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!

November Recap: Dividends, Renovations & World Cup

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights

Well, the waiting is finally over, I got to see Canada play 3 games in a World Cup, and although I would have loved to see them get a win, or advance from the group – it was always going to be a challenge. This World Cup should give them some experience for 2026 when we co-host the tournament. It should also lead to a few (more) of our players signing contracts over in Europe which will definitely help.
I finally bought one of the chairs I’ve had my eye on for years. I haven’t had it delivered yet, but here is a picture. It’s a R.Huber Scoop chair w/ottoman made by R.S Asscociates in the 60’s:
On the house front – we got our roof done right before the snow came, and I’ve already paid the deposit and materials to get our flooring ripped up and replaced. I don’t have an install date yet – but they assured me it would be completed before Christmas 🙂
Holland & Isaac have both been in swimming. Holland is also in dance, and has her winter recital coming up this weekend. We are all very excited – probably much more than her.
My soccer season went from bad to worse – besides barely winning any games – last week I got smashed into by the goalie on the other team and ended up with a deep bone bruise on my rib – so I’ll be out for a few weeks. On the plus side – our curling team is still undefeated 🙂
Lastly – like the rest of Canada, the flu has ravaged our house this month. Holland turned 7 and had 2 birthday parties planned, but of course both her and Isaac got sick right before and we had to cancel them. Both kids are better now, but it was pretty rough for a few days. Isaac had a fever up to 104.3.
Financial Highlights for November:

Regular readers will know I’ve been really focusing on maxing my TFSA out this year. As of January 1st, I had $29,614 contribution room available. Last month I was able to finally max out both my TFSA & Amber’s. The plan is to contribute the full $13,000 to our TFSA’s in January so that I don’t need to contribute anymore through the year either. I am still sitting on about 50k in cash in Amber’s TFSA waiting to make some purchases. Most likely XAW will account for the vast majority of that with another 2-3 stocks on top of it.
I didn’t make any stock purchases in November, but I did receive dividend raises from RBNK, Equitable Group, Telus, Diversified Royalty & Couche Tard!
We are currently sitting on around $55,000 cash in our TFSA, waiting to scoop up some more great companies at discounted prices over the coming months.
Received dividends from 6 companies and 2 funds. Dripped an additional 40 shares/units. Last year I dripped a total of 603 new shares. So far this year I have dripped 626 shares in the first 11 months!
With this months drips & dividends I surpassed last years total of each. December is always a big month as well, so I am hoping to smash last year’s record for total dividend income.

Passive Income Update For November 2022.

TFSA’S:

Power Corp: $123.75 (dripped 3 shares)

Diversified Royalty Income: $32.48 (dripped 11 shares)

Artis Reit: $51.30 (dripped 5 shares)

European Residential Reit: $22.11(dripped 7 shares)

RBNK: $91.96 (dripped 3 shares)

Nexus Reit: $15.68 (dripped 1 share)

Canadian NET Reit: $10.64

TFSA’s Total: $347.92

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $394.57 (dripped 10 units)

RRSP Total: $394.57

Total Passive Income November 2022: 742.49*
*47% of this was 100% Tax Free!

2022 Portfolio Update:

Portfolio increased 5% to a new all time high $577,270.66! This is very misleading, as we injected over $50,000 cash into the portfolio last month, but still cool to see. I’m still holding some 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 November were up 16% YoY compared to last November!

Last year (2021) I received $14,022 in dividends. So far in 2022, I have received $14,100.52. My forward 12 month dividend income is sitting at $16,013.84*.
*That doesn’t include any year end/special distributions.

I am still hoping to crack $18,000 by year end. 35% of my dividend income this year has been completely tax free. Last year – only 25% of my income was tax free – so it’s nice to see the focus on the TFSA has been paying off!

Happy Halloween! October Update

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights

Another busy month! My soccer season started, the kids are in dance & swimming, and I started my curling “career” with a win!
The cabin has officially sold, the money has cleared and we’ve begun spending it/investing it and making plans for the rest of it. The first thing we did was we each took a bit of money to “treat ourselves”. Amber bought a bunch of new clothes, spent some money on a girls trip and got a new Christmas Tree. In typical Jordan fashion – I got an XBOX One Series X and some booze…hah. A bit of what I bought:
Some of the other cabin sale money will go towards: Maxing out Amber’s TFSA(done), redoing our roof (starting next week), renovating the floors in living room/dining room & upstairs (hopefully finished in November). We are also contemplating finishing the basement – but undecided at this point.
The kids had their first school dance which was a blast. We also went to “Boo @ The Zoo” which is like a mini halloween carnival at the Zoo.
We hosted a large Thanksgiving dinner (about 30 people) and it was so much fun seeing all the kids/cousins running around playing together.
We had our civic election last week in Winnipeg. It ended in a much expected disappointment. We re-elected a bunch of councillors with no vision and a new mayor whose main vision is to build more roads…meh. We had 11 candidates running for mayor. Voter turnout was so low, we almost had more candidates than voters…haha
Financial Highlights for October:

Regular readers will know I’ve been really focusing on maxing my TFSA out this year. As of January 1st, I had $29,614 contribution room available. I am happy to report, I have officially maxed out both my TFSA & Amber’s TFSA (thanks to the proceeds of the cabin sale). This means now I can drastically reduce the amount I was contributing every two weeks, or invest in a non registered account OR double up our mortgage payments.
In October I added 128 shares of Brookfield Asset Management to my TFSA. I also added 440 shares of European Residential Reit. These two purchases will add an additional $360.20 to my annual dividend income (100% Tax Free).
We are currently sitting on around $55,000 cash in our TFSA, waiting to scoop up some more great companies at discounted prices over the coming months.
Received dividends from 11 companies and 2 funds. Dripped an additional 81 shares/units. Last year I dripped a total of 603 new shares. So far this year I have dripped 586 shares in the first 10 months!

Passive Income Update For October 2022.

TFSA’S:

Telus: $66.03 (dripped 2 shares)

Diversified Royalty Income: $30.21 (dripped 11 shares)

Artis Reit: $51.05 (dripped 5 shares)

Algonquin Power: $262.70 (dripped 18 shares)

European Residential Reit: $15.72(dripped 5 shares)

RBNK: $83.96 (dripped 4 shares)

Nexus Reit: $15.63 (dripped 1 share)

Canadian NET Reit: $10.64

TFSA’s Total: $535.94

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $394.00 (dripped 11 units)

Transcontinental: $218.03 (dripped 13 shares)

NewFlyer: $37.01 (dripped 3 shares)

GoEasy Financial: $393.12 (dripped 3 shares)

Equitable Group: $231.57 (dripped 5 shares)

RRSP Total: $1273.73

Total Passive Income October 2022: $1809.67*
*29.6% of this was 100% Tax Free!

2022 Portfolio Update:

Portfolio increased 14% to $549,484.91. This is very misleading, as we injected over $50,000 cash into the portfolio this month. If we remove the big cash infusion the portfolio is up about 3.7%. The lower stock prices are a little annoying – but I’m not going to lie, I enjoy seeing the DRIPPED share numbers increase. Adding almost 20 Algonquin Power shares, 5 Equitable Group & 3 GoEasy is real nice. I plan to hold a bit of this 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 October were up 34.6% YoY compared to last October!

Last year (2021) I received $14,022 in dividends. So far in 2022, I have received $13,358.03. My forward 12 month dividend income is sitting at $15,707.00*.
*That doesn’t include any year end/special distributions.

September 2022 Update: Stocks go down too!

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights

On a personal level….September was BUSY – and it looks like things are just getting started…
Summer is over, school routines are back, Holland started dance again, Isaac starts swimming right away….my soccer season starts in a week, my wife starts curling in 2 weeks and I decided to play mixed curling every second Saturday starting later this month with my brother & wife…crazy times.
I spent 4 nights in Chicago this month for a work conference, but got to see a bit of the city, had a few good meals, and even met up with an old friend from high school who moved there many moons ago. All around decent trip.
Watched a bunch of soccer (as is normal) but this included 2 Canada friendlies in anticipation of the World Cup. We beat Qatar and lost to Uruguay, but we proved we can keep up with some great teams which was very cool.
We had a wedding over the weekend, which was a great time. It was the kids first real wedding they’ve been too, and they had a blast. We even made ourselves look semi presentable!
We had our hockey pool draft yesterday. This is a dynasty/keeper league, that I have been running for FIFTEEN years. There are currently 9 teams in the league, and 6 of the 9 have been in the league for the full 15 years – which is pretty cool. It’s always fun to get together at the start of the season, have some beers, and see the boys. I’m pretty happy with how my team turned out – but I say that every year…hah
Some pretty big news….we officially sold our cabin! This is a bit bittersweet – we’ve had the cabin for 10 years, and always love going out there – unfortunately we’ve never really loved the cabin itself. We bought it before we had kids, and we’ve kind of outgrown it. We will keep an eye out for a new one in the coming months/years – but we are also kind of excited to spend a summer or two in the city – as we’ve pretty much been out at the cabin every weekend from May to September for the last 10 years. On the plus side, the cabin was mortgage free, and we got double what we paid for it, so I am expecting a nice little deposit into my account soon. The plan is to do a few house renovations, max out Amber’s TFSA with some stock purchases, and let’s be honest, probably buy some nice whiskey
I’ll do up a post on the cabin proceeds, and what stocks I end up buying, but right now the plan would be to add to my positions in: BAM, XAW, TELUS & RBNK.
Financial Highlights for September:

Regular readers will know I’ve been really focusing on maxing my TFSA out this year. As of January 1st, I had $29,614 contribution room available. In the first 9 months of the year I’ve been able to contribute $23,638.13. I am hopeful by the end of the year I’ll have this maxed out. Amber still has about 50k contribution room left, which I will max out once the cabin sale is processed. Aside from the obvious benefit of adding $50k into more dividend stocks/forward income, by maxing out both TFSA’s it will give us a lot of extra cash per month which we no longer need to dump into our accounts. We can use this to either pay down the mortgage, invest in RRSP or non registered accounts, or just enjoy on some trips, renovations, and fun toys.
In September, I contributed $1200 to my TFSA. I now have just $5975.87 contribution room left to max out before the end of the year!
Received dividends from 10 companies and 2 funds. Dripped an additional 65 shares/units. Last year I dripped a total of 603 new shares. So far this year I have dripped 505 shares in the first 9 months!

Passive Income Update For September 2022.

TFSA’S:

Diversified Royalty Income: $30.02 (dripped 10 shares)

Artis Reit: $50.85 (dripped 4 shares)

European Residential Reit: $15.25(dripped 4 share)

RBNK: $81.77 (dripped 3 share)

Brookfield Asset Management: $36.78

Western Forest: $26.44 (dripped 17 shares)

Canadian Western Bank: $0.31

Manulife: $346.50(dripped 15 shares)

Nexus Reit: $15.57 (dripped 1 share)

Canadian NET Reit: $10.64

TFSA’s Total: $532.36

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $393.00 (dripped 10 units)

Alimentation Couche Tard: $66.66(dripped 1 share)

RRSP Total: $459.66

Total Passive Income September 2022: $992.02*.
*54% of this was 100% Tax Free!

2022 Portfolio Update:

Portfolio decreased 5.1% to $481,399.37. This is the lowest my portfolio has been since March 2021. Normally I’d be pretty annoyed by this…BUT with a bunch of cash about to come in from the cabin sale, lower prices is actually kind of nice right now, plus my dividend income continues to grow each month/year.

Dividends in September were up 34% YoY compared to last September!

Last year (2021) I received $14,022 in dividends. So far in 2022, I have received $11,548.03. My forward 12 month dividend income is sitting at $15,476.00*.

*That doesn’t include any year end/special distributions.

I am still hoping to crack $18,000 by year end. 37% of my dividend income this year has been completely tax free. Last year – only 25% of my income was tax free – so it’s nice to see the focus on the TFSA has been paying off!