December Update, Year in Review & Goals for 2023!

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights

• We made it!  2023 is upon us, and holy shit was it a busy December to cap the year off.  Here are a few highlights….
• Holland had her winter dance recital.  This was her second ever recital – last year she did 1 routine, this year she is in 2 classes (Acro & Jazz) so she performed two different dances.  She killed both of em of course….
  
• Like complete idiots, we decided to do a bunch of renovations in December (right before we were scheduled to host 2 Christmas dinners and a New Years Party).  Somehow, we managed to get almost everything done in time.  We ripped up the old floors, and put new luxury vinyl planks down, we ripped out our old ugly gas fireplace and patched up the wall, we got a new 75″ tv and mounted it, and got a new area rug delivered just in time.  We still need to do a few small things and paint, but the house is looking much better these days.
• Holland had her 7th birthday party, unfortunately I had tonsilitis so I had to miss it, but I was told it was great.  I also missed a friends bachelor party – but did recover in time to make it to the wedding! 
• Lots of parties & events in December including: Jets game with the work team, Work Christmas party, Curling Christmas Banquet, friends annual Christmas potluck, hosted New Years Eve dinner for my family and boxing day dinner for Amber’s family, Dinner @ Amber’s dads, brunch at my cousin’s and lastly a New Years party at our place that went until 4:30 AM!  
• One of my favorite things about hosting dinners/parties besides getting together with everyone is sharing some exceptional cocktails and pours.  Here are a few highlights from Xmas Eve:
  
• Made it our good friends wedding on December 30th.  Isaac stole Amber’s phone and was snapping selfies & photos of us all night. Here are a few.
  1) Wifey being cute
  2) Isaac and our friend Mitch being goofs
  3) Mom & Isaac
  4) The bride & groom
  5) Holland & Isaac lounging at the wedding
  
  

Lastly, Christmas was great – the kids got spoiled, and we will probably be opening new toys for months:

Financial Highlights for December:

• TFSA’s are maxed out – so no new contributions were made.  The plan is to max out both TFSA(s) on January 3rd.  I am still contributing $200 bi weekly to a spousal RRSP which I might increase a bit in 2023. Besides that I don’t plan on contributing much more this year – instead excess cash will probably go towards paying down the mortgage.
• I didn’t make any stock purchases in December, but I did receive new shares of the newly spun out Brookfield Asset Management.
• We are currently sitting on around $63,000 cash in our TFSAs, waiting to scoop up some more great companies at discounted prices over the coming months.
• Received dividends from 9 companies and 3 funds.  Dripped an additional 107 shares/units.  Last year I dripped a total of 603 new shares.  In 2022 I ended up dripping 733 new shares.
• With this months drips & dividends I surpassed last years total of each.  There are actually a few big year end distributions coming as well which won’t hit the account until January as well, so 2023 should start out nicely!
• Finished 2022 with $16,282.99 in dividends, a 16% YoY increase.  I was expecting to crack 18k, however I never ended up putting all my cash to work, so once I invest the cash in our TFSA’s our forward income should go up quite a bit.

Passive Income Update For December 2022.

TFSA’S:

Diversified Royalty Income: $32.70 (dripped 11 shares)

Artis Reit: $51.55 (dripped 5 shares) *Should be an additional $165.76 hitting account soon from a special dividend*

Western Forest: $26.65 (dripped 23 shares)

European Residential Reit: $23.32 (dripped 7 shares)

RBNK: $92.25 (dripped 4 shares)* Note there should be an additional $800+ special year end distribution coming in January*

Nexus Reit: $15.73 (dripped 1 share)

Canadian NET Reit: $10.64

Manulife: $351.45 (dripped 14 shares)

TFSA’s Total: $666.95

RRSP: 

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $1019.61 (dripped 28 units)

Couch Tard: $84.98 (dripped 1 share)

RBC US Index Fund: $410.93 (Dripped 12 units)

RRSP Total: $1515.52

Total Passive Income December 2022:  2182.47*
*31% of this was 100% Tax Free!

2022 Portfolio Update:

Portfolio decreased 5% to a new all time high $544,579.13!   I’m still holding cash for the coming months to try and scoop up some great companies.  A few I have my eye on: Brookfield, Interrent Reit, CP/CN Rail, RBNK and XAW.

Dividends in 2022 were up 16% YoY compared to last Year!

Here is a breakdown of the last 8 years:

Going into 2023 I plan to put the money in our TFSA(s) to work, investing mostly in XAW, and a couple other stocks. A few other goals for the year:

– Max out TFSA’S (this will be done tomorrow)
– Read 1 book a month (minimum)
– Pay an additional (on top of regular payments) minimum $10,000 on mortgage
– Bring wife on at least 1 work trip & do at least 1 family trip
– Finish house renovations (painting, a few new pieces of furniture and some backyard work)
– Crack $20,000 in passive income

Going forward, the plan is to actually invest LESS.  I will continue to max out both TFSA’s each year and put a bit of cash bi weekly into our RRSP, but now that I’ll be FORTY this year, I want to start working on getting the house paid off, and slowly getting portfolio built more for retirement in the 5-10 years.  I also want to start spending a bit more on things like travel, and entertainment, nights out with the family and friends, and other cool experiences. As of September 2023 the kids will also be out of daycare which will free up an additional $12,000 a year to either invest or pay down mortgage.  I hope everyone had a great 2022, and I wish you all a wonderful 2023!

Cheers!

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