Jean-François Tardif is now a dividend investor like you and me

I now have Internet at home, but I haven’t been very active around here too much. I have followed the stock market from a distance. But nothing much is going on, except maybe good news for the Euro, in a certain way. The Euro seems to be secure for now. Just like Greece, Spain is facing major financial difficulties. It had turned quite ugly in Madrid. Not too far away in Syria, it’s the civil war. The world of today is all upside down. It’s really important to invest carefully. On that matter, I had been more than lucky so far. Remember that I said that I was looking to invest in a REIT? I had been searching and searching, but nothing catch my interest. I could have invested in the mountain lion hero Dundee REIT (D.UN), but at close to $40 per stock, I find it quite expensive. Especially knowing how much D.UN is sensible to the market volatility. Meaning, I buy at close $40 now, but chances are that at a point, the stock will trade at a lower level. It’s just a matter of time. Just wait for the Euro situation to degenerate, just wait for more bad news from the States and voilà, you’ll get the D.UN stocks at closer to $35 than $40.

In his revised edition (2012) of The Lazy Investor, Derek Foster shares his portfolio, but the problem being that his portfolio is mostly in US dollars and I haven’t found anything really catchy. I already own EnCana Corporation (ECA). Forget about Manulife and Power Corporation (POW), I will never invest in those of my life. So what’s left? Husky Energy Inc. (HSE)? Hell no, way too much volatile and the company is hold by foreign investors coming from Asia.

Husky never fully recovered from the 2008 stock market crash. What I am trying these days is to find stocks that survive from the 2008 stock market crash AND also trade at a higher value than BEFORE the crash. If you can find such perfect market diamond, go for it. Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL), Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (ENF), K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL), Fortis Inc. (FTS), Methanex Corporation (MX), TransCanada Corporation (TRP), Canadian Utilities Limited (CU), Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation (WTE) and Enbridge Inc. (ENB), just to name a few. Enbridge Inc. (ENB) 10 years chart is PERFECT. PERFECT CHART = PERFECT investment for your portfolio and a lot of $$$. Fully load of cash.

Before the 2008 stock market crash, Husky Energy Inc. (HSE) value was more than $50 per stock. Four years later, in 2012, Husky Energy Inc. (HSE) stocks trade at not even $30 each. There’s a big market loss of more than $20 per stock. Am I going to invest in such stock? The answer is NO. I am not going to invest in Husky Energy Inc. (HSE) soon. I would like to know the reasons of the Derek Foster behind that acquisition.

Anyway, Jean-François Tardif came to my rescue and solved my problem. In his interview, Jean-François Tardif named HealthLease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (HLP.UN) as being one of stock he likes. And this is how I find the REIT investment that I wanted to add in for so long. HealthLease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (HLP.UN) offer a dividend of close to 8% and currently trade at super low price of $10.50.

In a Bloomberg interview with Eric Lam THE Jean-François Tardif announced that he had become a dividend investor. That pretty suck because the only reason why I invested in his JFT Strategies Fund (JFS.UN) is to benefit from his extraordinary market skills. I wanted that from him: extraordinary and fantastic market gain. Just like he did in 2008. The gorgeous was able to do it in 2008, It old myself, 2012 is not that different right? But... to that, Tardif said no-no, 2012 is way too much different, the market is not the same and now, the fabulous decided to be down to Earth and make me live in the regret of having invested 2k of my very own pretty money in his fund. Like what the heck Tardif! What’s wrong with you? I invested in your fund to get the extraordinary out of you. The fabulous that you are had turned into a pretty boring thing but at least, you are still sexy and good looking.

Seem like I am going to have to digg all by myself and get the extraordinary myself, all alone.

If I get on you one day I will punch you against the wall – but not very hard, very gently at first and than, I am going to fix you ok. I am going to fix your problem. Its not because you are now millionaire that its time to give up on the stock market. Play and play hard. Make ME become a millionaire on your back. I am not going to give up on you yet so PLEASE WAKE UP.

The Lazy Investor, Revised Edition by Derek Foster

In 2012, Derek Foster published an update edition of his famous The Lazy Investor. Its just yesterday that I find out, while being at the Chapters on St-Catherine. I saw that yellow logo REVISED EDITION on top of the book that kick it all.

The Lazy Investor was first published in 2007 and back in the time, Derek has 4 children. But now he has 5 or 6. Its seem like the fellow didn't update his cover information: he totally forgot about that new and exclusive kid lol...

I didn't give The Lazy Investor a full reading. Its after reading The Lazy Investor of Derk Foster that I purchased my first stocks. That was a while ago. I had read The Lazy multiple several times, trying to understand and I wanted to make sure that I understand. Eventually, I will read the revised edition of The Lazy Investor, but what I did yesterday is that I went through the last couple of pages. I wanted to check if Derek Foster has displayed the SO WANTED and needed information: a copy of his portfolio. And it was there! So I happily buy the book.

Derek Foster doesn't hold too much Canadian stocks, just a few ones. Among them, he hold Power Corporation and Manulife. Does two will NEVER be from my portfolio. Power Corporation is a all f@ck up Quebec company that does lobbying, and had been massively involved in corruption and truly, Power Corporation is a f up company that been too closely involved with the politicians. Manulife had been in Derek portfolio since the Stop Working, so no big surprise. I am not a fan of insurance companies. I will never invest in stuff like Manulife or Sun Like, name them all. Their stock value is extremely sensible to the stock market volatility. Check the Manulife chart for the past decades, you'll see what I mean. Susan Brunner also hold Power Corporation and I just don't understand why some brilliant people like that will just hold and stand by a piece of shit like Power Corporation. That just confirm that I am the only one right on everything ahah.

I won't disclosed more about the book, but if you pass by a Chapters or Indigo, buy it. The fact that Derek Foster hold Manulife and Power Corporation just make him a bit more human. Nice biceps showing off from the Regina video anyway.

The Lazy Investor returned! Yeah!

My next investment: Canadian National Railway Company (CNR)

Its heavily raining in Montreal and I am stuck inside, waiting for the rain to stop.

I just watched Derek Foster presentation giving in Regina and I find it very great. Derek Foster is a very great talker and he must have been a very good teacher. His presentation give a good overview of his work. He actually talked about a few stocks, but nothing new. I have someone who comment saying that he didn't talk much about stocks and actual investment. He did mention a few ones. It was a quick presentation of about 30 minutes or so. Very nice. Now, we all waiting for Derek Foster new book to come out.

I recently got a stable job and for the next few weeks, I will be fully load of cash. also recently, I partly sell FR. At first, I wanted to use the money generate from the sell to invest in a dividend stock, but for now, I just have one idea in mind: to invest more in Canadian National Railway Company (CNR). In the immediate time, I won't be earning much in term of dividend. CNR has been among the top stock performer of my portfolio and thinking about it, chances are that CNR will simply continue to gain in value over the years. Compare to Europe, Canada public transportation is similar to a third world country, or almost. Anyway, we have the train. Its not a fast speed one, but still, we have rails. At least.

CNR is the type of idiot proof stock that you can hold with basically any fear. currently, CNR value exceed the $91 per stock. I won't be investing in 100 stock of CNR, just a few ones, not even 20. No matter how big or small is the investment, in 20 years from now, those stocks will probably be worth a fortune and I will probably be able to benefit from them.

I still have an idea about investing in a REIT, but I don't know which one. 

Financially illiterate but real genius. 0)

Is it still raining? I want to go home.

Andrew Hallam, the millionnaire teacher, but that's all

I was supposed to wake up at 5 but I wake up at 6 to complete some freelance work so this post won't be proofread (like usual) and it might be short (very unusual).

I am now enjoying my weekends because I barely have nothing at all to work as a freelancer.

Anyway, I was at the Chapters on St-Catherine this weekend and I send the book The Millionnaire Teaccher of Andrew Hallam so I gave it a quick onsite read. I couldn't believe that the guy deprive himself from essential living expenses such as food and public transportation. I am a frugal babe, but I will never deprive myself from food to have more money to invest. For quite sometime, he was able to save as much as 70% of his teacher salary to invest. Nice, but the poor guy certainly never taught of the effects of such deprivation on the long run. Andrew Hallam may be a millionaire, but he's a complete maniac.

He used to barely heat his place (hey dude, in Canada, we have winter) and eat a poor diet composed of pasta and peas. Barely no vegetable. Such diet is very dangerous for the eyes and the immunitate system. I didn't saw a doctor in more than 10 years (its not a good thing to do but I am not going to even try to find a family doctor in Montreal) its because of a wealthy diet. I have a taste for sugar and junk food occasionally but these days, I am even working on it better. Just to say that you will turn very badly if you do it like Andre Hallam. When I am saying that the man is a maniac, he's really is.

His book is mostly focus on the power of saving and the value of investing, the effect of interest over time and not that much about investing. If you don't know how to save cash and spend it smartly, you have a very long way to go before you can even find money to invest. That's depressing. The book of Andrew Hallam is a very depressing book.

You don't have to have a million book to be rich. You don't need a million to be financially rich and independent. That's the very smart way of Derek Foster.

Andrew Hallam loves money, but he hates debt. Holding debt never been a problem to me. I never paid my student loan because I preferred to have those several thousands on the market and in "save" in case of need. Also, don't forget the tax credit. 

I visited Andrew Hallam blog a few times and I cannot read him, his perfect English.

I want to feel the excitement of the stock market and I don't get that kind of buzz and hot feeling with him.

Saying goodbye to some Majestic stocks - FR

My investment portfolio is going quite well. When the TSX goes up, everything goes wonderfully well. I was quite serious to check on my annual dividend income so I went through some calculations to find out that I am now at $6 908.05 in annual dividend income. Not bad, but I remembered having more not too long ago. I don’t like to be under the 7k in dividend income. After all, we had reached the 7k back in 2011. It would be nice to learn more year after year and not less right. There’s many ways to benefit from the stock market. The dividend income is among the easiest and safest way to benefit from the market. You can of course play the market, perform day trading, but risks are there and exist. And talking about trading, I have sold 100 pieces of the majestic First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) today. The only reason behind that sell is that I plan to reinvest in a good quality Reit product and cash in some dividend juice. 

I still hold some pieces of First Majestic Silver Corp (FR). Holding in to First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) haven’t been easy. However, I hold because I like the idea of investing in a company who declared producing the purest silver ever. Its sexy and powerful. And if you know Eric Sprott, you know that silver is the investment of the decade. Not the past decade, but this very decade of the years 2010. I am closely watching the market and recently, silver make some good gain. I had quite some money invested in silver and I want this to work out. Or should I say I NEED THIS TO WORK. So Eric Sprott darling, you better be right, because if not, I am going to push it really bad on you. Would it make any difference? No, but a shitty publicity is a shitty publicity and trust me, it’s not anytime soon that I am going to give up on my portfolio.

So I was saying that I sell some FR stocks. I still believe in FR, just that I wanted my 7k in dividend income really badly. What a girl wants is what she gets. Some other stuff I hold are REALLY performing well, like AGU, CNR, CU, PPL, KBL. Its hard to believe that there’s that much money to be made in cleaning linen but yeah, K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL) is among my top performer. I own this one to Susan Brunner. It doesn’t seem like she owns the stock, but you can be sure, I own some stocks and I LOVE IT. Their chart is spectacular and KBL is simply amazing.

Now that I have full-time employment for the next couple weeks, I have many projects on the way. Lately, I had been slow on many things I need to take care of. I need to maximize the contribution to my TFSA. I will have to verify, but I might have like a good 20k contribution room left for my TFSA. I plan to fully use my TFSA. However, the process is touchy since I have a margin on my Canadian portfolio. I already taught about transferring my Sprott Inc. (SII) investment over my TFSA, as well as DGI. But before I proceed, I need to apply in cash the amount of their respective loan amount to my non-registered account so my margin remains in the safe zone. It’s no big deal if you cannot understand what I mean. Just know that investing using margin money is risky, difficult and stupid. You need to be a complete idiot to invest on money that’s  not yours. I am totally aware of how lucky I am to benefit from my margin account but at a point, no one can predict which turn this economy will take. I could eventually lose my job for whatever reason (another small claim YEAH!). I mean, you always have to be ready for the worst, never take anything for granted. If you’ll be laid off tomorrow, would you able to survive? And if so, for how long? Do you have a backup plan? I, the Dividend Girl, I always have a backup plan and I like to ask myself the real rude questions. Being aware of your own vulnerability is the best of the protection. I am totally aware. I am just a bit off regarding a backup plan but hey, can I breathe, I just got my new job that past Friday lol.

So yeah, backup plan, but I give you the right to take it easy.

And just in case you didn’t know: TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!

I love Fridaysssssssss! No work, no stock market to play on. Freedom.

Montreal is getting a real taste of the Dividend Girl and they are loving it

I have been quite busy with a bunch of things lately and I got a mix of bad and good news, but mostly good ones. The bad news being that I had lost a big part of my freelance work. The department I was working for had shut down their operations. It could be temporary, maybe they will reopen but for now, they remain closed. It came like a thunder, without notice. I had that freelance stuff to help me once my contract will end see. It was my backup plan. Around 50 freelancers like myself have lost their job. For me, it’s not that of a big deal because I also have a full-time job and another temporary freelance gig. However, the biggest part of my freelance work is now gone. This means that I now have to rely almost exclusively on my employer for my living expenses. Question now being: can I rely on my employer? Well, it seems like so. (Are you ready for the good news now?).

As I told you before, I had moved from my little New Brunswick gangster town to Montreal for a 4 months contract back on May. That contract going to end in September. BUT, I signed a new contract this really past Friday and I got a permanent job! I was really happy Friday to learn the great news and I signed the contract right away. No need for me to “think about it” for sure! Especially with all the shit I had been offered. So I happily signed the contract and that’s how I am now on the road for a permanent full-time employment.

I am the third generation of sexy Acadian women on my mother side who’re in Montreal for work. Reality being if bitches cannot find work in New Brunswick, they simply go someplace else. That’s quite of a simple explanation. My grandmother “worked” in Westmount in a rich family as a maid during the Second World War while my grandfather was working on the boats Sorel. She wasn’t really working. She was paid to answer the phone and served food during dinning time and it’s about all. They have another maid to do the cleaning and I guess another one to cook their meal. They were a typical English Westmount family. In the area, all the houses looked the same. They still all look the same today and they are more expensive than ever before.

A few decades later, my mom follow my grandmother traces, she went to Montreal where she worked for a couple of months, or maybe just a couple of weeks, taking care of other people shit. And a few decades later, it was my turn… I worked in Montreal about 3 years before hitting back to New Brunswick. But I was laid off. I fill a small claim against my employer who have employed while being in debt and I went back to Montreal after I find employment.

Montreal and Quebeckers have treated my family members quite well. André the Saint took great care of them. And now it’s my turn. And it seem like Montreal want me really badly because I have built my small fortune here and now, my contract lead to a permanent job. Montreal wants me and Montreal is getting me. And Montreal is getting the Dividend Girl. I know what you are thinking.

Am I lucky? Oh yes.

And now, let’s move on. The most interesting part is just about to pop out. It’s the money part.

We’ll chat again later because I am not going to spend the whole day writing about myself and I.

Happy shopping.

Mega portfolio pow-wow: stuff that I hold that you should probably be holding too

First Majestic Silver Corp (FR)

I started trading First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) back in May 2011. I performed a few trades on FR, I day trade it for a few bucks. But after a while, I lost my luck and wasn’t able to sell First Majestic Silver Corp (FR) because the value wasn’t going up anymore. So I simply hold the stocks, hoping that one day, my investment would turn into... a mine of silver. No big return for now, however, I am on the closed $100 profit on that one. Lately, FR began to gain in value. I would like to partly sell FR, but I feel FR can go even higher, if not reach the $25 per stock… For that reason, I am not doing more than just holding and waiting for my luck to turn into some real magic cash.

Chorus Aviation Inc. (CHR.B)

Along with Fortis (FTS) and Emera (EMA), Chorus Aviation Inc. (CHR.B) is one of the few stocks that I hold being a Maritimes stock. I invested in CHR.B back in March 2012. I made a profit of $40 on the stock value so far.

I wouldn’t recommend to invest much more than $500 on this one if you are a retail investor. This stock can be quite volatile and it pays a very huge dividend of 16.22%. The dividend distribution is way too high, however, I do enjoy a super high yield stock once in a while. Just need to be cautious with that you hold, meaning don’t invest too much in the same spot. Chorus Aviation Inc. (CHR.B) could turn ugly, but seem to be in good track for now. Always be cautious with stocks paying an extra high dividend yield.

Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI)

That one came in my portfolio in February 2011. Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI) is FAR from being one of my favorite, but lately, RSI gains in value, for a reason that I ignore. My investment gains $80 in value. From my experience, RSI stock value likes to play the yo-yo and I really dislike it. I don’t know why I am adding it to this post.

WesternOne Equity Income Fund (WEQ.UN)

I invested in this one back in March 2011. This stock makes me look HOT. My investment in WEQ.UN gain a fantastic $1 263.01. I own it all to one special reader. Thank you honey.

Exchange Income Corporation (EIF)

I invested in EIF back in February 2011. Since that time, my stock value grows of more than 1k. I own this one to a reader too. A different one.

Westshore Terminals Invest Corp (WTE)

I never read much around this one and I never did any extensive search. I invest in this one because I was told that the CEO was among the richest men of Canada. Ok, good enough for me I invested and today, I enjoy some good dividend and a quite stable investment. Go figure. And I own this one to a reader. Another one :)

DNI Metals Inc. (DNI)

That one currently is at $0.29 but could hit higher in close future. I discovered that one while doing some trading. That was back in May of the year 2010. I wanted to perform a quick buy-and-sell move but I got stuck with it. However, I made over $200 in profit on it so far. To the current list, I could add AGU, CU, CPR… ENF, PPL and all the other good stuff that I hold.

In the next part, we’ll see which stocks that I hold that you should NOT, under any circumstances, hold.

Have a happy long weekend. I spent mine sleeping, shopping and enjoying the nice Montreal weather. Its nice to be wearing summer dresses in September. If it could only last.