Laid off after 16 years. This should be interesting…

Laid off: Now what?

Well, it finally happened.  After 16 years working for the same company, it all came to an end last week.  The funny thing is…instead of being upset, angry or anxious…I kind of feel relieved, like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.

The company had it’s ups and downs over the years, but over the last few years specifically it had many more downs.  The majority of my coworkers that I enjoyed working with over the years were no longer there, ownership changes had made things a lot less fun, and I had reached a point where I didn’t feel like I was being challenged, or learning anything new.  Don’t get me wrong, I am still going to miss my work friends, and some of the conveniences that my company provided…but in the end, I think moving on will be best for me and my family.

I am also really looking forward to taking a month or two off, hopefully writing a few more blog posts, drinking a few new whiskies and doing some cleaning/organising around the house.  It will be nice to have some extra time off around the holidays, hell I might even get my Christmas shopping done before Christmas eve (probably not).  In my first 2 days of unemployment I’ve already accomplished quite a bit:

• Cleaned out & reorganised entire basement
• Set up home office
• Decluttered/cleared out cupboards/shelves in family room & kitchen
• Watched the Irishmen on Netflix
• Had brunch with my dad
• Wrote a blog post
• Initiated transfer of work Pension into direct investment account

We also have a trip to Mexico planned in January – so I probably wont start seriously looking for a new job until after that.  In the mean time, I’m going to look into taking a couple courses and looking into seeing if EI will potentially pay for some.  In my entire adult life I’ve never been on unemployment, or ever had a span of more than a week or two without a job, so it will definitely be interesting.  Hopefully I don’t drive myself crazy.

Anyways, now you know the reason I haven’t been to active on Twitter lately, or written any new posts.  Now that the home office is set up I hope to start writing a bit more – and I’m really excited to do a recap of the whisky tasting night I hosted a couple weeks ago.

In the meantime, if anyone has any movie/tv recommendations, online course recommendations, or xbox games to try…let me know in the comments. I got spare time!

Cheers

November Recap. Dividends, Frozen 2 and whisk(e)y!

Monthly Financial Update

Personal Highlights for November:

• My little miracle science test tube baby Holland turned FOUR years old!  For those unaware, my wife and I struggled with fertility for years before finally succeeding with the help of IVF.  I wrote a post about the whole process and our daughters birth last year on here birthday which you can read HERE
• We took my daughter to go see Frozen 2 on her Birthday(she made it through the whole movie this time), and then we watched the Winnipeg Blue Bombers win the Grey Cup!
• As usual, my sister in law made an amazing cake for the birthday party. This year the theme was FROZEN (of course):

• I hosted my first ever whisky tasting.  I am not going to give too many details because I plan on writing a full post on the event, with some pictures, consensus favourite whiskys and more!
• As part of my daughters birthday, we got her a new bed and moved her into a new room.  This started a chain reaction, and moved our youngest out of his crib into a bed as well.  It’s crazy, but the kids are getting so big, so fast!  Here is a recent pic of the two of them being goofy as usual:
  

 

• Financial Highlights for November:
  
• Continued bi-weekly deposits into Spousal RRSP, and TFSA.
• Took some profit on GoEasy stock and used proceeds to pick up more shares of Transcontinental.
• Purchased an additional 356 shares of Diversified Royalty Corporation.
• Paid dividends from 3 companies, and 1 funds.  Dripped a total of 20 new shares/unites.
• November is one of my slowest months as far as dividends go, but it is always followed by a huge December, as a couple of funds pay their distributions.
• Portfolio hit a new all time high!

Passive Income Update For November 2019.

TFSA’S:

Diversified Royalty: $10.18

Artis Reit: $27.63 (dripped 2 shares)

Interrent Reit: $4.01

Plaza Reit: $28.72 (dripped 6 shares)

Chorus Aviation: $11.72 (dripped 1 share)

TFSA’s Total: $82.28

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $337.82 (dripped 11 new units)

Total Passive Income November 2019:  $420.10

Portfolio Update:

Total passive income in November was $420.10.  Although this is one the lowest months this year, it is actually an increase of 28.7% from last year!

My portfolio currently sits at: $366,760.48.  This is an all time high, and represents an increase of 20.8% Year over Year.  The best part about that, is this year is the least amount of fresh capital I’ve put into my account in over 5 years.  The growth is a combination of compound interest and a stock market that just keeps reaching new highs.

Stay tuned for a post on my first ever whisky tasting event. Cheers!