Search found 348 matches

by cannew
27 Mar 2020 12:30
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Income portfolio for kids
Replies: 12
Views: 894

Re: Income portfolio for kids

I've gifted both stocks and cash to my kids and grandkids. Were there stings attached? Not really, but as they understand the investment strategy I follow and know that the gifts were intended to enhance their future income, they have continued to follow the Income investment growth strategy. Even our grandkids understand that their investments in quality dividend growth stocks have generated a higher income every year since their portfolio was started in 2007. They also know that when markets drop, as they just have, their income will grow all the faster.
They also know that the gifts and their investments are for their retirement needs, not current needs.
by cannew
27 Mar 2020 12:14
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: What I love about days like today ...
Replies: 47
Views: 3579

Re: What I love about days like today ...

BRIAN5000 wrote: 18 Mar 2020 15:26 You heard about the 25% reduction in RRIF withdrawals ?
If it passes is it just for the one year or will all future rates drop as well? I hope so, as I'd love to reduce my withdrawal amounts by 25% as I don't need or use any of the RRIF funds to cover expenses.
by cannew
27 Mar 2020 11:59
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Fully Invested?
Replies: 22
Views: 1442

Re: Fully Invested?

Anyone who is still in the accumulation phase might be fully invested if they currently don't have new funds to invest, but even retirees might not be adding new money to invest, but like me, may be reinvesting a portion of their dividends. Does that mean I'm not fully invested because I still reinvest dividends? Probably. But who cares and what does it matter? If I was concerned about capital appreciation maybe, as most portfolios, including mine, have taken a real hit over the past month. Me, I'm elated that the market has dropped, as my Income has continued to grow and every dividend reinvestment has bought more shares, further increasing my income. No, I haven't had any dividend cuts and as long as the company stocks I own hold their di...
by cannew
18 Mar 2020 15:18
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: What I love about days like today ...
Replies: 47
Views: 3579

Re: What I love about days like today ...

Retired, fully invested with 100% DG equities and not selling!
Portfolio Value Down.
Portfolio Income Up.
Hope it stays down till the end of the year, so my RRIF withdrawals will be much less.
by cannew
14 Mar 2020 11:05
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: The Iron Rule
Replies: 58
Views: 10957

Re: The Iron Rule

Some company earnings may drop and we'll have to wait for any sign of recovery to see if our companies cut their dividend. Even if they stop increasing the dividend our income will continue to grow. I know if dividends are cut, our income will drop proportionately. I'm not concerned as we have a buffer as well as other income sources. I'm not sure how your income will grow if dividends get cut, except by contributing new money (e.g. drip)? We aren't contributing new money. I think the 'domino effects' of this pending recession could be very substantial. Retired and fully invested for many years. Yes we do reinvest a good portion of our dividends as we only draw down a portion to cover expenses (no company pension). With the reinvestments a...
by cannew
14 Mar 2020 10:14
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: The Iron Rule
Replies: 58
Views: 10957

Re: The Iron Rule

" Profits are going down. And so will the income, with a lag. Hopefully will recover soonish"

Some company earnings may drop and we'll have to wait for any sign of recovery to see if our companies cut their dividend. Even if they stop increasing the dividend our income will continue to grow.
by cannew
14 Mar 2020 10:12
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: The Iron Rule
Replies: 58
Views: 10957

Re: The Iron Rule

Hi Henry,

I do similar to you in the taxable account and though I haven't calculated, probably down as much as well. I reckon if you want to enter the ring of individual equities, you have to be prepared for the financial punches that go along with it every few years.

I enjoy reading your blog every few days. Keep up the great work.
Thanks T
by cannew
13 Mar 2020 16:16
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Advice needed (sell one stock and buy VGRO/XGRO ETF in TFSA)
Replies: 25
Views: 2941

Re: Advice needed (sell one stock and buy VGRO/XGRO ETF in TFSA)

Fair enough. Elsewhere I've written that a few years ago, I was looking for something for my ex and eventually settled on XDIV because CDZ had some performance issues, most likely associated with the number of holdings. If one wants to be focused on dividend growth and sustainability in payout ratios, target a smaller list of holdings. The point is not everyone wants to be a stock picker, or should be a stock picker, and thus ETFs (usually broad based, rather than specialty targeted ones) are the way to go in the absence of picking stocks. Such as the Asset Allocation ETFs in the thread title. There is no right or wrong answer. It is whatever works for the specific investor. I talk for me, not others, but I believe finding and selecting a ...
by cannew
13 Mar 2020 14:51
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: The Iron Rule
Replies: 58
Views: 10957

Re: The Iron Rule

Like the OP we are retired and fully invested, except we are 100% DG stocks in all our accounts. We no intention of selling, even though the market has dropped by 30% or more as has the value of our holdings.
What hasn't dropped is the Income generated by our holdings. Do I expect to see a drop in the coming months, even if the market continues down or stays down? No, in fact I believe our income well continue to grow over the coming months, regardless what the market does.
Do I regret not holding any fixed assets? Never, we've received a growing income since we retired, not a fixed or dropping income.
by cannew
13 Mar 2020 14:42
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Advice needed (sell one stock and buy VGRO/XGRO ETF in TFSA)
Replies: 25
Views: 2941

Re: Advice needed (sell one stock and buy VGRO/XGRO ETF in TFSA)

Each to their own, but I would never sell a stock which pays and grows the income it pays to its shareholder. Telus has been a stellar dividend growth stocks and if you own $30k than look back at the dividends you've received. I think you'll find that your income has grown each and every quarter.
Now that the market has dropped, your market value had dropped as all of our stocks have, but now is when I'd look to add to Telus and further grow your income.
We own only DG stocks in our TFSA and would never sell any of them to switch to ETFs.
by cannew
17 Feb 2020 16:57
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: For those who are retired, what is your daily routine?
Replies: 229
Views: 17299

Re: For those who are retired, what is your daily routine?

Thought I'd be the oldest, but I guess "beachcomber" has that honor.
78
Retired 12 years
Semi-retired 5 years before that
We usually spent 7-8 months in Canada and 4-5 months in Arizona
Between family and activities in AZ we kept busy
Wrote my first book in 2018 and the second last year
Started a blog July 2019, talking about Income investing and spend time time writing or posting comments on various topics
Unfortunately my wife's health had deteriorated and requires 24/7 care
Then we have Roxy (our Havanese dog) which demands attention.
Overall no complaints.
by cannew
07 Jan 2020 16:26
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: What do they get out of me?
Replies: 23
Views: 1645

Re: What do they get out of me?

There was an article in Moneysaver which suggested they may sell client information, as Facebook and others have done.
by cannew
07 Jan 2020 14:13
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!
Replies: 44
Views: 1690

Re: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!

What I was concerned with during our accumulation phase and even after retirement was that if we concentrated on capital appreciation that the market would turn, as it did in 2008 when we were retired, and a good portion of our capital may be erased. The value of our holdings dropped just over 40% but our income continued to increase and continues to date. In fact our income has grown each and every year since we started with Income investing. We are now at the point where are able and do gift fairly large sums to our kids and grandkids without the loss of holdings affecting our income. Yes our income drops but not to any point where it affects our income needs. I'd rather know that I'll never run out of income or capital than worry about n...
by cannew
07 Jan 2020 11:25
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!
Replies: 44
Views: 1690

Re: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!

OK. So how are you covering your spending if everything is DRIPed, You never sell, and you have no other pensions/income sources? If you search my posts, I'm in accumulation mode and trying to figure out an efficient way to have my investments fund an early retirement. Canadian dividends in a non-registered account certainly have an advantage in this regard, so your situation is one that I would like to understand. Thank you in advance. When we retired I moved several of our holdings into Computershare and the dividends from those stocks are deposited into our bank each quarter. That's the money we use to off-set our monthly expenses and income from cpp/oas). We have on occasion, but not often, had some of our RRIF withdrawals deposited in...
by cannew
07 Jan 2020 11:01
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!
Replies: 44
Views: 1690

Re: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!

I get the Dividend Growth concept and I have followed Tom Connolly's work myself. However, I'm curious as to why it matters if your "income" goes up if everything is DRIPed? In this case, would you not be paying the taxes on the dividends and then also paying capital gains tax (in the non-reg) when you sell the shares in order to cover your spending? But, then you note that you hardly ever sell... Maybe I've missed your overall picture and your spending needs are covered form some other source(s)? I invested or at some stage changed my investment strategy to Income investing (similar to DG investing), in order to receive a growing income from all my investments. My goal was to generate sufficient income from my investments to &qu...
by cannew
07 Jan 2020 10:41
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!
Replies: 44
Views: 1690

Re: To DRIP or not to DRIP, that's the question!

We have all our accounts with ShareOwner and have automatic Full dividend reinvestment (to four decimal points) with every account (RRIFs, TFSAs and non-registered). That means even if we receive a $1.00 dividend we still are able to buy a fraction of a share at no cost. For example on one of our stocks I received $1.58 in May\19 a received 0.0217 of a share. In Aug\19 I received $1.60 and received 0.0235 of a share and in Nov\19 $1.67 and 0.219 of a share. Peanuts but still I now own 0.0671 of a share more than I had before if those few dollars just sat in my account. I estimate that over the years our fractions of shares have increased our holding by about 20%, which represents a considerable increase in our income. I'll take DRIPs anytim...
by cannew
02 Jan 2020 10:09
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: What level of wealth is for you?
Replies: 167
Views: 12117

Re: What level of wealth is for you?

I like the words "Investment income" but prefer the words "growing income from investments". That's what provides the measure of security during retirement. If the income does not grow, even when no funds are being added, than one is back to relying upon fixed assets or market value.
It's not the level one achieves, but rather if the growing income is sufficient to meet their needs and wants.
by cannew
01 Jan 2020 16:35
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: RETIREMENT SOFTWARE
Replies: 13
Views: 1602

Re: RETIREMENT SOFTWARE

However the blindspot in your (cannew's) approach of only looking at the income your portfolio generates is it totally ignores the fluctuating market value of the underlying securities. What happens if/when one of these securities: cuts their dividend -- yes it does happen, even for "blue chip" companies; is taken private; is subject to a merger; goes bankrupt because they've been using debt to maintain their dividend payouts; etc. You get the point. You've lost not only the income stream that you prize but also have the potential to suffer a capital loss which could limit your ability to replace the income stream. Like all other approaches one must monitor and adjust. Over the past 13 years I've had only one of my holdings cut t...
by cannew
01 Jan 2020 14:06
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: RETIREMENT SOFTWARE
Replies: 13
Views: 1602

Re: RETIREMENT SOFTWARE

Excel will do just as well. If you are investing for income, track how much income your investments are generating and track the yearly increase. If the income grows each year you'll begin to see the trend and as you get closer to retirement you should know well in advance if the income will meet your needs. The income should continue to grow even after retirement, though possibly at a slower rate.
Other methods rely upon continuious capital growth each year which doesn't happen. One may average a certain capital growth over the long term, but the actual year-to-year growth may be nothing like the projections.
by cannew
01 Jan 2020 13:55
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: How did you do in 2019?
Replies: 125
Views: 7115

Re: How did you do in 2019?

2019 was another good year for my income, it was up 10.5% over 2019 till I sold two of my holdings in December. The two holdings were generating about $6,000 in dividends. I gifted the money and transferred shares In-kind to my kids.
by cannew
17 Dec 2019 10:21
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Fixed income component of portfolio
Replies: 16
Views: 1341

Re: Fixed income component of portfolio

My problem with those All-In-One ETFs is that they have over 12,000 holdings and will be directly affected by market changes. If the market remains stable or growing, fine, but I doubt they will provide much peace of mind in a rocky or down market. What alternative do you propose? The OP is asking about transitioning part of his investments to fixed assets and even says he'd be OK even if everything was put everything into GICs. But then he says he's not quite there yet. If he is getting close to retirement than getting rid of his speculative holdings is probably a good idea. After that he must look at his overall financial situation, determine his retirement needs and then consider which investment choices will provide the income he needs...
by cannew
15 Dec 2019 11:55
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Fixed income component of portfolio
Replies: 16
Views: 1341

Re: Fixed income component of portfolio

Seems you will be satisfied regardless what you do, but I see little information on your current status. How much income does your current portfolio generate, how much is in real estate, how would your portfolio and income be affected should the much talked about market downturn come about?

If your current position is good, why change? What would you gain, or give up? Will adding fixed assets really change your income?

My problem with those All-In-One ETFs is that they have over 12,000 holdings and will be directly affected by market changes. If the market remains stable or growing, fine, but I doubt they will provide much peace of mind in a rocky or down market.
by cannew
03 Sep 2019 23:47
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: Return 2019 Year to date (Aug. 31)
Replies: 40
Views: 4322

Re: Return 2019 Year to date (Aug. 31)

As of Aug 31st. my Income is up 6.67% over last year. If the growth continues I expect to surpass 10% increase again in my income. I have no idea if my market value is up as I don't monitor market value. I get your point, but you don't need to actually monitor it to know if your market value is up or down - just look at 2 numbers. You raise an interesting metric though, so I just looked at my 31-July-2018 and July-2019 trad acc statements. My ytd income is up 9.7% and mkt value down 7.5% (after gifting 7.8%). 9.7% is a nice pay raise. Good for you. I'm thinking of changing my tune and say my Cash Flow is up, rather than Income, maybe it will sound better. Of course my only source of C.F or Inc. is from our 12 stocks, other than CPP & O...
by cannew
03 Sep 2019 22:43
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: Return 2019 Year to date (Aug. 31)
Replies: 40
Views: 4322

Re: Return 2019 Year to date (Aug. 31)

As of Aug 31st. my Income is up 6.67% over last year. If the growth continues I expect to surpass 10% increase again in my income. I have no idea if my market value is up as I don't monitor market value.
by cannew
23 Aug 2019 17:40
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: lessons from 2008
Replies: 54
Views: 5688

Re: lessons from 2008

hi, cannew. I realize from some of your previous posts that you've used the Connolly letter & hold substantially all for Canadian dividend income. I've been doing a lot of reading, and thinking, about the whole dividend income vs. total return debate, as I've been freeing up substantial cash, and its redeployment will have to come to a conclusion on that point, as one of many other factors. I haven't come to a conclusion on that. I think our capital would be sufficient that we wouldn't have to touch it (barring a financial apocalypse) if we went with an all-dividend approach, so why not just do that? well, because I don't really know what the future holds, and in front of me I have the lesson of looking at say the Canadian market and s...