Weekend Reading – Pembina dividend increase, more dividends, the downside of FIRE and more #moneystuff
Welcome to my latest Weekend Reading edition – where I share some of my favourite articles from the week that was across the personal finance and investing blogosphere.
If you noticed some delays in responding to your comments this past week, and less social media tweets, that’s because I was on vacation – from the workplace and from the blog to a small degree. I travelled to Fort Lauderdale on a golf vacation for almost a week – and had a great time. It’s nice to getaway and unplug to a point but it’s always comforting and great to come home. It’s even better when this happens and I said as much here:
One of my stocks that provides steady dividend income is Pembina Pipeline – they increased their dividend by 5.6%.
While I was away a number of shares were purchased commission-free via DRIPs. Whether I’m in Ottawa or Fort Lauderdale or anywhere else, our portfolio is designed to make more money every month so we don’t have to work full-time someday. We’re not there yet but we are more than halfway there…
Here was my lone article from this past week:
My take on minimizing tax in retirement.
Enjoy this short list of articles, enjoy your weekend, and see you around the site next week where I will likely share my latest dividend income update or an update on my 2018 predictions (some I got right!) or something else that comes to mind.
Mark
Oh, and before the articles, congrats to Waheed who won the copy of this book during my giveaway here. I will get your book in the mail next week. I will have more books to giveaway in the coming months so please keep reading and asking any questions about my investing journey along the way.
Tawcan is looking at re-examining his dividend portfolio. 72 stocks does seem like a great deal to me and an opportunity to trim the holdings but that’s his call – not mine. Anyhow, good on him to own a couple of low-cost ETFs for extra diversification.
Roadmap2Retire shared some good passive income. Well done.
I suppose there are some downsides to FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) and passive income but I can’t say I have more negatives than positives on my list. Although I will always work at something, as long as I am mentally and physically able to, it will be nice to work on my own terms in the coming decade. That’s the plan anyhow.
Have a great weekend!
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.
Lot’s of great organizations to volunteer with…bored at home? Become a driver for Meals on Wheels …in the future we may be recipients !!
Altho working fulltime, I also volunteer with a Rail to Trail group, a biking club & ATV club…just so happens i like being outside clearing trails after windstorms on the weekend.
For sure…there are tons of organizations who value people’s contributions.
Mark and May,
Five years will go by fast. You’ll have even more to add to your growing pile in the meantime. The market could free fall within these five years so it’s good to hang tight for a few years more (if the job environment is still tolerable that is).
I couldn’t wait any longer cause it was driving me mad that I’ve been aggressively working towards freedom since 21 years ago. Plus, both my husband and I think the kids will benefit in having a stay at home Mom now. There are downsides to being RE and your husband is still working. After you send the kids off on their school bus and your spouse leaves for work you now have so much time on your hands but no one to spend it with. Everyone is busy working. So yeah, it can get boring at times. At first I slept away the hours but then decided this isn’t good for me health-wise. Now I try to occupy myself by reading my books, going for long walks to reflect on everything that has happened in my life and planning for how I want us to coach our kids in regards to their life/career/money/freedom planning. When I pick up the kids at their bus stop after school ends then things come alive again at the house.
I don’t regret my decision in leaving work. Nothing can drag me back. Not a thing!!! Life is good now!!! However, it’s true what others have said, if you RE before your spouse does then things can get boring at times. The spouse doesn’t want to RE, he likes what he does. Plus, he said he’ll get bored since we can’t travel full time anyways if the kids are still in school. I think if he RE-ed and I didn’t he would have an even tougher time dealing with the boredom. Assuming that work is tolerable, a good scenario is when both spouses RE at the same time and the kids are at least in university. You and your spouse can then go on long slow travels together.
“There are downsides to being RE and your husband is still working. After you send the kids off on their school bus and your spouse leaves for work you now have so much time on your hands but no one to spend it with. Everyone is busy working. So yeah, it can get boring at times.”
…I guess the thing is you have to have hobbies. I hope to have plenty including this blog or some other line of work.
A great scenario for us is both of us are able to work part-time after our debt is gone and we’ve reached our $1 M goal. I hope we get there sooner than later. 🙂
Hi, ILoveDividends,
You have a nice problem to have. I do understand what you mean by when only one retired and the other is still working. That’s why currently we plan to retire at the same time. Financially, I think you would end up much better with your husband continues to work. You can always have good use with extra money, right? You can take business class flights and stay in five-star hotels e.g. when you are on vacation if you can afford. And your kids definitely don’t need both parents to be home.
I guess you are still in transition period. It take a while to switch from a terribly busy schedule to a schedule where you suddenly have tons of leisure time to yourself. You will find the balance soon.
Enjoy to be a stay home mom. I don’t have that luxury as my husband’s work is not stable. He was out of work for more than four months last year. You are very lucky to be able to do so and it’s definitely a great thing for your kids.
Regarding to FI, we are not there yet. I think we will be very comfortable to retire in five years if we want to. But if worst things happened like both of us out of work and cannot locate a new one, we should still be able to manage. Recognition of that definitely reduced the stress at work as now there is a backup plan. Our jobs are quite stressful by nature so this helps a lot. When I really enjoy my work I think I will do this forever, on bad days I just tell myself I can always quit and the sky will not fall.
I think normally a job has two parts: enjoyable part and annoying part. If your job has only enjoyable part then you are really lucky. But if a job has only annoying part then it’s time to move on. With FI you have more options, you don’t need to rush to find next job and so much less anxiety.
I would agree with you – jobs tend to have the enjoyable part and the annoying part. We want the “FI” not necessarily the “RE” because I want to work at something and I simply don’t want to rush around at work at anything – anymore – in order 5 years. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that 🙂
re: Downsides to FIRE
Besides the fact that financial “independence” is a wholly imagined concept (e.g. dividends anyone?), misunderstood yet marketed by almost every personal finance blogger, I gotta disagree just as much with RB40 and his take on ‘work’.
“That’s the problem with a job. Even if you have the perfect job, it will change. A job won’t be perfect forever.”
The job isn’t the problem — it’s the person doing that job. Probably the #1 reason most people are dissatisfied with their work life is that they approach it with a very, very basic and traditional mindset. Harkens back to medieval days when people were their physical vocation — farmer, blacksmith, tanner, etc. People still approach work with the concept that DOING X activity or Y work will make them satisfied. And when those parameters change, and they do so sometimes very rapidly in a fluid modern workplace, then people come home in a huff and give everyone a hard time (which is a different topic altogether!).
My personal approach is to do work which best aligns with and fulfills my value system. In this way it doesn’t matter what the actual job is (or if the nature of that job changes) but how that job is accomplished (and what that job accomplishes). A job “won’t be perfect forever” simply because people use weak and superficial metrics to measure fit.
“That’s the downside of financial independence. When you’re FI, your tolerance for workplace BS drops like a rock.”
Again, approached with a fear-based mindset that says “I have to tolerate workplace BS in order to keep my job!”. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve rarely put up with workplace BS — and I’m not a squeaky wheel type person. Almost always it’s rarely personal, and almost always it can be resolved (if conducted in a right manner). However, most jobbed people will view workplace BS as a hardship and an obstacle instead of an opportunity.
Summary: the actual job is rarely the actual problem.
Ya, in a perfect world every job would be nothing but mirth and sunshine. In reality that is not likely the case. I loved my job but as I got older and my family situation changed, the shiftwork, overtime and getting up at 4:00 am to fight my way in through a blizzard lost some of its funness. Still, I had to feed my family, heat my house, pay my taxes, etc etc so walking away to *maybe* find something else more mirthier that paid as well did not have a very high probability. Ergo, I toughed it out until 55 (had intended to go at 50 but things happen). There is no shame in staying in a job that might not be one’s ideal and yearning for the day whence a friendly “up yours” to the boss might happen.
“My personal approach is to do work which best aligns with and fulfills my value system.”
That’s very good and I appreciate your detailed comments. The challenge lies in finding that job that aligns with your value system and sustaining that job for many years on end. In this light, I think it does matter “…what the actual job is (or if the nature of that job changes)…” because we cannot possibly know our future and what we may or may not be interested in long-term.
SST – I like what you say. I’ll defer to Joseph Campbell who I think said it well:
“There’s something inside you that knows when you’re in the center, that knows when you’re on the beam or off the beam. And if you get off the beam to earn money, you’ve lost your life. And if you stay in the center and don’t get any money, you still have your bliss.” With Mark’s comment, for me, I think there is a difference between work and a job.
Great comment Rich 🙂
Thanks for the mention Mark. Yup looking to trim some holding. Have a great weekend.
All the best.
Thanks for the nice round up of articles. I have read some before. Will definitely checkout the rest.
Please do!