Happy New Year 2019, TSX investors!

Good luck for 2019! I think we'll all need some in 2019. Today was quite a rough start for the TSX, but it eventually got better and we got a smooth closing, but nothing to be much excited about. The TSX show what it got in reserve for its investor: pain, pain and only PAIN. Bring it on, I am ready. My non-registered portfolio closed today session at $119 770.08, my TFSA portfolio at $52 569.44, and my RRSP portfolio at $37 597.80. 

In his last 2018 newsletter, Derek Foster said that he had invested in BEP.UN, and right there, I got my fabulous investment idea for the couple hundreds in cash I had inside my RRSP portfolio. So today, I finally moved on and I placed my first investment of the year 2019 in Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP.UN). So welcome in my RRSP portfolio Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP.UN) and make me rich. PLEASE.

Personally, I like and dislike the Christmas holidays for several reasons. I like it because I get to visit my family in New Brunswick, but despite the fact that I am a princess and it seems like I am the only one to know, I always have to come back to cover the New Year Eve period at work. And of course, to maximize the time spend in New Brunswick, I always go back to Montreal at the really last minute, just right on time to go to work the next morning. And it's quite hard to do that exactly on the next morning. The day of the New Year is not a good day to be at work, especially while coming straight from a holiday and you have nothing in the fridge. All the stores closed early on New Year day, it's not convenient. Other than that, I like Christmas season. And its now over. 2018 just deserved a street punch in the face. I was so hoping to hit on the 300k value in investment, but it just didn't happen, of course. These days, numbers aren't right on the stock market.

One thing for sure, 2018 was super volatile for the TSX and it hasn't been super pleasant. I am glad that I started investing in stocks a decade ago, starting now - or in 2018 - would have been a traumatic experience. I started investing shortly before the 2008 stock crash. But things were different and following the crash, we meet a strong bottom point and it was it. Following what, the stock market gains points like if it would had been a crazy wild horse. And because of that, I had been able to hit on $232 000 in net worth - my highest net worth ever - despite the fact that I only invest small amounts after small amounts... It took me 10 years to be able to manage the market volatility and I feel just bad for all the young investors who need to go through the toughest of the hardest time ever. I am happy with my decision to sell some of my stocks to pay down my margin debt, which at some point was up to $101 000, and its currently of $47 877.66. Now, the state of my margin account is secure and a 47k debt makes a bit more sense than having a 101k one on my pretty shoulders.

My non-registered portfolio closed the year 2018 at $118 679.19, my TFSA portfolio at $52 418.76, my RRSP portfolio at $37 515.44, and my US portfolio at $2 881.04 US. I will publish an update of my portfolios this weekend, just to leave a trace of that bad 2018 year behind, to remember that I had to go through the worst year ever. 

I am not going to do a recap of my 2018 financial year - it's your unique job to read my posts, after all, its the minimum requirement. But what I was the proudest of was to be able to do a quick buy and sell hot move on Royal Nickel Corporation (RNX) and cash in a good 1k. But I won't repeat the same move on RNX today. I was just really proud to make a few dollars on the back of Eric Sprott for once. Good moves coming from Eric Sprott are really really rares.

For 2019, with the current state of my investment portfolio, my dividend income is expecting to be at a good $7 299.97. And just to add up to the excitement of the new year ahead, two stocks that I found using Stockopedia wow wow wow screens: Granite Real Estate Investment Trust (GRT.UN) and Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (ACR.UN), those two great stocks are both paying a special dividend distribution! YEAH! And I need all the cash I can get because I had booked a one week vacation in Cuba for vacation sometimes soon, and I also bought today a brand new suitcase, which was needed. What is great with ACR.UN and GRT.UN is that despite the big drop out on the TSX, those two little ones are strong. Don't count on those two for immediate great capital gains, but you can always rely on them in term of stability in their value and super nice dividend income.

On December 31, I sold my investment Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI) that was in my non-registered portfolio, to declare a capital loss. And finally, today, I did a contribution in kind with Nutrien Ltd. (NTR) for my TFSA portfolio. The TFSA contribution limit being $6 000, I plan to transfer some cash in so I can have some playtime money and maybe do some other great hit and run moves like the one I did on RNX a few months ago.

The end of the year is always a good time to do both financial checkup AND cleanup. Basically, the idea is to have a look at how much I have, my allocation assets, how much debt I have, my next investment moves and my budget. And you get know all that great stuff by reading all of my words for free. So enjoy, because the best things shouldn't be giving away for free.