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.