Manulife Dividend Increase!

    Manulife Financial $MFC just completed reporting its earnings; reporting an increase in net earnings of 16.7% for the year! With that, they announced a great dividend increase of 12%, going from 25cents a quarter to 28cents per quarter.

    I currently hold 304 shares of Manulife, and at the current share price at the time of writing of $26.62 and the new dividend of 28cents I will be able to DRIP 3 shares a quarter instead of 2 a quarter. My annual dividend income from Manulife based on the 3cent raise means another $9.12/quarter and $36.48 a year, not including newly DRIP'd shares!

Dividend Update: January 2018 and 2019 Comparison!

       A super quick update from a post that has been sitting in draft for, well..... probably sometime in 2018. With a comparison to January 2019. One full year later.

January 2018

Company	Ticker (TSX)	$(Cdn)	Notes
Canadian Apartment REIT	CAR.UN	11.73
Enbridge Income Fund	ENF	11.12
Pizza Pizza	PZA	18.40	258 Shares
Pembina Pipeline Corp.	PPL	21.60
RioCan REIT	REI.UN	9.40
Algonquin Power & Utility	AQN	75.62	525 Shares
Bank of Nova Scotia	BNS	45.82
BCE Inc.	BCE	43.05
Total Dividends		236.74

January 2019, lets see what a whole year has done!

Company	Ticker (TSX)	$(Cdn)	Notes
Canadian Apartment REIT	CAR.UN	14.41	Dividend raise!
TD Bank	TD	30.15	New.
Pizza Pizza	PZA	26.81 (376 Sh	DRIP'd up!
Pembina Pipeline Corp.	PPL	26.22	Dividend Raise!
RioCan REIT	REI.UN	14.40	Dividend raise! Bought more.
Algonquin Power & Utility	AQN	92.22 (549 Shares)	Dividend Raises, US/CAD FX and DRIP's
Bank of Nova Scotia	BNS	49.30	Dividend Raise!
Ishare S&P/TSX	XEI	5.52 (62 Shares)	New
Plaza Retail REIT	PLZ.UN	4.83(207 shares)	New.
Cineplex Inc	CGX	15.66	New.
Total Dividends		279.52	+42.78

    Now for a full year, I have mixed feelings how it went investing wise. In a whole year I would hope to have raised my monthly income comparing the same month a year later by more than $42.78. Part of the lower than liked increase is due to some higher expenses going on in my life, but also from the shifting around of the portfolio in general. The sell of Bell (BCE) which paid into that quarter, Enbridge income fund(ENF) being absorbed by parent company Enbridge (ENB), now paying out in a different Quarter rather than monthly.

   The uptick is from the addition of monthly payers Cineplex (CGX), Plaza Reit (PLZ.UN) and the dividend ETF of XEI. As well as a good amount of DRIP's from Pizza Pizza and Algonquin. PLZ is now also DRIP'ing a share a month.

Dividend Update: 2017 Dividend Total!

    Making a very belated update of my dividend income from 2017. I have some mixed feelings for my year of investing and building up my portfolio's passive income. While I am pleased with receiving $1,881.49 in dividends, which as I usually like to qualify against pretending my portfolio is working a minimum wage job. My little money making Wisp worked about 134 hours at $14/hr in 2017.

Recent Buy: Canadian Apartment REIT

 

 
    Beginning of November, 2017 I bought an additional 72 shares of CAP REIT at $34.6.
With its monthly distribution of $0.10667 per share, I will receive $7.68 more per month, $92.16 per year. With my prior shares my total position in CAP REIT is now 110 shares, with a monthly distribution of $11.7 and $140.80 annually.

    My rationale for the purchase is that while CAP REIT has a lower than average dividend yield for a REIT at around 4% at the time of purchase, they have proven to have a good track record for increase it as they increase their rental property rates. The REIT is also consistently working on bringing additional apartment and townhouse complexes online, as well as expanding into the Netherlands.

    I like to think of them as my pseudo, slowly growing 'rental property'.  :)

Description of Canadian Apartment REIT

"Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT) is a Canada-based open-ended real estate investment trust. CAPREIT's investment objectives are to provide unitholders with long-term, monthly cash distributions; grow normalized funds from operations (NFFO), distributions and Unit value through the management of its properties, acquisitions and financial management, and reinvest capital within the property portfolio. CAPREIT owns and operates a portfolio of multi-unit residential rental properties, including apartments, townhomes and manufactured home communities (MHC) located in and near urban centers in Canada. CAPREIT owns interests in approximately 46,790 residential units, consisting of over 40,501 residential suites and approximately 30 MHC's, consisting of approximately 6,290 land lease sites. CAPREIT owns leasehold interests in approximately 15 properties located in the Greater Toronto Area. The leases mature between 2033 and 2037."

May 2017: Dividend Income!

    Another update on the lovely dividends that I have received so far this year. May is one of my slower months, with mostly just the monthly dividend payers. I am quite happy with the income base that those companies provide, and just knowing that every month I will get and be able to reasonably rely on $60+ per month if needed.