Retiring and Investing

I stopped working and have been living off of my portfolio since 99. Once you change from growing your portfolio and using it to living off of, your growth rate slows a lot. I had read a lot of portfolio withdrawal and most people talk about earning 8% (capital gains increase and Income (i.e., dividends etc.) and withdrawing 4% per year. I started off withdrawing 4%, but then I got hit with the 2000 bear market and tried to take out less, and then got hit with the 2008 bear market and decided the way to go was to only take out what I earned in dividends.

I never went, in the past for high dividend yield and my yield was around 2%, so I increased my yield to around 3% to 3.5% (with portfolio changes) and decreased my spending over a number of years and now just withdraw my dividends for spending. Note that there is a tradeoff between yield and growth. The higher the yield, the lower the growth and vice versa.

Changes to my portfolio since retiring was to get out of US and other foreign stock and get into mainly Canadian Dividend Growth stock. I also got into some income trust and REITs. As everyone now know all Canadian income trust companies had to change to corporation by January 1, 2011.

My trading account and my RSP accounts contain mainly Canadian Dividend Growth stocks. My TFSA is my fooling around money. I have not done very well with my TFSA lately.

I do not have figures from 99, but I do have them for the last 5 and 10 years. Since I take money out of my portfolio each month and each month's withdrawal are almost the same, I am assuming I take money out each year in June. My 5 year IRR is 10.60% per year and my 10 year IRR is 11.69%. My portfolio growth, just looking at the difference between 5 and 10 years ago, the 5 year IRR is 8.02% and the 10 year IRR is 8.68%.

On my other blog I wrote yesterday about Canadian Utilities Ltd (TSX-CU, OTC-CDUAF) ... learn more. Next, I will write about Pizza Pizza Royalty Corp (TSX-PZA, OTC-PZRIF) ... learn more on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 around 5 p.

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.

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