2015 Goals in Review

    This year has felt as if it zoomed by, and even though the year is just about gone I am very happy with the progress I have been able to make. With continuing to work on this blog (and Twitter), building my portfolio and at long last starting a career in banking!

Here is a recap of my 2015 goals.
1)  $1,200 in yearly estimated dividend income.
2) Achieve a savings rate of 40% or higher.                              
3) Regular posting of update and informative articles(1-3) month.   
4) Complete partially finished 2014 articles!
5) Thank you to all my readers, regular and new!

December 2015: Dividend Update!

    With December coming to a close, 2015 is going with it as well. I am very happy to once again to be posting about the dividends that I have received this month, as well as looking back over this years progress. Seeing the dividends get deposited into my brokerage account always makes me smile, and I get an even bigger smile at the end of the month every time I see that the months dividends have out paced the previously comparable month. This December was no different, with the months dividends once again pulling ahead!

Next Buy Watchlist: December 2015

With my last Watchlist in September I focused on consistent, steadily growing quarterly dividend payers within the financial sector. The big Canadian banks and insurance companies. Which of those companies, I bought my first shares in Manulife Financial, read about it here in my Recent Buy post.

    Recently, with my last purchase of Dream Office REIT I went for high yield, monthly income. This time around though I am so far still contemplating on what I want to buy next. While I am hunting for income and yield, I do also want to plan for the future with dividend growth stocks.

    In particular, I am looking to build singular positions to a size where dividends are able to DRIP a stock per payout, as well as try to diversify investments within my TFSA portfolio. Currently, I want to have my portfolio heavier on REIT's since within the Tax Free Savings Account their high income through distribution is not taxed, so for the most part I think I am about where I want to be on REITs. Making it the ideal account for Canadians to hold REIT's in, read my overview on the TFSA for more.

November 2015: Income & Expenses

    November was a busy and exciting month for me, particularly with leaving my job at Starbucks slinging coffee for the past two and a bit years to starting a new career at one of the big 6 Canadian banks. So baring that in mind, I actually had pretty good hours that month, having been given more hours to assist in the training of several new hires.

    Going forward I am looking forward to earning more each month due to a higher income. Also my continually higher dividend income will keep me moving ahead as I keep adding to my portfolio, and some of those great companies keep growing their dividends.

November 2015: Dividend Update!

    Writing about my monthly dividends is one of my favourite posts to write about. I think most dividend bloggers would agree if you ask them which post is the easiest to write as well. If not only because you write about the money you make while not working. And it is also fun to put together, tally up and compare the results from previous months.

    I also really enjoy watching the steady upward progression of my dividend income. Whether it be through actively adding more stocks, or new position into my portfolio, or the companies which I already hold raise their dividend payouts. For instance, this month my dividend income increased for both of those reasons!

Recent Buy! November 2015

    This post is actually a fair bit late, as I had made this purchase on November 12th. I have just been rather busy lately, in part to my new job! So that had me pretty busy and tired by the end of the day. I had also meant to not make any buys till I put together and posted a Watchlist. However, I thought I saw a good opportunity and I went for it. 

Happy News: New Job!

    I have some great news to share! This Monday I will be starting my first day at my new job. Which means my days of slinging coffee for Starbucks has ended. I am really looking forward to going into a calmer work environment, where I don't end the day smelling of coffee and hard work! I also had to learn how to properly do a tie, which thankfully did not take too long. The site ties.com was super helpful, and I found it to be much easier to learn from instructional pictures than Youtube videos.

October 2015: Income & Expenses

    October was a very busy and exciting month. With a lot going on, I ended up spending more than I usually do. Luckily though October was one of those rare months every year that coincides with three pay periods which offset all that spending. And besides spending more at restaurants and fun, I spent more on health and new prescription glasses. So important items, not simply frivolous spending, as well as taking full advantage of my health and dental plan while I am covered.

October 2015: Dividend Update!

    October is ending this Halloween night, and with the months conclusion I have had many treats in the form of my monthly and quarterly dividends. With a new months high of $213.53 in dividend income! A modest $5.13 more than the last comparable quarter, or almost half an hour of working at a minimum wage job.

    I love being able to literally see the results of my hard work; putting the money I save every month to work for me. Having dividend paying stock reward me every month or quarter, steadily growing and increasing my future buying power of even more shares. And these monthly posts allow me to see, compare and highlight where my dividend growth is coming from. Usually in the form of a dividend increase, or having had bought additional shares in a company.

Portfolio Update: As of October 24, 2015

    Its been about a full Quarter since my last Portfolio Update at the start of June. Since that time the markets have been quite turbulent with a lot of worrying and speculation on the affects of slower growth in China, low oil prices, interest rates and elections. (Click here for my post on that)

    I have also since then added to a few of my positions, as well as initiated a new one with my Recent Buy of Manulife Financial last month. As well as increasing my positions in Bank of Nova Scotia, Veresen and eliminating my holdings of ZDV, my BMO exchange traded fund.

September 2015: Income & Expenses

    It feels like I only just wrote about what I earned and spent in September, but apparently it has been an entire year since! I find it interesting to compare how I am fairing from year to year, seeing the changes in where my income is coming from and where I spend my money. From the snapshots between September 2014 and 2015 it looks like I worked less, made about the same in Other/Bonus income, but more than doubled my dividend income!

Recent Buy! October 2015

    In the past couple of weeks I have been fortunate enough to build up enough cash to do one of my more favourite activities, purchasing more shares of dividend paying companies! Now, I had the money in my account for a couple of weeks, waiting to see how the markets settled with all the recent volatility. Well, last week I pulled the trigger and put that capital to work with a new position in my portfolio!

September 2015: Dividend Update!

    September is one of my quieter dividend months, but just like every other month the dividends come in nice and steady with no effort or early mornings on my part! Every third month of a quarter is my lightest month, with the monthly distributions forming the base of the income, with a helping hand from Suncor. I am also very excited that for the first time this year, the on average lowest paying month just exceeded the highest single month of dividend income that I received in October 2014, just short of a full year ago!

Next Buy Watchlist: September 2015

    It has been awhile since my last post, as I have been rather busy, as have the markets! It also been quite some time since my previous Watchlist in June. While I have been busy, I made sure to keep an eye on the markets and keeping abreast of recent news and important events like the Bank of Canada and Fed's decisions to hold interest rate steady, as well as results and comments on China's economy.

    There have been a few companies that I have been looking to build up my positions on. Especially with the continuing volatility that markets have been experiencing, some stocks are getting into  compelling valuations. In particular at the moment I am looking at adding to my existing bank positions, or initiating a new position in an insurance company.

August 2015: Income & Expenses

    August made for a pretty great last month of summer. Had mostly good weather and the chance to enjoy some warm holidays relaxing without having to fly down south. As such I took it a bit easier during the month and enjoyed life a little bit extra. As such, I worked a bit less, which is reflected in my lower work income for the month, but that hidden column of happiness definitely was way up!

August 2015: Market News

    Over the past few weeks markets have been acting crazily! Especially within the last couple of days there has been considerable market volatility. I am sure many of you, myself included have seen our portfolio drop considerably in value. However, I would think many of you have also smiled in a certain degree of happiness at the prospects of getting better value for your cash if you are lucky enough to have some at the ready.

    Many of the worlds major stock markets have suffered quite a bit in the past few days, even after Tuesday slight bounce back. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) was down 8.41% From what I gather from headlines and news articles, the troubles seem to be, at least in part due to the following events and predicaments:

August 2015 Dividend Update!

    August has come to a close and I have received my dividends for the month. I always like to think myself very fortunate for being able to have thus far in my life build up a portfolio of stocks that consistently contribute to my monthly income, and better yet get instantly saved within my brokerage account.

    Better yet, as I continue my journey into investing and with tracking my progress I have come to appreciate how each addition to my portfolio increases my passive income stream. The jump in income from quarter to quarter, and even more so from the previous year, and soon to be years is simply amazing. The previous comparable quarter brought in an awesome $82.79, August 2014 was a near record high at the time with $36.94! Going back all the way to August 2013 my records show earning seventeen cents from the meager beginning of my savings using mutual funds. There has been a lot of growth in my portfolio in that time, and it is simply that time and effort that has seen my dividends grow.

Recent Buy! August 2015

    Putting money to work is an activity which I greatly enough, and its right up there with sharing those purchases here. On August 7th I closed my position in my BMO ETF, ZDV. Using some of those proceeds and accumulated dividends I added to my current holdings in Veresen (VSN).

    Veresen operates within three primary categories: midstream operations, pipelines and power generation. The stock is down 23.93% in the past three months, and on Friday dropped roughly another 4.8%. Mainly due to the unexpected forced shutdown of the Alliance pipeline, which Veresen shares a stake in with Enbridge.The issue appeared to be largely out of Alliance Pipeline's control, as the problem occurred by an upstream operator with the detection of Hydrogen Sulphide. On August 13th operations have started, and are running smoothly.

Recent Sell! August 2015

    I do not sell very often, as I plan on buying and holding, pretty much indefinitely the stocks that I do purchase. However I have been putting quite a bit of thought into this one and decided to sell off my entire position in ZDV, the exchange traded fund offered by BMO.

July 2015: Income & Expenses

     July has been what I would consider to be a good month, beautiful summer weather for the most part and great times with family and friends. Also brought in a new high mark of dividend income, as well as working a fair bit to boost my work income and got a couple of deposits from the Government. All of this income resulted in my highest month of income that I have gotten outside of a triple payday month that occurs about twice a year.

July 2015 Dividend Update!

    I am always very happy to check my Questrade account throughout the month and periodically see the cash balance rise without any help on my part. July has certainly been no exception, with several big quarterly payouts from AQN, BNS, BCE and TD, along with my stable monthly contributors hitting their mark.

2015 Goal Progress Update!

    Now that the first half of 2015 is coming to a close, its a good time to review the goals I set out for myself for the year at the end of 2014. It has been a pretty busy and exciting year so far and I continue to work at my goals and share them here. Overall, I am quite happy with most of my 2015 goal progression.

1)  $1,200 in yearly estimated dividend income - Accomplished!

June 2015: Income & Expenses

    June, as I mentioned in my last dividend update post is a slower month for me. With mostly just my monthly dividends hitting my brokerage account. It is also slower during the summer at work, so hours are a bit harder to come by, resulting in lower work income as well. Generally speaking though, I budget myself on a monthly $1,400 in income, so I only just narrowly fell under that. And that estimated earnings total is more of just a guideline to work from and to compare the months current and projected expenses.

Income	$
Work	1291.19
Bonus	42
Dividends	61.93
Total	1395.12

    As I mentioned, work was a bit light this month, in part due to taking a couple days off for vacation and my girlfriends convocation. So the days off were definitely enjoyed and well worth the slight drop in income, you still gotta live and enjoy the summer will it lasts! Bonus income via tips were proportionally lower due to fewer hours as expected.

    On a side note, the blogs AdSense really pulled some weight this month and double the finalized earnings I had since I qualified for it in November! So that is pretty exciting. It was roughly $19! However, since Google only pays out with a minimum threshold of $100, I haven't received it yet and thus didn't report the income here since I record income and expenses as they occur when the money itself gets moved.

Expenses	$
Rent	750
Phone	28.25
Travel	28
Groceries	188.99
Restaurants	19.35
Entertainment	67.77
Other	126
Total	1212.39

    Expenses this month were actually quite good. Compared to last month my travel, restaurant and entertainment costs were way down. As I more often brought meals to work, or due to shorter shifts did not need to bring a meal at all. As well as staying in more, no fancy date night on the town. Also not quite as much extra costs related to drinking or buying games. Also helped that for my birthday in June I received a bottle of rum (cuts down entertainment costs) and subway tokens (cut down on transit), as well as having had bought tokens at the end of May. Groceries were higher than normal due to just buying groceries a bit more, including more fruits and vegetables. And there was a big shop right at the end, so July's food costs might show a bit lower to compensate. :)

     All in all not too bad of a month, made more than I spent although didn't make quite as much as I would have liked (who doesn't?) and spending was fairly controlled. Managed a savings rate of 13%, which is less than what I would like to achieve, but higher than the national average I suppose, so not all bad.

Recent Buy! July 2015

    Pulled the trigger today and put some money to work! The TSX and broader global markets have taken a bit of a beating recently as fears of the possibility of Greece's default and unprecedented exit from the European Union(EU) loams ever closer. At first it appeared that Greece was going to miss its loan repayment to the International Monetary Fund(IMF) if Greece refused to negotiate/cede to the European Central Bank (ECB) terms. With that fear, markets took a nosedive. Then there was hope that a last minute deal over the weekend would provide Greece with its much needed funds; which did not end up happening as their Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras turned down the terms. With that, as some may remember global markets fell roughly 2-3% from just about all sectors. Since then, Mr. Alexis has pretty much given into most of the terms put forth on him, but nothing is signed as of yet (to my knowledge).

Next Buy Watchlist: June 2015

    Monday's news items made for an interesting day to put up a watchlist. With the current market fallout of Greece's potential missing of its IMF repayment date and the looming possibility of its unprecedented retreat from the European Union stock markets have taken a hit. I have been closing in on the stocks that I want to get, but with these events I am glad to have been taking my time. I am also going to be waiting on the result of tomorrow Bank of Canada report on the Canadian economy, as that could also affect financial companies. Now, while preparing and researching for my next addition to my portfolio I have had a few objectives in mind.

June 2015 Dividend Update!

    June falls in line with one of my more passive months. Where dividend income pretty much just comes from my consistent monthly paying companies. They create the steady base of my overall yearly dividend income, which currently stands at an estimated $1,426 over a full year! The month was also boosted a little by Suncor, adding its quarterly $5.60. So far, even with the drop in oil prices from last summers $100 per barrel Suncor has kept its dividends coming, unlike some other oil companies who have had to cut their payouts.

Portfolio Update: As of June 1

    Just a quick update on the status of my portfolio as of the beginning of June. Since my last update at the start of April I have since added to PPL and D.UN. The value of my portfolio from the April 6th update to June 1st has risen by $3,121. Which is in part to additional contributions on my part, as well as some gains in the stock prices. Unfounately since the June 1st my portfolio and the TSX in general has been down a fair bit. On the flip side of course is some of my core positions; banks, reits and pipelines are on a 'discount'!

Company	Ticker	Shares	Current Price	Book Value	Market Value	% P/L	Est. Yearly Div's	Portfolio %
Algonquin Power	TSE:AQN	370	$9.65	$3,181	$3,571	12.24%	$144.67	12%
Bank of Nova Scotia	TSE:BNS	46	$65.88	$2,901	$3,030	4.46%	$125.12	10%
BCE	TSE:BCE	60	$54.62	$3,102	$3,277	5.65%	$156.00	11%
BMO Cdn. Div ETF	TSE:ZDV	45	$17.14	$816	$771	-5.53%	$23.76	3%
Dream REIT	TSE:D.UN	119	$26.03	$3,279	$3,098	-5.54%	$190.74	11%
RioCan REIT	TSE:REI.UN	80	$28.01	$2,278	$2,241	-1.63%	$112.80	8%
Ntl. Bank of Canada	TSE:NA	6	$48.69	$267	$292	9.42%	$12.00	1%
Pembina Pipeline	TSE:PPL	70	$40.12	$2,893	$2,808	-2.92%	$40.02	10%
Pizza Pizza Corp.	TSE:PZA	140	$14.18	$1,970	$1,985	0.77%	$112.06	7%
Royal Bank of Canada	TSE:RY	40	$78.83	$2,998	$3,153	5.18%	$123.20	11%
Suncor	TSE:SU	20	$36.19	$862	$724	-16.03%	$22.40	2%
Toronto Dominion Bank	TSE:TD	44	$54.20	$2,348	$2,385	1.57%	$89.76	8%
Veresen	TSE:VSN	98	$18.56	$1,708	$1,819	6.49%	$97.96	6%
				$28,604	$29,154			100%
					Current Return	1.93%
					Weighted Avg	4.39%

May 2015: Income & Expenses

    The month of May is over and done with, and all the money that came in through work and dividends are in, as well as all the money I spent as well! I am happy to report that I have once again managed to spend less than I made, resulting in a nice little savings rate of 16%. Not too shabby for renting a place and working on near minimum wage if I do say so my self.

Recent Buy! May 2015 (2)

    Drawing off of my last Watchlist I went ahead and purchased an additional 34 shares of Dream Office REIT (D.UN). I bought the shares a few days ago at a price of $26.05, which at the time had a dividend yield of 8.56% and brought the average cost of my position down to $27.56. Now, unfortunately the price of Dream shares has gone down even further to $25. So had I held off on my purchase I could have bought an additional share had I waited, but then again you can never truly know which way the market was going to go.

May 2015 Dividend Update!

    With the ending of the month close at hand, I have received the last of the dividends I expect to get. While May might not have been a record breaking month like April's $144, I have seen my dividend income steadily increase month over month and am extremely happy to be so fortunate as to have and be able to continually invest money over time.

Next Buy Watchlist: May 2015

   Once again I have some capital to deploy, and have been refining which areas of my portfolio to add to. As well as having to consider the encroaching maximization of my Tax Free Savings Account. Which means I am having to start planning how I manage which investments will reside inside it, and which investments will be more tax efficient outside of it.

   For that reason, as you might have noticed I have been leaning pretty heavily in the direction of higher yield, monthly payers, in particular REITs. Since a larger portion of their total return is derived from their monthly distributions rather than potential capital gains when selling a stock. And with my general inclination to buy and hold the stocks that I buy for the long term, when I do eventually setup a non-registered account it should be more tax-efficient for me to have lower yielding, consistent dividend payers outside of my TFSA since in Ontario there is a pretty good tax break on dividend income from Canadian companies. So most likely in the long term (2+, 5+ years?) I would be transitioning my bank stocks like TD, RY and BNS to there while filling up my current account with REITs. Hoping to make a post in the future on REITs and tax efficiency

Dream Office REIT (D.UN)

    Dream focuses on owning and managing quality office buildings in downtown and suburban business districts. This was my first REIT holding and I have added to it fairly recently and am planning to do so again in the future, perhaps even this time around. Dream continues to have above average occupancy rates of its offices and boosts stable tenants in its core holdings of Toronto and Calgary, despite the recent decline in oil prices. Which is a key factor in keeping its funds from operations stable and growing, which allows the REIT to pay its generous monthly distribution of  8.4%.

RioCan REIT (REI.UN)

    RioCan is my other REIT holding and it fills the roll of focusing on owning, developing and operating small and large shopping centers. Generally, their centers are 'anchored' with a large, recognizable long-term tenant such as a bank branch, grocery store or mall outlet.I get a bit of a smile every time I go by a lot with the "Operated by RioCan" at the bottom. Knowing in part, that the property is giving me a little bit of its income every month. RioCan has a more modest distribution yield of 4.94%, but has a solid history of increasing its dividend when compared to Dream.

Suncor (SU)

    This massive Canadian integrated oil company has so far been a bit of a sore spot on my portfolio from when I initiated my position back in September 2014, as it has fallen nearly 16% since then as oil prices have declined. I continue to hold on to the position and continue monitoring it for good opportunities to buy in to. Over the past few months I have seen it oscillate from a general low in the $35 range, and in the upper range of $39 fairly consistently and I see the $36-37$ as a good valuation to get back into it. Overall, Suncor remains a massive company which has been pushing itself to continue looking for efficiencies and other cost cutting measures to keep its cost per barrel down. So far the dividend remains quite safe as Suncor has a very solid balance sheet still. And even at today's price of $36.21 the dividend yield is 3.04%. The main foreseeable issue with them is that if oil remains low for a sustained period of time, than they may not be able to, or unwilling to let go of more capital to continue raising the dividend as they have so consistently in the past.


    These three are the main holdings which I am leaning towards. Dream and RioCan represent my inclination towards income generating assets, whereas Suncor offers a history of long term dividend growth and the potential for a substantial gain in its share price if/when oil prices rise and stabilize. And since Suncor will most likely have its position 'moved' into a non-registered taxable account where I will collect dividends from in a tax efficient manner I may be able to see a considerable tax-free gain from it in the future.

Recent Buy! May 2015

    Found myself with some extra cash floating about since I received my tax refund this month, the benefit of not earning a lot eh? So with my tax return I put it to work right away and threw in some additional earned cash with it, as well as allocating some of my record breaking dividends from last month as well. And since I knew my return was coming I have been following a few stocks in particular, but didn't have the time to post a watchlist as I saw a good opportunity to buy. So I put that money to work by purchasing additional shares in the monthly paying Pembina Pipeling Corp. (PPL).

    Recently PPL has taken a bit of a minor beating in its share price, down 1.92% in the past month. Even though they recently declared a 5.2% increase in their dividend.  With a 52 week low of $36.16, and high of $53.04 it is a bit on the lower end of the midpoint of those valuations. I picked up my recent 47 shares at $41.13, which has lowered my average cost basis from my previous buy of PPL at $41.73 to a total share count of 70 at $41.33.

    With these additional 47 shares working for me, I now receive $7.17 more per month and $86 per year. Which roughly works out to a yield of 4.4%, which to me is pretty solid. And as with its recent dividend increase, PPL has a consistent record of increasing its dividend and has a good record of increasing its share value over time by consistently growing its business.

    Overall I have been quite happy with my holding of PPL and am very happy to now be holding more of this great company. In one my portfolio simulation accounts its grown in the lower double digits while paying out a great dividend. Combined with my prior holdings I now expect a healthy monthly payout of $10.68 to contribute to my passive income stream. I am also expecting to make another addition some time later this month, and will definitely make a list of what I am watching and hoping to add to my portfolio. As well as a couple stocks that I will be considering as potential buys if I were to have a non-registered account or a US stock for an RRSP contribution.

Recent Dividend Increases

   Over the past few months a few of the companies that I follow and hold have raised their dividends. I am as always very happy to be the beneficiary of these free 'raises' for holding the stocks.

The following stocks raised their dividends: PPL, AQN, PZA, MFC

April 2015: Income & Expenses

    April has passed on by at what feels like a lightning fast pace! Especially considering I had no glorious week of vacation in the Caribbean to slow things down, and I have been working quite a bit more that I have usually in previous months. With April's passing spring is finally getting its start here in Toronto and I feel positive its going to be a great summer! My portfolio has gone into high gear with all my recent purchases.

Income	$
Work	1799.86
Other	180.81
Dividends	143.95
Total	2124.53

    Income was quite good this month overall, with my receiving three paychecks to boost the 'Work' column, although one of those was smaller than usual since during the two week period it covered I was on vacation. Having that 3rd payment though certainly made up for it. April also had an unusually higher 'Other' sources of income, even though my tips were about average I also received a deposit from the government (HST credit) as well as I closed out an account from another bank which I had forgotten about (Woops). So I added that transfer amount to the Other income as well, felt a bit like finding that mystical forgotten about $20 in a winter or spring jacket :) To cap off the months income, I also received my new record for dividend income! A whooping $143.95! Which is by far my highest amount of passive income that I have received so far, nearly doubling my last highest of $75.17 in January,

Expenses	$
Rent	750
Phone	28.25
Travel	140
Groceries	86.55
Restaurants	66.83
Entertainment	96.25
Other	0
Total	1171.83

    I managed to keep expenses down quite well in April, with a lower than average grocery bill and thankfully no unexpected or one time costs in the 'Other' category unlike last months. However my Entertainment and Restaurant bill were higher than usual, in part due to going out for a good all you can eat sushi dinner with friends. It was delicious!

   Overall the month of April was a good one. Having the triple pay checks, government rebate, an unexpected balance transfer and $143.95 in dividends really helped out! And with the lower expenses this month  I managed a great savings rate of 45%!! I am also pretty happy and impressed that my dividend income this month managed to equal 8% of my work income and could have covered 12.2% of my expenses this month!

April 2015 Dividend Update!

    The end of March and the beginning of April were two very busy times for me, with several additions made to my portfolio. A few of those buys were before their respective stocks ex-dividend dates and that is very visible in my dividend income results this month! Better yet, the additions made to REI.UN, PZA, BCE, and ZDV did not make it into this months payout, which means in three months time I should be getting this months $143.95 PLUS the income from those new shares added to the total! This months total also smashed my previous record in January by $75.17!

Talking to Your Financial Adviser about ETFs? Some Questions to Consider

    Recently a family member came to me asking for some advice about the recommendations made by their financial adviser, and he wanted to know for the next time to talks to the adviser. The adviser was recommending some specific Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to allocate some money into.

    The main questions that I was asked were:
1) Whether or not ETFs are a good idea.
2) Whether the fees for the ETFs and the advisers on top of that were worth it.
3) Should he just invest in them directly and skip the advisers commission on top of it.
4) What are some good questions to ask the adviser.

I won't go into what the specific ETFs were, as that is more of an asset allocation decision based on the person portfolio.

Recent Buy: Last Buys of March

    Before and after I went away on vacation I deployed a fair sum of capital that become available to me. Having already posted my recent buys that month of AQN and RY, there is still the additional shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), BCE inc (BCE) and Pizza Pizza (PZA) to my portfolio that month. It was a very busy month of portfolio building, which is reflected quite clearly in my last Portfolio Update, with a 103% increase in value!
    Leading up to these buys required quite a bit of time going over each companies available financial information, news releases and comparing the cost and benefits of each relative to each other. As well as comparing the portfolio weighting of each of the companies that were on my watchlist, as well as the impact of adding different amounts of each would have on my overall sector weightings as well.

March 2015: Income & Expenses

    March was a great month for me, although not quite as much in the ways of saving money. Had an awesome time during my trip to the Dominican Republic, soaking up the sun, booze and eating the food! As such, I had some extra one time costs of buying new ear-buds for the flight to help block out the planes sound, a shirt for the wedding ceremony as well as the cost/cash of converting Canadian dollars to American and spending it there on airport taxes, excursions and some small souvenirs. All in all, didn't spend that much more than usual and even offset some of my usual costs in fewer subway tokens used and buying groceries and lunches when at work.

Portfolio Update: April 6th

    I have been making quite a few purchases of late and realized that its been quite some time since I last posted a portfolio update post, the last one being at the end of January, woops! So here is the status of my portfolio as of April 6th. 

March 2015 Dividend Update!

    Every third month of a year is a pretty quiet month in terms of dividend income for me. But quiet and consistency from my month payers and Suncor are always appreciated, with their stable income! The month was also a bit quieter on the writing side as I was away for a week on vacation! Had a blast and soaked up quite a bit of sun with some much needed R&R! Since getting back I have been enjoying catching up with the news, markets and blogs; love having lots of new reading material!

Recent Buy! March(2) 2015

    Whooo! Just got back from vacation in the last couple days, so if I'v been a bit quiet on this Blog, Twitter and reading/commenting on other blogs which you can find on my Blogroll Page. So, to kicking off coming back I deployed some more cash with another buy this month! As with my previous one, it is also from my last Watchlist.

Recent Buy! March(1) 2015

    Today I deployed some cash towards my first purchase of shares in quite some time. I added 33 shares of Royal Bank of Canada (RY), which combined with my earlier 7 shares puts my total at 40. I got the shares at $75.35, which slightly brings my averaged cost per share up to $74.95.  The 33 new shares of RY adds an awesome $101.64 in annual dividend income to my portfolio, and $25.41 each quarter, when combined with my previous 7 shares will add $30.8 a quarter!

February 2015: Income & Expenses

     Overall February was a pretty good month for me, income was fairly average from work and dividends, with a nice boost from my increased position in D.UN from my previous buy. I also managed to control my costs very nicely last month with a below average amount spent, hitting a nice savings rate of 25.6%!

February 2015 Dividend Update!

    February ended this weekend and so I have had time to do my favourite post, the Dividend Update!! This month was certainly not as high as last months record high of $75.16, but compared to February of last years $13.44, the $44.89 I received was great! So far I am extremely happy with my progress and loving finally being able to see the year of year results starting to show themselves.

Recent Dividend Increases

   In the past month quite a few of the companies that I hold, as well as a couple comparable sector companies have raised their dividends. And as more companies release their earnings I am looking forward to seeing some more dividend increases in the near future. The following companies in my portfolio gave me a raise in the last month: Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), National Bank of Canada (NA), Royal Bank of Canada (RY) and BCE (Bell Media). As well as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) and Rogers Communications (RCI.B).

Next Buy Watchlist: February 2015

    I should be having money to invest within the upcoming weeks, so it is time to compile my watchlist of stocks that I am interested in! There are quite a few on my radar at the moment which I will be tracking and keep a closer eye on. For the most part I am mainly interested to adding to, and building up my current positions with an overarching goal of getting them to have payouts big enough to start a Dividend Re-Investment Plan. There are also some companies which I might start a new position in as well. And definitely some of these are familiar names from previous Watchlists.

    The main sectors/components of my portfolio that I want to build up are Financials, Telecoms, REITs and Consumer products, as well as selective Energy companies. I do eventually want to build up positions in Resources/Industrials, Healthcare, Technology and Transportation, but those areas I think I will leave for outside of my TFSA. I am also hesitant to enter into those areas as I do not currently have a lot of knowledge of them and their product/company life cycles.

January 2015: Income & Expenses

Savings rate of 25.7%
    The month of January has most certainly come to an end, and I was very happy to recently post about my new dividend record! That record helped to keep my income for the month up and my savings rate as well, those dividends equaled 5.1% of my income for the month! Its pretty amazing to see the progress that my modest portfolio has begun. With $53.94 more in dividends than last year, I am eager to see it continuing to grow and pump out the dividends.

   I am also very happy with myself on keeping expenses down quite a bit this month, especially compared to Decembers heavy spending.

January 2015 Dividend Update!

    I am very happy to be able to make this post! As its my first dividend update of the year and its starting on a new dividend income record for me! This months total was brought up from the previous comparable month due to my recent portfolio addition of RioCan REIT and more shares of Algonquin Utilities as well as AQN's dividend increase/conversion to US Dollar
 which coincided with the decline in the Canadian Dollar. This months total dividends are $75.17! Beating my 2014 top month of $64.05, an increase of $11.04.

Portfolio Update: January 20th 2015

   It's mid January and time for my first portfolio update of 2015! Thought it would be a good time for one after my recent buy, where I added to my position in Dream Office REIT. My portfolio's value now sits at $12,791.19, and has an estimated annual dividend income of $644.19, which averages out to about $55 a month!

Recent Buy! January 2015

     Considering my much higher than normal expenses in December, I am very happy to say I was able to make a purchase this month. So I deployed my cash by adding to my position in Dream Office REIT (D.UN) with another 24 shares, making my total share count at 85. Dream is now back to being my largest single position in my portfolio, with a weighting on 18% and bringing my REIT weighting to 24% which is a bit higher than I am aiming for, so in the future unless an amazing opportunity to buy more of Dream or RioCan comes up I will not be buying more of them for the next while.
 

Next Buy Watchlist: January 2015

   I am pretty happy to be able to post a Next Buy Watchlist this January! In December I wasn't sure if I would have enough extra capital to make a new stock purchase for this month, primarily due to a lot of expenses incurred in December. But, after reviewing my current cash levels, projected income and expenses for this month and February I'v found that I do indeed have some extra cash to deploy this month! And with all of the recent trouble within the Oil and Financial sectors to name a couple, there are quite a few great companies whose stocks prices have become quite tempting for me. On my shortlist of names are: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), Pembina Pipeline (PPL), Veresen (VSN), Suncor (SU), and Dream Office REIT (D.UN).

December 2014: Income and Expenses

    December and 2014 have come to a close as a new year begins. Throughout my Christmas shopping I have kept track of all my spending and managed to stay close to my general budget for presents and entertainment. This month in particular was trickier for me than others due to a large one time expense of paying for a trip in March, which is why my savings rate for the month is actually negative; although not too bad if you take away that one expense.

   My income this month was pretty good considering it gets a bit slower during the holidays and can be difficult to pick up hours, along with me wanting some extra days off here and there. I expect though January may be a bit lower, but it is hard to tell at the moment. Dividend income was pretty solid, with all my monthly payers comprising of most of the income and my first dividend payment from Suncor that month. My total dividend income this month also represents a nice 2.5% of my total income, which is a nice little raise from myself.  And my 'bonus's' in tips did nicely as well. For January I expect that category to be higher as well once I received payments for selling my restricted stock units, as well as including a GST rebate which I hope to be putting towards a new stock purchase to continue building my portfolio.