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.