Welcoming an annual dividend income of $12 095.87

The TSX closed the day still in the 20,600 points. Today was what I qualified as being a usual day on the stock market. My non-registered portfolio closed the day at $148,182.58, my US portfolio at $5,122.83 US, my RRSP stocks-only portfolio at $64,434.77, and my TFSA portfolio at $126 533,49. Personally, I like to watch the TSX every business day, and most of the time, I have a look at my investment portfolios almost every day. I like to watch the stock market going, and I like to see where my numbers are at on a day-to-day basis. It's been said that "retail investors" - I actually really dislike that term - that us, so call retail investors, shouldn't take a look at our investment portfolio on a daily basis. That advice is really wrong.

I think it's important for investors, big or small, to follow the stock market. By watching it, you can kind of experience it for yourself a bit more. You never know what to expect, but you have to accept that reality if you want to invest in stocks. By looking at my TFSA portfolio, I just came to the realization today that my investment in Boyd Group Services Inc. (BYD) is doing much better these days, but I am still at a loss of -3.10% when it comes to BYD. Back in the day - don't ask when exactly because I couldn't tell exactly, but back in the day, BYD was a Derek Foster stock. I always like to hold some stocks that he holds inside his own portfolio.

Today, I update my dividend income sheet. It's a simple Excel sheet that I keep updated for my dividend income. Before, I had a little booklet in which I wrote everything, but now, I prefer an Excel sheet. At least the sums being generated by each investment get to be calculated automatically, it simplifies things. My annual dividend income is now almost in the $12,100. I am short by just a few dollars.

Recently, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (AQN) cut its dividend distribution. I own a very small amount of AQN shares in my TFSA portfolio, so this isn't bothering me too much. I bought AQN because it's a Derek Foster stock. 

Today, both Metro Inc. (MRU) and Canadian National Railway Co (CNR) came with some very good news for their investors. Both companies increased their dividend distribution and guess what, I hold to both MRU and CNR in my investment portfolio. That helped me to push me closer to the $12,100 annual dividend income. Canadian National Railway Co (CNR) is one of my major holders. I built my portfolio on high-quality stocks like CNR and MRU. This is why I have that amazing chart.

While investing, it's important to pick high-quality stock instead of investing massively in very high dividend stock payers like Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (AQN). Stocks like AQN that pay too high dividend yield are tempted to decrease their dividend income for whatever reason, whenever, and when such companies do so, the value of their stock drop. I don't mind being adventurous from time to time with stocks like AQN, but you should never consider too high dividend stocks as major holdings for your portfolio. That's my opinion and only mine to share.