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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Making a living on dividend distribution: is the dream possible, like right now?

I had been quiet lately for several reasons. I had been laid off. And no, I won’t tell you more! I am looking forward at my options. I qualify for unemployment, so I will be applying for that soon. Where I am in New Brunswick, there are not too many jobs available in this desert of snow, I am in a little town and just to make things worst, Acadian Lines, the Maritime public transportation public, is on strike. This is helping a lot!

We’ll move on for now but I am really not stress. Want to know why? Ok, we’ll begin by checking over my budget and my monthly needs:

Minimum of the minimum living expenses:
Rent + Internet + other: 400$

DEBT:
Student Loan: 98$
RRSP Loan: 108$
Credit line: 50$
Credit card balance transfer: 30$
American Express at 0.99% for a year: 27$
Banking fees: 5.90$

Minimum debt payment total: 318.90$

TOTAL: 718.90$

The amount of 718.90$ over the minimum of the minimum, without car expenses, without any extra money to shop, no entertainment. But hey, I am the entertainment, right?

At this point, we know how much I have in debt, we know my net worth (84k), we know the value of my investment portfolio. But what about my dividend income? Can I support my minimum monthly expenses by relying on my dividend distribution?

Let’s check it out, without including any possible special dividend:

Non registered Investments:
Stocks and Units investment portfolio CAN$
Sprott Inc. (SII): 123.24$
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): 226.72$
Methanex Corporation (MX): 70.04$
Fortis Inc. (FTS): 129.60$
Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL): 714.48$
Just Energy Group Inc. (JE): 860.56$
Pengrowth Energy Corporation (PGF): 190.68$
Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (ENF): 416.64$
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 68.40$
Davis + Henderson Corporation (DH): 264.12$
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH): 514.48$
EnCana Corporation (ECA): 164.80$
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index (XRE): 113.96$
Horizons Gold Yield Fund (HGY.UN): 192.70$
Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX): 108$
New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI): 179.71$
Exchange Income Corporation (EIF): 511.92$
Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI): 31.96$
Student Transportation (STB): 117.02$
Colabor Group Inc. (GCL): 107.60$
TMX Group Inc. (X): 163.20$
Data Group Inc. (DGI): 443.88$
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL): 110.40$
Westshore Terminals Invest Corp (WTE.UN): 210.89$
WesternOne Equity Income Fund (WEQ.UN): 228$
Atlantic Power Corp (ATP): 267.26$
Kinross Gold Corp (K): 24$
TransCanada Corp (TRP): 44$
Canadian National Railway Co (CNR): 45$
Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (FC): 37.44$
Sprott Strategic Fixed Income Fund (SFI.UN): 30$
Enbridge Inc. (ENB): 31.696$
Agrium Inc. (AGU): 6.30$
Canadian Utilities Limited (CU): 37.21$
Veresen Inc. (VSN): 65.736$
Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG): 60.72$
Chorus Aviation Inc. (CHR.B): 90$

TOTAL: 7 007.76$
583.98$/month

I am missing less than 200$ per month before being able to “live” from my dividend income. I am in position to reinvest so I can increase my dividend income. And I could do so without too much trouble, without risking my margin account situation.

By the end of March, we should know if the Maple Group deal goes through. If it work out, each and single of my TMX Group Inc. (X) stocks will give me 50$ in cold cash. Once the transaction completed and the cash received, I could reinvest in a quality dividend stock.

Also, I hold close to 4k in First Majestic Silver Corp (FR). Fr is a good stock, but it doesn’t pay any dividend. Once I can make a little profit out of it, I will be selling FR and reinvested in a dividend stock.

What I hold in my TFSA and in my US account could be review. Just there, I could easily increase my dividend income.

However, there’s a catch. I should not reinvest in stocks that offer a super high dividend yield. I need to invest in a quality stock offering something like 7% in dividend yield. I should not consider investing in a stock offering like 10% and up in dividend yield. See what I mean? I need to keep a balance and what I will be investing next need to be of quality and the dividend yield need to be reliable and reasonable. And that can be tricky! I may check out Susan Brunner blog to search for quality stuff. I need to do my search. But for now, no rush, no need to sell overnight. I know how to deal with those kinds of things. I am a real New Brunswicker if you see what mean. So stay tune.

By the way, go check my Twitter account: Jully Black herself has read the Dividend Girl! (check out my Twitter account on the right column). After Raymi the Minx, now it’s Jully Black.

I am laid off, but I am a... superstar.

Or kind of. lol :)))))

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

how about food?

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you got laid off.

You will come out of this with a better job. WHen one door closes another one opens.

pattirose said...

Sorry to hear you've been laid off but something will come up, you are very resourceful. Plus now you will have more time to research investments.

I know when I have the spare time I can make a quick trade and pocket a couple hundred $$ and that's a good days pay for me.

I got that idea from you! :)

Anonymous said...

Told u that you were about to be fired! and I was right. U have a vile mouth, and your boss read this blog.
Anonym-u-r-vile.

Liquid Independence said...

That's a lot of dividends. You are already so far ahead on your road to financial freedom. Sorry to hear about the sad news. I'm sure you will find better opportunities soon.

Anonymous said...

consider yourself lucky that you can afford to lose your job. good luck on your job search and hope your investments will not go down. you are basically working to invest most of your money earned in the stock market and risk losing a big chunk of money by making irrational decision. i hope you realize the down side of debt on no income. i guess your parents can bail you out for the time being.

Sunny said...

For food, its included, luckily..
I usually gave 350$ for rent + food, 50$ for cable and Internet and I usually pay my part for the electricity bill... but giving 400$ could do the thing, especially if I begin to clean the house, do the meal, the dishes, all a bunch of things I wasn't doing before. You see what I mean? LOL Yesterday, I partly clean the entrance of all the snow we had received. My car was sliding in the street while turning to left, it was going to the opposite direction. Crazy winter. Luckily, I didn't have incident.

Thank you for good words. I will be on unemployment insurance so it will bring in some money, I am not about to cancel my DRIP unless I am very stuck.

My financial situation is not that bad. I have some credits, some of my credit lines are fully or almost paid off... Its not that bad. What's saving me, as someone said, is that, even if its sound strange to say so, I can afford to lose my job, my monthly expenses are low.

I plan to post on how to handle a laid off or being fired... I am a specialist.

At this time, I am very focus on quality stock, rather than exclusively focusing on dividend yield. Also, I won't be doing those day tradings anymore, that's for sure. I could continue to invest while being on the unemployment. I will keep some cash aside too in case I decided to move. I am very aware of my situation, I am usually really rational. If I invest, it will be on quality stuff. I need to be careful because of my margin situation.

Did you all notice, the Maple group deal could happen by the end of March, it's looking good. Right there, it will bring a 5k on my margin account. I could leave it there or reinvested, in maybe some REITS stocks, I don't know yet.

I am not completely out of resources.

It will be a good thing for my boss to read my blog, he'll finally learn how to manage his money. Living in luxury, spending your money on mortgage is not how you can achieve financial freedom. Need to be a bit smarter than that.

I hated the team working there, very selfish, fresh, and incompetent when it come at managing a business. Very soon, they are going to close their doors, and I am praying for that to happen. If you cannot manage your personal finance, you cannot manage a business either, simple is that. The cash need to work for you. Investing on a house, a mortgage won't bring in any money to survive.

My plan right now is a survival one. You'll see, it will be interesting.

Watch the Maple Group happening and making me richer of 5k.

Its true I will have more time to study the market. I will try to learn how to read financial statements and do my own analysis... ITS GOING TO BE FUN.

Thank you Pattirose, Liquid and all the anonymas.

Anonymous said...

Hi DV,
We all here for you. We are giving you advice and at the same time we are learning lots of things from you. You will get much better opportunity job than one you had before. Try to reduce your debts and stick with high quality stocks.

Not working said...

Bonne chance avec tout sa ! Tu va surement retrouver un emploi très vite. Est ce que le calcul pour tes dividendes calcul les montants qui sont retenu par le fisc américain ? (-15%)

Sunny said...

Ahhhhhhh charming :)

Merci bien.
Non, ça ne comprend pas les retenus. Mais je suis Canadienne, le fisc américain n'entre pas en compte.

Not Workign said...

Je sais que tu est canadienne mais je croyais avoir lu qu'il y avait une retenu par le gouvernement américain sur le dividendes (je suis quebecois aussi) donc si tu me dit qu'il n'y a aucune retenu je vais apprendre quelque chose de nouveau

Sunny said...

Je n'ai jamais rien lu sur ce type de retenu par le fisc américain, je ne peux pas te répondre là-dessus. Je ne sais pas. (I don't know). Et je ne comprends pas ce dont tu parles. (And I don't understand what you are talking about). Ok (ok).

:)

Sik said...

I just came across your site today and its great to see the investment progression of someones portfolio. Great Site.

2 said...

Hey ben... tu me surprendras toujours. Tu ne savais pas que le fisc. americain prend un % en taxe sur tes dividendes americains? Tu ne regarde pas tes rapports? En plus, tu ne sais pas de quoi il parle??? Ouch!

Sunny said...

Franchement, crois-tu vraiment toi tout connaître de la bourse? Les petits frais de ton genre sont ceux qui y perdent. Regarde bien mon portfolio : je n'ai aucune dividende américain qui rentre. La seule chose en dollars US que j'ai c'est le PSLV, le Sprott silver. Et ça ne paye de dividende, le PSLV en passant.

La bourse américaine ne m'intéresse pas vraiment, j'en ai déjà plein les bras avec la bourse canadienne et mon margin account, c'est pour ça que je ne connais pas les règles des dividendes américaines.

unbalanced said...

I'm sorry. I can't understand French I'm from the prairies

Anonymous said...

bad idea!

sunny the second you start withdrawing from your investments they are no longer investments. Your goal to financial freedom would be on hold.
AND lets not even get into whats going to happen to your portfolio during the next market correction. (crash )

You don't touch anything, at the very least you get along without making contributions. It is now up to you to wash dishes or pump gas or live on EI. What ever you have to do until you are in a better position work wise.

PS....considering you are living in bathurst, new Brunswick, my opinion would be a whole lot different if half your investments weren't margin or credit card debt! (this is not a knock on NB, i actually think you can live on dividend income from a $200 000 portfolio provided you had no mortgage or rent)

Rich

Sunny said...

I am in X town in NB. I never mention Bathurst.

I am not talking about withdraw here, its simply about cashing my dividend distribution basically, nothing more. Anyway, for now, I am on the EI. Depending on how it goes, I may cancel my DRIP and cash in my dividend, but I do not plan to do so right now because of the upcoming EI.

I agree with you, I could make a living on a 200k portfolio.

Its not anytime soon that I am going to wash dishes. I don't like cleaning, mopping, doing the dishes, doing laundry and cooking meals.

Anonymous said...

There's a lot of things you do that I disagree with, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Hehe.
But one thing you do have that no reader could ever argue with Is your commitment.
If you keep saving the way you are you could come up with half a million within the next 15 years. Provided you have also secured some kind of living , ie ... Small home bought with cash. ( which will still be possible in new brunswick )
You need to start by eliminating that debt over the next 3 years. Any major market turns resemblent of 2008 could hurt you badly

Rich

Sunny said...

I agree with you on my debt situation. I certainly need to pay off some debt. My situation was really great while living in Montreal, I had multiple income streams, the money was good, but I was working at several jobs. Now, being here in NB, left with no job at all, its going to be difficult to hit the 200k by the end of 2012.

My commitment is under danger now that I don't have a source of income.

I feel my margin secure with all of those great blue chips that pay so little in dividend. My portfolio is quite strong. Stock crash can come, I think I could take the hit.

Anonymous said...

you are lucky that you have no mortgage, no kids to support, very minimal expenses, in fact luckily everything is paid for pretty much, this is why you can afford to lose your job. just watch out. you should pay off you debt. the worse is jobless with debt!

Ruth said...

Sunny, love love your honesty and committment. why can't you just stay with your parents...hope u do some dishes and cleaning for your mom though. I love reading your blogs and the letters. I also think that using the dividends is a good idea to help you til you find something interesting to do.

Ruth said...

Pattirose how about our just energy, i am holding my breath for it to reach $13.20, my buy in. may hold it for dividends but never letting it drop again. i like the idea of day trading but can never find the right stock for that, any hints or ideas?? wish i had the insight to get into Astal Media and i do own bell...

Anonymous said...

It's pretty funny listening to retired soccer moms talk about trading as if they could find some market-beating edge that hedge funds full of math/finance phd's haven't figured out yet.

Ruth said...

Anonymous...soccer mom,,nah , was a hockey mom..NHL one too...but that is a long time ago...hey...you know when u get to my age , what the heck..it is like playing in a giant casino and i have fun with it and i can afford it..just want to have a little excitement with a day trade. be kind to us old broads.

pattirose said...

I'm not a soccer mom, nor a hockey mom, nor any kind of mom at all, no cats either, sorry to disappoint you, anonymous.

Like Ruth said, it's a giant casino and I can afford to play in it. Place your bets and roll the dice - it's all a crap shoot anyways!

@Ruth: I'm the last one you want to ask about day trading, I know absolutely nothing, sorry. All I do is look what's having a run up and buy some, then sell as soon as I've made a couple hundred $$, that's all. I'vu done it a few times but it's been sheer luck that I made any $$, nothing more.

JE I will hold till it hits my buy in price, then I'm out. I am still down $700 on it.

Ruth said...

Hi Pattirose...am out when i reach the $23.20 mark too...too risky and funny u know...just energy was at my door yesterday..a young kid was selling it. i , like you find fun in a hundred or two with a trade..bought apple and am up a hundred..3 stocks..for fun.i have no debt and for sure...the stock market is a casino...no other way to look at it. i listened to a young woman almost crying on BMN about ford stock and all the money she lost...if only they could clue in that it is a bet.

Anonymous said...

Patti/Ruth: You've got the right attitude. I've probably misjudged you. Nothing wrong with rolling the dice for a bit of fun as long as you understand that's what you're doing. Unfortunately for Sunny, I don't think she understands the difference between her investments and pure gambles.

Anonymous said...

You never mentioned having to pay taxes on your dividend, this would increase your spread of expenses vs. actual income.

 

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