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Purchases + New Experiment | April 2018

A blessed Easter to all of you!

No new companies added to my TFSA portfolio this month. I ended up splitting this month’s purchase between 2 companies I currently hold, Emera and BCE. Also, I have started a new experiment in my Canadian Shareowner account, which I will explain further down.
I purchased 18 more shares of Emera at roughly $40 per share. I think this is a good price and a nice yield at 5.48%. This purchase brings my total shares in Emera to 41. And, I’ve managed to squeeze in before their ex-dividend date of April 30th. Dividend check in May! Woohoo!
BCE was my second choice. I only held 7 shares and had been planning to beef it up eventually. So, I took the cash that was left in my TFSA and bought 6 more shares. Bringing my total to 13 shares and a current yield of 5.57%. Not too shabby.

New Experiment

The last experiment in my Canadian Shareowner account lasted almost 9 years. Although I put roughly the same amount of money into RBC and Berkshire, their outcomes were different since RBC had dividends which were reinvested and Berkshire had no dividends and thus no reinvestment.
However, now I want to try something new. Every month going forward I will be purchasing $100 of one company (minus commission fees of course), and each month I will buy a new company without injecting new money into the companies purchased the month prior. Does that make sense? Since Canadian Shareowner allows fractional purchases and dividend reinvestment I am curious to see how quickly multiple single purchases will grow over time. Technically, I will only be purchasing twelve companies per year, but next year I may decide to change my goal and put more money into this experiment. So, to start off this new endeavour I purchased 1.1409 shares of the Bank of Nova Scotia (minus $9.95 in commission fees). What will this purchase look like in twelve months time? In 5 years? We shall see!
Happy investing,
Heather
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Curious Experiment | Heather’s Dividends

In the beginning of 2009, I was twenty-two years old, just out of University and the American sub-prime mortgage kerfuffle was well underway. I had a little money to spare, but back in 2009 in order to set up a self-directed discount brokerage account one needed a large deposit. Something I did not have. Except at Canadian Shareowners a co-operative investing service. I bought two companies, Royal Bank of Canada and Berkshire Hathaway Class B. Royal Bank (at the advice of my dad) was chosen since I did not have any banking stocks. Berkshire was my choice. I did not choose it for dividends since there are none, but because I wanted to be a part of the “club.” Being a part of the “club” meant I would receive the annual shareholder’s package and an invitation to the annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska (I was hopeful that one day I would go before Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet die, but alas, it has yet to happen).

At the time I purchased them, Royal Bank was trading at around $26 CAD, and I was able to purchase just over three shares (a total of $86.99 CAD). Berkshire was trading at roughly $2384 USD and I was able to purchase a fraction of a share, or 0.027 to be exact ($64 USD). All the dividends from Royal Bank were reinvested, while Berkshire had no reinvestment or dividends.

After 8 years, this is what has happened. And please ignore the Bank of Nova Scotia! 😐

My $173 CAD turned into $785 CAD. And this is with all the wonky ups and downs the TSX is having at the moment and of course inflation. Not too shabby, …for me not doing anything. 😏

Below is a snapshot of the growth of these two purchases from February 2009 to December 2017.

The moral of the story is… I should become a Fund Manager 😜 and market my Royal Bank and Berkshire Class B Fund and claim phenomenal annual returns!

Nah…

However, no matter how little I invest it is better than nothing even over the medium term (8 years). I am only 32, so imagine what can happen over the next 8 years. Or, if there is another market correction and I purchase more shares at a discounted price?

Wonderful, isn’t it!

Happy investing,
Heather

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Dividends | March 2018

March dividends have rolled in!

First up is my trusty ole’ Enbridge coming in at $133.38 for the first quarter. My holdings are now standing at 200 shares.

In my TFSA, my 2 shares of Fortis a small but consistent $0.85. My first dividend from InterPipeline at $11.48. Lastly, in my RRSP, Plaza Retail REIT at $5.48.

Bringing my annual dividends total to…

2018 TFSA Dividend Total : $166.88
2018 RRSP Dividend Total : $8.16

Counting only the dividends in my TFSA, I still need $583.12 to reach my goal of $750 in annual dividends. I am 22% of the way there 🙂

Happy Easter!
Heather

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Purchases | March 2018

March break, colds, Easter and God knows what else has kept me away from posting, but alas I am here to tell you two words, Transalta Renewables. I bought Transalta Renewables. Eighty-five shares to be exact.

Why? I have no idea why.

Oh, wait yes I do. Growth potential and dividends. Here in Ste-Clotilde I see them everyday. Not Transalta exactly, but their potential. Just a stones throw away on Covey Hill and in St-Remi there are windmills. Giant, giant windmills. As well, with the way things are going with policymakers in Canada and the desire for “diversified” sources of energy, Transalta was my choice purchase this month.

Do you own them? Why? Why not?

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Oh, and I bought around $100 CAD worth of Bank of Nova Scotia through Canadian Shareowners. However, I need to save this for another post!

Until next time, happy investing!
Heather