Celebrating a $510,000+ Net Worth

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. I’m usually in New Brunswick at this time of year, but I spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Montreal. I’m heading back to New Brunswick in a few days and plan to spend the winter there, as I have for the past couple of years, ever since COVID, actually. I’m enjoying a final couple of days in Montreal and trying to do as much as possible. I plan to see the Titanic exhibition at Bonaventure, I’d feel like I was missing out if I didn’t go. Whenever I’m in my last couple of days in Montreal, it’s always a sprint. I try to do as many things as possible, because I know that once I’m back in New Brunswick, all those beautiful museums and activities will be out of reach.

One exhibition I saw this past weekend was History Is Painted by the Victors by Kent Monkman at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I was hesitant to visit at first because I thought it might be too provocative for my taste. I went anyway, and I don’t regret it. Yes, the paintings are provocative, but there’s also a deep message in them. The work is original, and the exhibition is genuinely worth seeing if you’re visiting Montreal. It seems many of his paintings are in acrylic, which I found interesting. I didn’t realize acrylic could achieve such detail and a classical feel. There are so many details in each piece, and every painting is an experience in its own right.

The TSX closed today’s session at a very strong 30,353.61, gaining more than 500 points in a single day. Just a few days ago, on October 8, I finished the session at my highest net worth ever: $519,565.65. Today, I may have closed on a lower note, but I’m still around $510,000. My non-registered portfolio closed today’s session at $166,333.09, my US portfolio at US$5,935.07, my RRSP (stocks-only) at $96,624.25, and my TFSA at $149,074.85. My dividend income from the non-registered and TFSA portfolios now works out to roughly $975 per month.

Hitting $500k was a big surprise; reaching $519k was an even bigger one. My portfolio is doing what it’s supposed to do, it just keeps growing. Over the past two years, it has gained more than $139,000. It seems the money injected by governments during COVID has had lasting effects on the market. Otherwise, I’m not quite sure what to make of the TSX at 30,000 points. I update my portfolio whenever I’m up. that way I keep records of the good days, because you never know when a correction, or something else, will hit the market.

I’m thrilled about the TSX at 30,000, but I still can’t quite get over it—it feels unreal. With a net worth now above $500k, I’m really starting to feel the weight of my major holdings. In my non-registered portfolio, my biggest holding is Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL). Once PPL hit $55 per share, I knew I was in for a nice payoff. Back in the day, PPL was a Derek Foster pick and was featured in one of his books—either Stop Working or The Lazy Investor. I’ve held my PPL shares tightly ever since probably since around 2008 and it has truly paid off. The 2008 crash was unsettling, but it felt like an opportunity, and I trusted my instincts. That might be my best quality.

I’ve always liked PPL. I was impressed when I learned that my beloved Pembina Pipeline was partnering with Meta to build an AI data center in Alberta. It feels unreal and is certainly impressive, but how did a pipeline company get involved in an AI data center? I’d love to learn more about how that deal came together. PPL is currently trading around $55 per share. With these new data-center activities, I can only see further growth ahead for PPL. I have no trouble imagining Pembina trading at $100 per share in the not-too-distant future. It won’t happen tomorrow, but it’s not out of reach.