV) in order to diversify my investments.
Here are the changes I made in my dividend portfolios in October 2019:
Disclaimer..
Please note the information posted on this website is the opinion of my own and should not be considered as professional financial advice. I am not a financial professional, and I can buy, sell, or hold any investment at any time.
Any transactions I publish on this website are not recommendations to buy or sell any securities or investments.
Please do your own research or consult with a qualified financial professional before even considering using the information obtained from this website.
The changes made in my Canadian portfolio in October 2019.
- Sold 100 units of BEI.UN at $45.80 (due to very lower yield)
- added 63 units of PLZ.UN at $4.44
- added 100 units of BPY.UN at $25.00
- added 40 units of REI.UN at $26.62
- added 10 shares of TD at $73.55
- added 10 shares of T (Telus) at $48.05
The changes made in my U.S dividend portfolio in October 2019.
- Sold 37 shares T (AT&T) at 37.08
- added 29 units of DGRO ETF at $38.06
- added 4 units of NOBL ETF at $69.55
- added 1 unit of SDY at $99.56
- added 2 units of ZUD (Canadian hedged) U.S Dividend ETF at $24.30
The changes made in my International dividend portfolio in October 2019.
- added 1 unit of ZDH at $21.56
- added 4 units of IDV at $29.94
With recent changes and dividend hikes my yearly estimated passive income (EPI) hit to a new high of $11 519 in October 2019, with year-to-date gain around 14.78%.
I have updated the portfolio pages with these changes.
Commission FREE ETF purchases
Are you wondering how I can execute small orders of ETSs? Thinking about commission fees?
Actually, I use Questrade for all my ETFs purchases. There are no commission fees for ETFs purchases at Questrade. Therefore, we could buy one or any number of ETFs without paying any commission fees.
This is a great way to deploy cash and invest for more cash-flow as soon as they come in.
For those looking to start investing with little money, Questrade is one of the good options to consider because of their commission-free ETF program and minimum requirements to open an account.
If you have a plan to open an account with Questrade, please accept my gift and take advantage of this $50 trade commission rebate.
There is a trading charge of $4.95 when you sell ETFs. All the details are at the time of writing. If you have a plan to open an account at Questrade, please check all the information (including current commission fees) on their website and see if it is suitable online brokerage for your needs.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate link. Therefore, I will earn a commission if you use the links to buy products or services (at no additional cost to you).
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Hello,
I’ve been following you for a while, and have finally hit six figures!. Do you mind sharing what stocks you consider worthy of your stock list, and how you can determine they are “bargains”? I always seem to find myself sitting in cash waiting for the right opportunity, but I’d like to invest as soon as I get a paycheck
Thank you
Hello Millionaire by 30,
Thank you for stopping by,
Almost all my stocks from my portfolios (Canadian, U.S and international) stocks and ETFs are in my watch list (except CGX & IPL). And also some other stocks.
I am in less than half-way in my journey, so I will be buying then when they take a temporary hits here and there.
How do I determine they are in bargains ? – I check a couple of factors including but not limited – P/E ratio, book value, revenue growth, dividend yield, dividend growth, payout ratio, share buyback, etc. Some stocks I check Free cash-flow, or fund from operation instead of earning.
Please note that I am not a professional financial adviser or any sort of things. It is impossible to provide personalized advices without knowing your financial situations, risk tolerance or long-term goals. Therefore, I would strongly recommend you discuss with a qualified financial adviser or do your own research before make any financial decisions.
Cheers,
When starting out, how do you determine how much to put into each stock?
Hello Paul,
Thank you for stopping by,
Honestly, when I was starting out, I had no idea what to buy and how much to put in each stock. Only thing that I had in my mind to start somewhere and learn along the way.
I learned a lot after I purchased my first stock by reading good investment related books, blogs and newspapers.
If you are new and starting with little money, then I would suggest consider buying well-diversified & low cost ETFs rather individual stocks.
Also, please do your own research before buy investments rather than getting advice from internet strangers like me because no one can provide personalized advice without knowing your financial situations, risk tolerance or goals.
Learn as much as you can.
Best Regards,
Sorry if I missed any posts regarding this but how do you tackle taxes? Any chance you could talk about that subject in a future post or direct me to any previous information?
Hello Sebastian,
Thank you for stopping by,
I keep the majority of Canadian dividend stocks in my margin account (lower tax rate compared to other investments) and keep all Canadian my REITs, Limited partnership units and ETFs in my TFSA accounts, and all my U.S dividend stocks and ETFs in my RRSP accounts. Therefore, there are no tax complications in my investments. I keep it simple to minimize tax burdens.
Hope this makes sense to you,
Hello,
I would like to know what platform do you use to buy your dividend stocks ?
As Canadians, we cannot use US platforms such as Robinhood or M1 finance.
Thanks a lot !
Hello Mohcene,
Thank you for stopping by,
I use Questrade (affiliate link – with $50 commission rebate for you) and Interactive Brokers to buy stocks and ETFs. My majority of the investments are in Questrade accounts (TFSA and RRSP).
Yes, to my understanding we (Canadian) cannot use U.S brokerages to buy stocks unless you have U.S SIN number and U.S address. I am not 100% sure about it and I’ve never attempted to do that.
Hope this helps
Hey there M.A.! I enjoy Questrade but as a younger investor the barrier to entry at the time was a bit steep. I had been using my bank’s brokerage at RBC Direct Investing but the fees ate all my earnings quick. I did some digging and I found WealthSimple Trade which let me do everything for free… only thing they make a bit off of is the currency conversion from cad to usd. I moved my assets to WealthSimple Trade and using them since. It’s been swell so far. If you guys want you can use this and get a few bucks to trade with also(I hope I aint stepping on F.J.’s toes posting this.) https://my.wealthsimple.com/app/public/trade-referral-signup?code=L2OT4Q
Hello Sebastian,
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
WealthSimple is fine, but their fee structure is really expensive if you are a buy & hold investor (in my point of view).
Let’s say if I have $200 000 investments with WealthSimple, then I have to pay $800 ($200 000 x 0.4%) annually for management fees top of other ETFs or funds fees.
For that amount of money, I could buy and sell 160 times yearly with Questrade or 800 times yearly with IB. Buy & hold investors rarely make that much trades per year with $200 000 investments.
Please correct me if I was wrong. I might be missing some points about it.
To be honest, I have never had a chance to use their platform, but I heard it is good for beginners.
Best Regards,
Thanks for the great content. After reading a few articles, I’m curious about a few of things:
1. What % of your income do you set aside to invest each month?
2. When you do move $ into your brokerage accounts, do you keep it in cash until you see prices drop OR do you make purchases in your portfolio immediately and keep minimum in cash?
3. You mention that you like to buy when prices drop. Do you keep a reserve of cash in your brokerage accounts available for times like these?
4. Why don’t you keep everything in one brokerage account? I think I saw you use three different ones.
5. When you first started, how did you decide which stocks or ETFs to begin with?
Thanks so much!
Hello Serge,
Thank you for stopping by,
1. I don’t have any specific income allocations to buy investments. When I see bargains, I don’t hesitate to use loans to buy assets.
2. I always try to invest or pay down loans immediately as soon as I have some cash in my accounts. I don’t like to keep unproductive assets. I would prefer my money should start to work for me as soon as they come in.
3. As I mentioned above, I use margin loans or other forms of debts (as long as the interest rate is low) whenever I see bargains.
4. Why don’t I keep everything in one brokerage? It is a really good question. There are many different reasons.
5. Like most of us, I made a lot of mistakes at my early stage of investments. Luckily, I didn’t have much money in my accounts experience a significant impacts. I quickly learned from my mistakes and also started to read good investment books and blogs and learned a lot. It doesn’t mean I won’t make mistakes in the future. I have been making mistakes, and I will be doing in the future as well. But I think I am improving a lot over time.
Please note that I am not a financial adviser or any sort of thing. I am just a regular guy on the internet and share my financial journey with readers. My financial goals, situations and risk tolerances are much different than yours. Thus, I would strongly recommend you to do your own research or discuss it with a qualified financial adviser before making any financial decisions.
Have you considered Suncor (SU) for your Canadian dividend portfolio? Nice yield on a beaten up stock. Or do you prefer to avoid the resource sectors?
Hello Jeff,
I had Suncor and CNQ in my portfolio and I sold them last with good profits. They both are in my watch list, I may consider adding them back if their price drop as they did in 2015 (much less then their book value).
And, I will consider selling them if price recover.
Best Regards,
It must have been difficult to walk away from Boardwalk after going through the past two year consolidation / restructuring. I agree their yield is a bit too low. That is partially due to their low payout ratio. I believe they are using the extra cash to upgrade older units and buyback some units. I could see them being in a good position in another year of buying back stock. Many Canadian REITS payout at their max so they have little ability to grow their AFFO.
Is there a price / yield / point in time where you would get back into BEI.un?
Hello Jeff,
Thank you for stopping by,
It was a difficult decision to sell the BEI.UN, but I had to sell it for two reasons.
1. The unit yield is very low compared to other REITs. Even though their payout ratio is low, the trust is not showing any sign to increase their distribution any time soon.. As an income-focused investor, I like a decent yield so I could compound my income faster.
2. Their portfolio is concentrated in Alberta, and their unit price is indirectly related to oil prices. The trust has a plan to diversify their portfolio across the county, but it seems like it takes more time than I anticipated (I could be completely wrong).
I would consider getting back into the units if the unit price comes down significantly from the current level and yield with around 4% (and growing).
Best Regards,