Rising Stock Prices: Dividend Investor Paradox

Adventures In Investing, Future of investing 10 Responses »

May 212013

As an amateur investor I try to look for clues in the news to make a guess as to which way the markets could possibly turn. In 2012, it seemed like economic uncertainty in Europe kept the markets bouncing up and down each week. It allowed me to invest in stocks without worrying about paying too much. Now in 2013, the markets seem to be rising with no end in sight. May has totally thrown me for a loop as markets continue to climb when they usually fall; just like the price of a stock after I hit the buy button.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that my investment accounts are at an all time high as I write this article. Dividends are being deposited like clockwork each month and my passive income is growing well above the rate of inflation. The problem I find myself dealing with is when to invest my money so that I make the most efficient use of my investment capital.

Since I can only afford to buy shares in lots of 100, I’m obsessed with buying in at the most opportune time. I don’t have a crystal ball telling me the best time to buy in, so I am often forced to “wing it” which hasn’t always worked in my favor. When I purchase shares in a dividend stock, the stock price usually goes down lower then what I bought in at. Eventually the stock price recovers and I feel my purchase is justified.

(If we could get past the first world problem jokes, I’d like to address the issue of the dividend investor paradox, thank you) Continue reading »

Dividend Income For April 2013

Dividend Income Update 4 Responses »

May 142013

There is nothing like coming home from a vacation to see all the dividends that were automatically deposited into your account. While I was laying on the beach and doing absolutely nothing, my money was working hard for me. It’s really quite amazing how fast our dividend income has increased in such a small amount of time. It seems just like yesterday when I nervously pressed the buy button for the very first time and now it seems like second nature to me.

A lot of people were doubtful when I told them I started investing on my own. To this day my immediate family is still hesitant to listen to my investing strategy. I started this blog to share what I’ve learned about dividend investing with anyone willing to listen and it has become a written testament of how well it has worked so far.

A year ago, our dividend income for the month of April 2012 was$462. After re-investing the dividends with other investment capital I was able to buy even more dividend growth stocks which then, paid us even more dividends then before. Continue reading »

Investing In Your Health: Let’s Go To Mexico

Investing In Your Health 7 Responses »

May 122013

Every now and again a person needs to take a break from the rat race to help them relax and recharge. Whether you fly to a tropical destination or take a road trip to a neighboring city, the main thing is getting away by any means possible.

This year my wife and I were very lucky to have won a free trip to Dreams in Hautulco Mexico. It was a lovely resort but the service was somewhat lacking. It seemed since we didn’t speak Spanish we would be skipped by couples who did when standing in line to talk to the front desk. We paid to have an upgraded mini bar yet we only received the service 3 out of the 7 days. We would tip the beach server $5 and never see him for the rest of the day. My wife joked that we got what we paid for and that we shouldn’t really complain. Luckily we met a nice couple our age from Alberta and together we made the best of it.

Postponing vacations

Before I met my wife, I was never really into taking vacations. I would go camping with friends on long weekends or head to the rocky mountains, but the thought of taking time off from work made me cringe. When you work in the trades, you work whenever you can because you never knew when layoffs would be coming. It wasn’t until I was married with two incomes that I felt comfortable taking time off to go on a holiday. Looking back I could have saved more for vacations but the trade worker mentality of impending layoffs prevented it. Continue reading »

Saving Money 101: Managing Your Financial Priorities

Money Mentality, Saving Money 4 Responses »

Apr 262013

As we pass through each stage of our lives, our priorities are constantly changing. As children our top priorities were usually to watch our favourite cartoons and play with our favourite toys. As a teenager we desire to drive a nice vehicle and perhaps find the best place to party on a Friday night. As an adult we put precedence on finding a good job, raising a family or perhaps going on a dream vacation.

Although everyone has different priorities in their life, one important factor remains the same; money makes the world go round. I know not everything costs money but unless you live your life in an uncharted jungle in South America, you are going to need money in one form or another throughout your life.

Since we need to spend money in order to live, we are forced to make choices on how we spend our money on an individual level. The problem is, most people do not know how to prioritize their spending and that gets them into a world of financial trouble.

Everyone, Look at me!

I may not be an expert on the human psyche, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that we live in a society that’s obsessed with materialism and wealth. The first time I remember dealing with this overwhelming feeling of fitting in was when I turned 16. I wanted to drive a nice car to impress everyone, especially all the pretty girls who would of course want to date me because of the vehicle I drove.

My dad explained to me that the insurance on a fancy car would be an incredibly stupid amount of money for a 16 year old kid. Since I didn’t have a trust fund and my dad’s name wasn’t Prescott, Thad or Todd, I was forced to drive the family car which I had to share with my other siblings. I’ve heard of other kids who spent their life savings on an old sports car and then couldn’t afford the insurance so it sat in the driveway. I figured I was better off to not look cool and be mobile then to just have a cool car. Continue reading »

Investing In Your Health: Garden Start Up 2013

Investing In Your Health 2 Responses »

Apr 162013

Last year I began building a garden in my back yard in order to grow my own organic produce or, as my grandparents liked to call it, food. For those of you wondering why I’m writing about organic gardening on a finance blog, you may want to read my excellent article on Investing In Your Health.

“If it’s important for an investor to make quality investment decisions to efficiently expand their wealth, is it not just as important to make healthy decisions to expand the lifespan of the investor?”

Carrots I stored over the winter starting to re-sprout.

Dividend investing is a long term strategy to build wealth over time, so it makes sense to me to live healthy so that I’ll actually be able to enjoy my wealth. By growing my own food in my back yard I can eat organic just like my ancestors did without having to fork out the extra moola to do it. Not only is it cost effective and healthy for me, but it benefits the environment as well.

All you have to do is walk through your local grocery store to see how big corporations have thrown nutrition to the wayside in the name of profits. These days it would be more beneficial to eat the cardboard packages then it would be to eat the actual food product it contains. I say food product because that’s really all it is. Continue reading »

Dividend Income For March 2013

Dividend Income Update 2 Responses »

Apr 072013

Welp, personally I’m glad March is over. I don’t know where you live, but here March came in like a lion and left like a man eating shark. We still have piles of snow and below freezing temperatures which means this will be the 7th consecutive month of having snow on the ground. I think those global warming groups need to find a hobby because I’m not seeing these hotter temperatures they keep going on about.

I digress.

Perhaps I should focus on a more exciting topic for a dividend investor, like the amount of money I have made in March without lifting a finger. It’s really amazing how fast one’s passive income grows with dividend increases and re-investing those growing dividends. My total calculated dividend income for 2013 is just shy of $5,000 and I haven’t even invested any extra capital yet this year.

Looking back through my spreadsheets I noticed my dividend income for March last year was $391. Just from dividend increases alone my dividend income for the month of March 2013 has increased to: Continue reading »

Welcome Aboard, Coca-Cola

Dividend Investments, KO 11 Responses »

Apr 052013

Last month I pulled the trigger on a well known U.S company that you just might have heard of, that is unless you were raised by wolves in the mountains. Coca Cola is probably the most recognized product on the planet and it all started as a brain tonic back in 1886.

Coca Cola may seem like a no-brainer investment, but to be honest, it wasn’t an easy choice for me. Let’s face it, sugar water is not exactly the most healthy product to consume. A few years ago there was big uproar over the amount of sugar in soft drinks and I imagined all the cola empires collapsing in the aftermath. Boy was I wrong!

Even with an increase in healthy eating and active living, Coca-Cola remains more profitable then ever before. After all that, I figured I might as well take the plunge into its sugary un-goodness. Coca-Cola isn’t all about soda though as they do offer a wide variety of sugar free products, juices and bottled water. KO might not be the most ethical investment I could make, but there sure are a lot worse companies out there. Continue reading »

Adventures In Investing: Setting Up A TFSA Trading Account

Adventures In Investing, TFSA 7 Responses »

Mar 272013

Recently we decided to open a self directed TFSA trading account for my wife. It was such an easy and pain-free experience that I thought it would make a great article to show people the simple process. If you’ve been following The Loonie Bin, you might have heard my many rants on how much I like holding common share dividend stocks in a TFSA trading account. It’s a great way to watch your savings grow with every dividend deposited into your account and on top of that, it can all be withdrawn tax-free.

Make the call

It started off with a simple phone call to the closest TD branch one Saturday morning. I was planning to make the appointment later in the week but they had two openings available that afternoon. I told the assistant that my wife wanted to open a self directed TFSA trading account and the appointment was booked.

Communication is the key

Before we left for the appointment I explained to my wife what to expect and which questions to ask. Whenever I’m about to open anything that affects my money, I want to make sure all my questions are answered before I sign on the dotted line. That way there are no hidden surprises down the road, especially when they could have been prevented. Continue reading »

Using The Power Of The Mind To Save Money

Money Mentality, Saving Money No Responses »

Mar 212013

We are conscious beings and we have the power to do anything we put our minds to. The human body itself is a marvel of chemical reactions, nerve impulses and regeneration that cannot be easily duplicated, even with most modern technology we have developed. The most powerful computers today can process and solve millions of calculations in seconds, yet they cannot process the amount of information the brain receives from one second of sight from your eyes, let alone the rest of the information it receives from the rest of the body. Even though you might be lousy at math, your brain is processing information faster then the most powerful computers on earth without you even being aware of it.

How does this apply to saving???

Saving money is a simple process when you think about it. You deposit excess funds that you do not spend into an account each month. Sounds simple enough, but why do people have such a hard time saving their money?

It’s the same reason why people have trouble losing weight.

To lose weight, you lower your caloric intake and exercise your body to burn off stored energy. Again, a simple process yet millions of people struggle with losing weight and keeping it off. It all has to do with the power of our minds! Continue reading »

Avoiding The Fallout Of The Baby Boom Part Two

Money Mentality, Pensions, Retirement 1 Response »

Mar 172013

With the impending retirement “Boom” looming over our heads, I for one want to do everything possible to limit its effect on myself and anyone else willing to listen. Even if my thoughts on the boomer generation do not come true, I’d like to think my ideas on reducing the possible impact are financially beneficial regardless of what may happen.

Surviving A Shrinking Workforce

Go to any city bar or restaurant and you will likely find people with college degrees working there. In the past, a college degree was like a golden ticket to any job you wanted. These days, university graduates seem to be a dime a dozen with millions of students pushed through with only so many jobs waiting for them.

In a limited job market, it’s important to do your research before spending thousands of dollars on a degree. There could be a decline in jobs that want degrees in liberal arts or sociology, so you might want to head in a different direction. Since there will be plenty of old people needing healthcare, why not look into being a doctor, nurse or some other type of health related professional. Those millions of baby boomers will be needing dentures or hearing aids in the near future, and that means there’s lots of money to be made. Continue reading »

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