Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 19, 2012
The TSX ended at 12,380, up +53.17 (+0.43%).
The Canadian dollar and the TSX both edged higher today, buoyed by new optimism about the global economy.
My dividend portfolio ended higher as well, +32.14 (+0.04%).
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 18, 2012
The TSX ended up by +$94.69 (+0.77%) to 12,327.52. Unfortunately, my dividend portfolio didn't fair out well, ending -$681.24 (-0.77%).
On a side note, because of the drop of some of the stock prices, I purchased more AX.UN.TO, REI.UN.TO, and KEG.UN.TO. All three stocks fell over 1% today.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
I own shares of AX.UN.TO, REI.UN.TO and KEG.UN.TO
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 17, 2012
TSX was down most of the day and ended down by -$25.77 (-0.21%) today.
Deteriorating global economy to slow pace of Canadian growth, Bank of Canada says
My dividend portfolio ended upwards by +$417.11 (+0.49%).
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 16, 2012
The TSX ended on a positive note at +0.23% or +$27.54. My dividend portfolio ended up by +0.59% or +$500.12.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 10, 2012
A good day for the TSX and another good day for my dividend portfolio.
I purchased more shares of REF.UN.TO, Canadian REIT.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
I own shares of REF.UN.TO
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 9, 2012
Even though the TSX was fairly stagnant on Monday, my dividend portfolio gained nicely. I also made some purchases today:
AX.UN.TO, Artis REIT. I purchased more shares to add to my "collection". The stock is uptrending with no noticeable signs of decline in the short term.
THI.TO, Tim Hortons Inc. The stock is struggling since the beginning of the year. I purchased some today even though my stock price indicators are showing some further downtrending. I'm not worried about this because THI.TO is a strong stock. The dividend yield is low hovering about 1.5%, but the growth is nice. As a long term stock it is a good pick for a dividend portfolio.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
I own shares of THI.TO and AX.UN.TO
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 6, 2012
TSX closed down for the first time this year, but I had a nice gain to end the week on the plus side.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 5, 2012
I wasn't looking to buy any stocks today, but I put in a buy limit for MRT.UN.TO this morning to see if it would go drop at least 1% today. I also put buy limits on REF.UN.TO and AX.UN.TO with the same intention of buying them if they dropped at least 1% today.
Only MRT.UN.TO dropped so those were the only stocks I bought today.
The TSX looked like it gonna be ending with a downtrend, but by midday the TSX just made it above 0 for a very small gain.
As for my dividend portfolio, it was a good day.
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
I own shares of MRT.UN.TO, REF.UN.TO and AX.UN.TO
My Dividend Portfolio Year-In-Review for 2011
In the beginning of 2011, I was pretty much doing what I was doing since I started in 2006: Invest my money and try to keep my head above water. I experienced one of the worst crashes in history in 2008, and couldn't understand the logic of why it was happening. I was younger and less experienced so I made wrong decisions along the way, buying and selling at the wrong time was a big reason of my frustration. I was an emotional trader and I thought I was probably one of the worst investors in the world.
About the middle of 2011, I was introduced to a strategy called "Buy & Hold". It is easy to understand how it works: buy stocks, hold them and never sell them (or at least keep them as long as possible). One of my good friends told me about an author named Derek Foster that used this strategy and he was able to retire in his 30s. He left the rat race, while still providing for wife and 5 children. I wanted to see if it worked for me. Long story short, it is working for me.
The "Buy & Hold" method is not very glamorous, not exciting. It's boring. It can even become ugly if you don't pick the right stocks, but my old strategy wasn't working at all so I gave this a chance.
I picked stocks that had a long history of raising their dividends on a consecutive basis every year, and to accelerate my returns I chose stocks that also have significant yield percentages. Because I am Canadian, Canadian companies offered better tax benefits for my portfolio, so I only hold companies that trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (Americans would follow the same strategy with American traded stocks).
My logic was that if I invest in a handful of stable companies with good financial growth, and offered dividends with a high yield, my portfolio would grow in two ways: the value of the stock and the dividends I would be receiving periodically.
My old strategy didn't have the benefit of a dividend so I was relying on the stock price and since 2006 stock prices dropped to historical lows. Add inexperience, emotion, and poor timing on trades and you have yourself a portfolio with huge losses that resembled mine.
The "Buy & Hold" strategy almost works better when there are crashes. Due to economic fears in other countries, strong Canadian companies are being effected by them. If you pick the right Canadian companies you can benefit from the emotional pricing of their stock. The sectors that I like are energy, real estate and telecommunications.
Even though I only started this strategy in June 2011, I have seen some growth and profits with my stock choices. If I would have known about this strategy in 2010 or even 2009, my portfolio would look very different. Hindsight is always 20/20 and the experience I had in the past puts me in a good position right now.
I still think we are still in an economic crisis in Canada to a certain degree. Or at least that's what financial markets believe. Europe and the US seem to dictate the Canadian economy even though we are never had the same business mentality as them. We are a very conservative, boring, "look, look again, and look again then leap" kind of country. Probably saving Canada from the same economic nightmare as Europe and the US.
At this time, I'm still learning how to invest. It seems to be an ongoing process, but I'm gaining more confidence in my investing and personal financial knowledge. I'm loving it. So much so, I am helping some friends and family experience the same enjoyment of taking charge of their own finances.
I am looking forward to see what 2012 will bring financially and personally. If I could predict how the Canadian economy will be in 2012 it's that we will slowly disconnect our business ties from the US and Europe and start more business ties with Asia and South America. The Canadian economy will be recognized as a strong leader is finance and the world will take notice.
Just like me, Canada may be a boring but it seems to be working for us. Good luck and good fortune to everyone, and Happy New Year!
Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser, tax professional or an investment professional, I am only writing about experiences I have encountered through my own investments. Consult a financial adviser, tax professional and/or investment professional with any of your questions.
Daily Dividend Portfolio Snapshot for January 4, 2012
A bit of a downtrend to the portfolio today. The TSX didn't have any significant change either. The Eurozone and debt troubles around the world still take most of the markets' attention.
