I am spending too much

I did around 10 hours today at work. I am going try to get up early tomorrow and begin earlier. I should be good for at least a 1 000$ paycheck. For laptop, I could afford it, but only if I work 14 hours for the 3 upcoming days! So I don’t know what I will be doing. But a laptop purchase is really not important at this time, even if it was supposed to be my birthday gift. The problem is that I am spending too much. I am already at 350$ in expenses on my BMO credit card that I only use for its AirMiles (and the month is not over yet!). I also have a 163$ to pay on my RBC Visa by the end of the month. And just to make things worst, I now have a 112$ to pay at TD Waterhouse for my RSP account… I am going to take care of this one tomorrow morning because it’s bringing my account to -112$ since I don’t hold any cash in my online broker account. Some TD Waterhouse staff is so bad, they could some of my stocks or units just to pay their administrative fee! For once, I have a good reason to wake up early and after passing by a TD Canada Trust branch, I should be able to go to work… Lot of expenses to cover, but I should be able to make it. For tomorrow, I am waiting a 365$ paycheck. And my next week paycheck should be of at least 1 000$. From the way things are looking, there could be some overtime available next week also at my daytime job. I could be able to make my next investment in September, but not by the end of August, probably not. I am just a bit confused about it at this time. After all, I had been working 10 hours today (I usually only work 5.5 hours per day at my daytime job!). I didn’t have anytime to apply for a credit line or see my options to cover my CIBC Visa debt. I try to call RBC on Monday, but the delay was too long. I have a 1 232.57$ at 3.9% that is going to expire in September. I could pay it off by not doing my next investment. But… I didn’t give up yet on my 100k. Being pack of all kind of debt does not bother me at all and I don’t agree with people when they say I should pay debt instead of investing. I am building my future financial situation here. Why should I care about paying debt? My portfolio is doing well. I was just surprise today when I saw EnCana Corporation (ECA) at 29$... (usually it’s around 33$...). Also CDL.A that is currently below 15.30$. Other than that, the portfolio is just the way I like it, pretty stable. I got those 2 French comments on my blog that I decide not to post because they were written in French. Quebeckers can be so arrogant, thinking that they have the right to post comments in French on my blog. So typically Quebecker. It was about a guy saying that he knows Derek Foster (but we all know Derek Foster!!!) lol. And the guy was saying I should move to Gatineau (which is located close to Ottawa) and work for federal agencies, that I could be less annoy by Quebeckers… Well, I work before in Ottawa and it was full of stupid Quebeckers and between Ottawa and Montreal, Montreal is way much better because yes, there’s Quebeckers here but there’s a lot of people like myself coming from outside Quebec. Montreal is more multicultural and I met great people here. Ottawa-Gatineau is full of Quebeckers and part of the reason why federal government does not perform too well it’s because it’s too full of Quebeckers, doing nothing at all. Canadians are paying the big price for a unite Canada and it does not worth it. Not with those hypocrites voting for Duceppe but working in senior positions in federal agencies. I had been there, I worked in many agencies through staffing agencies and I am able to tell, Quebeckers are killing this country. I have many stories to tell and I may have the time to write about those another time. To get more deeper into the specific see.

Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) dividends for August 2010 are in

I made it! I had reached my second online income payout of 100$ for 2010. I would like to make a third 100$ by the end of 2010, if possible and, why not even more… I guess I will be spending the 100$ on an Acer 10” mini laptop. The mini laptop is at 279$ at FutureShop. It come at 314$ after taxes. So I will only have 214$ from my pocket to pay for. Not to forget a case I will have to purchase to protect the laptop… Anyhow, it will be a nice birthday gift from me to me. Don’t forget, it’s my birthday somewhere at the end of the month lol! I am in need a good pair of shoes too. I won’t be able to wear my sandals forever… I love the sandals I purchase earlier this summer. They are black Columbine sandals, very comfortable. Sports Expert has that sale going on where you purchase one item, and the second is 50% off. I don’t know if it’s over now. Columbines work well for me. My winter boots are also Columbines and I had them for 3 years now. Since there’s overtime this week for a second week at a row at my daytime job, I may make enough to cover the cost of my laptop AND make my next investment of 100 units of David + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN). That will be quite of a challenge and involve me doing over 50 hours this week lol…… Anyhow, I’ll see how it goes.

This weekend had been quite easy as I just work my usual weekend shift and it’s about it. Some people are really getting annoying at my weekend job and there are so a bunch of Quebec morons there. It’s unbelievable. I am just not getting use to it. I didn’t apply for any credit line over the phone like I wanted to. And it’s not a Quebec jerk who’s going to refuse me because I am going to call the English line for all the places I am going to apply to (because I could get refused…). I am going to try to take care of this tomorrow morning. My investment project is going on so fine. I received this weekend Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) dividend, a nice and gentle 30.01$. I guess it will DRIP on Monday or so. I should receive around 4 new units of Yellow Pages Income Fund. The dividends are slowly adding up. I think this is the first ever I am receiving a 30$ from Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN). Hope one day I will have enough to espace from Quebec province forever.

I need more credit

It’s been a great week. I made some extra hours at work. I went to a barely 30 hours per week to 44 hours… My goal was to do 50 hours this week, but I wasn’t able to reach that number of hours because today I just do my regular 5.5 hours… The weather was beautiful in Montreal today, very difficult to stay inside and take calls in those conditions. But good news, there’s still overtime next week. This is kind of very nice because I will definitively be able to make my next investment, 100 units of Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN) by the end of this month! And by the end of the month, it will be my birthday! I have my eyes on a mini Acer laptop, those 10’’ ones. I would like to buy one of these. I could carry the mini laptop everywhere I go and log in to the Wireless basically everywhere I went. Sweet. I wasn’t able to find a pair of Gisele Bundchen sandals anywhere I went today and I went to several stores downtown. They appear to be all sold out.

Talking about dividend, I receive this week Just Energy Income Fund (JE.UN) dividend (76.77$) and Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (PIF.UN) dividend (54.73$). The dividend keeps adding up! I really hope that one day I won’t have to work as hard as I am working right now. At a point, just working part-time, cashing in the dividend could be just so the dream. But knowing myself, I might continue to work just to be able to invest more… and why not, pay off those heavy debts that I have lol. Anyhow, let’s update my dividend earnings and see how the DRIP strategy had worked so far:

My non registered Stocks and Units investment portfolio
Sprott Inc. (SII): 515 x 0.10 cents + 0.04$ special dividend =
72.10$
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): 107 x 1.96$ = 209.72$
Methanex Corporation (MX): 103 x 0.62$ = 63.86$
Fortis (FTS): 106 x 1.12$ = 118.72$
Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (PIF.UN): 423 x 1.56$ = 659.88$
Just Energy Income Fund (JE.UN): 748 x 1.24$ + special dividend of 0.20$ = 1 077.12$
Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN): 450 x 0.80$ = 360$
Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund (BA.UN): 100 x 2.90$ = 290$
Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGF.UN): 208 x 0.93$ = 193.44$
Enbridge Income Fund (ENF.UN): 314 x 1.15$ = 361.10$
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 200 x 0.56$ = 112$
Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN): 100 x 1.84 = 184$
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH): 200 x 1.18$ =

236$

TOTAL: 3 937.94$
+ my next investment in David + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN) (184$)
= 4 121.94$

My TFSA investment portfolio
The Consumers’ Waterheater Income Fund (CWI.UN):
408 x 0.76$ = 310.08$

I am leaving my RSP portfolio behind, as it’s not possible to cash in the dividend coming from a RSP broker account.

OVERALL TOTAL: 4 432.02$ (or 369.34$ per month…)

I can say that overall the DRIP had worked well. It’s definitively worth it to reinvest the dividend in order to earn new stocks and units each month. Seem like TD Waterhouse IS offering the DRIP discount so, that might also help I guess. Once I will earn 400$ per month in dividend (or an annual 4 800$), that will be quite something. I am not too far away from that amount.

Regarding the debt, I have that 1 000$ and something currently at CIBC Visa at 3.5% or so. The special interest rate is going to expire in September. At this point, of my investment game, I am not in position to pay off any debt because if I do, I may not be able to reach the 100k portfolio by the end of 2010. So this situation is kind of a dilemma for me. I am already full pack of debt, but I wonder if I could get approved for a credit line at RBC or CIBC at a low interest rate. So I am going to do my request this weekend and see if something can be done for me. I could have used margin on my portfolio but I am feeling very insecure about it. A pro would have use margin, a Derek Foster imitator….. credit card balance transfer lol. At this time, I don’t have any room left for credit card balance transfer. I didn’t receive new credit card balance offer from RBC Visa or CIBC Visa, just from TD Visa and my TD Visa is currently “fully” full… So I am in need of a miracle. But you know, sometimes, miracle happens.

And what about a 50 198$ value in my non registered stocks & units online portfolio?

Yesterday, something very special happen. My non registered investment portfolio of stocks and units reached the 50 198$! When I saw the amount I couldn’t believe my eyes! WOWW! This is the highest value reach ever for my non registered stocks and units portfolio. I always say that once I reach 50 000$ in my non registered portfolio, that day will be special… I always wanted to be there. So now I am there. No today, but I was there yesterday.

There’s currently overtime available at my job so I finished work very late yesterday and arrived home late. I just took the time to take a quick look at my portfolio… And there it was, it was there, the magic number was there! It’s really too bad I didn’t have time to update my portfolio yesterday. On date of yesterday, I may had been around 90 500$ in total assets or something it probably. I am always good at telling at around which level I am at by looking at the TSX. Today the TSX lost a couple of points, but nothing major. I am at 49 900$ something right now.

I am really working hard right now because since overtime is available, I may be able to make my next investment by the end of the month. And this is very exciting. I am also very close to my 100$ payout for my online earnings. So that’s pretty cool too because I would very like to purchase a pair of Gisele Bundchen sandals (can a pair of her sandals make me look like her, please!! lol) and a new pair of running shoes. I won’t be able to purchase both with 100$ but still. By encouraging The Dividend Girl, by visiting my advertisers, you make things possible you know. Earning a couple of 100$ per year by working online is kind of nice. I will be celebrating my 30th birthday by the end of the month and it will be awesome if I could make another investment just before hitting 30th you know, just to say to myself ok, I might be working at some extraordinary boring jobs (no offense but that’s how my jobs are lol) – but at least, I am f***** rich! LOL!!!! And you know what, I have a feeling I am going to be able to make that investment of 100 new units in David + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN) really soon! Call me stupid, call me dumb, I couldn’t be more careless. I am going to make it anyway, even after being laid off by BMO Bank of Montreal. Finance stuff is just a matter of touch and sense. If your heart is good and understands the basic, you can do better than anyone else (even me lol) and I am at a point where I begin to think that I am pretty good at the investment game. It’s all about following the right person. In my case, Derek Foster books had been pretty useful and I have to say, that’s where the extraordinary all begin. And thinking about it, Derek Foster is such an angel, for the way he answered people on the Canadian Business forum. Always cheerful, always polite, so professional. Whenever I want to say f*** you to a customer or/and hang up on them lol!!!, I think of Derek Foster and his kindness. He’s so professional and a good person. Such so the complete opposite of who I am. F Quebeckers will have to apologize me and F BMO Bank of Montreal employees who had decided to lay off me would have to eat shit one of these days. That’s really all. Because I really begin to think that I am pretty good at everything I do and those F of Quebeckers and BMO Bank of Montreal will have to get use to it. That’s really all. I am sooo terribly sorry. I am being sooo bad. But I am really telling the true. The customers I am dealing with at my job in a call center? I am just trying not to yell at them.

I have someone at work who catch me looking at the TSX and stocks and he joke around. I didn’t talk about it too much. I don’t want to take openly about my portfolio and my money, this being to protect myself. The world we live in being what it is, you better careful, especially with Quebeckers. So told me why you don’t study accountability to understand more of what you do? I told him: “yeah, that’s a great idea. But you know, I only look at the index because I love everything related to finance. That’s really all.” I am such a liar. But you know, I might not have the big diplomas in finance, but I perfectly know what I am doing. The 50 198$ in my non registered stocks + units portfolio of yesterday is the living proof of that. I am just that good. One day you’ll have to stop reading this blog because if not, you’ll catch all the tips and tricks all for free and BMO Bank of Montreal financial planners will all be laid off. Just like that. I just have to get over it one of those days you know but Bank of Montreal + Quebeckers + me = a lot of shit. That’s all I have to say. Just one beer and I am already drunk. It’s all what it take me. ONE BEER. :)

About BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs

It’s been a nice weekend. I went to Festival of Fashion & Design yesterday and watch a couple of shows, if I can call them like that. They had played a song by Beast during the event I love sensation and it was very great. Tonight had been quiet as it’s raining hard in Montreal. So I finally decided to clean my place. It kind of needs it. It’s feeling much better now. :)

This week is going to be quite busy because I had accepted to work full-time at my daytime job. I will be working some terribly long and painful hours. I decide to do it to accommodate them, as they had accommodated me quite well during the past couple of months. I just wish they won’t forget about this one if it happen I had to request a schedule change for whatever reason.

Nothing done regarding job searching at this time, but I am looking forward to seek for something maybe in September or so. I gave myself the summer off for that part. I had been quite lazy and I have to say, my laziness had paid well – in the sense that my investment portfolio is stronger than ever (remember I am now at more than 90 000$ in assets).

My portfolio is not perfect but I like the crazy diversification. One of my favorite hobby is to calculate my dividend income money over and over again. In result, I had been searching ways on how to increase my dividend income. Without counting my RSP dividend earning, on date of July 19, I am at 4 229.47$ in yearly dividend income. Nice little income that represent a 352.46$ per month.

Whenever I want, I have the possibility to increase my dividend income to more than 500$ per year. How? Really simple, just by selling my mutual fund units hold in the Sprott Canadian Equity Fund and RBC O’Shaughnessy Canadian Equity Fund. Currently, my investment in the Sprott Canadian Equity Fund exactly worth 5103.76$. I could sell my Sprott Canadian Equity Fund units and get a 5 000$ from the sell. As for the RBC O’Shaughnessy Canadian Equity Fund, I could make around 2 700$ from the sell of its unit. This represent close to 7 000$ in cash. With this money, I could purchase 500 units of Enbridge Income Fund (ENF.UN). And those units could provide me more than 500$ in dividend income. This is quite tempting but I won’t sell anything now. I am confident that those 2 mutual funds will gain more value in the upcoming months so I am in a big rush to sell. But just the taught of earning 500$ more in dividend, just like that, is quite a magical taught. This is a future project and I just can’t wait to get ride of the Sprott Canadian Equity Fund. Good thing that Eric Sprott had called for retirement. I have enough him for all of my life. As well as for BMO Bank of Montreal. It make me laugh you know when I learned that BMO Bank of Montreal was waiving the management fees to their ETFs to their customers. I don’t know too well about that offer but anyhow, fact is that BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs are not great performer. If I look at the ETFs top performers for the past year, we find stuff like:

Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bull Plus ETF (HBU) at a fantastic +64.49%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver Bull Plus ETF (HZU) at +55.95%;
iShares S&P TSX Capped REIT Index Fund (XRE) at +37.74%;
iShares S&P TSX SmallCap Index Fund (XCS) at +36.85%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Silver ETF (HUZ) at +31.44%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold ETF (HUG) at +30.37%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF (HUG) at +29.77%;
iShares S&P TSX Completion Index Fund (XMD) at +28.17%;
Horizons BetaPro NASDAQ 100 Bull Plus ETF (HQU) at 27.60%;
iShares S&P TSX Income Trust Index Fund (XTR) at +27.52%.

As you notice, no sign of ETFs of BMO Bank of Montreal.

And what about the latest 6 Month Performance? Well, here they are:

Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Bear Plus ETF (HMD) at +26.12%;
Horizons BetaPro US 30-yr Bond Bull Plus Fund (HTU) at +25.51%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P Agribusiness North America Bear Plus ETF (HAD) at +24.96%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF (HGU) at +24.36%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bull Plus ETF (HBU) at +23.91%;
Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Natural Gas Bear Plus ETF (HND) at +22.85%;
Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) at +19.10%;
iShares S&P TSX Global Gold Index Fund (XGD) at +14.63%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold ETF (HUG) at +12.29%;
Claymore Gold Bullion ETF (CGL) at +12.02%.

Take a look at this: My very precious Claymore Gold Bullion ETF (CGL) is making the list, but of course, none of BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs! Ok, let’s give BMO Bank of Montreal a chance and let’s take a look at the latest 3 month performance of the best ETFs. Here they are:

Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Bear Plus ETF (HMD) at +47.28%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P/TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF (HGU) at +43.76%;
Horizons BetaPro NYMEX Crude Oil Bear Plus ETF (HOD) at +36.04%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P Agribusiness North America Bear Plus ETF (HAD) at +32.79%;
Horizons BetaPro COMEX Gold Bullion Bull Plus ETF (HBU) at +23.06%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P 500 Bear Plus ETF (HSD) at +22.90%;
Horizons BetaPro S&P TSX Capped Financials Bear Plus ETF (HFD) at +21.65%;
iShares S&P TSX Global Gold Index Fund (XGD) at +21.38%;
Horizons BetaPro US 30-yr Bond Bull Plus Fund (HTU) at +21.36%;
Horizons BetaPro NASDAQ 100 Bear Plus ETF (HQD) at +20.98%.

Still no sign of one of BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs! Do you need any more proof? I am telling you, BMO Bank of Montreal is going a great deal of marketing over some ETFs who had no good values for investors. I decide to play it smart and not to invest in any of BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs. My results? Extraordinary. They speak by themselves. I am using a 37 000$ and something in debt over a 90 200$ in assets. My leverage plan is working extremely well because I know now how to invest and how to avoid bad investments like the one being represent by BMO Bank of Montreal ETFs. You have to play smart to make big bucks. There’s no easy way, but you can easily avoid bad investment if you do some simple very easy search, simple as 1-2-3. The ETFs of BMO Bank of Montreal? They don’t worth it. That’s why you can get them without any management fee. That’s really all. No big secret to be hide.

You might ask yourself, why is she talking about ETFs? Well, it happens that Claymore Investments had listed a new ETFs this last Friday. It’s the Claymore China ETF (CHI). Most of my assets are concentrated into Canadian stocks. Adding the Claymore China ETD (CHI) in my investment portfolio will help to add a great diversity and will bring international exposure to my portfolio. Now you know my secret.

Also, I am looking forward to open a discount broker account with Questrade. Even while having 70 000$ with TD Waterhouse, I am paying 29$ in commisssion per trade. This restric my trading movements a lot. Enough is enough I decide, time to move on. What I have at TD Waterhouse will stay there, I am just looking to start a new fresh broker account with Questrade. So Questrade, here I am! This is going to be fun, trading at 9.99$ instead of 29$, the saving are huge is this will allow me to diversify my portfolio even MORE. So it will become extra-diversify. Fun time ahead! I am still thinking about David + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN) as next investment.

I am now at 90 275.29$

My investment portfolio is now at a beautiful 90 275.29$ and I have to say that I am very please. Hitting a first 90 000$ in assets is quite special to me. Especially on this month because I will be celebrating my 30th birthday.

I hit the 90 000$ because of today TSX gain. My overall portfolio had follow the TSX gain and here I am, at more than 90 000$. I was surprised to see Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A) at less than 15.30$ today. Otherwise, everything else is looking great, if not that Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) that had slide to less than 6$ per unit. I had been lucky, at the time, I had purchased YLO.UN under 5$ per unit but I wouldn’t invest again in Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN).

As for my next investment, I was thinking about 100 units of Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN). I currently hold 100 units only of Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN), so it will be nice to add up an extra 100 units in order to benefit from the DRIP, even just a bit.

Otherwise, I want back to work on Monday and it went well. I am just trying to do my best but I kind of lost the speed a bit. Very strange isn’t, especially knowing I had doing what I am doing for more than 2 years now lol. Anyhow, I am back on track and surprise, I won’t have to work full-time to cover up on a co-worker who wanted to switch to a part-time shit. This is very nice because working there 6 hours per day at that job is pretty much what I can handle right now. I plan to discipline myself a bit more on my online projects with the free time a 6 hours daily shift is giving me and also focus more on my frugal living. I purchase a Second Cup coffee on Monday and today I buy myself some sushi. So I am cheating all the way here but my objective is to spend less, not to stop spending.

My stock investment portfolio in date of August 3, 2010

Savings:
1 000$

Non registered Investments:
Stocks and Units investment portfolio
Sprott Inc. (SII): 1 761.30$
Timminco (TIM): 118$
Blue Note Mining (BNT): 40$
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): 5 504.08$
Hanwei Energy Services (HE): 129$
Methanex Corporation (MX): 2 411.23$
Fortis (FTS): 3 117.46$
Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (PIF.UN):
7 881.12$
Just Energy Income Fund (JE.UN): 9 926.48$
Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN):
2 578.50$
Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund
(BA.UN): 2 562$
Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGF.UN): 2 094.56$
Enbridge Income Fund (ENF.UN): 4 364.60$
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): 3 010$
Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN):
1 757$
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH):
2 650$
Cash: 0.32$

TOTAL: 49 905.65$

Tax-free savings account (TFSA):
RBC O’Shaughnessy Canadian Equity Fund:
2 658.85$
The Consumers’ Waterheater Income Fund
(CWI.UN): 1 872.72$
Sprott Canadian Equity Fund:
5 036.64$
Dumont Nickel Inc. (DNI): 388.13$
Cash: 60.78$

TOTAL: 10 017.12$

RSP investment portfolio:
Claymore Gold Bullion ETF (CGL): 3 616.60$
EnCana Corporation (ECA): 3 149$
Emera Incorporated (EMA): 5 369.16$
Cash: 30.26$

CIBC Dividend Growth Fund: 501.18$
CIBC Emerging Markets Index Fund: 420.27$
CIBC Monthly Income Fund: 996.48$

Energy and Base Metals Term Savings (Indexed term savings):
503.46$
Natural Resources Term Savings (Indexed term savings):
502.06$

GIC National Bank: 1 192.64$
GIC Plus: 500$

TD Canadian Bond: 116.01$
TD Monthly Income: 105.45$
TD Emerging Markets: 82.52$
TD Energy: 82.12$
TD Precious Metals: 106.68$
TD Latin American Growth: 95.63$
TD Entertainment and Communications: 106.51$
TD Dividend Growth: 197.19$
TD U.S. Mid-Cap Growth: 98.66$

Maritime Life International Equity Fund
(Templeton): 627.89$
Manulife Simplicity Growth Portfolio: 847.46$
Maritime Life CI Harbour Seg Fund: 989.79$
Maritime Life Fidelity True North Seg Fund: 946.39$
Maritime Life Trimark Europlus Seg Fund: 589.37$

Great-West – various: 1 753.62$

RBC Canadian Dividend Fund: 508.61$
RBC U.S. Mid-Cap Equity Fund C$: 1 721.83$
RBC Global Resources Fund: 845.11$
RBC O’Shaughnessy International Equity Fund:
598.35$
RBC O’Shaughnessy All-Canadian Equity
Fund: 1 027.64$

GIC Canadian Market: 1 000$

TOTAL: 29 227.94$

Social Capital at Desjardins Membership share
for 3 accounts: 40$

Savings + Stocks, units, mutual funds + Tax-
free Savings account + RRSP + Online Income
(84.58$):
90 275.29$

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) dividend bringing summer fun

This is very nice: I received 51.94$ in dividend from Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)! It’s actually very sweet to come back from work (I was working today at my weekend job) and log in to my laptop and see that I am richer of 51.94$... I am quite happy because this brings the stocks I hold with Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) to 107. Once Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) will exceed the 51.94$ or around, I won’t be able to get any new stock from the DRIP. But until that happen, I am enjoying the DRIP. This is actually looking very great for my dividend income of July. It’s at its highest ever, at 397.37$! This is getting interesting! My non registered portfolio (for stocks + units) had close Friday at 49 549.78$. Not so bad at all! Those are just little things that help me keep going even if my job situation is not the dream. So I am going to get back to work Monday at my daytime work with a big smile in my face and no one will know the reason why I am smiling. Except if you know who I am… lol... So thank you Bank of Nova Scotia, too bad you had to refuse my RSP loan because I rock. Show me the money baby and show me the love.

DRIP marketing discount offer by some Canadian companies: bonus on top of the dividend

I just notice 2 dividend payments: 15.33$ from Davis + Henderson Income Fund (DHF.UN) and 21.81$ from the Consumers’ Waterheater Income Fund (CWI.UN). This bring my dividend earnings to a total of 345.43$ for the month of July 2010. Today is my last day of my summer vacation, it was pretty relaxing since I slept in a lot and did almost nothing at all… But it was just what I needed, just to have nothing to think about. I had received my vacation pay. Again, I have a nice little very tight budget for the month of August. I hope to be able to invest again in September or October. I am not very sure of what my next stock trading will be made of. We’ll see. For the month of August, I plan to save around 1 100$ in cash. Nothing major for my online savings account, but it’s the best I can do with my current labor employment situation.

Yesterday was very beautiful day in Montreal so I took a long walk all the way to Montreal Old Port. After what I stop by the Chapters and take a look at a financial planning book I had seen before but never read: Debt-Free forever by Gail Vaz-Oxlade. Very good book about how to get out of debt. I find Debt-Free forever very inspiring and it actually reaches me in many ways. She talk about credit card balance transfer (the fun stuff!!!), about destroying credit card with a pair of scissors (awesome part!!!) and so on… Personally, I went through many things that Gail Vaz-Oxlade describes in her book. I went through them in order to not pay off debt, but to invest. I actually like the part where she suggested getting a second, and why not a third job as a clear debt solutions… This is me! She also openly talks about getting laid off of jobs before currently doing what she’s doing….. That’s definitively me… Thanks to BMO Bank of Montreal, I know what’s laid off is all about. She also talks about staying at home while taking vacation….. That’s actually how I spend my vacation: at home! lol!! Anyhow, I think I had discovered something very special with Gail Vaz-Oxlade writing and I will stay tune to her Web site.

I slowly begin to see the rewards of my online investment portfolio and my debt(s). Just Energy Income Fund (JE.UN) is slowly growing to reach the 14$ per unit, Pembina Pipeline Income Fund (PIF.UN) had exceed the 18$ per unit, etc. At a point, in the last couple of days, my non registered portfolio almost reach the 50 000$ by itself. The value of my portfolio is relatively stable and I am very happy about it. One investment after the other had bring more and more value to my online investment portfolio and I am pretty sure that one day, my 15 000$ investment mistake will just disappeared by itself, without leaving any traces.

I call TD Waterhouse broker just to find about a question that been posted under my blog entry: Switching to a cheaper online broker: Scotia iTrade. Some companies offer a discount to enroll on a DRIP. The question was if brokers were offering that discount. In my case, I deal with TD Waterhouse broker. I heard about discount before but I wasn’t really sure if I had accessed to the discount while being with TD Waterhouse broker. With TD Waterhouse broker, I have 3 types of broker account: non registered (in Canadian dollars), TFSA and RSP. I am registered to a DRIP in all 3 accounts. So I was curious to find out if I had accessed to the discount or not.

A good resource to find out about DRIPs and discount being offer in Canada is on the Web site Canadian Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs). In my online investment portfolio, the following top dividend paying stocks are offering a discount to their stockholders:

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): 2% discount
Emera (EMA): 5% discount
Just Energy Income Fund (JE.UN): 2% discount
Pengrowth Energy Trust (PGF.UN): 5% discount

The discount is being offered on the DRIP shares. In my case, for all investment I hold, I only deal with small sum of money, but it still worth it to enroll on a DRIP. In my online investment portfolio, 4 companies I hold are offering me the discount.

I got the answer to my question from a TD Waterhouse broker representative. But the person who answers me wasn’t really nice. I find sometimes TD Waterhouse broker rep to be really rude and arrogant. But it’s not the case with every single representative, but still. I got a couple of bad experiences, always with French representative. I explain the rudeness because I talk to a bilingual representative. TD Waterhouse broker has a customer service call center located in Montreal. Overall, I am not being impressed at all by TD Waterhouse broker services and it’s very too bad that Bank of Nova Scotia didn’t approve my RSP loan because I would have switched to their iTrade discount broker. I just hate it when a TD Waterhouse broker representative say something to me, just like it happen today, of this nature: “As I just explain it to you” bla bla bla….. If I need clarifications, I should be able to ask without anything else being add. After all, I am kind of a successful investor and if I need to ask questions, I will ask them. All of them. But shouldn’t be surprise by bad customer service offer by Quebeckers. While living in Quebec, I am living outside Canada. It’s in Quebeckers real nature anyway to treat people like shit. Just take a very close look to their wonderful educational system and health care and see what’s going on. Quebec province is slowly dying on itself and I am very hoping for a wonderful long and peaceful death.

Money saving tip for debt management solution: my plan to save an extra 2 588.85$ per year

I am enjoying my last couple of days left of vacation. I work online a bit, made a few pennies which was enough to make me happy, but nothing in term of real big bucks lol. However, my vacations had been relaxing. I am waiting for my vacation paycheck tonight. I am just very curious to see if I am going to actually receive it or not……lol. Anyhow, I went saw Salt yesterday with Angelina Jolie. Salt might be the best movie of Angelina Jolie so far, if not ever. Nice summer blockbuster if you like action movies! Real soon Salt will become available among the other blockbusters dvd rental. Angelina Jolie is very great in Salt. It’s Angelina Jolie at her best.

I started to use my travel rewards credit card BMO Bank of Montreal MasterCard again. This specific card is an Air Miles MasterCard and the master card credit limit is of 4 000$. For a while, I was waiting for my credit card balance transfer to be completed and I didn’t have any credit card left to use knowing that I have a balance on my cibc visa card at a low interest rate of 3.9% until September. Once I have a credit card with at a low interest rate for a credit card balance transfer, I usually stop using that card, in order to not mess up with the low interest rate and the usual interest rate, often something around 19%.

This month, my credit card balance transfer was from my rbc visa card to my td visa card. It is now completed, I am now good for another 6 months at 4.9% on a 7 950$ balance. This will drive me until January. I am very grateful to TD Canada Trust for this low interest rate. I am good for another 6 months. This will make a one year at 4.9% for my visa credit card limit of 8 000$. My credit card minimum monthly payment for the 8 000$ balance is reasonable, less than 50$ each month. So I can easily manage this payment. It always needs to be done on time, before the due date. If not, I will loose the low interest rate of 4.9%. That’s basically the major thing that needs to be respected in credit card balance transfer. Another rule would be also to not exceed the visa credit card limit. Mine is 8 000$ for that specific td visa card. I had a headache for a while because my 4.9% was about to expired somewhere in October. On my late invoice, when I saw the offer was still on I didn’t wait. I proceed with a credit card balance transfer from my td visa card to my rbc visa card and than after from rbc visa card to td visa card. And here I am, all good until January! It actually really worth it to read your visa credit card statement! I did, and I find a quick and easy online debt solution to a credit card debt problem. I want the 100 000$ for 2010 even with a 37 000$ worth of debt. With my 89 000$ value in assets and 37 000$ in debt, I am not in a huge debt problems.

While thinking about my overall financial situation, I try to find new ways to save up some money. Those won’t make that of a difference on a short basis, but they will definitely help on a long term basis.

1-Stop dying my hair
I had been dying my hair for about 5 years in a row now. I went through several colors, from blond, brown to red. I really like myself in dark red and find it was the perfect color for me. But my latest coloration didn’t stay in my hair for very long and my natural hair color started showing up. I didn’t want to dye my hair again and so I told myself: why not stop? I didn’t see my natural hair color for about 5 years now and I don’t remember what I look like with my real color. I decide to give it a try. I didn’t dye my hair for the past 2 months or something like it and I decide to stop definitively.

Monthly money saves: 14$

2-No more monthly metro pass
I didn’t purchase a monthly metro pass since May, 2010. I like the experience. It wasn’t so bad during the hot summer time. I plan to continue living without a travel card for the upcoming months. I just wonder if this will work during winter time…..

Monthly money saves: 65$

3-Stop buying new shampoo products when I have many unused
This is a habit I have. Buying bottle of shampoo after bottle of shampoo, just to try new hair products. I purchase a new bottle when the one previously is not even finish. I have a full bag of shampoo products like that… So I won’t be purchasing new shampoo products for the upcoming months.

Monthly money saves: 6$

4-Using air miles reward program to purchase Second Cup coffees
At 2.21$ for a medium coffee, my daytime treat at Second Cup is costing me a fortune on an annual basis…

Check it out:
2.21$ x 5 times a week x 49 weeks (52 weeks – 3 weeks of vacation) in a year = 541.45$

I always bring some tea bags with me at me at work, but nothing is tastier than a Second Cup coffee. And most of the time, I find myself going to the Second Cup anyway, cheating on my nonexpenses goal like crazy.

With AirMiles, a 20$ Second Cup coffee card worth 170 AirMiles.

541.45$ / 20$ = 27 coffee cards……..

27 x 170 AirMiles = 4 602 AirMiles

Can I possibly satisfy myself with Second Cup coffees for one year without spending a penny?
Currently, my airmiles mastercard of BMO Bank of Montreal give me 1 air miles reward card per trench of 20$ in spending. Let’s say I spend around 350$ per month (overall). I earn 17 AirMiles per month…… 17 AirMiles x 12 = 204 new AirMiles accumulated annualy….. On top on this we can add 30 AirMiles earn per month by using AirMiles search engine. Which bring in 360 AirMiles.

I currently own 809 AirMiles… 809 + 204 + 360 = 1 373 AirMiles / 170 =
8 Second Cup coffee cards……

The trick would be to drink a mix of coffee and tea at work……. And not spend more than the 160$ giving by the Second Cup coffees card.

Monthly Money saves: 45$

5-Bring my lunch to my weekend job
Despite my low salary, I never bring or barely ever bring a lunch at my weekend job. I usually go at that nice bakery called Les Copains d’Abord located on Rachel… That’s where I spend at least 20$ each weekend lol.

20$ x 49 weeks = 980$

Monthly Money saves: 82$

6-Waive the service banking fee by keeping the minimum required in my checking account
I do my banking with Desjardins, so I don’t have to worry about major banking fees like the ones charged by BMO Bank of Montreal. At Desjardins, I am currently paying 3.95$ per month for 12 transactions. With this package, the minimum required for service charge exemption is only of 1 500$. Maybe not now but in the future, I may keep a 1 500$ in emergency fund. This will allow me to save 47.40$ annually in banking fees.

Monthly Money saves: 3.95$ (a bit more than the cost of a medium coffee at Second Cup!)

Those are some of my tips I will try to apply in order to save a couple of hundreds of dollars per month.