Life Is What You Make It

Would you rather lay on a beach in a tropical location, or eat a burger at a fast food place? How about watch a movie on your own brand new big screen TV or have a few beers at the local pub? I'm pretty sure everyone would want the trip and the TV, right?

Well, life is all about choices that we make everyday. Some people choose to smoke because they love smelling like an ashtray, coughing up phlegm when they laugh, and enjoy lowering their life expectancy. Did you notice I never mentioned anything about the costs of smoking? People who choose to smoke make their own, personal choice to pay money for something that they enjoy. It's their own right as a human being in a free society to do whatever legally makes them happy.

I choose not to smoke due to the health and financial implications. By choosing not to smoke, I make a conscious decision to not spend $15 a day on a package of cigarettes. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to see how fast $15 a day adds up to $5475 a year. That's a lot of money that could be spent on a nice trip or a very nice TV.



Right now I work beside a McDonalds and almost every day my co-workers grab fast food for lunch. They ask me why I never live a little and eat fast food like they do. I tell them I'd rather take my wife out for dinner each week then spend it eating grease with my co-workers. They just laugh and call me cheap, then complain the week after payday that they are broke and have no money. If eating fast food is living a little then man, I must be missing out!



It's the little things that we pay for each week, like a coffee or fast food, that will not add any real benefit to our lives but can add up to something more meaningful over time. Let's say you eat out for lunch each work day:


$10 a day x 5 days a week= $50 a week

You could go out for decent dinner each week for that amount of money or you could save that money:


$50 a week x 4 weeks= $200 a month


With $200 you could buy yourself some nice clothes or get tickets to a concert but you could always save it for something even better:

$200 a month x 12 months= $2400 a year

With $2400 a year you could go on a trip or save for two years and go on a nice trip somewhere warm. Imagine if you have kids how much of their education would be paid for:


$2400 a year x 18 years= $43,200 not including interest or compounding growth.

That sure is a lot of money to have instead of eating a burger or soup and sandwich everyday. I personally choose to look past small treats each day or week and look at a bigger, more rewarding experience down the road. If spending $2.00 on a coffee is what brings you joy then knock yourself out. If spending $6.00 on a beer and smiling at a pretty waitress makes you happy then by all means, enjoy it! If ordering pizza for your family every Friday is your favourite thing then all the power to you. If cutting out all the junk spending allows you to take your kids to Disneyland then hey, good for you!


By becoming more conscious of your spending habits, and focusing on bigger financial goals, then any reward is within your reach.

The Loonie Bin: Christmas Edition

I really struggled to come up with right post for Christmas. I could have wrote, "The top ten ways to save money at Christmas" or "Get ready for boxing day sales", but it just didn't seem right. I worry sometimes that the true meaning of Christmas will be forever lost.

Society tells us that when December rolls around, we have to fight through the masses at shopping malls and buy presents for our loved ones. While you're out looking for the latest fad like Tickle Me Elmo or Leapster 2, there are people in this world who are searching for scraps of food to feed their family. While we sit down to a giant turkey feast, others sit down to mourn the death of a loved one whose life ended needlessly. I personally believe there are enough resources to give every human being on this planet the basic needs they require to live a long and healthy life. Somewhere along road we have lost our way as a species, and mankind has become corrupt with greed. How can a few households in this world have an abundance of wealth that could never be spent in a hundred lifetimes yet every day, thousands of people die because they have nothing to eat.

I found a video on YouTube from an old Charlie Chaplin movie called The Great Dictator which is a satire on Nazism and Adolph Hitler. It was edited with new scenes and music and the speech by Charlie sums up everything I'm trying to write here. I can't help but feel moved every time I watch it and I want to share it with everyone I care about. Please watch the video and share it with everyone if you felt touched by it.

Does all this sound hypocritical coming from a man writing a blog about his journey to financial freedom? Maybe, but I have an overwhelming desire to not be forced to work almost every day of my life. I need shelter, so I applied for a mortgage to pay an outrageous amount of money for a house in a city that has access to incredible amounts of land and they even have the gull to sell me back the topsoil they scraped off of it. I need to eat so I make money to buy mass produced, chemically treated food and have to pay even more money to eat naturally grown food. I work to make money to buy clothing and some choose to pay insane amounts of money for a certain label on them, and so that others acknowledge that label which means absolutely nothing except for status. It is my dream to break free from this rat trap and to share my knowledge of how to do it with anyone who cares to listen.

This Christmas, spend more time with you family instead of wasting large amounts of money on junk that will just be broken or outdated in a year or two. Instead of feeding the face-less corporations, pay off your debt and free yourself from the invisible bondage that debt creates. Teach others to be efficient with their money instead of blowing it on designer labels or expensive vehicles. Show them that they will be loved no matter what they own and that status means nothing when you are happy and are loved.

I want to thank all my readers and followers for all of your support this year. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Cutting Back On TV

We just finished a one year, new home package with Shaw that gave us almost every channel, hi-speed internet, a brand new HD PVR, new modem/wireless router and home phone for roughly $88 a month. It was a fantastic deal which saved us around $80 a month.

Now that the offer expired my wife and I sat down and decided how much we really wanted to spend on this kind of entertainment. Spending over $2000 a year on TV, phone and internet seemed a little excessive to me. Having a home phone that costs us less than $30 a month is a must. After growing up in a small town and using dial-up, hi-speed internet is also a must and anyone who has used dial-up will agree with me. That leaves TV as the only service we can really change.

When I was a child, TV was the ultimate form of entertainment. I remember watching some amazing TV shows that helped shape my sense of humor and will be forever engrained in my memory. As I grew older I judged all the new television programs based on my memory of past shows and came to the conclusion that TV programming is going downhill. Just watch an episode of Jersey Shore and you'll see what I mean. That being said, as I watch episodes of my favorite shows from the past, it seems like I might have given them too much credit. Watching an episode of "Dukes of Hazard" or "A-Team" in my thirties makes me laugh at how corny those shows really were. I've come to the conclusion that television has been headed down a slippery slope a lot longer than I thought.

We decided to limit the amount of channels to keep the costs to a minimum and to allocate the funds to perhaps a holiday fund instead. By cutting our services from $168 to the bare package of $100, we are going to save $68 each month. Over the course of a year, our savings will add up to $816 which is a huge chunk of a nice vacation somewhere warm. By limiting the channels we watch, we can also spend more time on other hobbies and perhaps more updates on a certain blog.

With more and more TV programs available online for free, it makes perfect sense to watch them there, rather than pay for it through a cable bill. Some may not know it, but GlobalTV.com and CTV.ca are excellent sources to watch some of your favourite TV shows for FREE. So now instead of planning which TV shows to watch this winter, we can spend more time planning our next holiday getaway.

Dividend Income for November

Well it's been a very exciting month as a dividend investor with so many new dividend increases that I never had time to write about my dividend income for November. After tallying up exactly how much was deposited into my trading account, I remembered that this month is one of my lowest paying months.

My dividend income for the month of November was $95.16 in 2010. It has increased $7.92 a year later and is now $103.08 thanks to dividend increases. That's a growth of 8.32% which is an excellent step ahead of inflation, allowing my money to keep its buying power in the future. This is an excellent example of how an initial investment can keep growing with dividend increases alone.

This month I took some of my dividend money, along with new investment contributions and purchased an entirely new stock for my portfolio as well as increased the amount of my shares in another company I own. These investments will increase my November monthly income to $227 which will really help balance my monthly income, but I'm not too worried about living month to month when I retire. Have a good weekend everyone and here's to many, many more dividend increases!

Fortis Dividend Increase

ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR--(Marketwire - Dec. 13, 2011) - The Board of Directors of Fortis Inc. (the "Corporation") (TSX:FTS) has declared a common share dividend of $0.30 per share on the issued and outstanding fully paid Common Shares of the Corporation, payable on March 1, 2012 to the Common Shareholders of Record at the close of business on February 15, 2012.

The 3.4 per cent increase in the quarterly common share dividend to $0.30 from $0.29 extends the Corporation's record of annual common share dividend payment increases to 39 consecutive years, the longest record of any public corporation in Canada.

While I was breaking my back earning a living, I checked my smart phone at coffee to find out that Fortis increased its dividend by 3.4% today. It's my third raise this month and it's been 4 years since I've received a raise at my day job. Can you see why I'm so passionate about dividend investing?

My initial yield on Fortis was 4.05% and today my yield on the same investment is 4.34%. Slowly but surely my yield is increasing every year with each consecutive dividend increase. Here's a look at Fortis Inc dividend growth history, courtesy of my friend Think Dividends:

Do you own shares in Fortis?

The Big 5: RBC

The Merchants Bank of Halifax was founded in 1867 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Its name was later changed to a "more comprehensive" The Royal Bank of Canada in 1901. RBC was Canada's largest bank by market cap for many years until TD stole the title this year.

Here is RBC at a glance as of December 13, 2011:

Symbol on TSX          RY
Current Close             $48.57
52 Week High            $61.53
52 Week Low            $43.30
EPS                             3.22
Annual Dividend         $2.16
Current Yield              4.44%

After calculating RBC's dividend payout ratio to be 67%, one might be worried about future dividend payouts. I think RBC will recover eventually seeing as the ratio was over 70% when I started writing the big 5 series. The following chart represents RBC's dividend growth from 2000 and into 2012.

The Big 5: CIBC

In 1961, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was the product of a merger between the Canadian Bank of Commerce (1867) and the Imperial Bank of Canada (1875). At that time, CIBC had the most branches and most resources than any other bank in Canada.

Here is CIBC at a glance as of Dec 10, 2011:

Symbol on TSX     CM
Current Close        $71.92
52 week High        $85.56
52 week Low        $67.32
EPS                       7.33
Annual Dividend    $3.60
Current Yield         5.00%


CIBC has never missed a regular dividend payment since the first payment in 1868. The dividend payout ratio is a very conservative 49% which means the dividend will be easily maintained. The following chart represents CIBC's dividend from 2000 and its current amount going into 2012.

Happy New Year From Bell

From BCE.ca:


MONTRÉAL, December 8, 2011 – BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE) today announced a 5% increase in its annual common share dividend from $2.07 to $2.17 per share for 2012, and plans for the use of its year-end 2011 surplus cash balance that include a Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB) program for up to $250 million and a $750 million voluntary prepayment in December 2011 to Bell Canada's defined benefit pension plan to reduce its future pension obligation. 

Just when I thought December couldn't get any better! With a second dividend increase to my portfolio this month, I couldn't be happier. My original purchase price for BCE was $27.84 with a yield of 6.5%. After the 5% dividend increase along with a few others in between, my original investment is now paying me 7.8%.

A lot of my friends and co-workers don't understand why I get so excited every time there is a dividend increase within my portfolio. The way I see it, each increase brings me one step closer to an early retirement so why wouldn't I be happy about it! The only downfall from all this is that I never purchased more of BCE while the price was right. I have enrolled in a drip for BCE and plan to make a new contribution to my TFSA in the new year and use that money to grab some more shares when the price is right.

Do you own shares in BCE?

Merry Christmas From Enbridge

"(Marketwire - Dec. 7, 2011) - Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB) (NYSE:ENB) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.2825 per common share, payable on March 1, 2012 to shareholders of record on February 15, 2012. The dividend reflects a 15% increase from the prior quarterly rate. Enbridge also announced its 2012 guidance for adjusted earnings of $1.58 to $1.74 per share."

Well I received my Christmas present early this year. It seems like only yesterday I took a leap of faith... along with our 5 figure emergency fund and made my first purchase on the stock market. Even though the stock decreased 4% right after my initial purchase and my wife was about to kill me, I kept my cool because I knew this was a solid investment over the long term. I'd like to thank my brother for telling me about this wonderful company and in the future I look forward to increasing my holdings for the long haul.

I initially purchased my shares at $48.53 and my initial yield was 3.5%. A few years later with multiple dividend increases and amazing capital gains, my yield on my very first stock pick is now 4.65%. Making almost 5% a year on just one investment is huge, especially when the bank is paying me .25% in interest for my savings.

Do you own shares in Enbridge?

The Big 5: Scotiabank

The Bank of Nova Scotia was established in Halifax N.S in 1832. Scotiabank has deemed itself "Canada's International Bank" and with good reason. They have branches in more than 50 countries throughout the world and was the first Canadian bank to establish a branch outside the United States and United Kingdom. By expanding its international operations when the other Big 5 were trying to merge with each other, Scotiabank has catapulted itself to being the third largest bank in Canada by market capitalization.

 Here is a quick rundown of Scotiabank as of Dec 4, 2011:

Symbol on TSX-      BNS
Current Close-         $48.99
52 week High-         $61.28
52 week Low-         $48.02
EPS-                        $4.55
Anual Dividend         $2.08
Current Yield            4.24%


Scotiabank has continued to pay its dividend every year since its inception in 1833. With a dividend payout ratio of 46%, I'm sure Scotiabank will be able to continue the tradition for many years to come. Here's a look at Scotia's dividends since 2000. Keep in mind they had a stock split in 2004 and the dividend was adjusted accordingly.