June 2023 Dividend Income Update
Hi Folks!
Well, around that time of a new month to report!
Welcome to our June 2023 Dividend Income Update.
Unlike some other bloggers, we were unable to go on any sort of buying spree for our portfolio recently – we’re in savings mode for 2024 TFSA contribution room and other objectives aligned to this year’s financial goals.
I’ll update that goals post in a few weeks…
“Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.” ― The Light in the Heart
Indeed.
And the journey continues…
June 2023 Dividend Income Update
This month, before sharing our new dividend income milestone below, I’ll go back to my mailbag to see what readers have asked me lately. Here goes!
Mark, I appreciate your dividend income updates. Do you think you’ll eventually index invest?
Interesting question!
Honestly, I doubt it.
Part of the reason why I like and enjoy some individual stock selection, in Canada for sure, is the following:
- It aligns to my behaviour, how I stay engaged with investing; how I can manage my own portfolio vs. at the mercy of a money manager or paying an advisor to do so.
- My DIY basket of (mostly Canadian) stocks is meeting my/our financial objectives.
- At times I’m hammering the index I track so why change what isn’t broken?
Here is a good example of that.
In recent years, DIY investors have been rewarded playing some equity defence mixed with some equity offence assuming you have a tilt towards a few sectors.
That said, I’ve been happy with low-cost ETFs like QQQ and XAW in our portfolio to go with some tech upside and ex-Canada investing respectively.
QQQ continues to beat VTI and that trend might continue longer-term:
Source: Portfolio Visualizer. Blue = QQQ. Red = VTI.
Mark, do you have your eye on any particular stocks right now? If so, which ones?
You know, for the first time in many months, I don’t!
I’m really just trying to stockpile some cash this summer (Bucket 1) aligned to my/our desired cash wedge.
Do you use any dividend tracking apps like some other bloggers use, and if so, which ones?
Nope.
None 🙂
It’s not that I’m anti-app, using tools like Wealthica or other, just that I have a decent spreadsheet and that’s enough for me. Besides, I don’t like my stock data / portfolio information being all over the internet or cloud where I can help it.
Mark, what your transaction costs for the year, to grow your portfolio? Do you buy frequently?
Another good question!
I probably spend $100 or so per year on transaction fees buying more stocks.
That said, based on the number of ETF units I own, the combined money management costs for my ETFs are a bit higher than $100 since I own QQQ at 0.20% MER and XAW at 0.22% MER – lots of units combined.
At the time of this post:
- QQQ is up about 40% YTD
- XAW is up over 9% YTD.
Mark, I recently read a Tweet from you that highlighted your drawdown order. Can you remind me what that is and why? Thank you!
Sure.
We own a number of accounts beyond our workplace pensions: x2 RRSPs, x2 TFSAs, x2 taxable accounts and I also have a LIRA.
Given we cannot access any DC or DB workplace pension assets for a few years, including anything moved from the workplace to a LIRA until age 55, a careful drawdown approach is a must for us.
Generally speaking, I’m considering this order for us: NRT.
- N – non-registered accounts – live off dividends for a few years, while withdrawing RRSPs
- R – RRSPs/RRIFs – start withdrawing assets, slowly, in our 50s and 60s as needed
- T – TFSAs – we will let our TFSA assets compound over time and likely start TFSA withdrawals decades from now. All TFSA withdrawals will be tax-free.
You can check out more details below!
June 2023 Dividend Income Update
Well, time for our Projected Annual Dividend Income (PADI) update:
And…
We’ll have to re-adjust our “2023 Forecast” soon! 🙂
Here are just some of the companies and ETFs that pushed our dividends and distributions higher in June 2023:
- Enbridge (ENB)
- Fortis (FTS)
- Suncor (SU)
- Sunlife Financial (SLF)
- iShares Core MSCI All Country World ex-Canada Index ETF (XAW)
To put this new monthy update into perspective:
- That’s averaging $3,499 (oh so close rounding this higher!) per month.
- A reminder we don’t intend to invest any money inside our taxable accounts at all, this year. We simply don’t have enough to go around… Again, our plan is to save for 2024 TFSA contributions starting this summer (now) and hopefully be ready to roll when new TFSA contribution room opens us as of January 2024.
In the coming months, we’ll also have a chance to be completely mortgage free. I’ll keep ya posted on that too!
Let me know if you have other questions or comments for me, send them along…I enjoy reading them and answering them as much as I can.
Thanks for your readership and hope your income stream is treating you well, too!
Mark
Mark
My name is Mark Seed - the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I'm looking to start semi-retirement soon, sooner than most. Find out how, what I did, and what you can learn to tailor your own financial independence path. Join the newsletter read by thousands each day, always FREE.
Are you converting your rrsp into a riff when you withdraw in your 60’s?
Probably not, Jb. I will likely make strategic RRSP withdrawals in my 60s, $$ withdrawn as needed; but at age 65 I am very likely to turn RRSP assets into RRIFs for income splitting and pension-income tax credit use.
https://www.myownadvisor.ca/rrsp-withdrawal-strategies-before-age-71/
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark: Just a thought. You’ve been in the business for years so why not continue after retirement only at home. A lot of people say it is hard to retire but if you already know the business then go on the computer and find a stock you would like to buy. The more financial security the better.
Well, it is my hope that I don’t really “retire” in the coming years rather I simply scale back into part-time work but the reality is I don’t know what that might be 🙂 Currently working through this with my existing employer since I hope to retain some of my time there as a priority but there are certainly other options! One door closes and another opens as they say.
Mark
Hi Mark: hopefully in the future you will not need so much. As you know the market has highs and lows. During a low you could pick up RUS which doesn’t raise it’s dividend much but I got both at over 10%which isn’t bad. During the covid it was deemed essential. Just a thought.
Fair point. I have a few lower-yielding but higher growth stocks I could sell off, if needed, over time. That said, I hope not to sell any stocks for the coming 10-20 years. 😉
I thought i would wait to convert to RRIFs but TD charges $25 per RRSP withdrawal. In my case i knew i would be needing the income for life, so i converted to RRIF and have no complaints.
Seems smart, Howard. Just convert since RRSP withdrawals are taxed the same way as RRIF income but the advantage of the RRIF income over the RRSP withdrawals is IMO: 1. pension tax credit, age 65 and 2. RRIF income splitting after age 65.
Cheers!
There is also no witholding tax on your minimum withdrawal, which i find to be troublesome at tax time. I now just pay 25% for each payment to avoid a big bill at tax time.
Correct. Stay tuned for today’s post related to your points! 🙂
Mark
Paying off debt is a great investment as well as increasing cash flow ( tax free ) ! / as long as you don’t increase your expenditures… /
Discipline becomes a way of life – rich or poor – 🤣
Fair point, Shirley! I think we have a decent semi-retirement plan but we won’t really know until we try and take a risk. We’ll see!
I read this blog one thing I really like it is, you are doing your job well. If you keep working like this, your side will get traffic and DA million😍😍
Hi Mark. When I paid off my mortgage I started to invest 75% of what used to be paid into my mortgage and used the other 25% on lifestyle. The lifestyle of 25% was as a reward for paying off the mortgage and to keep the wife happy. What are your plans for the extra money when your mortgage gets paid off??? Life seems so much better/easier when one is debt free.
Well, when the mortgage is paid off we’re likely to work part-time. In 2024.
We can hopefully reduce our schedule and keep the same standard of living since our salaries are not servicing debt or saving for retirement.
So, we won’t have extra money. Basically at least one of our salaries has been going to paying off debt and investing for retirement for the last 20 years.
Thoughts? 🙂
Hi Mark. When it comes to investing, at least for me, having a long term plan was always a corner stone for my investing. Everyone will have different investment plans and what works for some won’t work for others. The main point however is to have a plan and always be working towards it, even if life or events cause the plan to change a little. Congratulation’s when you pay off your mortgage and achieve that milestone Mark.
Thanks Don.
That aligns.
We’ve had a 20-year plan to save and invest, while paying down debt.
Once the debt was gone, largely saving for retirement will be done and we believe we can transition to less work given we are not saving for retirement as much along with not servicing debt.
Could we continue to work throughout our 50s, work full-time and save more money? Sure. Just not our ideal plan.
I look forward to sharing that mortgage death with you and other readers within the year.
🙂
Mark
$13 shy of 2023 forecast! Im sure July divs have already pushed you over. Well done!
Looks like you will get to 44k this year and maybe 47k in 2024?! Very nice.
I will reach out to you through CAP soon for revised projections. Drawdown starts in January.
Chuck
Reach out for sure, Chuck – I need to do my own projections for 2024 🙂
Yes, optimistic we’ll get to $44k by the end of this year actually, if we can find more $$ to invest.
Earning close to $48k per year would set us up well if I can navigate part-time work starting summer 2024 and beyond. A big wildcard right now.
Mark
Hi Mark: If you had started sooner you wouldn’t have to worry about mortgage payments but you did start at a good time. 2008 was a great time although my nephew would differ. One I saw but didn’t act on was Teck Resources. It was trading from $3.25 to $3.85. You could have bought 10000.00 shares and in April of 2010 sold it at $45.625. My niece bought bought BOM at $28.875
Yes, I wish I bought Teck at that price. Was under $10 3.5 years ago – now what, $55 per share? 🙂
Mark
Mark, i see that your drawdown plan is un-registed first then RRSPs. Be careful to not let your RRSPs get too large, as they can cause high tax issues and possibly an OAS clawback when you reach 70 and are forced to take the minimum out of your RRIFs and LIFs. If they are already high you might want to draw from them first, and start transfering RRSP to TFSA and non-registered before it becomes an issue.
Great point. I will be doing a slow set of RRSP withdrawals in our 60s to avoid any potential of OAS clawback.
Our total spending needs in retirement are projected to be about $6k per month (after tax). Ideally, without travel, keeping things around $4k per month is ideal for us. ($4k per month = property taxes, home maintenance, utilities, transportation, food.)
Anything we don’t need from RRSP withdrawals will go into TFSAs for sure…
Mark