Watchlist For February 3rd, 2012

Fortis and CN are now trading near their 52 week High and I don't know about you, but I don't like paying full price for anything that I don't have to. Also this week as mentioned Metro increased their dividend by 12% and is still trading near its 52 week High as well.

Facebook IPO is all over the financial news and to be honest I skip past all the articles. Tech stocks are way too volatile for my liking and I'm not very keen on Facebook as a business. It's only a matter of time before something better comes along just like anything in the Tech Sector. I'll stick to my dependable blue chip dividend payers, thanks.

Happy Friday Everyone!

TFSA Update

If you have been following the Loonie Bin for a while, you might have noticed I am a huge advocate for Tax Free Saving Accounts. I know some people save for trips or perhaps a new car with their TFSA, but I use my account to make my money work for me. After some extensive research on a new stock for my TFSA, I've made a decision to add a financial stock to the mix.

Hello, Scotia Bank (BNS)!

 
I've had my eye on this stock since I started investing and decided to finally pull the trigger when it dipped last month. After researching the top 5 Canadian banks in December, It just added to my confidence to own shares in this company.

By adding 100 shares of BNS to my TFSA, I will be receiving an additional $208 tax free into my account.
Thanks to previous contributions that I invested in ENB and BCE, my tax free income will be:

            ENB: $452

            BCE: $214.50 (New dividend takes effect in April)

            BNS: $208                  

                     $874.50       

At this rate, I won't have to worry about Harper raising the age to claim Old Age Security! Ok, well it's a start in the right direction to say the least. If I were to keep my money in a plain old TFSA, I'd probably be making $250 on the same amount of money and that would be it. I'm gunning for dividend growth from all three companies this year and then I can watch even more money come through, all tax free!

How do you use your TFSA?

Watchlist Dividend Increase

After reporting higher profits and revenues this last quarter, Metro increased its dividend from $0.77 cents per share, to $0.86 cents. That's a whopping 12% increase that will definitely help with the ever increasing food prices.

 Consumer staples is an excellent sector to be invested in because no matter what state the economy is in, everyone has to eat! The TSX has a very limited selection in consumer staples so a lot of Canadian investors turn to the U.S for a more diverse selection.


I do not own shares in Metro because of the low dividend yield but I would like to include it in my portfolio once it's completed and that's why it's on my watch list. Even though Metro has an incredible dividend growth record, I personally consider it more of a growth stock. Today it closed at its 52 week high of $54.74 and even with its new dividend, it only yields 1.5%. Even if I bought in today, and the dividend increased 10% each year, after 15 years my yield would only be 5.6%. Like I said, once my portfolio is close to being complete, I will add MRU for some solid stock growth and minimal dividend payments.

Sunday Reading And Yakezie Carnival

I have decided that Sunday would be an excellent day for a weekend reading post. Most people can sit down and relax for a while before their hectic week starts all over again so I thought it would be a perfect time to share some interesting reading material from my fellow bloggers.

I've been included in my first ever Yakezie Carnival and it feels great. There are lots of interesting posts from many bloggers in the Yakezie network. I would really like to thank The Amateur Financier for hosting the carnival this week and to my fellow Yakezie bloggers:

http://www.theamateurfinancier.com/blog/yakezie-carnival-winter-wonderings/


Part of the Yakezie Challenge is to selflessly promote others so I'd like to share some postings from some of my fellow challengers:

After College Money shares how he paid off $15,000 of student loans in one year. Great job, Eric!

American Debt Project tells about their 2012 savings goals.

Personal Finance Whiz asks how much he should have saved for retirement by the time he is 30. I wish I could write a post like that :(

Kamara over at The Modern Financial tells us to stop waiting for the new year to make RRSP contributions.


The Dividend Ninja asks us why we should invest in bonds. I'm not a huge fan of buying someone's debt, but having diversity in one's portfolio is always a good thing.



I'd also like to share with you some posts from my own, personal blog roll:


The Passive Income Earner lets you assess if the Smith Manoeuvre is right for you. I personally think it could be to risky, especially with a monster mortgage.

Susan Brunner gives us her take on Just Energy. I don't agree with their business model either.

The Dividend Guy compares the top 4 Canadian REITS.

Brad at Triage Investing Blog talks about the best time to make extra mortgage payments. I'm a firm believer in lump sum payments.

Dividend Monk shows us 6 solid dividend payers from the states. I'm pretty sure everyone knows these brands and I'm looking into GE myself.

Dividend Watchdog wrote about the latest dividend increase from CN.

My Own Advisor wrote about how credit cards can be better than cash. I think credit cards are great tools, but are dangerous in the hands of fools.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, folks!

2012 Watchlist

Well without further ado, here's is the watch list for Friday, January 26 2012:

Like always, the markets were all over the place this week. It seems if anyone gasps in Europe, the markets in North America are punished. The Loonie did hit parity with the U.S dollar this week which was a surprise to most people.

The hardest part of dividend investing is choosing the right time to buy into the right company. I'm not a financial adviser, but I can share with you what I look for in a company when I'm ready to hit the buy button. I've never been able to time the market very well, but I find looking at the basic information is the first step to making an educated decision. Buying when a stock is at its highest in a year might not be the best strategy to use. I like buying into solid companies after the markets dip just like they did last August and September thanks to investor speculation.

It will be interesting to see how this watch list will change over the next year. My wife loves shopping at RW&Co. which is a banner name under Reitmans so I will be watching RET.A closely. Have a great weekend everyone!


What do you think of my watch list?

2012 Dividend Watch List

When it comes to the stock market, having a crystal ball to see future prices would sure make investing easy but luckily there is a more tangible method. Having a watch list lets you keep an eye on hopeful stocks to add to your portfolio or lower your average entry point if it's a stock you already own. Over the long term, it can also allow you to see how world events and speculation can often affect stock market prices.

I'd like to share with you my own, personal watch list for 2012 :

Every weekend I will be updating my watch list with the current data from Friday's stock market closing. I will be updating the current price, the 52 week lows and highs, the dividend and the yield. Companies that have increased their dividend since January 2011 are highlighted in blue. When the stock price is within 5% of its 52 week low, it will be highlighted with yellow. When the stock price is within 5% of its 52 week high, it will be highlighted in red. When the yield is 4% or larger, it will be highlighted in green.

Word of Warning 

This list is by no means advice on which stocks to buy and I cannot be held accountable if you decide to buy any of the stocks from my list. This is merely a fun way to show you how to keep a watch list for yourself.

So now there is one more reason to look forward to the weekend! There was a lot of positive feedback from my dividend list in the past and I hope that there will be more in the future. 

Do you have a watch list of your own?

Yakezie Challenge

 I'm very excited to announce that I just joined the Yakezie Challenge! For those of you that don't know about it, it's a challenge to improve your blog using the Alexa ranking system tool bar. Right now my rank is 5,031,011 which is rather on the hi side, but I'm determined to get a better ranking within six months.

A lot of my fellow bloggers have become members and they say it's a great way to build a stronger blogging network and allows others to see your blog that might not have had the opportunity before. I'm hoping to learn from these fellow members so that I can improve my blogging skills and the overall content on The Loonie Bin.

That being said, I've decided to start a weekly list of other blogs with like minded content on personal finance and early financial freedom. Look for the list later this week as I just got home and wanted to check in.