March 2016 Investment Income

Welcome to my March 2016 investment income report.  This report helps me track all of my investment income from the rental property, dividend stocks, index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

First off, I have to say that I was very pleased to see that our net worth increased by a whopping $35k last month.  The big jump had a lot to do with the rebound in Canadian stocks.  In fact I’d say that my Bank of Nova Scotia and TD holdings added at least $8k to that number.

I’m so happy that I transferred a lot of Canadian stocks from our non registered accounts into our Tax Free Savings Accounts.  Not only did that shield a lot of dividend income from the tax man, but it also means that our capital appreciation will also be tax free should we ever sell.

The other big move had to do with the HELOC.  Paying off the HELOC balance continues to be our biggest priority and we spent most of the month slowly paying it down.  This month we managed to get about 12k paid on it and it’s looking like it will be paid off by June at the latest.  This will free up tons of extra cash for investing and paying down our mortgage.  Despite having this huge debt to repay, I’m still investing small amounts to stay in the game.  All told, I’m quite pleased with our progress to date.  We keep increasing our assets while reducing our liabilities and that is a recipe for building long term wealth.

Monthly Investing Activity

On the investing front, I’m still buying Canadian stocks.  I continue to make extra cash purchases in my DRiP account to buy more Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal.  I also continued with my longstanding plan to save and invest automatically.  I still invest in low-cost index funds in our retirement accounts and I also continue to make automatic share purchases in my DRiP accounts.  This month, I bought more shares in Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Bank of Montreal (BMO), Telus (T), Fortis (FTS) and Suncor (SU).

The great thing about being a dividend investor is that all of my dividend income is automatically re-invested.  Every month this income buys more shares in my favourite companies that will, in turn, produce even more monthly income for me.  This is how compounding works and is why it’s such a powerful force…what Einstein called the “Eighth Wonder of the World”!

This month, reinvested dividend income bought more shares in Canadian Utilities (CU), Enbridge (ENB), Fortis (FTS), Manulife (MFC), Sun Life (SLF), Suncor (SU), and RioCan (REI).

January’s dividend income report made me realize that the majority of my dividend income comes from Canadian banks.  While I love the banks, I recognize the need to diversify a bit more.  So I’m focusing on building up my positions in Telus (T), BCE (BCE) and my pipelines and utilities.  In my RRSP, I think I’ll add to my REITs by buying more shares in XRE.

Dividend Raises

No dividend raises to report this month 🙁

Monthly Passive Dividend Income

March has been a decent month for dividend income.  This month’s dividend income has grown by nearly 26% from that of March of 2015 ($354.52).  As always, a large part of that increase came from investing my own personal savings, while the remainder was due to the regular reinvestment of my dividend income and from companies periodically raising their dividend payout.

So far this year, we have received $1,891.26 in passive dividend income.  Here is the breakdown of the numbers for March:

Dividend Stocks

Bank of America (BAC) – $1.65

Canadian National Railway (CNR) – $37.50

Canadian Utilities (CU) – $63.38

Enbridge (ENB) – $5.63

Fortis (FTS) – $27.70

Manulife Financial (MFC) – $32.29

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI) – $4.18

Suncor Energy (SU) – $16.61

Sun Life Financial (SLF) – $15.38

Mutual Funds and ETFs:

iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Preferred Share Index ETF (CPD) – $52.38

iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index ETF (XRE) – $42.96

Vanguard Canadian Short-Term Corporate Bond Index ETF (VSC) – $15.10

Vanguard Canadian Short-Term Bond Index ETF (VSB) – $11.32

TD e-series International Index Fund – e (TDB911) – $120.68

Total = $446.76

Rental Income

Both units are rented out and the property is cash flowing.  There was a small maintenance expense last month, but we still managed to make a profit of $576.40.  This is after all expenses.  This is the reason that I decided to invest in rental property in the first place.  Hopefully, I can find another one when the HELOC is paid off.

Total Monthly Rental Income = $576.40

This brings the grand total for our March 2016 Investment income to $1023.16!

Our annual passive income goal is $10,000 and we have so far received $3,214.69.  So we are already 32% of the way there.  I wasn’t sure exactly how much the rental property would add to the monthly investment cash flow.  I may need to readjust my 10k goal upwards to about 12k!

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