Portfolio Update - March 2025

The month of March 2025 as ended and it was quite the month!

In Canada, the federal liberal leadership race concluded on March 9th.  Mark Carney easily won the leadership.  In less than a week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister and then Mark Carney was sworn in as Prime Minister.

The day Mark Carney was sworn in also involved cabinet ministers were selected.  Immediately, there was a cabinet meeting.  Prime Minister Mark Carney let reporters into the cabinet meeting, and singed an "Order in Council" to eliminate the consumer carbon tax on April 1, 2025. The provinces and territories, except British Columbia and Quebec, had the federal backstop in place.

On April 1, the federal carbon tax is still on the books but is 0%.  

On March 23, Mark Carney visited the governor general to dissolve parliament and have a federal election.  The federal election will occur on April 28.

Donald Trump doubled down on placing tariffs and announcing new possible future tariffs across the globe.

On April 2nd, the reciprocal tariffs were placed on various countries across the world by the President of United States, Donald Trump.  These tariffs were actually less the the tarriffs most countries have on imports from the United States.

April 3 and April 4, saw a huge drop in the markets across the globe.

The S&P500 was down 13.18% over the past month.  In the last 5 days, the S&P500 was down 8.21%. 

The S&P TSX Composite Index was down 6.74% over the past month.  In the last 5 days S&P TSX Composite Index was down 5.91% over the last 5 days.

Portfolio Activity

Margin Account Activity

There has been no activity in this account since the last update.

TFSA Activity

On March 21, I added 2 shares of AW.TO at $31.35 CAD per share for a total cost of $62.70.  Currently AW.TO pays a dividend of $0.48 per share quarterly, or $1.92 per share annually.  The yield on cost for this purchase was 6.12% .

So this purchased adds $3.84 CAD to my annual dividend income. 

Shares Purchased Via DRIP

1 share of MFC.TO @$43.29265  for a total cost of $43.29 CAD (TFSA)

1 unit of REI.UN @  $19.32113 for a total cost of $19.32 (TFSA)

1 unit of KMP.UN @  17.01 for a total cost of $17.01 (TFSA)

1 unit of SRU.UN @ $25.48797 for a total cost of $25.49 CAD (TFSA)

1 share of AW.TO @ $33.52565 for a total cost of $33.53 (TFSA)

2 units of BPF.UN @ $17.10578 for a total cost of $34.21 (TFSA)

2 units of BEP.UN @ $22.23916 USD for a total cost of $63.68 CAD (TFSA)

1 share of BEPC.TO @ $40.36101 CAD for a total cost of $40.36CAD (TFSA)

5 shares of T.TO @ $20.56823 for a total cost of $102.84 CAD (TFSA)

I have some other positions with the DRIP turned on but might not have enough of a dividend to purchase a whole share. 

My Enbridge position directly with the transfer agent is set up to DRIP.  Around November 2018, Enbridge stopped their DRIP program.  If Enbridge decides to start a DRIP, then my shares will start to DRIP again automatically.  

Dividend Increases

On March 7, 2025, A&W Food Services of Canada (AW.TO) increased their dividend from $0.3748CAD to $0.48CAD per share quarterly, or from $1.4992 CAD to $1.92 CAD per share annually.  This is an increase of 28.1%.  

At the time of this dividend increase, I owned 106 shares of A&W Food Services of Canada.  This increase adds $44.60 CAD to my annual dividend income.

Dividend Decreases

There was no dividend decreases during the month of March 2025.  

Summary: 

As of April 5 , 2025, the total value of the portfolio is  $240003.75 CAD . This is a 3.83% decrease over last month's total.  

The portfolio is estimated to produce an estimate $13084.60 CAD in dividend income over the next 12 months. This is an increase of of $8.84 CAD , or 0.068%. Some of the dividends in the Canadian stocks section are paid in US dollars, which are converted to Canadian dollars.

Googlesheets is still not operating properly.  So, I had to manually enter the market value for the REITS, BEP.UN, and BPF.UN.

Dividend increases or decreases announced already for April 2025, will be included in the next portfolio update. 

 

Please Note: Positions in Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO),  Brookfield Renewables Corporation (BEPC.TO), and Algonquin Power and Utilities (AQN.TO)  pay dividends in US dollars. Brookfield Renewables Partners (BEP.UN) pays distributions in US dollars. My investment tab spreadsheet displays the Canadian dollar equivalent within 15 to 20 minutes of real time. 

Disclosure: Long aforementioned stocks

DISCLAIMER

I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice. Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.ir financial situation and tolerance for risk. 

Net Worth Update - March 22 2025

 Today is March 22, 2025. Although passive income through dividends and option premiums is my focus when it comes to investing, I decide to do a post about my current net worth.

What is net worth? Simply put, net worth is calculated by adding up all assets and subtracting the total of all liabilities. Net worth is sometimes referred to as shareholder's equity. Assets and liabilities are part of the balance sheet.

Assets

Savings

The savings section is currently into 3 segments. The 3 parts are a "high" interest savings account, novice savings account, savings account, and an "investment" savings account.

The TFSA savings account was with Tangerine. I was frustrated with getting such a low interest rate with Tangerine. I took the money out and placed it in non-registered high interest rate savings account with EQ Bank. Unfortunately, the account did not disappear as interest was earned in the TFSA with Tangerine for the month I transferred the balance. The balance is $0.18. With a value this low, I do not even earn interest as the balance so low.  

On March 22, 2025, the value of the savings account with EQ Bank is $12812.52 . As of the time of this writing, the interest rate for EQ Bank is currently sitting at 1.25%.  Since the last net worth update, the Bank of Canada cut the interest rate two times.  

I opened an notice savings account (30 day) in November 2024.  Currently, the value of the account is $748.06.  The interest rate currently is 3.00%.  When a withdrawal is requested, it takes 30 days for the withdrawal to complete.  During the 30 days, the interest continues to accumulate. 

The interest rate on for this 30-day notice account does not get reduced as much as a regular high interest savings account. 

The stock and ETF investment involves one stock and cash  that I hold within my margin account. I keep the dividends and distributions received separate from the dividends I post in my dividend income updates.

Currently, I do not own any stocks in this account.

I own 55 units of the Bank of Montreal Canadian Dividend ETF (ZDV.TO)  and cash.  The purchase of the ETF was first purchased after the last net worth update.

I have a 2 short March 21 2025 $14.50 TA.TO puts with a expiration date of March 21, 2025.  At the time of this writing, Transalta (TA.TO), closed below $14.50 on expiration day.  The option assignment will show up as 200 shares on Monday March 24. 

On March 22, 2025 , the current value of this "stock / ETF /cash account" is $4466.84 .  I have earned a total of $560.69 in total dividends/distributions in this account. 

Overall, the savings total is $18027.42 .

Non-registered Accounts

The non-registered accounts consist of a margin account and 2 stocks held directly with the transfer agents. The margin account is with Questrade. The total market value is $132408.18 as of March 22, 2025. This is an decrease of 2.22% since the last published net worth post.

TFSA Investing Account

The TFSA investing account balance is $124900.90 as of March 22 2025. This account is with Questrade. This is an increase of 1.633% since the last published net worth post.

Trading Account

The trading account is with Questrade. There is an active trade on this account.  My covered call expired in the money as the share price was above the strike price at expiration.  This means the option will be automatically assigned and the sale of the shares will occur on March 25. As of March 22 2025, the value of this account is $6561.03 .

RRSP

As of March 22 2025, I own  the following:

21 shares of CP Rail (Ticker Symbol  CP.TO) 

152 units of XAW.TO etf

65 shares of CN Rail (CNR.TO) 

56 shares of Alimentation Couche-Tard  (ATD.B.TO) 

47 shares of XEI.TO etf

1 share of Telus Corporation (T.TO) 

I also own 52 units of CASH.TO. 

The value of this account as of March 22, 2025,  is $25820.14 . This is an decrease of 0.78% from December 25, 2024.

Summary of Assets

Total Savings : $18027.42
Non-Registered accounts : $132408.18

TFSA Investing : $124900.90
Trading Account: $6561.03
RRSP Savings Account: $25820.14

Total Assets =$307717.67 (increase of 0.32% from 3 months ago)

Liabilities

The balance on my line of credit is $0.00. 

I owe $11788.17 in my margin account.  The margin is in the Canadian dollar account within my margin account in Questrade.  The USD account in Questrade has a positive cash balance.

Summary of Liabilities

Credit Line = $0.00

Margin = $10635.07

Total Liabilities = $10635.07

Conclusion

On March 22, 2025, my net worth is $297082.60 . This is an increase of $2124.66, or 0.72%, from 3 months ago.

The market continues to go up and down. During the last 3 months, we have seen inflation going down, but the fears of a recession continue to take hold. 

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To read the eighteenth net worth update, click here. 

To read the nineteenth net worth update, click here.

To read the twentieth net worth update, click here. 

To read the twenty first net worth update, click here. 

Disclosure: - Long all aforementioned stocks
  

DISCLAIMER

I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice.

Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.

Dividend Income Update - February 2025

                         

The month of February 2025 is another month of dividend income landing in my accounts. 

Due to becoming debt free, I changed my pay myself model. Starting the beginning of August 2021, I am paying myself 30%, just like before. This will now consist of 24% to investing, and 6% to savings.  The investment portion is going to my TFSA. Any money left over at the end of the month, I put towards investing on top of the money allocated from paying myself first. Hopefully, I can keep this up!

Update on paying myself first. At the start of August 2022, I now pay myself 35%.  This will consist of 25% to investing and 10% to savings. 

At the start of January 2024, I allocated 27% to investing and 10% to savings. 

Starting July 2024, I started allocating 30% to investing and 10% savings.

Note: All the dividends and totals below are in Canadian Dollars

I received a total of $535.20 in dividend income for the month of February 2025. This represents a 2.27% increase from 3 months ago and a 38.40% increase year over year.

I received dividend / distribution income from 8 different companies.

I received $0.00 in net option premiums within my investment accounts in February 2025.

Below is a visual of my dividend totals for the last 5 years.

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Most of my dividend income usually comes from my margin account.  As more investments and DRIPs are made inside TFSA, the percentage of dividend income for the TFSA is increasing. 

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Next, I will show the percentage of total income for each position.

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In the two month of 2024, I received $1567.39 in dividends. In the first month of 2025, I received $2098.15 in dividends. This is an increase of 33.86% in 2025 over the same period in 2024. 

The graph below shows my total dividend income, as per the blog, since 2012. 

I will update my dividend income tab with the new amount. I will include my option premium income also. It is great to see money from passive income sources deposited into my brokerage account every single month.

Note: Any activity in my RRSP account is not included in these totals.

How was your dividend income for February 2025?

Disclosure : Long all mentioned securities

DISCLAIMER

I am not a financial planner, financial advisor, accountant or tax attorney. The information on this blog represents my own thoughts and opinions and should NOT be taken as investment or business advice.

Every individual should do their due diligence to make their own financial decisions based on their financial situation and tolerance for risk.