Its show time

I haven't update my portfolio value in a while, so I did it this weekend. But I did it because the Canadian stock market was playing at my one and only advantage (and many investors too!). My overall portfolio value is now at $172 748.69 and I hold $81 258.30 in debt. I am looking forward to pay off some more debt. I even made a $900 payment on my margin this weekend. I probably be hitting the 100k in net worth sometime in 2014 which is not too bad.

This past weekend was the Zombie Walk in Montreal... Enjoy!

My investment portfolio on date of October 19, 2013

Non registered Investments:
Stocks and Units investment portfolio $CAN 
Timminco (TIMNF): $0

Blue Note Mining (BNT.H): $0

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS): $6 771.60
Hanwei Energy Services (HE): $24
Methanex Corporation (MX): $5 846.28
Fortis Inc. (FTS): $3 489.09
Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL): $15 560.16
Just Energy Group Inc. (JE): $5 711.54
Pengrowth Energy Corporation (PGF): $1 524.90
Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (ENF): $7 807.80
Corby Distilleries Limited (CDL.A): $2 343.70
Davis + Henderson Corporation (DH): $5 829.84
Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH): $8 549.90
EnCana Corporation (ECA): $3 831.36
iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index (XRE): $2 403.94

Horizons Gold Yield Fund (HGY): $1 411.74
Canfor Pulp Products Inc. (CFX): $1 148.04
New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI): $2 358.72

Exchange Income Corporation (EIF): $6 321.84
Rogers Sugar Inc. (RSI): $542.45
Student Transportation (STB): $659
Colabor Group Inc. (GCL): $481.44

TMX Group Inc. (X): $365.44
K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL): $3 529
Westshore Terminals Invest Corp (WTE): $6 668.76
WesternOne Inc. (WEQ): $3 097
First Majestic Silver Corp (FR): $1 163
Kinross Gold Corp (K): $756.51
TransCanada Corp (TRP): $1 150.50
Canadian National Railway Co (CNR): $4 942.80
Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (FC): $483.20
Enbridge Inc. (ENB): $1 216.04
Agrium Inc. (AGU): $2 321.54
Canadian Utilities Limited (CU): $1 548.12
Veresen Inc. (VSN): $806.52
Crescent Point Energy Corp (CPG): $883.74

JFT Strategies Fund (JFS.UN): $2 136
Geovencap Inc. (GOV.H): $0.40

Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B): $660.40

Heroux-Devtek Inc. (HRX): $508.75

Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI): $648.75

Emera Inc. (EMA): $762.25

Cineplex Inc. (CGX): $1 004.75

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX): $762.80

BCE Inc. (BCE): $990.22

Stella Jones Inc. (SJ): $537.55

Shoppers Drug Mart Corp (SC): $3 042

TOTAL: $122 603.38

Stocks and Units investment portfolio $US:
Sprott Physical Silver Trust ET (PSLV): $1 362.76
Cash: $4.12

TOTAL: $1 366.88 US

Tax-free savings account (TFSA):
EnerCare Inc. (ECI): $29.10
Dumont Nickel Inc. (DNI): $143.75
Sprott Physical Silver Trust UTS (PHS.U): $1 764.60
Sprott Strategic Fixed Income Fund (SFI.UN): $382.50

Healthlease Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (HLP.UN): $1 018

Keg Royalties Income Fund (KEG.UN): $760.50

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN): $897.05

Precious Metals and Mining Trust (MMP.UN): $457.20

Sprott Inc. (SII): $2 665.14

Chorus Aviation Inc. (CHR.B): $411.84

Data Group Inc. (DGI): $1 179.62

AltaGas Ltd (ALA): $1 070.70

Cash: $330.80

TOTAL: $11 110.80

RSP investment portfolio:
Sprott Canadian Equity Fund: $3 119.62
iShares Gold Bullion Fund (CGL): $3 947.84
EnCana Corporation (ECA): $1 952.52
Emera Incorporated (EMA): $6 951.72
Sprott Physical Silver Trust UTS (PHS.U): $588.20

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD): $1 395

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX): $953.50

Stella Jones Inc. (SJ): $2 687.75

Telus Corp (T): $1 764.50

Tim Hortons (THI): $612.80
Cash: $108.15

CIBC Dividend Growth Fund: $632.20
CIBC Emerging Markets Index Fund: $459.21
CIBC Monthly Income Fund: $1 166.77

Energy and Base Metals Term Savings (Indexed term savings): $577.30
Natural Resources Term Savings (Indexed term savings): $502.06

GIC National Bank: $1 227.70
GIC Plus TD: $500

Manulife Fidelity NorthStar GIF CAP B: $834.52
Manulife Simplicity Growth Portfolio: $995.62
Maritime Life CI Harbour Seg Fund: $1 156.63
Maritime Life Fidelity True North Seg Fund: $1 206.28
Manulife GIF MLIA B World Invest: $783.49

Great-West – various: $2 189,08 $
Various other mutual funds: $1 206.17

TOTAL: $37 518.63

Social Capital at Desjardins Membership share: $40 

Savings + Stocks, units, mutual funds + Tax- 
free Savings account + RRSP + Online Income
($109):

$172 748.69

My debt situation on date of October 19, 2013

$2 500.17 at for 6 months at 0.99% (credit card) = $24.75 in interest. Expired: April 2014

$68 243.97 at a low interest rates of 4.25% (margin money coming from my broker account): = $2 900 in annual interest

$4 900 at a low interest rate of 4% (credit line rates) = $196 in annual interest

$5 614.16 at low interest rate loan at 5.50% (student loan) = $308.78 in annual interest

TOTAL: $81 258.30

TOTAL in annual interest: $3 429.53

[In date of October 19, 2013]

Happy 2013 Thanksgiving Investors!

I came back this week from my vacation in New Brunswick. And it was actually hard for me to realize that I was off too for Thanksgiving! I was very excited. Since my return, the weather had been very nice in Montreal. My next get away in New Brunswick will probably be in December and at that time, I will have close to one full week.

Nothing much this weekend, if not a lot of sleeping in and money counting. I went to the Mont Royal yesterday and it was gorgeous. In New Brunswick, winter is about to come but here in Montreal, its still early in autumn season. When I arrived home last Saturday it was very very COLD!

As for the money, my RBC credit line is now completely paid off, my BMO MasterCard as well. Next step is my $10 000 TD credit line at 9% which I am looking to paid off as much possible or the next few months. Currently, my non-registered portfolio is where I like it to be. At $119 845.63, I am extra close to the 120k. I was quite surprise to be able to rack high even while the value of my Exchange Income Corporation (EIF) stock was deteriorating. I had loss a 1k on that stock alone. I don't mind too much as the rest is balance. For me, a balance portfolio is when its at 120k. And I am there right now. But I do monitor the situation with EIF. It seem like the stock is facing a sell-off with no special reason. Investors are cashing their profit. I talk about selling partly EIF in a previously post (guest I felt it coming!), but hey, its ok the way it is. I am the Dividend Girl no matter what.

The JFT Stategies Fund (JFS.UN) is slowly gaining in profit - but the small grow certainly doesn't worth the management few. And I don't earn any dividend on this one. So go figure. Don't ever invest in a mutual fund or hedgies because you find the manager sexy awesome ok? Don't do like this girl. The kind of problem I have with Jean-François Tardif can only be resolve in the comfort of an hotel room anyway.

I had left available over 14k on my margin so I proceed with a transfer of 10k on my TD line and I proceed with another 3k transfer on my second credit line at 5k. Doing such transfers help me to save big interest fee. For September, I paid $39 interest on my 10k at 9%. The statement look crazy with all those transfers (I do 2 transfers daily in and out, to assure my margin can follow the market sexy grove), but it certainly does worth it at the end knowing that my credit lines are at 9% and 8.75% and my margin only 4.25%. And I paid $195 interest fee on my margin. And on the 5k credit line at 8.75%, I paid $27 in interest. It make $261 in interest fees for those 3 credits. But of course, I will save even more once my 2 credit lines will be paid off.

For the past couple months I began to pay off my debt because I want to secure my position. In a year from now, my 10k line will be paid, as well as my 5k credit line, as well as my $2 500 at American Express. So it totally worth it. I will be very happy once I will be able to put an extra 2k on my TD credit lines. Once crazy transfer completed from my margin my theses credit lines, the amount left to be paid would be of... $0. Viva the margin account!!

I don't care about my student loan debt, which is only of something like 5k (tax credit) and I don't care too much about my other credit line debt, which is at less than 5% interest rate anyway. Following what, the next big thing will be to pay off my 54k margin, or at least decrease its usage. I am not a fan of selling investment to pay off debt and I decided not to work at a second job, if not only self-employed and a bit of writing on the Internet. I spent my twenties working at several jobs at the same time and I don't want to do that anymore. Luckily, it didn't destroy my youth. I am happy to be wrinkles free at 33. There's no place for wrinkles on my pretty face. I want the eternal youth of Miss Lise Watier.

I update my dividend income. For a year, without taking in consideration my RRSP, I am at $6 626.67. Not too bad, but I would like to see that number growing. As long I get paid more than 4.25% in dividend income on future investments, well you know, it worth it to invest a few thousands here and there. 

I would like to invest a 1k right now. CT Real Estate Investment Trust recently catch my attention. Its actually very interesting: Canadian Tire is a tenant of this Reit and CT Real Estate is actually being launch by Canadian Tire. Ingenious, isn't? Canadian Tire had been mention as the most significant tenant, but the REIT has other clients too. This IPO doesn't seem to be available at TD Waterhouse, but it could be possible to get in anyway. I haven't check on more.

A second option would be ING High Income Floating Rate Fund. This IPO is available at TD Waterhouse. The units are at $10 each and the minimum number of units to be purchase is 100. At $1 000 only and with no commission fee, this one is quite interesting. The dividend distribution is not fix, but it should be around 6.5% per year. You know the little song: dividend distribution may vary from time to time.

But between those two, I am much more interested in CT Real Estate Investment Trust. I expect the ING High Income Floating Rate Fund to be a bit like my Horizons Gold Yield Fund (HGY.UN) and Sprott Strategic Fixed Income Fund (SFI.UN). What I had experimented so far by holding  such fixed income is that the value of the units barely ever grow, and - worst - it actually decreased while facing catastrophic stock market situation. It could worth more to invest in some TD stocks, get a lower yield for now, but later on, with the capital gain + dividend income, the results could be better. Its difficult to get some good capital gain with fix income.

The CT Real Estate Investment Trust is a lot more interesting because it is directly to Canadian Tire. Its really too bad TD Waterhouse doesn't have it. Just prepare to wait and wait more again over the phone wild calling for this one! When an IPO is not listed with them, TD Waterhouse has one represent per province - only one - to deal with this kind of shit. SO BE PATIENT. I haven't call on this one. One problem will be that you need to call during business hours because the one and the only rep available doesn't seem to be doing any overtime. MISERY. Anyway, I will let know how it went on this one for sure!!!

I will be able to move forward only if the minimum investment required is of 1k. Over that, forget about it, I cannot expose to more leverage, even for Canadian Tire. I have about $250 in cash in my TFSA, so I will only need $750 from deep in my pockets - not too much. That's the plan for now.

My Stella Jones (SJ) stocks are the newest hot stuff of the Canadian scene. So watch out!

I haven't write here for a little while so this is actually the first post of... October. Already October and I am already going on a quite vacation. I am going for a few days to where? To NEW BRUNSWICK. Of course. Where place else could I go hunting, play Casino, enjoy the forest? No place else. Its going to be fun!!!

I have been busy dieting. I am now at my lowest weight ever, I just hope I will be able to keep up while going to vacation. I had bring with me a few shakes. My mom is going to be surprise but hey, I am dieting before Christmas sweet mama.

My grandmother is celebrating her 91th birthday. I bought 2 Laura Secord box, one of a mix of chocolates and the other one a box of rainbow jellies. And for a a family reunion I bought hot chocolate mix Laura Secord and also some truffes and ghost marshmallow candies. Don't worry, its already plan, I won't get more than one of each. Its a $70 right there. I had bring an Oreal magic foundation for my mom. I had it for a while but its a bit too dark for my skin, but I think it will be good for her.

My bus ticket cost $130.

And I withdraw $100 from my credit line.

I hope not to spend more than $300. I think its possible. I usually gave them at least $50 before leaving  to cover for the food. I think $50 will be enough.

I also have like a week in December for my vacations. And I also have to save for that. Christmas gift won't be sensational this year.

I had deposit this week paycheck on my margin. I leaving everything possible on it. With what's going on with the States right now, it won't take much for the markets to crash. I don't have a good feeling about this government closing its door. Its really not good. Those Republicans are so a bunch of idiots, they are willing to do whatever it take to make Obama look bad.

There's very good news for Stella Jones (SJ). I had a 6% grow inside my non-register portfolio for that stock and I had experimented much more grow inside my RRSP (because I hold SJ for a longer time inside my RRSP. SJ is going to split in something like 5 or 6. You may want to check it out. Generally speaking, from my own little experience, stocks that split usually earn in value. Why? Because they became more accessible for individual investors. And that usually what happen. And institutions also usually take advantage of such situations. From my point of view, because SJ had been soooo successful in  the past and now, I think the 1 for 5 or 6 or whatever will be very good for the stock. This is very good for the stock.

And I am very happy by the way because a colleague notice that I had lost weight. So sexy will be back soon and  its not anytime soon, after working so hard, that I am going to eat like a pig. My mom cook one of the local meal that is really rich, heavy  potatoes, pork, whatever else. So I am just going to eat half a plate of it on each occasion. Losing weight is not that easy. I lost 10 pounds and I had been on a diet for a bit more than a month. Its possible to lose weight but while trying to do it the healthy way, it take time. So my goal of 16 lbs per month might be too much of what I am really capable of. Loosing 10 lbs per month is about the best I can do without suffering.

I am not suffering right now.

Niki Lauda is my new hero

After work on Fridays night, I usually, not to say always, go to the movie. And yesterday I saw Rush, a must see movie that totally worth the $12.99! The story of James Hunt and Nicki Lauda is just very moving and fascinating. Two men willing to do anything to drive in Formula one. 

And during that time I had reached a newest low in my diet. I am just 3.8 lbs away from my monthly goal. Its actually getting a lot easier. A couple of months ago I had bought a book, The Body Reset Diet by Harley Pasternak. But its only shortly following my birthday that I seriously began dieting. so I am on a diet since August 30th. I am not following exactly Harley Pasternak diet, let say I am borrowing a few tips from him. One of the major reason is that I don't a blinder. I shop around but I couldn't find one that could fit my budget. So instead, I had  focused on Meal Replacement Shake.

I began dieting the hard way. I start by drinking Complete Meal Replacement Shake by Life Brand. You can purchase those at Shoppers Drug Mart (which happen to be my latest stock purchase!!). 

Green apples play a capital role in my diet. Between meal, anytime I feel like starving, I eat a green apple. And trust me, it work! A green apple worth about 88 calories each, so it make it the perfect diet friend. Green apples work better at calming starving than banana. Almonds work great too, but I find I eat too much of them. And almonds are also very expensive so better skip them! Something else that work well is bold eggs - and its a lot cheaper too. In average, Eggs are very great because they don't cost much and they bring protein to your diet. Green vegetables are also great to calm a fantastic appetite. The result, like eating a green apple, is immediate.

According to Pasternak, the best way to kill fat is to eat fiber at each meal. I eat fiber between meal. For lunch, I have my Complete Meal Replacement Shake that I happily shake at work. And I eat apples, celery, cucumbers. The water in the celery help to reduce starving. 

I eat fruits and vegans more than ever. I don't eat  fast foods anymore, and I always bring my lunch at work. That help a lot. The only place I go if I feel hungry and need an immediate solution is a Tim Hortons soups (another stock of mine!!). But temptation is always there to get a sweet donut!

Basically, I respect everything included in The Body Reset Diet, at the exception of the blender meals.

I barely never eat chip or drink pop, my health problem is sugar and junk food. I actually eat a Tim Hortons donuts last night. I cheat on my diet sometimes, but never on something big, and I eat something sweet maybe just two times a week and it work just fine for me. The trick is to fine a balance. And I discover I eat probably too much for my daily needs. I am losing weight, but slowly, even if I eat really reasonably. So this mean that I had been eating too much for what my sexy body needed.  

This is what a typical diet day is like:

Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee. One capsule of E Vitamin. Milk in oatmeal and coffee. No SUGAR in coffee. I never add sugar in coffees anyway, diet or not.

I try to avoid bread and potatoes as much possible in my diet. So no toast. Always oatmeal. It full me for a couple of hours.

Around 11: I eat a clementine (small orange) and a yogurt. Or an apple. Or an All Bran bars and a yogurt. 

Its been proved that dairy products help weight loss. 

Lunch : Around 12 h - 12h30 or 1 h, sometimes a bit later: I drink my Complete Meal Replacement Shake.

When I feel hungry in the afternoon, I eat a green apple. I will sometime feel hungry again so I eat... another f apple. lol

I can easily eat 3 apples a day. Green ones are the best.

Harley Pasternak said that we have to drink 4 lbs of liquid a day. I never been a heavy drinker, but I try to drink 2 big cups of tea at work. I never drink one entirely yet, but I am slowly going there.

Before leaving work, I eat an apple because around 5 h, I begin to feel hungry again.

Dinner: It depend of my moon. I get salmon or a more regular meal at least 3 times a week. If I see that on a certain day I gain weight, I will drink a shake for dinner. Sometimes I get celery and a orange.

I eat something whenever I feel hungry. The trick is not to let yourself starving because you will end up eating more. And I try to avoid any kind of cheese because I like cheese and I eat too much of it in one shot.

Other tricks: eating a orange kiwi or pamplemouse every 3 hours can, just like milk, help to lose weight. Vitamin C is very helpful, but you have to eat the fruits and not get a Vitamin C capsule.

I find that carrots open my appetite so I don't didn't have carrots at all so far but I am thinking of adding in to get a few Vitamin A. Maybe for dinner.

As for the physical activities, I only walk. I walk every day to go to work and come back home, but I try to walk a  bit more after work. I try to get up earlier in the morning so I could walk a 30-45 minutes more, but that never work so far lol.

Basically, that's what I am in to these days. I lost 9 lbs so far in almost one month of dieting - not too bad. But I wish I would had lost more. I plan to diet that way until the end of the year. I hope to begin 2014 at my best. Its giving me more than enough time. And I not suffering from obesity, just in case you wonder. 

Ok, enough of diet stuff for now.

Next Friday, I will be getting my paycheck so in the meantime, I was planning to finally pay off my RBC credit line using my margin money. And I have plenty of it for now....  A bit more than 14k left out of my $121 305 non registered portfolio. I am cautious, so once the paycheck  will be in, it will go back on the margin.

Next thing I want to put cash in is my 9% TD credit line, which is at 10k when no margin money is being transferred to it. It will take a long time to be paid off, about 7 months or so. And after that will come my 5k credit line at 8.75%. And in the in-between, will come the maybe of my American Express at the end of March, a good 2k. Its a pain, but once done, it will light up my budget of certainly $200 per month. I don't plan to pay ahead of time my student loan.

Once those debt paid off, I will try to leave a 1k in the two banks account I used to save the fees of $6 per month. My minimum living budget could drop to less than 1k per month, which is very good. From that point, I won't be missing that much from my dividend income to cover my fix expenses. And that's getting interesting. And that's why I am thinking more and more of getting more involved is my self-employed work or get a second job or something because its getting so close of getting much  much better financial situation.

As always, I am counting my pennies.

A 3 years plan to pay off some debt of mine. Have you said boring? Oh yeah it is!!!!

Its been a quiet weekend for may reasons. And I finish it at the same weight it got started. So no weight loss this weekend, but at least I am stable. I eat a complete meal yesterday for dinner, and I also eat a small, but probably very high in calories, piece of cake in the afternoon. I cheat on my diet, but I haven't gain any weight. That was a short one!

Want to know why nothing much happen this weekend? Well, its quite simple. I rank up to $734.84 on my BMO MasterCard! But its true that I bought some clothes on that amount. Anyway, don't worry, I am now leaving my credit card home and I barely have $40 left in my pockets. I have everything I need for at least 10 days I guess. I am taking a few days off in the beginning of October. I plan to be really careful with my spending until that time. I am going home in New Brunswick. I will have a $100-$125 to pay for my bus tickets. I will bring $200 cash with me, I don't plan to spend more than that. So it make an easy $325 right there. Once back in Montreal, I will try to live on $300 for the rest of the month.

With this last Friday pay I had just $480 left available to pay some debt. I left the $480 on my 9% credit line, before withdrawing a $60 for my personal needs. Money comes, and money goes.

The good thing is that I will be able to pay off my RBC credit line with next pay at the beginning of October. The amount is about $1 120. Once completed, I will put all my efforts at paying down my $8 320 credit line at 9%. I can have it clear off in 6 months if I am careful. And if Loblaw acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart happen in February, it could be even sooner.

Next thing will be to pay off my American Express because the promotional interest rate will be ending on April 1st, 2014.

And after that, I will have my $5 000 credit line at 8.75% to pay off. That lead us to July 2014 if, of course, I stick to the plan.

And following July 2014, I would like to reduce my margin to 40k. That one going to be difficult. Its represent the amount of $14 000. That lead us to... April 2015.

It would be nice if I could respect that commitment and lower my debt while I still can. Its a 2-3 years plan on what my money life is going to be like. Very very boring, but I wish you'll continue to read anyway. I may proceed with an investment once in a while, cannot go through a few months without it.