There was an interesting article in the National Post a couple of weekends ago about the LCBO asking customers to add $2 to their bill for Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
Jonathan Kay seemed to have felt the need to say yes, because other people are watching. I, of course, said no. It was not only the LCBO asking, but my local grocery store also. My first reaction to say no is maybe because I am hit-up for money so often. You cannot go anywhere in TO without being asked for money. It is not just the homeless, but all sorts of charities.
There is Greenpeace, Sick Kids, Because I am a girl and it goes on and on of charities on the street. These charities have two young people, one on each side of the sidewalk to hit you up for money. Also recently there are people are the street with boxes asking for money for the homeless. Where I live this goes on day after day and year after year. There is no break.
It is not that I do not give to charities. I have money for charities in my budget. My current favourites are Kiva and the Salvation Army. I like the Salvation Army as they seem to be the only ones helping the truly needy in TO.
I like Kiva because you are loaning people money, not giving it. People look after money they have to pay back, but seem to be careless with money given to them. With Kiva you get to help someone somewhere with a $25 loan. The Western World has given billions of dollars to poor countries over the past 20 plus and we have virtually nothing to show for it. Kiva seems to be an organization that really helps our poorer brethren in the rest of the world.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Azure Restaurant, Christmas Dinner
We went this year to the Azure Restaurant http://www.azurerestaurant.ca/menus-Festive2012.php for Christmas dinner. It had a great menu that was at $59 per person. They also gave us a 6:30 dinner reservation and we could have a pre-dinner drink in their lounge and bar area.
The meal was lovely and the service was great. We have a choice of mains of Venison or Turkey. Both were good, but I like being traditional and had the turkey.
Each Christmas day, some old friends and I gather at a good restaurant in Toronto. It is great because none of us have to cook on Christmas Day.
The meal was lovely and the service was great. We have a choice of mains of Venison or Turkey. Both were good, but I like being traditional and had the turkey.
Each Christmas day, some old friends and I gather at a good restaurant in Toronto. It is great because none of us have to cook on Christmas Day.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Dividend Growth Companies
The sorts of companies that I used to build my portfolio (so I could stop working and live off my dividends) were dividend growth companies. The characteristic of these companies is low but fast growing dividends. When you are working, you do not need a lot of dividend income. In fact, if you have money in an unregistered account, dividends income, together with your salary could put you into a higher tax bracket.
I want to compare and contrast Chesswood Group (TSX-CHW) and the stock I am reviewing today of Stella Jones Inc. (TSX-SJ).
Dividends for Chesswood are 7.33% and for Stella Jones is 1.03%. There is the only place I see where you might think Chesswood is better. However, Stella can afford their dividends and Chesswood cannot. (It can also be a warning that a stock is not thought well of if the dividend is over 4%.)
If you look at the Dividend Payout Ratios in regards to earnings, the Ratio for Stella is 15.1% (5 year median). The same ratio for Chesswood is hard to calculate because they had earning loss years, but is around or above 100%.
As for dividend growth the dividends over the past 5 and 10 years for Stella grow at the rate of 29% and 24% per year. Chesswood has not been around that longer but the 5 year dividend growth rate is a negative 6.7% per year.
Past performance does not guarantee future performance, but if you look at the potential yield on your original investment, after 10 or 15 years Stella, with dividend growing at 24% per year would give you a yield on original investment of 9% and 25%. For Chesswood, it is hard to say. It may have dividend yield of 7.3% but dividends have not grown over 5 years.
Total dividends grew for Stella between 2011 and 2012 at the rate of 24%. For Chesswood dividends grew between 2011 and 2012 at the rate of 6.7%. Chesswood dividends grew more between 2010 and 2011 at the rate of 32.2%. The rate for Stella was slightly less at 31.6%. However, Stella has not had any dividend decreases, but Chesswood decreased dividends by 74% in between 2008 and 2009.
Another thing to look at is debt ratios, especially the Liquidity Ratio. This looks at current assets versus current liability. The ratios, as far as I can figure out as the company does not tell you, for Chesswood have a 5 year median value of 1.18. The current assets can, but just cover the current liability. What you want is a ratio of 1.50 or better. For Stella, the 5 year median Liquidity Ratio is 3.01.
Personally, I would buy a Stella Jones over a Chesswood Group stock any day. I have lived off my dividends since 1999 and I still have stocks such as Stella. This is because of the great dividend growth. My dividend income is currently growing at just over 9% per year.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
I want to compare and contrast Chesswood Group (TSX-CHW) and the stock I am reviewing today of Stella Jones Inc. (TSX-SJ).
Dividends for Chesswood are 7.33% and for Stella Jones is 1.03%. There is the only place I see where you might think Chesswood is better. However, Stella can afford their dividends and Chesswood cannot. (It can also be a warning that a stock is not thought well of if the dividend is over 4%.)
If you look at the Dividend Payout Ratios in regards to earnings, the Ratio for Stella is 15.1% (5 year median). The same ratio for Chesswood is hard to calculate because they had earning loss years, but is around or above 100%.
As for dividend growth the dividends over the past 5 and 10 years for Stella grow at the rate of 29% and 24% per year. Chesswood has not been around that longer but the 5 year dividend growth rate is a negative 6.7% per year.
Past performance does not guarantee future performance, but if you look at the potential yield on your original investment, after 10 or 15 years Stella, with dividend growing at 24% per year would give you a yield on original investment of 9% and 25%. For Chesswood, it is hard to say. It may have dividend yield of 7.3% but dividends have not grown over 5 years.
Total dividends grew for Stella between 2011 and 2012 at the rate of 24%. For Chesswood dividends grew between 2011 and 2012 at the rate of 6.7%. Chesswood dividends grew more between 2010 and 2011 at the rate of 32.2%. The rate for Stella was slightly less at 31.6%. However, Stella has not had any dividend decreases, but Chesswood decreased dividends by 74% in between 2008 and 2009.
Another thing to look at is debt ratios, especially the Liquidity Ratio. This looks at current assets versus current liability. The ratios, as far as I can figure out as the company does not tell you, for Chesswood have a 5 year median value of 1.18. The current assets can, but just cover the current liability. What you want is a ratio of 1.50 or better. For Stella, the 5 year median Liquidity Ratio is 3.01.
Personally, I would buy a Stella Jones over a Chesswood Group stock any day. I have lived off my dividends since 1999 and I still have stocks such as Stella. This is because of the great dividend growth. My dividend income is currently growing at just over 9% per year.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Secular Bear
We are still in a secular bear market. It is hard to know how long it will last, but so far we have been in one for around 12 years as it started in 2000. A lot of economists feel that it has another 5 years at least to run. A secular bear market is one where the stock market goes nowhere for a long period of time.
We are in a cyclical bull market at present, but this will change again in to a cyclical bear market. We will probably have a cyclical bear market before we pull out of the current secular bear market. (You have cyclical bull and bear markets within secular bull and bear markets.)
We are not going to get out of this secular bear until we, in the western world, do something about our high debt levels. We do not have to solve the debt problem completely, but people will have to believe that we are on our way to solving it.
So far we haven't solved the debt problem, as we have really not got our deficits under control. (Deficits are the new debt we add to our debt because governments are spending more than they are taking in.)
Part of the problem with our current deficit is that when times are rough, countries tend to run deficits because their payouts in social programs get higher and tax money collected gets lower because more people are out of work. However, when times were good, we run up deficits and so now we are in real problems when times are bad.
What countries should do is pay down debt in good times so that we have some room to run up deficits in bad times.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
We are in a cyclical bull market at present, but this will change again in to a cyclical bear market. We will probably have a cyclical bear market before we pull out of the current secular bear market. (You have cyclical bull and bear markets within secular bull and bear markets.)
We are not going to get out of this secular bear until we, in the western world, do something about our high debt levels. We do not have to solve the debt problem completely, but people will have to believe that we are on our way to solving it.
So far we haven't solved the debt problem, as we have really not got our deficits under control. (Deficits are the new debt we add to our debt because governments are spending more than they are taking in.)
Part of the problem with our current deficit is that when times are rough, countries tend to run deficits because their payouts in social programs get higher and tax money collected gets lower because more people are out of work. However, when times were good, we run up deficits and so now we are in real problems when times are bad.
What countries should do is pay down debt in good times so that we have some room to run up deficits in bad times.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Monday, December 17, 2012
REITs, Income Trusts and DRIPs
REITs (Real Estate Income Trusts), old income trusts and DRIPs (Dividend Reinvestment Program have an interesting relationship. When I was reviewing Crescent Point Energy Corp (TSX-CPG) an old income trust, some analysts were adjusting the Dividend Payout Ratios (DPRs) because of their DRIP plan.
The theory is that the DPRs should be reduced by the dividends or distributions flowing back to the company to purchase more shares or units. The company is not paying out all the dividends or distributions in cash because of the DRIP plan.
Just the other day, I was reading how RioCan REIT (TSX-REI.UN) DPR should be considered better than what is usually shown because of the number of shares that are part of their DRIP plan.
However, the issuance of new shares does raise the total amount that the company will have to payout in distributions in the future. It also rises what they will need in revenue and cash flow per share for the future. So what is now looked upon as a good thing could potentially cause problems in the future.
So, you may think that things are fine now, but the company could get into real serious problems if they cannot grow their revenues and cash flow.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
The theory is that the DPRs should be reduced by the dividends or distributions flowing back to the company to purchase more shares or units. The company is not paying out all the dividends or distributions in cash because of the DRIP plan.
Just the other day, I was reading how RioCan REIT (TSX-REI.UN) DPR should be considered better than what is usually shown because of the number of shares that are part of their DRIP plan.
However, the issuance of new shares does raise the total amount that the company will have to payout in distributions in the future. It also rises what they will need in revenue and cash flow per share for the future. So what is now looked upon as a good thing could potentially cause problems in the future.
So, you may think that things are fine now, but the company could get into real serious problems if they cannot grow their revenues and cash flow.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
My Own Advisor Blog 3
My Own Advisor has been blogging for a couple of years and has a lot to share with novice investors. This is a third and last part for this blogger. The following are the rest of his posts for novice investors including quotes directly from his blog.
Investing
My Own Advisor Blog has some great posts on Dividend Investing, his investing Approach and help for DIY Stock Investors.
To DRIP or not to DRIP, is that the question? This Shakespeare-esque question popped into his head again after reading articles by The Wealthy Canadian and The Passive Income Earner about Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs). He said "Thanks for that gentlemen, because it's always good to sit back and review your investing approach now and again"...continue...
No doubt the RRSP deadline is approaching fast. If you don't already know, the last day to contribute to your RRSP for the...continue...
A few weeks ago I returned home from a golf vacation, a "boy's vacation" in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The vacation was great; great friends, great accommodations, great fun even if the golf game was lackluster...continue...
If you've been following my blog, you might recall a few months ago I called out to Derek Foster, wondering what "Canada's Youngest Retiree" has been up to. Back in September, Derek was a busy guy. I found out he completed an interview ...continue...
For decades, mutual funds have been a hugely popular way for Joe or Jane Canadian to own pieces of companies. For years, I thought this was a great...continue...
With a New Year come resolutions. It seems to make sense. New Year, new = change. I can wrap my head around that. I've made a couple of resolutions, personal ones and maybe at some point I might share them on this blog. For now, I have some financial resolutions and goals drafted...continue...
Know more about My Own Advisor
If folks want to know more about me, and where I'm at with my investing journey, they can always visit the "Dividend" and "Indexing" pages on my site.
A major part of my investment strategy is dividend investing. My wife and I plan on using dividend income to pay for part of our retirement expenses. Our goal is to earn tax-efficient and tax-free dividend income to the tune of...continue...
Outside of dividend investing, I index a major portion of my retirement portfolio...continue...
Mortgage Prepayments
On the benefits of mortgage prepayments, My Own Advisor writes:
I believe one of the larger personal finance debates is the TFSA vs. RRSP contribution vs. mortgage paydown debate; and rightly so. I got thinking more about this debate (than usual) this week because of our fortunate situation...continue...
Saving
On making saving simple, My Own Advisor writes:
One of the great joys (yup, joys) I get from personal finance is watching our savings account grow. Many, many years ago, on paydays, when I found out we had some extra cash in our account, I tended to follow a spend first and save later strategy...continue...
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Investing
My Own Advisor Blog has some great posts on Dividend Investing, his investing Approach and help for DIY Stock Investors.
To DRIP or not to DRIP, is that the question? This Shakespeare-esque question popped into his head again after reading articles by The Wealthy Canadian and The Passive Income Earner about Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs). He said "Thanks for that gentlemen, because it's always good to sit back and review your investing approach now and again"...continue...
No doubt the RRSP deadline is approaching fast. If you don't already know, the last day to contribute to your RRSP for the...continue...
A few weeks ago I returned home from a golf vacation, a "boy's vacation" in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The vacation was great; great friends, great accommodations, great fun even if the golf game was lackluster...continue...
If you've been following my blog, you might recall a few months ago I called out to Derek Foster, wondering what "Canada's Youngest Retiree" has been up to. Back in September, Derek was a busy guy. I found out he completed an interview ...continue...
For decades, mutual funds have been a hugely popular way for Joe or Jane Canadian to own pieces of companies. For years, I thought this was a great...continue...
With a New Year come resolutions. It seems to make sense. New Year, new = change. I can wrap my head around that. I've made a couple of resolutions, personal ones and maybe at some point I might share them on this blog. For now, I have some financial resolutions and goals drafted...continue...
Know more about My Own Advisor
If folks want to know more about me, and where I'm at with my investing journey, they can always visit the "Dividend" and "Indexing" pages on my site.
A major part of my investment strategy is dividend investing. My wife and I plan on using dividend income to pay for part of our retirement expenses. Our goal is to earn tax-efficient and tax-free dividend income to the tune of...continue...
Outside of dividend investing, I index a major portion of my retirement portfolio...continue...
Mortgage Prepayments
On the benefits of mortgage prepayments, My Own Advisor writes:
I believe one of the larger personal finance debates is the TFSA vs. RRSP contribution vs. mortgage paydown debate; and rightly so. I got thinking more about this debate (than usual) this week because of our fortunate situation...continue...
Saving
On making saving simple, My Own Advisor writes:
One of the great joys (yup, joys) I get from personal finance is watching our savings account grow. Many, many years ago, on paydays, when I found out we had some extra cash in our account, I tended to follow a spend first and save later strategy...continue...
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Science Myth
Bankers seemed to have believed in the science myth. They used math to prove that what they were doing was fine for such things as the Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO). Actually it was modelling. But the point is it was all mathematics. They did not consider people, or things like ethics. Never considering that just because you can do something, it does not mean you should.
They also seemed to forget that models are only as good as their assumptions and data input. Do not get me wrong. I think models are great. They can show you interesting things.
However, scientists and mathematicians with their models should also consider a saying of programmers. That saying is garbage in, garbage out.
The science myth is that US bankers thought that they were doing science. They hired all these mathematicians right? These mathematicians were doing models right? Their models showed that there was something 1 in a million years the whole US real estate market would fall. Of course there would be real estate market falls in some areas, but not the whole US market. One problem was that the banker's mathematicians were only using input data that was digitized. There was only a limited amount of data digitized...
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
They also seemed to forget that models are only as good as their assumptions and data input. Do not get me wrong. I think models are great. They can show you interesting things.
However, scientists and mathematicians with their models should also consider a saying of programmers. That saying is garbage in, garbage out.
The science myth is that US bankers thought that they were doing science. They hired all these mathematicians right? These mathematicians were doing models right? Their models showed that there was something 1 in a million years the whole US real estate market would fall. Of course there would be real estate market falls in some areas, but not the whole US market. One problem was that the banker's mathematicians were only using input data that was digitized. There was only a limited amount of data digitized...
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
TFSA
There is a lot being written on the Tax Fee Savings Account. If you want to save some money, say for a house down payment, this may be the way to go. You need to be fairly conservative in your investments and might just be better off with such things as an ING account. Their site is here.
I friend of mine recommends the ICICI Bank Canada. It also has some of the best rates for GICs in Canada. They have an office on Bay Street downtown if you do not like doing your banking over the internet. See the ICICI site.
The RRSP route is only good for people in the top tax bracket. (That is because you should be paying less tax on withdrawals than you paid in tax when you make contributions to an RRSP account.) If you are not in the top tax bracket, then the TFSA is a better way to go.
I wrote about Dividend Paying stock and TFSA in April of this year. What I said then is still applicable.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
I friend of mine recommends the ICICI Bank Canada. It also has some of the best rates for GICs in Canada. They have an office on Bay Street downtown if you do not like doing your banking over the internet. See the ICICI site.
The RRSP route is only good for people in the top tax bracket. (That is because you should be paying less tax on withdrawals than you paid in tax when you make contributions to an RRSP account.) If you are not in the top tax bracket, then the TFSA is a better way to go.
I wrote about Dividend Paying stock and TFSA in April of this year. What I said then is still applicable.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website for stocks followed and investment notes. Follow me on Twitter or StockTwits.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Kathleen's paintings - In Transition Series
My friend Kathleen has an art show at Gallery Hittite at 107 Scollard Street Toronto. Scollard Street runs west from Davenport and Yonge, past Bay Street to Hazelton Avenue. The Gallery is on the south side of Scollard Street, between Bay Street and Hazelton Avenue. The closes subway is the Bay Station. Walk north on Bay Street, then west on Scollard Street.
The current show at the Gallery Hittite is called The Christmas Group Show. It runs until the 22 of December 2012. The Gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday from 12 to 6:00pm.
Too see the separate pictures, click here.
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