August seemed to go just as quickly and inconspicuously as it came.
There were no doubt plenty of distractions along the way—cryptocurrency turbulence, the usual debates over what the Federal Reserve needs to do with policy, and so on. However, the stock market ultimately did what it has become best known for, and plodded steadily upward.
For my part, I also stuck to what I know best and collected some easy cash flow.
Table of Contents
Dividend Summary
I earned income from six companies, evenly split on both sides of the border.
CAD Dividends
| Company | CAD Payments ($) | Dividend Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN) | 20.88 | |
| Chartwell Retirement Residence (CSH.UN) | 5.10 | |
| A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (AW.UN) | 6.00 | 11.11 |
USD Dividends
| Company | USD Payments ($) |
|---|---|
| AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) | 58.50 |
| Mastercard Incorporated (MA) | 2.62 |
| Apple Inc. (AAPL) | 3.30 |
I pulled in C$31.98 and U$64.42, coming together for a currency-neutral $96.40. This is 10.88% higher than my August 2020 dividend totals, which clocked in at $86.94.
It is worth noting that some of this gain was from repositioning my ABBV stock into a different account. I therefore now avoid the U.S. withholding tax which I was previously paying. Simple adjustment, decent result.
One other thing that jumps out at me in looking at these companies is the huge difference in time of ownership between each of them. Aside from RioCan, my oldest position here is CSH-UN, purchased in 2017.
On that note, here are a few interesting stats about my ownership of RioCan:
- I’ve owned REI-UN since 2009; it was the second company I ever purchased.
- I paid around C$3,000 out of pocket and have since received over C$4,100 in passive income.
- The company has sent me a distribution for 145 consecutive months.
- I’m also sitting on a decent capital gain, but don’t really have any intention of cashing that in.
All of the gains I’ve made since the initial purchase have come without any real effort on my part. I did reinvest the distributions for some months along the way, but now prefer to reinvest this cash in other companies.
Not too bad for a one-time decision.
Here’s a graph of the bump I received in income this August:
As I’ve said before, gains are gains.
Year To Date Progress
By this stage in the year in 2020, I had earned $3,499.99 in dividend income. I’ve pulled ahead by 4.4% year-over-year:
| Month | Dividends ($) |
|---|---|
| January | 602.95 |
| February | 81.22 |
| March | 736.16 |
| April | 659.56 |
| May | 85.92 |
| June | 739.71 |
| July | 652.45 |
| August | 96.40 |
| Total | 3,654.37 |
Given my focus since that time has been mostly on low-to-no dividend investments (i.e., largely in the tech space), it is nice to see my portfolio continuing to kick off higher levels of income organically.
Market Activity and Cash
My main focus at this stage is to continue accumulating cash. This is more a statement about market conditions than my willingness to invest. The fact is simply that I’m not seeing great opportunities at the moment.
I’ve shied away from labeling myself a market timer, though I am certainly prone to this. There is a fair amount of literature suggesting dollar cost averaging is the way to go since none of us are wise enough to predict the future, but I still believe it can be worthwhile to be patient.
When the market tanked last year, I was ready with dry powder because I was already fully invested. I’ve never felt comfortable sitting without some investable capital ready to deploy.
All the same, I don’t lend myself to listening to market prognosticators. There are too many factors that go into moving markets to waste energy trying to guess as to which will be most impactful.
No one actually knows what is going to happen. Be wary of anyone who says they do.
The key is to build some healthy redundancy into your portfolio. One of my favourite mental models is to approach one’s life from the perspective of developing antifragility. In this way, I aim to be insulated against any shocks without needing to predict them with specificity.
Conclusion
August showed portfolio gains of +10% year over year. With year to date figures coming in at +4.4%.
Dividend growth investing is often known for how unremarkable it is on the surface. You make a few investments, reinvest those dividends, and otherwise sip piña colada. These are exactly the reasons, however, that I love it as the bedrock of a portfolio.
I’ve only felt comfortable broadening my investment strategy in recent years because of my granite foundation.
As we close the chapter on two thirds of 2021, I’m looking forward to a banner finish.
Full Disclosure: Long REI-UN, CSH-UN, AW-UN, ABBV, MA, AAPL