Recent Transactions - November 2016

Adding to our existing position, we were able to get another 22 shares of Emera for $1,000.

This stock provides us with an additional $46.19 annually based on its most recent dividend, bringing our total dividend income up to $5,094.68/year. We are finally past the $5,000 mark! Next stop, $10,000. Hopefully the second half comes faster than the first.

Dividend Income - October 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $332.55, just 0.5% shy of 2015's $334.14. Although almost every stock we owned increased their dividend rates since last year, it was not enough to offset the losses caused by Husky eliminating their dividend, Liquor Depots reducing their dividends, and us selling our shares of Bird Construction. 

This was the first month I started receiving interest from my P2P loans with Prosper which amounted to $12.74 after service fees. I am expecting to receive more in the future months as only a fraction of my initial $2000 contribution was lent out in September. Starting next month, I will be including the interest payments as "dividend income" in my monthly posts.

Recent Transactions - October 2016

Adding to our existing position, we were able to get another 21 shares of National Bank for $1,000.

This stock provides us with an additional $45.69 annually based on its most recent dividend, bringing our total dividend income up to $4,965.72/year.

Dividend Income - September 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $498.73, a 34.6% increase over 2015's $370.44. I'm happy to announce that we have just surpassed $10,000 in lifetime dividend earnings!

Recent Transactions - September 2016

No new stock purchases this month. However as I mentioned in last month's post, I started peer-to-peer lending with Prosper. In September I deposited $2,000 into my Prosper account and so far $725 of it has been used to purchase loan notes. The remainder of the money will continue to slowly purchase new $25 notes using the filters I have set on an automated investing tool. More info on Prosper and the automated investing tool later in a detailed post.

Dividend Income - August 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $359.58, a 24.7% increase over 2015's $288.26.

The 6-month moving average has really plateaued since January's peak. Although this is mostly due to the clearing of my TFSA and recontributing less at a later time in the US market, both HSE eliminating their dividend and LIQ decreasing theirs in April didn't help.

Recent Transactions - August 2016

There were no stock purchases this month besides the ~8 shares we received from various Canadian companies through automated dividend reinvestment programs. However, I did recently start investing in peer-to-peer lending through Prosper which I will write about September's edition.

Dividend Income - July 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $350.21, a 3.9% increase over 2015's $337.13.

Recent Transactions - July 2016

Adding to our existing positions, we were able to get another 74 shares of Artis REIT for $1,000 and 52 shares of SCHF for $1,467.44.

These stocks provide us with an additional $121.15 annually based on their most recent dividends, bringing our total dividend income up to $4,882.67/year.

Dividend Income - June 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $463.21, a 44.8% increase over 2015's $319.80.

Recent Transactions - June 2016

Adding to our existing positions, we were able to get another 152 shares of Artis REIT for $2,000, 36 shares of Fortis for $1,500, and 28 shares of Suncor for $1,000.

We also started a new position in a Schwab International Equity ETF (SCHF) with 47 shares for $1,302.79. I was able to get this ETF commission free through my Schwab brokerage account and will most likely be adding to it frequently in the upcoming months.

These stocks provide us with an additional $279.78 annually based on their most recent dividends, bringing our total dividend income up to $4,743.35/year. We're finally past our peak of $4,639.05 from December 2015 and back on track to continually increasing our dividend income.

Dividend Income - May 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $260.67, a measly 1.2% increase over 2015's $257.68. Year-over-year dividend increases should be better in the next few months with our most recent purchases.

Recent Transactions - May 2016

We were able to add to our existing positions of Artis REIT with 150 shares for $2000 and Emera with 43 shares for $2000.

We also started new positions in Apple (AAPL) with 40 shares for $3,769.35 and Disney (DIS) with 30 shares for $3,067.75.

These stocks provide us with an additional $414.41 annually based on their most recent dividends, bringing our total dividend income up to $4,404.19/year. We're almost back up to our peak of $4,639.05 from December 2015.

Recent Transactions - April 2016

Forgot to publish this last month...

Not much action this month but we did start a new position in 3M (MMM) with 30 shares for $4997.05

This stock provides us with an additional $133.20 annually based on the most recent dividend, bringing our total dividend income up to $3869.63/year.

Dividend Income - April 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $293.96, a 9.1% increase over 2015's $269.36.

Dividend Income - March 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $375.89, a 44.5% increase over 2015's $260.19.

Recent Transactions - March 2016

We restarted several more of the positions I had ridden my TFSA of, including 27 shares of Royal Bank of Canada (RY) for $2041.47, 68 shares of Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR.UN) for $1996.95, 80 shares of Metro Inc. (MRU) for $3470.79, and 18 shares of Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC.A) for $2385.99. Unlucky us, each stock ran up at least 8% compared to my selling prices before we were able to rebuy them.

Nevertheless, these stocks, respectively, provide us with an additional $85.32, $82.96, $44.80 and $37.44 annually based on their most recent dividends. This brings our total dividend income up to $3729.37/year.

Dividend Income - February 2016

This month's dividend income came in at $254.17, only a 9.6% increase over 2015's $231.89. One of the weakest increases we have ever had, most likely due to my stock sales.

Recent Transactions - February 2016

To finish clearing out my TFSA, I sold all my shares of Liquor Depot (LIQ), Canadian National Railway (CNR), Canadian Tire Corp (CTC.A), iShares MSCI World Index ETF (XWD), Royal Bank (RY), and Artis REIT (AX.UN).  My returns, including stock appreciation (or depreciation) and dividends, were respectively -31%, 21%, -4%, 13%, -9%, and -22%. It's unfortunate I had to sell most of these stocks at a loss because of the market timing but I'll be trying to restart these positions soon. These final sales further reduce our annual dividend income by $929.34.

Immediately after selling LIQ, I rebought 213 shares for $1558.63 in my partner's TFSA. I also rebought 63 shares of CNR for $4982.58 and 44 shares of EMA for $2000. This provides us with an additional $254.70 annually based on their most recent dividends.

All of these transactions bring our total dividend income to $3478.89/year.

Dividend Income - January 2016

This month's dividend income came in at an all time high of $470.08, a 31.2% increase over 2015's $358.33! Fortunately our dividends haven't been affected by all my sales yet.

Recent Transactions - January 2016

To clear out my TFSA, I have so far sold all my shares of Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B), Emera (EMA), Metro (MRU), Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR.UN), Jean Coutu Group (PJC.A), and ATCO (ACO.X).  My returns, including stock appreciation and dividends, were respectively 115%, 32%, 91%, -4%, -15%, and -20%. These sales reduce our annual dividend income by $492.59.

Several days after selling ATD.B, I was able to rebuy 70 shares for $4149.79 (less than what I had sold my first 69 shares for) with my partner's annual TFSA contribution. This provides us with an additional $18.90 annually based on its most recent dividend.

All of these transactions bring our total dividend income to $4223.95/year.

Upcoming changes for 2016

2016 is now upon us and as I mentioned in the last post, big changes are happening this year. I have finally secured a job related to my graduate studies and will be moving to the US soon - more specifically, Chicago.

Since my TFSA is not really tax free once I am a US resident, I will be emptying it before I move to avoid the extra paperwork and headaches during tax season. The TSX hasn't done too well since this year started but I must sell all those stocks; by doing this, our annual dividend income will be reduced by $1,423.08. Hopefully I will be able to buy back those stocks at these low prices once I have settled down in the US.

Up until now, we have only been investing in US companies through my partner's RSP account, which is limited to 18% of her salary less pension contributions. By working in the US and earning US dollars, I will have better access to the larger variety of stocks on the US exchanges. Once our USD dividends outgrow our CAD dividends, I will probably switch to reporting our dividend income in USD instead of CAD.

With 2 full-time incomes, we should we able to grow our investments and our dividend income much faster.

Dividend Income - 2015 Overview

Last year's dividend income came in at $3,725.21, a 76% increase over 2014's $2,112.21. Ever since we started investing in 2012, we have received $6,701.22 in dividends.

We would be on track to earn $4,639.52 in 2016 even without adding any more money to our investments, but big changes are coming this year so our actual dividend income may end up being a lot less. I will write about these changes in an upcoming post.

Dividend Income - December 2015

This month's dividend income came in at $366.40, a 105.5% increase over 2014's $178.30!

Recent Transactions - December 2015

We haven't contributed much money to our accounts lately because we were waiting for the new year to deposit $5500 into our TFSA's. That being said, we did add a bit to our existing positions; we were able to get 28 shares of Suncor (SU) for $1000 and 65 shares of CAE (CAE) for $1000.

These stocks, respectively, provide us with an additional $31.41 and $18.16 annually based on their most recent dividends. This brings our total dividend income up to $4639.05/year.