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.

My 2014 Investing Review and 2015 Goals

     2014 has marked my first full year of investing directly in stocks and collecting dividends. Throughout the year, and a couple months in 2013 I have slowly been building up my dividend stock portfolio. By adding in just small increments, generally between $200-800 a month I have managed to create a portfolio that churns out an estimated $610 a year, or averaged out to $51 a month! In some months, my little accumulation of dividend income has boosted my overall income by up to 4% and could if needed be able to cover a couple reoccurring expenses, or a trip to the grocery store.

The TFSA and Why I Use It

    The Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a relatively new form of registered account for Canadian's to utilize for investing and tax minimization purposes. Made available at the start of 2009, the TFSA allows eligible Canadian residents (18+) to invest their hard earned money tax free! Well, mostly anyways as there are some rules and qualifications to look out for.
    Some quick stats on the TFSA:

The Good Stuff:
- No taxes upon withdrawal of funds.
- No taxes on eligible dividends.
- No taxes on eligible capital gains.
- Cumulative contribution room.
- Once money is withdrawn, contribution room is returned the next year.
- For retirees, money withdrawn does not count against OAS calculations.

The Tricky Stuff:
- Accidentally holding non-eligible investments erases the benefit of the account(Ex. U.S. Stocks).
- Going over the contribution limit means a penalty of 1% of the value over-contributed per month.
- Finding out if a particular investment is eligible or not is not always simple.