My Investing Adventure

I tried all sorts of stuff when I was first investing. I did not know what I was doing. My first purchase was a mutual fund in 1971. But I sold it in 1972 as I changed roommates and needed some furniture. In 1974 I bought a GIC with 12% interest. I had been reading that the maximum people tend to earn in the stock market was 8% to 10% per year, but GICs were higher. My GICs were in my RRSP account as this was being pushed at that time.

Next, in 1978 I got into Canada Savings Bonds (CSB) outside my RRSP because interest rates were just going higher. My highest CSB was for 19.5% interest. In the 1970’s all people talked about the market was that it had been doing nothing all through the last decade.

At the end of the 1970’s the market rose. I made my first stock purchase of Bell in 1982 and the market fell, but not for long. In 1983 I made my second purchase of stock and it was the Bank of Montreal. I started to buy CSB on a monthly plan, cash them in in November and to buy stock. November turned out to be a great month to buy stocks, but I had no idea of that at the time.

For Bell, I have made a total return of 10.25% per year since 1982. This includes the spin offs which I sold when I could. For the Bank of Montreal, I have made a total return of 15.48% per year since 1983.

I went on to buy more stocks, bonds, mutual funds (of Canadian and international stocks and bonds and mortgages) and US and international stocks. I made money on the Canadian stocks and bonds funds, but not the international stocks funds. The US and international stocks were a mixed bag of results. I had two US companies go bankrupt. They were doing well and then just dropped out of the news and then it shows up on my statements that they no longer existed. It was a complete surprise to me.

My last bond was a 30 year CIBC bond for 10%, which I sold early (2007) because it was worth a lot more than the face amount, but the amount started to go down as it was winding its way to maturity.

It’s not that I did not make money on some of my investment adventures, but I did the best on Canadian Dividend Growth stocks. I had started to read an early blogger, Mike Higgs. He was recommending Canadian Dividend Growth stocks and he was right about them. I was doing the best on Canadian Dividend Growth Stocks.

I had read that the best way to buy small caps was to buy a basket of them and if you win on 2 of 5, you win. This is because you can only lose the money you invested; the sky is the limit on what you can make. I did well for a few years on this and then 2000 came along and my small caps tanked. I have one left, but it has restructured, reorganized, repositioned and now I am the proud owner of 6 shares of Trigon Metals, a mining company doing business in Africa worth in total for me $2.73.

I know some people say that it is just as easy to make money on capital gains as it is on dividends and that the taxes are lower. I tried that out. I must admit I make a fair bit on RIM, now Blackberry, as I sold before it tanked, but it is not easy making capital gains. You have to pay a lot more attention to the market, and it is a lot more work. But sitting back and let the dividends roll in is more fun.

In my US$ account at present I only have a Dow Index fund. I have not been interested in finding anything else to invest in the US or Internationally at the moment. My last international stock was Barclay’s Bank which I sold in 2017. My last US stock was WorldCom Inc. which I got rid of in 2004 at $0.

My last Mutual Funds were Templeton Emerging Markets and Templeton International Stocks. I sold these in 1999. I made some money on the latter, but the former did not do very well.

I stopped working at my job in 1999 because my net income of dividends, was equal to my net income from my job. This was because of my Canadian Dividend Growth Stocks.

But, being involved in the market is also fun. I have been buying small caps again, but ones with dividends. Not making a lot of money, but it is fun. I do this with my TFSA money. My latest purchase is Titanium Transportation Group Inc (TSX-TTR). I must admit some of my dividend paying small caps have stopped paying dividends because it has been a long slow recovery from the 2008 bear.

My investment portfolio at the present is mostly in Canadian Dividend Growth stocks and that is where I make money. This includes my Canadian Trading Account and my RRSP accounts. My TFSA is my fooling around money, which I can afford to lose. It seems that for me, Dividend Growth Stocks are the way to go. At present I plan to keep investing in these. I also plan to continue to fool around with my TFSA account money.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about FirstService Corp (TSX-FSV, NASDAQ-FSV) ... learn more. Next, I will write about First Capital REIT (TSX-FCR.UN, OTC- FCXXF) ... learn more on Friday, November 26, 2021 around 5 pm.

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. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.

See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk. The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter. I am on Instagram. Or you can just Google #walktoronto spbrunner8166 to see my pictures.