Recent Buy

     The price of a  barrel of crude oil has affected a lot of the energy players on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  Energy makes up a lot of the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.  I am not confident that the price of oil will only rise from here.  I  think it will drop some more in the near future.
     I looked for opportunities elsewhere. I decided to look at the financials in Canada.  I noticed that the Bank of Nova Scotia has a current yield of approximately 5%.  I purchased 20 shares at $55.99, which comes to a total cost including commissions of  $1124.82.
   
     BNS currently paid an dividend of $2.80 per share per year, which adds $56.00 to my annual dividend income.

Yield on Cost = $2.80/($1124.82/20)
                        = 4.98%

  This purchase was made in my margin account.  I will update my investing tab spreadsheet in a few days to reflect this purchase.

   I  also own BNS directly with the transfer agent.  This particular position has a full drip on which means the entire dividend is reinvested.  The Canadian Banks are some of the best run banks in the world, an I am happy to be a shareholder in 4 of these banks.  I currently own shares in BMO, RY, TD and BNS.

Disclosure: Long BNS, TD, RY, BMO

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.

New Covered Call

  I recently wrote about my covered call in QSR.TO , which is the ticker symbol for Restaurant Brands International.  Restaurant Brands International is the company that owns both Burger King and Tim Hortons.  The latest post on this covered call can be read here.

  This option had an expiration date of Dec 18, 2015.  The option did not get assigned as it expired. So what did I decide to do?  I decided to write another covered call to collect more option premium.  On Dec 23, I sold a covered call in QSR.TO with a January 15 2016 expiration date and $52.00 strike price.

 Summary:

Premium Received = $75.00-$10.95
                               = $64.05

Days to Expiration: 23

Cost of Stock = $5200

ROI = $64.05 / $5200
ROI = 1.232 %

This 1.232% return is for 23 days.  Most banks are paying under 1% annually on their savings accounts.

Annualized ROI = $64.05 / $5200 *365/23
                            = 19.55%

   A covered call is an excellent way to make more income on a stock that you already own.  This strategy is not for everyone, as some people like to buy and hold to collect dividend income.  My initial purchase price was around $47.00 per share.

Long QSR.TO

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.

Is Everyone Treated The Same?

     People want to make some changes in their lives to make their lives easier.  Of the these changes  involve investing or trading in the financial markets. Do you think everyone gets equal treatment as their neighbors to the north, south east or west?

     In the past several months, I had a demo account with Oanda, to learn to trade Forex.  As time goes by, I decided it was time to open a real account with only a few hundred dollars.  Forex has leverage of like 50:1 whereas a stock is 2:1 in a margin account.   Depending on the Forex broker, the leverage can be smaller or larger which is determined usually by the broker.

     During the registration process, a condition came up "You do not live in Alberta?".  For people who do not know, Alberta is a province in Western Canada.  Canada has 13 regulators for securities. Each province and territory has their own securities commission.   I did some research and discovered  Albertans can not trade Forex unless they meet one of the exemptions. I discovered this through google. The Alberta Securities Commission, or ASC, has determined that Forex is highly speculative and people can lose lots of money. This is not new , as I believe the rule is in effect over 10 years.

        I called the ASC, to discuss how a regular person can trade forex.  One of the exemptions is a networth of  1 million dollars or a annual income of $200000 ($300000 if a couple).  I then asked if a person open an account offshore. The person I was talking said, "we can't stop you from opening account offshore. But if it is discovered,  the open positions will be closed without notice and your account closed". 

       The person I was talking to at the ASC, said they had calls from about 20 people in the last 6 months, who in total lost 1.6 million dollars.  Alberta is the only province in Canada, who doesn't allow Forex trading.  I believe people should be allowed to trade as it is his or her money. However, I believe a person should have to sign something, saying the understand their is high probability of losing more money than initially invested.

     A brokerage has to be registered in a province or territory in order for its residents to trade a particular market.  So the brokerages can register with the ASC, but an exemption must be met before the person can open an account.  This also applies to other high risk endeavors such as futures trading.

   Conclusion:

    Maybe the reason Forex, and other high speculative endeavors, are forbidden under ASC rules is due to the fact Albertans can make a lot more money than other provinces due to the nature of their jobs.  This means the probability of a person trying to make money in a high risk environment is increased.   When people lose money in the markets, they like to place blame on someone or something else.  Some people do not want to take responsibility when it comes to losing money.

Disclosure: After the consultation with the ASC, I have no plans to open an offshore account. 

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 Update - November 2015

      The month of November is another month of dividend income landing in my accounts. This money is used to help pay my expenses if it is needed. If the money is not needed, it is ALL used to purchase new investments to further increase my cash flow.

       The price of a barrel of crude oil is currently around $40.00 a barrel.  OPEC doesn't believe if they cut production right now it will have a drastic effect on the price of oil. Well, it surely is not helping the price of oil due to the over supply.  The next meeting of OPEC is in June.

        Currently, there are talks in Paris about climate change.  Here in Canada, the federal liberal government is going to act on climate change.  How will this effect the economy?  They might implement a carbon tax on top of what provinces are currently doing in regards to a carbon tax.  This carbon tax is ultimately passed on to the consumer. As the consumers have less money to spend,  this will be a negative for the economy.

       One this for sure, is that I was paid dividends and distributions for being a shareholder or unit holder in  various companies or funds.

 Non-registered Account

• Bank of Montreal (BMO) - $28.70
• Emera Inc. (EMA) - $47.50
• Enerplus (ERF)  -$ 27.00
• Killam Properties (KMP)  - $5.75
• Royal Bank of Canada (RY) - $79.00
• Shaw Communications (SJR.B)    - $19.75
• iShares Canadian Divided Select ETF (XDV) - $17.67

TFSA

• Boston Pizza  Royalties Fund (BPF.UN)   - $25.34
• Claymore 1-5 yr Laddered Corporate Bond (ETF) - $0.77
• Cominar REIT (CUF.UN ) - $5.39 
• Dream Office REIT   (D.UN)  - $ 25.39
• Killam Properties (KMP) - $  14.90

Total = $297.16

       Almost made it to $300 in dividend income for a month a third time.  This total represents a 14.02% increase from 3 months ago and 75.26% increase  year over year.

      I also received another distribution payment of $56.00 for my swing trade in Dream Office REIT in my non-registered account. This is not listed above since it is a trade, so I keep the money in the account and do not pay myself first with this payment. I have received $1603.47 in distributions so far on this trade.

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

How was your dividend income for November?

Disclosure : Long all securities above.

Photo Credit: www.mipaq,co.za

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.

Portfolio Update - November 2015

      During the month of November, their was the meeting in Paris about Climate Change. Here in Canada also, the NDP government of Alberta has announced their climate change plans.  During the press conference, there was CEOs of the largest companies that have operations in the Alberta oil sands.  I believe these CEOs believe there will be more markets available to them if their extraction process is more cleaner.  Canada's largest trading partner is the United States.  The US might be more likely to add more pipelines to their system if the source of the extraction is more environmentally friendly.  Oil and gas companies in Western Canada need to develop technologies that allow them to be more efficient and do stuff at a lower cost.

      I started off the month with an  options trade.  I bought back an option with a $48.00 strike price to replace it with a $52.00 strike price.  Although the price of Restaurant Brands International (ticker symbol QSR)  moves a lot, it does not effect people going into their restaurants as a lot of their customers could care less about the stock price.  Restaurants Brands International consists of Burger King and Tim Horton's.  Tim Horton's is a staple for a lot of people in Canada on a daily basis.  The covered call is set to set to expire Dec 18, 2015. If the option is not assigned,  I will write another covered call to collect more income as the dividend yield is low for this stock. 

    I next wrote about what an individual can do to better position themselves financially.  The concept of paying yourself first and let compounding to start to take effect can reduce stress in your life as 
 you create wealth and other sources of income.

     Finally, I wrote about averaging down on XDV, which is iShares Canadian Select Dividend ETF.  This dividend ETF pays monthly.  My brokerage offers commission free ETFs, so my out of pocket cost are just ECN fees when they apply.

     I purchased $140.00 worth of Enbridge shares directly from the transfer agent on December 1.  There is no commissions, so my out of pocket cost is the price of a stamp to mail the check.  I acquired 2.929 shares at $47.80 per share.  Enbridge also paid its quarterly dividend on December 1.  As I participate in a full drip with the transfer agent, I acquired 0.122 shares at $46.84 per share.  The drip is a 2% discount.

    On Dec 3, Enbridge announced at 14% dividend increase starting with its Mar 2016 dividend payment.  The new annual dividend rate will be $2.12 per year, or $0.53 per quarter.  

     As of  Dec 3  2015, the value of my portfolio stands at $80,754.11. This is an decrease of  1.500 % over last month. I will update my investing account tab above.

Disclosure: Long  QSR, ENB

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 be NOT 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