October 2017 Update!

Happy Halloween.  Here is my quick update for October.

Personal Highlights for October:

• With the delivery of our kitchen table & chairs, we now have all of our furniture in the new house.  I still need to buy an area rug, coffee table and some curtains, but we are almost 100% settled in.
• Closed up the cabin for the winter.
• Kids Update:
  Holland had her annual heart appointment. She was born with a small hole in her heart which caused a heart murmur.  The doctors told us we would need to take her once a year to get it checked out for the next 8-10 years, however at this appointment they said it seems to be getting better (closing on its own) so we don’t need to go back for 3 years now:)
  Isaac turned 6 months this week.  He is a little tank, I swear he is almost as heavy as his big sister already(See below)

Financial Highlights:

• Closed my line of credit. Officially debt free (not including mortgage)
• Put $15,000 into Amber’s TFSA and bought her first 3 stocks (CHR, ATD, ITP)
• Continued bi weekly payments into RRSPs & Spousal RSP.
• Closed my position in OneReit as my remaining shares were bought back by the company.
• Cashed in some of my credit card reward points for a $600 voucher to my RRSP.  Once I get the voucher I will deposit this into Ambers Spousal RRSP.
• Amber’s TFSA/RRSP are now over $18,000.  (They didn’t exist 5 months ago)

Now on to the fun stuff.

Passive Income Update For July 2017.

TFSA:

Diversified Royalty: $8.94 (Dripped 3 new shares)

Artis Reit: $49.05 (Dripped 3 new shares)

OneReit: $17.10  (Got paid out)

Plaza Reit: $24.39 (Dripped 5 new shares)

Algonquin Power: $102.05 (Dripped 8 new shares)

Caledonia Mining: $19.35 (Unfortunately RBC doesn’t allow this company to drip)

TFSA Total: $227.55  

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $206.50

Total Passive Income July 2017:  $434.05 

Portfolio Update:

With the contributions to Amber’s TFSA, my continued bi weekly contributions and this seemingly never-ending bull market our portfolio hit an all time high: $286,105.62

It’s going to be tough, but I am still hoping to hit 300k by December 31st.  I am hopeful my Global Equity fund will pay out a nice distribution in December which should help.  This was also the 4th month of 2017 with over $400 of passive income.

 

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2017 Goals Update.

One of my first blog posts was about setting goals for 2017.  I also noted that I typically do not set goals, so this would be something a little out of my element.  I am happy to report so far I think I’m doing okay (with most of them).

Below are the goals I set – and a quick note of where I am at.

Personal Goals

1. Start setting goals! *NAILED IT*
   The big test will be to see if I can achieve any/all of them and more importantly come January 1st If I continue to set goals for next year.
2. Sell our house & buy a new house: *NAILED IT*
   House sale has closed and we’ve been in our new place for about a month now!  Most of our new furniture has been delivered, and so far we love everything about the new place.  That said – we haven’t had to pay all the new bills yet.
3. Start a website & keep it updated *GETTING THERE*
   Website is up and running.  Due to the house sale and moving – I wasn’t able to post as much as I would have liked for the last couple of months, but things are back on track now.  October has been my highest traffic month so far, and the month is only half done.
4. Spend more time at home/with family *GETTING THERE*
   I’ve definitely been spending a lot more time at home – although I wish I could take more credit for this being a conscious decision.  In reality it is likely due to the fact the Jets season has just started, my soccer season hasn’t started yet, we just moved, and I am still getting things organised around the house.  The next couple of months will be the big challenge.
5. Try 5 new restaurants (with Amber) *SLACKING*
   This is the one area I am going to need to step up my game.  Although we’ve gone out a few times,  I believe we’ve only been to 1 restaurant that Amber hadn’t been to. I still have a couple of months – so I’ll have to get moving on this one if I want to achieve this goal.

 

Financial Goals

1. Get Amber “set up” Financially *NAILED IT*
    So far we have done the following:
   – Create a joint bank account
   – Set Amber up with Direct Investing & a TFSA
   – Start a Spousal RSP for Amber – and started bi-weekly contributions.
   – Bought 3 new stocks in Ambers TFSA (ATD.B, CHR, & ITP).
   The only area I still need to work on is getting her actually interested in some of this stuff….that will probably be the hardest part.
2. Eliminate all debt (not including mortgage) *NAILED IT*
     I just got back from the bank – and they confirmed my line of credit has officially been paid off/closed.  My credit card is also completely paid off.  My car is paid off, and my cabin is paid off.  The only debt I currently have is my mortgage on my house (which I don’t really consider debt).
3. Get total portfolio Value to $320,000 by December 31*WAY BEHIND*
   With only 2 months to go – my portfolio is sitting at $278,000.  I have pretty much come to terms with the fact I wont hit this target – however I think $300,000 might be doable.  There are 3 main reasons I wont hit this goal:1) I paid off my debt very aggressively(Took some profits from my TFSA)
   2) We spent a little bit more on the house than we thought
   3) We underestimated the cost of furnishing a much larger house

   All in all, I’m pretty satisfied with where I am at…just need to step it up and take the wife out a few more times and try and sock away a bit more $$$ before the end of the year!

Recent Buy – Chorus Aviation.

I’ve been on a roll this week.  After no purchases in a couple of months – today I made my 3rd purchase in the last 2 days.

I picked up 268 shares of Chorus Aviation for 8.76.  Chorus is one of those reasonably priced, profitable companies with a monthly dividend that yields over 5%.  Even better RBC direct investing allows this one to drip – so even though I was only able to sccop up 268 shares I should be Dripping an extra share each month as well.

Chorus recently renewed a deal with Air Canada and although it will result in slightly less revenue per year – it guarantees them solid revenue until 2025. They have also expanded  their aircraft leasing side of the business which should start generating more revenue. The dividend looks to be well covered by earnings as well.

I don’t foresee any other purchases for the next couple months (aside from the bi-weekly purchases into my funds).  My portfolio now consists of 11 individual stocks -all Canadian and all owned in my TFSA & 5 funds (held in RRSP).

Updated holdings:

Alimentation Couche Tard

Chorus Aviation INC

Intertape Polymer Group

Algonquin Power

Caledonia Mining

Canadian Western Bank

Diversified Royalty

Nutritional High

Lucara Diamond

Artis REIT

Plaza REIT

US INDEX FUND (RRSP)

RBC CANADIAN EQUITY INCOME FUND (RRSP)

RBC Global Dividend Growth FUND (RRSP)

GWL Advanced ContinuumFUND (RRSP)

GWL Aggressive Continuum FUND (RRSP)

 

Recent Buy(s). Alimentation Couche-Tard & Intertape Polymer Group

I did a customized stock screen last week where I looked at companies with a history of paying/increasing dividends, strong EPS growth and trading at reasonable P/E.  My last post highlighted some of the companies I was torn between and finally today I pulled the trigger on two of them.

Alimentation Couche-Tard  (ATD.B)

I’ve had my eye on Couche-Tard for over a year now, and with the recent price pull back – coupled with the fact I had some cash on hand I figured I had to jump in.  I scooped up 125 shares @ $59.00 each.  Although the dividend only yields 0.61% I think the long term capital growth potential and dividend growth potential will keep me happy for years to come.  I am hopeful they will get into the soon to be legal Marijuana business as well.

The addition of these shares will boost my dividend income by $45.00

Intertape Polymer Group (ITP)

This was a stock I didn’t know much about a couple of weeks ago – but it showed up on my stock screen and after doing a bit more research I thought the price was too good to pass up.  The business itself is boring, but it has paid and increased the dividend for over 5 years (yields 3.5%)in US dollars, has increased earnings year over year and was trading at a 30% discount to the 52 week high.  I purchased 275 shares @ 19.08.

The addition of these shares will boost my dividend income by $192.50 (at current exchange rate).

Both purchases were made in our TFSA so all gains & dividends will be tax free.

I am still keeping my eye on Andrew Peller & Exco Technologies.  Hopefully the next time I have some cash on the sideline they are in my buy range.