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.