For those of you new to this website, in this post, I discuss the recent changes I made in my dividend portfolios and also discuss about my portfolio diversification strategies.
After a steady gain for a couple of months, markets back to volatility mode in May. It created great opportunities for those who were looking to buy stocks for lower price.
Some stocks in my portfolio dropped more than 10% from their recent high, especially Enbridge and BMO lost some values recently. I usually increase my positions if I find my favorite stocks hit hard for short-term, but I didn’t hit the buy button this time.
ENB is my second largest holding and it is still representing more 6% in my portfolio. Thus, I didn’t want to buy more for now. But, I may change my mind if its price drops below $50.
Also, I have enough Canadian bank stocks in my portfolio. Thus, I didn’t consider adding BMO after the sell-off. Again, I may change my mind if it drops further down because I have just 50 shares in BMO, so it has some spaces in my portfolio.
So, I decided to add some stocks with decent yields. I spent around $3000 to make these assets purchase. I received three paychecks from my day job last month. Also, I received a decent dividend income as well. Thus, I didn’t have to borrow money for these purchases.
Without further ado, let’s see the changes I made in my investment assets
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 anytime.
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.
Here is the changes I made in my dividend portfolios in May 2017:
The changes made in my Canadian portfolio in May 2017.
- added 60 units of PWF at average price of $33.01
- added 10 units of ALA at $30.28
- added 11 units of BPY.UN at $33.00
- added 15 units of VNR at $21.84
The changes made in my U.S dividend portfolio in May 2017.
- added 1 unit of XLV at $75.65 I will continue to add this ETF at least one per month as long as the price is reasonable.
With the recent purchases along with last month dividend hikes, my estimated yearly passive income has increased to $7818, with year-to-date gain of about 10.68%.
My portfolio has a very tiny portion in health Care sector, so I decided to buy a health-care ETF using dividends accumulate in my U.S dollar registered accounts. Hopefully, I could buy at least one unit per month using dividends alone (without injecting new money). I will continue to add this ETF as long as the price is reasonable.
Many readers asked me how or why I execute very tiny orders of ETFs. They were wondering about the commission fees. Actually, I use Questrade for ETFs purchases. There are no commission fees for ETFs purchases at Questrade. Therefore you could buy any number of ETFs without paying commission costs.
There is a trading charge of $4.95 when you sell them. 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: Please note above is a affiliate link. Therefore, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase (at no additional cost to you).
I have updated the portfolio pages with these changes.
Now, let’s look my portfolio diversification.
Portfolio diversification
Portfolio Geographical Diversification
There are no big changes in my diversification strategies from the last updates.| Country | Target asset allocation | Current asset allocation |
| Fixed income (bonds and pension) | 20% | 5.55% |
| Canadian stocks | 40% | 79.83% |
| U.S stocks | 35% | 13.06% |
| International stocks | 5% | 1.56% |
My Canadian portion of my investments have increased a bit from my last update due to recent rally in my Canadian holdings.
My fixed income portions have been keep improving for last 22 months because of my pension plan contributions.
Portfolio diversification – sectors & fixed income
Actually, (I guess) there are only 10 sectors, but I have divided my dream portfolio by 15 sectors including fixed income/bonds/employer pension.
Please note this is not the way professional fund managers or experts diversify their funds. This is my own diversification strategy.
You may consider create your own diversification strategy (if you don’t have one) to minimize investment related risks in your portfolios.
Some information to highlight:
My fixed income portion is getting improving with my employer pension contribution. Since I have a defined benefit pension plan, I completely eliminated my bond holding as I consider my DB pension as fixed income portion.
My 80% of investments are in Canada. I am waiting for improvement in Canadian dollar to move some money into U.S market. It is really a long wait. I really don’t want to purchase U.S stocks using Canadian dollar at this time. It is like paying around 35% premium to the current price.
As you might have noticed, I began to build health care sector using an ETF called XLV. It is now moved from 0% to 0.28%. I will keep adding XLV for upcoming months as long as the unit price stays low.
| Sector | Target asset allocation | Current asset allocation |
| Fixed income (bonds & Employer Pension) | 20% | 5.55% |
| Finance | 10% | 18.93% |
| Industrials & Infrastructure | 5% | 10.28% |
| Consumer Staples | 10% | 7.04% |
| Energy & Materials | 5% | 2.63% |
| Utilities | 5% | 16.36% |
| Pipelines | 5% | 11.31% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 5% | 2.25% |
| Health care | 5% | 0.28% |
| Information technology | 5% | 0.16% |
| Telecommunications | 5% | 6.80% |
| Real-estate | 5% | 7.58% |
| Miscellaneous & Preferred shares | 5% | 2.16% |
| Transportations | 5% | 7.14% |
| International & Diversified ETFs | 5% | 1.56% |
Please share your thoughts about my holdings and recent purchases. Also, do you have any portfolio diversification strategy? And how often do you balance your portfolio?
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I appreciate and thanks for excellent information about dividend stocks , thanks to share with us. InstantForexSupport.com has many types of similar news like this
Thank you Trisha for stopping by and your feedback.
Best Regards,
Just wanted to say that I find this site very helpful, Thanks!
Would you be able to give me a breakdown of what you put in your TFSA, RRSP and Non-registered accounts? I’m trying to figure out the best way to place my investments. I think I may be placing too many in my TFSA.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for stopping by,
I keep most of the REITS (CAR.UN, REI.UN, etc), Limited partnership stocks (BIP.UN, BEP.UN, etcs) and ETFs in my TFSA. All Canadian dividends stocks are in my non-registered accounts, and over 90% of U.S holdings are in my RRSP account.
I hope this helps,
I appreciate the help, Thanks!
Hello Finance Journey,
Will you buy or consider Kinder Morgan Canada (KML) for your investment? why or why not?
Looking for your opinion.
Thank you,
Hello Luece,
Thank you for stopping by,
I already have KMI in my U.S holding, thus, I am not consider adding more.
Best Regards,
I just realized that always good idea to buy stocks with dividend and let them to grow for long-term. I am so glad I found your blog. Please keep updating some inspiration posts for financial independence.
Thank you!
Hi Liean,
Thank you for your kind comments,
Cheers,
hi, thanks for sharing your ideas. I like your recent purchases, except ALA.
ALA seems risky one and it doesn’t meet your safety criteria. It pays more dividend than earning. Do you have other any reasons for this purchase?
Your portfolios look solid, otherwise.
-GP
Hello GP,
Thank you for stopping by,
For dividend safety, I check the companies Funds-from-Operations (FFO) instead of their earning. Based on Altagas last annual report (2016), its Normalized funds from operations is $3.52 per share, and it pays dividend of $2.10 per share. Thus, its dividend is well covered. Please note there are so many other factors must consider to evaluate a stock. Please do your own research or discuss with a qualified financial advisor before make any financial decision.
Best Regards,