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Here is my January 2015 dividend income report. January has been a pretty good month and we are on our way toward meeting our annual goals of increasing our net worth to $725,000, paying down our mortgage and hitting the $7,500 in dividends mark.
I managed to achieve one of my 2015 financial goals already. I added some cash and moved my TD shares in my non-registered discount brokerage account into my TFSA. So I’ve maxed it out for 2015! Now I have to get to work on doing the same for my wife’s.
Throughout January, the markets looked like they were undergoing what could have been a major correction. Demand for oil has collapsed due to over supply, Europe is on the brink of deflation and global growth forecasts are being revised downwards. The TSX has been hit particularly hard.
So I’ve been busy deploying some cash. I’ve been buying a lot of Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) shares in my non-registered accounts and in our TFSAs. It seemed to be getting beat up more than the other banks so I saw a buying opportunity. In both my non-registered discount brokerage account and in my TFSA, I finally have enough BNS shares to begin a synthetic DRIP. That means I’ll get at least 1 share per quarter per account commission free.
I’ve been watching energy shares as they have been hit particularly hard lately. Cenovus (CVE) and Suncor (SU) are on my radar. I think sooner or later supply and demand will start to balance out and these shares could see a bit of a price recovery. Both companies have decent yields that I think are sustainable and they certainly have some really great long term assets.
One of the things I’ve learned over time is that when you own great companies that are being beaten up it usually an excellent time to buy more shares. I like to buy sectors that are out of favor because they usually offer the best value. I saw this during the summer of 2013 when the telcos BCE and Telus were beaten up over the threat of Verizon coming to Canada. Again, in 2013 there was fears of an interest rate hike that led to some heavy selling of some pipeline and utility companies like Fortis, Emera, Enbridge and TransCanada. Now look where we are today. These companies have all more than recovered and they’ve increased their dividends as well. So my advice is to create a long term investment plan and stick with it! Don’t mind the daily barrage of gloomy headlines, there’s always a brighter future on the horizon.
I’m excited that I got my first dividend increase of 2015. Canadian National Railway (CNR) raised its dividend by 25%. I’ll look forward to seeing this payment in my investment account in March.
I also continued with my plan to make regular monthly and quarterly share purchases in my dividend reinvestment accounts (DRIPs). I bought more shares in TransCanada, Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal. In these accounts there is no point in trying to time the market – I contribute small amounts on a regular basis, regardless of what is happening in the market and I let compounding and dollar-cost averaging do their work.
January has been an excellent month with regard to dividend income. All that money I put to work in the Fall has really paid off! Here are the numbers:
Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) – $24.60
KP Tissue Inc. (KPT) – $91.98
RioCan REIT (REI) – $3.93
TransCanada Corporation (TRP) – $9.28
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) – $190.72
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM) – $21.59
Toronto Dominion Bank (TD) – $279.65
TransAlta (TA) – $2.98
iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Preferred Share Index ETF (CPD) – $45.05
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index ETF (XRE) – $32.73
Vanguard Canadian Short-Term Corporate Bond Index ETF (VSC) – $13.75
Vanguard Canadian Short-Term Bond Index ETF (VSB) – $10.53
TOTAL = $726.79