Last week, I was on vacation. Today is my last vacation day, which means tomorrow I will be back to work. We had a mix of sunshine and rain, and today, it was raining. Later this week, we should get some warmer days for the weekend. I’ve been working remotely from New Brunswick, and I’m still deciding whether I’ll return to Montreal before Christmas. I don’t mind spending time in New Brunswick, but after a while, I start missing my calm and quiet apartment in Montreal.
While enjoying my last official vacation day, I thought it would be a good moment to reflect on my investment portfolio. It feels like I haven’t written such a post in a while. After realizing that I should be able to pay down my margin debt by the end of the year, I feel it's time to address some of the weaker investments in my portfolio.
The reality is, I can pay off my margin debt by the end of 2024—but only if I stay in New Brunswick. I tend to spend more money when I’m in Montreal. Living expenses such as groceries are higher, and I love indulging in daily espressos. Add to that the costs of entertainment, shopping, and various activities, and it becomes easy to bust a tight monthly budget. However, here in New Brunswick, I’m more isolated from places where I can spend money. There are no coffee shops nearby, and there’s simply less temptation to spend. This makes it easier to save, but on the flip side, I rely on my parents for transportation and other needs, which takes away some of my independence.
The only major downside of staying in New Brunswick until the end of December is that I won’t be able to return to Montreal until at least March. There’s no bus service between Rivière-du-Loup and my hometown, and I certainly won’t ask my parents to drive me in the middle of winter. Living in a small community definitely has its challenges, and it can make things difficult at times.
That said, I’ve been holding on to some "difficult" assets in my investment portfolio. By difficult, I mean volatile stocks. In the past, I referred to these as "troublemaker stocks." One of them is definitely New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI). It's been a tough stock to hold, but right now, it’s up by +37.15%, which is fantastic, especially considering it was in the red not too long ago.
In my US portfolio, my biggest troublemaker is Pfizer Inc. (PFE). Fortunately, I only have a small amount of money invested in Pfizer, so it hasn’t had a significant impact on my overall portfolio.
In my RRSP portfolio, my top troublemaker is Ovintiv Inc. (OVV), formerly known as Encana. I’m currently down $2,000 on this stock alone. Thankfully, other investments in my portfolio have performed well, helping to balance out these losses. But overall, I do hold on to some pretty volatile assets.
In my next post, I’ll dive deeper into the performance of some of my other investments and explore how I plan to manage my volatile stocks moving forward.
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