April 2018 Passive Income Update: Happy Birthday Edition!

Personal Highlights for April:

• My little man turned 1 on April 28 – and we hosted about 25 people over at our place yesterday for his first Bithday party.  He got a ton of gifts, a great Dr. Suess themed custom cake made by my sister-in-law and his first cash gift(s) for his RESP.
  For anyone in Winnipeg looking for a delicious and awesome looking custom cake – Check her out: Not.Just.A.Pretty.Cake
• Today was Amber’s first day back at work after a year off for Maternity leave – which is exciting in itself – but ALSO today marks the first day of daycare for Isaac & Holland.  I didn’t get much sleep last night – but we got them there on time this morning, lunches packed and even got to work on time!
• I went to all 3 home Jets playoff games (they won all 3) and they knocked out the Minnesota Wild.  The Jets are now playing Nashville in the 2nd round and already won a game on the road!  Games 3 & 4 are Tuesday & Thursday this week!
• Amber & I took Holland out for dinner for the first time.  We went to BP and she loved it.  Boston Pizza even gave her a shout out on their Official Twitter Page
• A couple other pictures from the party:
  

Financial Highlights for April:

• Got my tax return back – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  With Amber currently between Mat Leave and her first pay cheque…and Winnipeg Jet’s playoff tickets & Jet’s season ticket renewals for next year – things were starting to get pretty tight.
• Continued bi weekly payments into RRSPs & Spousal RSP.
• Had my first double digit DRIP (Algonquin Power) 10 new shares!
• Made first contribution to Kids RESP account.
• Broke $500 in Passive income for first month that didn’t include any special dividends/distributions, etc.
• Even with no new stock purchases, dripped 29 new shares/units.  I was paid from 9 companies and 1 fund in April.

Passive Income Update For April 2018.

TFSA’S:

Chorus Aviation: $10.92 (dripped 1 share)

Diversified Royalty: $9.18 (dripped 2 shares)

Artis Reit: $50.67 (dripped 3 shares)

Interrent Reit: $2.32

Plaza Reit: $26.06 (dripped 6 shares)

Canadian Western Bank: $0.25

Algonquin Power: $126.34 (dripped 10 shares)

Intertape Polymer: $50.40

Alimentation Couche Tard: $11.25

TFSA’s Total: $287.39

 

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $218.13 (dripped 7.48 shares)

Total Passive Income April 2018:  $505.52

 

Portfolio Update:

After 2 consecutive months of being down, my portfolio is back up over $300,000 this month.  My portfolio increased by 1.80% month over month. The early retirement portfolio now sits at $304,126.90.

Dividends grew by $77.33 vs last April (Increase of 18%).

Current Watch List:

Andrew Peller: ADW

Cascades: CAS

InterRent Reit: IIP

Northview Apartment Reit: NVU

Caledonia Mining: CAL

My Watchlist hasn’t changed from last month, but I am interested in adding to my position in Western Forest.

That’s it!  Hope everyone else had a great April!

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Follow Friday! A few sites I recommend.

I’ve seen a few people posting on twitter #FollowFriday which is a way to share some content of other bloggers who I enjoy.  I figured I’d join in on the fun.  Below are 5 other blogs I regularly read & recommend you check out – along with a quick write up of why:

 

1. RoadMap2Retire This was the first Canadian Finance Blog that I ever stumbled across – which not only led me to start this site – but also got my curiosity flowing to see what other sites I could find.  R2R gives a more indepth analysis of his decisions than most bloggers I’ve come across, and does a good job at breaking down bigger economic trends as well.  He’s got a great looking diversified portfolio, and has recently been adding some “Crypto” assets as well.
2. All About The DividendsMatt is similar in age to me, has roughly the same amount of passive income, and unfortunately (for him) is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.  Matt is very active on twitter, and is growing his portfolio at a torrid pace.  Matt also owns a bunch of the same companies I do –  Check him out!
3. Passive Canadian IncomeRob is another Canadian, who I believe is a similar age as well.  Aside from having a great dividend portfolio he also has some other ways of making passive income (private investments, solar panels & more).  Rob does a good job of keeping things fun, but also giving in depth reviews on stock purchases and financial decisions he makes.
4. Dividends Diversify
   I am not sure if others will agree – but Tom from Dividends Diversify reminds me of everyone’s favourite uncle in the online finance world.  Tom is a teacher, and you can tell by the way he writes and informs.  Tom has a very detailed breakdown on his website on his investing philosophy as well as what he looks for in each company before he pulls the trigger to make a buy.  Although Tom is slightly older than the guys above he fits right in with all the millennial bloggers popping up each day.
5. Financial Uproar & Canadian Dividend InvestingBoth of these sites are run by “Nelson”.  Financial Uproar was probably the wittiest, most creative financial website I’ve ever read.  It’s not often I laugh out loud while reading a finance blog but this site was able to do it multiple times.  Unfortunately Nelson recently announced he will no longer be updating that site – and is instead focusing on his new website “Canadian Dividend Investing“.  I’d be lying if I said I won’t miss FU, however the new site looks promising.  It doesn’t seem to have the same “I don’t give a shit attitude” but looks to be a great resource for researching Canadian stocks.  I recommend checking both out!

 

Anyways, check em out & let me know what you think!

 

 

1st Quarter Goals Review

I only set 6 goals for myself this year. Now that the first few months of the year have come and gone – let’s take a quick look at which goals I’ve already completed – and where I need to get my ass in gear.

2018 Personal Goals:

1- Increase the amount of blog posts – and the range of content on this site

So far so good.  In the first 3 months of this year I was able to add 16 new posts. I ended the last 3 months of 2017 with 9 posts, so definitely starting to increase the frequency.

2- Get life insurance &  a will in order

Not only have I not done this – I haven’t even begun looking into it.  My wife is going back to work in 2 weeks – so once I get an idea of her life insurance at work, salary, etc I should have a better idea of what exactly we would require for life insurance.  As for a will – I don’t even know where to start…

3-Take the wife to 5 new restaurants 

Need to step up here as well.  We’ve actually gone out a couple of times for dinner – but never to a new place.  Once I specifically tried to find a new place but she was hungry and yelled at me to just pick the closest place…So although this has been an epic failure so far – I am half blaming the wife 🙂

2018 Financial Goals:

1-Sell off Mutual funds through my bank and replace them with low cost ETF’s

I am happy to say this is 100% complete.  I sold the following two funds:
RBC Canadian Equity Income Class A
RBC Global Dividend Growth Class A

I replaced the global fund with XAW (All World EX Canada) & I liked the Canadian Equity fund so much that I just moved it to a Series D fund with lower MER.  You can read more about those decisions HERE.   By switching these funds over, I am now almost $2000/year in fees!

2-Receive $10,000 in passive dividend income*

My current forward annual dividend income is sitting around $6000.  When I made this goal I was originally planning on switching over my work RRSP to some ETF’s that pay dividends as well – however after closer inspection I found out we get a special group management fee rate – and the MER on these funds is only 0.5%.  These funds have performed very well for me as well since 2006.  I decided to keep these funds in these accounts, and while they don’t pay dividends, the overall rate of return makes up for it. It is pretty safe to say i will not hit this goal this year – however I will keep trying to sock away a bit extra each month to get as close as possible.

 

3-Increase overall portfolio to $350,000.00*

At the time of writing this, my portfolio currently sits at: $301,685.49.  This is basically exactly where it was in January when I set the goal.  This is what happens when you have a portfolio that consists of 90% equities.  The recent stock market pull backs saw my portfolio drop for 2 consecutive months, however it looks like I should end this month back up.  Getting to 350k by the end of the year will be tough- and is probably almost entirely out of my control at this point.  If the stock markets rise by 10% or so I may be able to do it – but if they keep stagnant or drop – I definitely won’t achieve this goal.

 

Summary

It’s not looking too good right now.  Assuming I can wine & dine my wife 5 times I should be able to guarantee 50% of these goals are achieved.  I also think I should be able to sort out the life insurance & will this year which would bring me to 4/6.  The last 2 are going to be tough – and are basically in Mr. Market’s hands now…

 

*The last 2 goals are more for fun, and to keep me motivated to invest as much as I can – but in the long run, it wont matter if my portfolio breaks 350k this year, or if I make 10k in passive income this year.  I am in this for the long haul, and with my asset allocation I know there are going to be bumpy rides along the way.  Once I get a bit older and adapt to a more conservative approach then I can start worrying about things like ensuring my passive income can cover my expenses – for now it’s all being reinvested anyway.

A Man’s Gotta Eat! Cheap Frozen Lunch Edition.

I am not your typical “frugal” blogger.  My retirement/saving plan has never been extreme frugality, or sacrificing everything you enjoy for a few years to ensure early retirement.  My philosophy has always been – life is short – enjoy as much as you can afford to – but make sure you always pay yourself first to ensure you don’t HAVE to work forever.

This brings me to today’s post. Although I still spend way too much at restaurants, bars, and on entertainment – one area I have actually done a good job cutting back my spending over the past year is by bringing lunches to work 4 days a week.  For about 8 years straight, I would go out for lunch every single day.  Aside from the cost savings – I have found that there are actually some pretty enjoyable frozen lunches that are easy to make/cheap.  I figured I’d use today’s post to showcase a few of my favourite frozen/ready made lunches and see if anyone else has any suggestions.  I will not be including sandwiches – because most mornings I am too lazy/rushed to make them and I wanted to keep it fair across the board.  So without further Ado….

My top 4 Value Frozen lunches.

 

 1- Stouffers Bistro Crustini Meatball Mozzerela

So far my personal favourite.  This one can be found on sale at Walmart or Superstore for $1.88.  It includes two crustini’s and is fairly filling.  What makes it great is the sauce & the crust.  I’ve also tried the Turkey Bacon Club – and although still pretty good – does not compare to this one.

2 – Swanson’s Fried Chicken

I’ll be the first to admit, I always though these TV dinners would be gross – but I never actually tried them.  I decided to give these a shot about a month ago because they were on clearance.  I was able to find them for $2.00 each so I tried a few different varieties.  So far I have tried the Turkey Dinner, Fried Chicken & Stuffed Turkey.  While all of them were actually surprisingly good – the Fried Chicken one was the best.  This chicken is somehow tastier than KFC/Chicken Delight.  These meals are also nice, because unlike a pizza pop or something – you get a bit of vegetables (usually corn or beans).  When on sale – you can’t go wrong for $2-3 each.  Another great thing about these compared to pizza pockets, crustinis, etc is they are more filling.  The brownie/apple or cranberry treats are never really great – but the rest of the meal makes up for it.

3- El Monterey Chimichanga

 

These things are GOOD!  Even better if you have some sour cream/Salsa or hot sauce around.  I don’t get these as much as the others for the simple fact I don’t have my Costco membership anymore and that seemed to be where I could always find them.  I plan on renewing my membership soon, so I’ll probably be chowing down on some of these bad boys again in the coming months.

4- No Name Pizza Pockets

If you like Pizza Pops but have never tried these – you are missing out.  The pepperoni one is my favourite, and these no name brand pockets are better than any other pizza pocket/pop I’ve tried.  You can get 8 of them for 4 bucks – which for me works out to $2.00 per meal.  I find the dough and sauce to be better than a Pilsbury Pizza Pocket.  The only downside with these (for me) is that they sometimes wont fill me up. These pair great with some potato chips or jalapeno cheezies!
I am always looking for new quick and easy lunches to try, and if they are on sale or cheap even better.  If you have any suggestions on others to try – let me know!