Sharing some ideas while the TSX is "enjoying" a very bad correction

The weather was very nice again today in New Brunswick. Its nice to be able to take a walk in the evening without having to wear a jacket. I didn't get the chance yet to do shopping for some summer clothes, but as you can see, there're nothing close by... It making it easy to save up some money, but it can feel quite miserable from times to times, and it can get on my nerves.   

This morning, the TSX regain some points from yesterday's disastrous day, but nothing much. In the early hours of the opening, we didn't regain even half of the points that were lost yesterday... I knew we were in for another bad day. I regained about $2,000 value early this morning, which is nothing much knowing that $8,000 went all down the drain... This is saying what it's saying: the TSX isn't looking forward into regaining any valuable points anytime soon. Its a hard reality, especially knowing that not too long ago, back on April 20 of this year, I was hitting on my highest net worth value EVER, with a fabulous $361,442.42 that I will never forget...

Unfortuntaly, I am not certainly no longer in the $360,000. I am ok with that. My non-registered portfolio closed today session at $141,698.71, my US portfolio at $4,937.16 US, my RRSP portfolio at $64,273,49, and my TFSA portfolio at $121,216.79. Since I suspect this current stressful state of the market may remain for a little while, I proceed with a $1,500 cash transferred over my margin account. This should lower my margin debt to $43,953.43. I have one of my $5,000 credit line with a low interest rate on it. I was thinking about transferring a 5k from that credit line on my margin account, but its only an idea for now.

Also today, a couple of my stocks announced a dividend increase. I actually have a list of them this time around:

Ovintiv Inc. (OVV)

Exchange Income Corporation (EIF)

George Weston Limited (WN)

Finning International Inc. (FTT)

Now, my annual dividend income is super close to $11,100.

Right now, many good dividend payers are getting cheaper and cheaper, like for example BNS, BCE, T... I have over 3k in JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN). I am thinking about selling my JFS.UN to buy again some BCE stocks. Just an idea for now, but I think I will: sell my JFS.UN units that I own inside my TFSA, transfer the money over my non-registered and invest over my non-registered in order to help my margin and invest in my non-registered in some BCE stocks... Another idea for now. 

It suck to be dealing with such correction, but I won't let my chance go to invest in some good quality assets that pay good dividend money. The decision is kind of easy to make...

OH no, the TSX closed today session below the 20,000 points... and better news

The TSX closed this past Friday session at a low 20,633.28 points, but it didn't stop my stock portfolio from gaining over $2,000. Those gains were certainly more than welcome. My non-registered portfolio closed the session at $147,000.11, my US portfolio at $4,978.69, my RRSP stock only portfolio at $65,112.38, and my TFSA portfolio at $124,915.03 (that was on Friday). But today was a whole different story. 

These days, I am pretty busy at work so I don't listen to BNN's The Open, even if I could but I prefer to just be in a quiet mode. And the current state of the TSX is not helping my case to show off any interest at all. On top of that, spring is slowly coming in New Brunswick. For the past couple of days, the weather had been extra nice, making it super easy to reach my 10,000 steps a day, which I usually exceed these days. Basically, everything is so great right now that I want nothing to do with the shitty stock market - but unfortunately, while being almost 100% invested, it's just too hard to simply ignore what's happening for the TSX. I just can't even if I want to.

Yes, we are currently under the 20,000 points, my stock portfolios registered a loss of over $8,000 today - but it doesn't stop some stocks of mine from proudly announcing some dividend increase. This past Friday, Telus Corp (T) announced a dividend increase. Today, it was Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) that announced a dividend increase. With all of those increases, the dividend earned inside my non-registered and TFSA portfolio is now exceeding by a bit the $770 per month, which is very good.

My broker, National Bank Direct Brokerage - was in the news today with this. This was the single occurrence that I had been able to find regarding that news. Basically, if you have at least $100,000 invested in stocks in a non-registered portfolio with National Bank Direct, you can let them borrow your stocks - at no fee and with a 100% guarantee that the stocks will remain yours - to other institutions and gain interest on the stocks loan. WHERE DO I SIGN? :-) National Bank didn't have the courtesy to offer me their program yet, and it's just not being announced anywhere so far, with the exception of that Richard Dufour's article.

Today, my non-registered portfolio closed the session at $143,023.04, my US portfolio at $4 995,60, my RRSP portfolio at $64,402.85 and my TFSA portfolio at $121,569.71.

Tomorrow, be sure I will be watching the TSX at the opening, no matter how busy I may get.

Watch out for more dividend candy coming from Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL) later on in 2022!

Yesterday, when the TSX gained some massive points, I was surprised. Usually, the markets don't love when interest rates are raised, they are tempted to react very negatively to any raised. Maybe US investors were expecting such raise and that they actually welcome it positively because quite obviously, something need to be done to calm down inflation. 

Both in US and Canada, central banks had been quite slow to react. It's almost feel like it's too late now. The markets are on a freak recession mode, I just don't get what's going on. When a recession hit, central banks decreased interest rate. They certainly cannot do that any time soon because of the inflation we are dealing with. Can we possibly deal with a recession when inflation is so high? That's a question that remain. 

My stock portfolios took another bad hit, losing somewhere in the $5,000 in a single day... My non-registered portfolio closed today session at $144,890.12, my US portfolio at $4,956.37, my RRSP stocks only portfolio at $64,932.60 and my TFSA portfolio at $124,876.48. My margin debt is currently at $45,482.50.

In my non-registered portfolio, Pembina Pipeline Corporation (PPL) is one of my major holding. Back in the days, PPL was a Derek Foster stock. Its no sirprise, but Pembina Pipeline declared some strong results for the first quarter to 2022. One awesome news being that PPL investors can expect a dividend increase of $0.0075 per share per month, sometimes in the third quarter of 2022. For me that's quite good news because it will eventually bring my dividend income earn inside my non-registered and TFSA portfolios in an equivalent of somewhere to $780 per month. Again, its not all dark out there, but its super hard to navigate in such environment.       

BCE Inc. (BCE) is another stock of mine that had been doing quite well lately. Let just hope that this recession will no where to be seen anytime soon and it will be all fine.

Another great stock of mine increase its dividend distribution: thank you for the free cash Loblaw Companies (L)!

The past few days had been quite rough for the TSX. I totally forgot to post about this, but I had invested in some Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and BCE Inc. (BCE) shares inside my non-registered portfolio. Thoe two investments were among my more important moves. As for the other investments, they were tiny little investments. I invested a tiny bit Parex Resources Inc. (PXT) and North West Company Inc. (The) (NWC) for my RRSP portfolio, and in some Power Corporation of Canada Subordinate Voting Shares (POW), BCE Inc. (BCE), Whitecap Resources Inc. (WCP) for my TFSA portfolio. 

Today, the TSX regain some valuable points. It's quite a nice feeling to quietly watch the TSX running back in the exceeding 21,100 points. As result, my stock investment portfolio gained over $5,000, which is very good. It's not fun to be dealing with a stock market that is flat and going down the drain on most days... It's quite a traumatic experience. But in the meantime, I had been enjoying some beautiful spring days in New Brunswick. Everything is going well for me and at work, the TSX is gaining some valuable points and the nice weather is coming my way. 

I proceeded with another $1,000 transfer from my savings to my margin account. For now - unless the TSX falls down again - I won't be making any more cash transfer to my margin. We have nice weather coming up and I want to buy a few pieces of summer clothes, as I don't have any with me, except a few t-shirts. I am the kind of girl who just simply cannot stand wearing long heavy pants when the weather hit the 20C. As for the outdoor shoes, I have a super comfortable and super expensive pair of Asics running shoes which are usually my indoor gym shoes, but since we are still dealing with COVID, I guess I don't need any indoor shoes anymore... My only problem is that those Asics shoes are of a punchy shade of pink fluo color, but it kind of makes me laugh. Those shoes were meant to be indoor shoes only. I had those shoes for several years, but now that I am wearing them outside, I don't know if they will last me very long. Asics are super expensive, but if you have sensitive feet like mine, they are probably the best shoes you can buy out there, even if you are not a runner. 

I am trying not to spend too much because once I will hit back Montreal, I will be spending more money. I am currently dreaming of expressos, having my toenails done, going to the movies, enjoying free outdoor concerts, and a bunch of other things that you don't take for granted when you live basically in the middle of nowhere. I must say, I had been voluntarily limiting myself - now for months! on the activities I do here because I stay with my old folks. I simply cannot take the risk of sitting down at a coffee shop - we actually have one nice here - getting the COVID, and infecting my old people. Life with COVID is complicated, especially if you don't want to expose your close family members to the virus. However, while living alone in Montreal, things are going to be much easier, and I will allow myself to do much more things than I am doing now, which had been closed to nothing at all at this point. 

A few positive points had been that I had saved money like crazy, I didn't get infected by COVID so far, I lost weight because my main activity is walking around, but to go nowhere... :-) I plan to wear the mask even if will no longer be mandatory in Montreal, starting something like May 14 if I got it right. I got my third vaccine shot in New Brunswick, so it's not registered in my Quebec vaccinal passport, but I guess that may not bother me that much. At least I have my little paper receipt concerning that shoot. I, unfortunately, got Moderna for my third vaccine, which I wasn't too much please about. 

This past winter, New Brunswick was keeping Pfizer to vaccinate children. I will be in Montreal when the fourth vaccine will become needed, in a few weeks from now. I hope to get Pfizer. If we get vaccinated, the less the government can do is to let us pick the vaccine of our choice, especially in Quebec. In New Brunswick, we have a much smaller population, so I can understand that not all options are available. Concerning Moderna, I didn't let you know about this at the time, but it gave me a weird sensation on my omoplate, like a pressure, but that feeling didn't last too long. 

My non-registered portfolio closed today session on a great $146,925.17, my US portfolio at $5,026.78, my RRSP portfolio - stocks only - at $65,513.77, and my TFSA portfolio at $127 262,16. So far today, Bitcoin, just like the TSX, is gaining valuable $$$. If I am lucky, I may be able to soon reach back the old $130,000 value in my TFSA portfolio. I had been waiting and waiting to sell at profit some Bitcoin-related funds that I have. And I am still waiting to this date...

It came to my attention, thanks to Pattirose for letting me know, that Jean-François Tardif was at BNN today. You can watch here. Like Tardif, I am not really a tech lover. I like my investments in Calian Group Ltd. (CGY) and CGI Inc. (GIB.A), they are in the tech sector, but it's more in terms of services. Open Text Corporation (OTEX) is tough to hold, but my suggestion would be: invest a bit in OTEX and just forget you have it in your portfolio. It will pay of later on. I really like OTEX's CEO, a very smart man, very interesting, and with his direction, OTEX will do well, despite the fact that its title is a bit volatile - but that's the tech sector, its how it is. Just like CGY, GIB.A, OTEX is in the technology services and those types of businesses are much needed in our society, we cannot do without them. However, I won't ever invest now in Twitter, Facebook... I am not in favor of social media and they are not good places to be. I have Twitter and Facebook accounts for this blog, but I am not on them anymore. These days, I must admit that I had spent quite some time on TikTok, but it takes a sec to remove the application from my cell phone if I see that I am too much on it. I scroll from time to time on TikTok, and I must admit that I find it quite fun. One of my favorite TikToker is landenpurifoy and I another one I like is thecaptainsalty. They are lives very often and quite fun to watch, I promise. landenpurifoy is close to 6 million followers, which is very well deserved because that guy is full of positive energy and super funky. I follow other TikTokers too, I should do a post on my favorite TikTokers :-) When the TSX acts like shit, witch to my TikTokers lol... (that's what I am actually doing...)

These days, I had been receiving some good news for many of my stocks. Loblaw announced a dividend increase! TRP is going great, as well as NTR. My overall dividend income is not set on an annual $11,068.07. The more the better, but I am not expecting to do any investing move at the present time, if it's not that new stock from Jean-François Tardif, Rubellite Energy Inc. (RBY). RBY doesn't pay any dividends, unfortunately. Nothing is perfect.

Yeah! Methanex Corporation (MX) announced a dividend increase of 16%!

Let's go Methanex Corporation (MX)! MX had been in my non-registered portfolio since the early beginning. Back in the day, my MX stocks were trading below $20. I had made a nice return on MX and I had been holding it ever since. Personally, I did very well on Methanex Corporation (MX) for the only reason that I invested in it a very long time ago. But I wouldn't recommend MX as an investment because its title is just super volatile. The volatility doesn't show up that much when you look at the overall chart, but you can trust me on that one, MX is volatile:

I never really mind MX volatility because my entry point was quite low - below the $17 per share - and my capital in MX had grown a lot over the years, making it quite easy for me to endure any volatility at all. For a newcomer, I wouldn't recommend MX. Other stocks in the same kind of chemical sector also seem to be dealing with quite some volatility of their own as well. Just take for example Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (CHE.UN). CHE.UN is even more volatile than my baby MX, take a look for yourself:

I am not looking forward to investing in any more Methanex Corporation (MX) stocks, or anything related to the same kind of chemical sector. At this time, I have much more of an appetite for conservative stocks, and for savings as well. I paid my rent a few days ago and my savings are now at $9,224.85. For years, I had been living paycheck per paycheck - because I was investing most of it in my investment portfolio. But now I am very proud to be in the 10k - or around 10k - in terms of savings. I would actually like to see that amount in the 15k-20k. I feel like 10k feel is a bare minimum, especially knowing that I will have to buy a new laptop at some point in the near future.

With Methanex Corporation (MX) latest dividend increase, my overall dividend income is now just a few dollars shy away from the $11,000, which was about time. If I consider the dividend earns inside my non-registered and TFSA portfolio, I earn an equivalent of  $761.55 per month, which is enough to cover my rent, my cell phone bill, and a few coffees. Next, I would like to have enough to cover my Internet and cable bill. Currently, I am under a billing suspension with Videotron while I am in New Brunswick, but on regular months, my Internet and cable bill reaches $179 per month. It's now too much for me. Before I hit back Montreal, I will call Videotron to work on something, like cutting the cable to a bare minimum. As for the Internet, I cannot really cut on that but maybe they can offer a better deal. Possible to make it to $90 after taxes, Videotron? I would like to keep my cable because I like listening to LCN and BNN during the day while working.

The TSX closed this past Friday session at 20,762.00 points, losing 359 points. It's certainly not a fun time to be an investor. My non-registered closed today session at $142,488.48, my US portfolio at $4,976.05, my RRSP stocks-only portfolio at $65,334.24, and my TFSA portfolio at $125,525.36. It wasn't a good day for a couple of my stocks, including my beloved New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI) which went down Friday by -14.996%. These days, NFI is having a hard time. During an economic downturn, New Flyer Industries Inc. (NFI) always goes down but always recovers at some point.

Some other stocks are mine, when they are not increasing their dividend distribution like Methanex Corporation (MX), are going quite well. Its the case with TFI International Inc. (TFII) and Whitecap Resources Inc. (WCP). It's not all dark out there but let's say I am not enjoying the market super volatility and I am mostly extra careful with my spending.

Shopping the TSX for bargain stocks

At the opening today, the TSX shyly entered the 20,700 points. This rebounded was certainly not extraordinary, as I was expecting much more gain. At least, we didn't spend the day in the red. Even while the TSX gain a bit of point, it seems like our bank stocks were quite note reassure by today little gain. 

I kept watching Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and a few other stocks, but guess what, they keep going down! So I prefer to wait, in case it goes even lower. The best I can do while dealing with those bad conditions is to at least shop for deals. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) close today's session under the $82 value per share. I think it could go a bit lower. I have also been looking into Power Corporation of Canada Subordinate Voting Shares (POW). What I am looking for are bargain stocks that pay a sustainable dividend yield.

My non-registered portfolio closed today's session at $142,208.55, my US portfolio at $5,051.49, my RRSP - stocks only - portfolio at $66,319.47, and my TFSA portfolio at $126,129.57. As you can imagine, many of my stocks are on a lower note these days. Some of my stocks are going better than others. Stocks like BCE Inc. (BCE), Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B), Telus Corp (T), Thomson Reuters Corporation (TRI) and many others had remain quite stable in my investment portfolios. One of my investments that remain quite solid is JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN). These days, JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN) value remains really stable, which is a must during volatile times. 

I could certainly say that now more than ever before, I appreciate JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN).

Same old song: Another bad day for the TSX

The TSX closed today's session on 20,690.81 points, losing over 300 points. The $2,100 money transferred I did finally arrived in my margin account. My margin debt is now at $44 157,57. My non-registered portfolio closed the session at $142,623.16, my US portfolio at $5,048.59, my RRSP - stocks only portfolio - at $66,289.28, and my TFSA portfolio at $126,250.21, Overall, my stock portfolio experimented today with losses of over $4,500. Nothing fun there, but I had been thinking about my next investment move. And I came up with some ideas.

I haven't invested in anything today, as I was too busy watching the TSX going down... And I taught: it might go even lower... and so it did! It's the third day in a row that my belove TSX is losing points and it's kind of a mix of heavy heartbreaking and craziness feelings that I am monitoring the TSX. This mixture is the perfect combination to match in drama Johnny Depp's defamation trial that is currently ongoing against ex-wife Amber Heard. Everything is available on YouTube, it's not exactly pleasant. After this, both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are going to be banned from Hollywood. Personally, I don't want to hear any of those two ever again - or at least for a very long time, please.

Fact that the TSX registered some heavy losses 3 days in a row could mark the beginning of a slow entrance into a worldwide recession. Tomorrow, if the TSX doesn't gain a bit of point, I am going to be really really mad.

Lately, I had been watching closely Royal Bank of Canada (RY), thinking it could be a good stock to invest in at the present time, in regard to its dividend yield of 3.688%. RY currently trades about $10 lower than it did over 3 days ago. Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM) value hasn't been hit very hard by all the drama. At more than $143 per share, CM is quite expensive. Na is down, but not enough. What I am looking for is a bargain, but also a stock that pays a sustainable dividend and will be able to go through any mess without too much pain. I actually find something better than Royal Bank of Canada (RY)! It's a stock that is well already very well implanted in my non-registered portfolio: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS). In the days of Derek Foster's Stop Working, BNS was one of Derek Foster's stocks. It's been in my portfolio ever since.

In my non-registered portfolio at National Bank Direct Brokerage, BNS has a margin value of 70%. This appears to me like a complete failure or an act of jealousy coming from the National Bank Direct Brokerage. A quality bank like Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) deserves at least an 80% margin value. A 70% is not as much as it should be. When it comes to very high-quality stock, a note of 80% is well deserved. A 70% is nothing. But I guess National Bank Direct Brokerage is not exactly a 5 stars broker. It doesn't even provide the value of my portfolio in real-time! I find this to be extra annoying. The only advantage of having National Bank Direct Brokerage as my broker is the $0 commission fee, but sincerely, that's really all. You won't get anything fancy from National Bank Direct Brokerage.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) closed the session below the $84 per share, which is an interesting entry price point. But maybe BNS shares will go even lower. I am not in a rush for anything these days. BNS lowest value for the past 52 weeks was in the $75 per share. I think BNS can go lower. We'll see.

While we are dealing with this hostile environment, there are many ways you can enjoy a cheap price stock environment: you can buy a bit into your favorite high-quality stocks - no need to buy hundreds of shares - you can only invest in a few shares here and there and wait if the TSX moves lower - because it could even go lower. If someone told you otherwise, that person doesn't know shit. It's certainly also ok not to buy anything if you don't feel comfortable enough, but you might know that it's when stocks are cheap that you need to buy and not when they trade are their highest value, when the TSX is in the 22,000 points, I am just saying.

Personally, I am just watching for now because I think the TSX can even go lower. I may invest a tiny bit here and there.

Be safe, and make sure you secure your margin shit, if you have any.

Another bad day for the TSX

Usually, when the TSX experiment with some heavy losses for a day, it usually rebounded a bit the following business day. Unfortunately, it's not quite what we had experimented with time. After losing some major points this past Friday, today was an extremely volatile day for the TSX. At a point, it went as low as 20,672.64 points. It was a pain to watch. We finally closed this Monday session with 21,011.89 points.

I spent a weekend quite relaxed - thinking that today would be a much better day for the TSX, I was expecting a rebound, but little did I know... I walked 20,800 steps on Saturday, 15.18 km, and another 20,133 steps on Sunday, 14.77 km. For me, 20,000 steps represent 3,5 hours of walking, which I did in 2 sessions each day. I can easily walk long distances for a long period of time, I don't have any problem with that, but I am not a speedy walker. On weekdays, I want to walk for a minimum of 10,000 steps per day. If I can push it a bit during the weekend, I will do :) There's always one or a few days when I walk less for different reasons, so it helps to compensate. Today I did a bit less than 10,000 steps, but I have done some gardening for about 30 minutes.

While watching the TSX going as low as 20,672.64 points, I couldn't help but think of my margin account. With this past Friday deposit, starting tomorrow morning, my margin debt will be $44,157.57. My non-registered portfolio closed today's session at $144 229,53. It's not a 150k, but it's still a strong value, I know my margin will be ok, but I prefer to remain careful. This weekend, I was a bit more relaxed, and I taught about buying some Royal Bank of Canada (RY) using my $2,100 cash deposit. That investment would have been made inside my non-registered portfolio, to help boost my margin value.

Folks who have a margin account like myself absolutely need to be extra careful. This past Friday, I inject $2,100 over my margin. I didn't receive the money transferred yet, but it's looking like it will be there tomorrow morning. When I received my paycheck, I had planned everything that I wanted to do with my money, this amount in saving, this for my margin, etc... but now, everything that I had planned is completely destroyed. My margin account is taking a big place, not to say all the place... It's frightening, and not fun at all to deal with.

It's not fun, but I think I will probably invest in Royal Bank of Canada (RY) because if I do so, my overall dividend earning will be pushed to the $11,000 and I would like that to happen. Like a lot. My only shame is that I have still contribution room left inside my TFSA. But I prefer to invest in my non-registered portfolio to help secure my margin...

It's always hard to invest during a downturn, but this is basically how I built up my portfolio. I had made some really great investments following the 2008 stock crash. For me, that 2008 crash was easier to understand and handle compared to what we are living with now. With COVID and Ukraine war, the inflation and interest rates being increased, it's quite difficult to follow it all, and to see clearly in this mess. 2008 was a mess, but we knew what was the cause of it, and what we were going to propose as solutions: low-interest rates. Currently, the stock market is super volatile, but we need to see our interest rate being increased in reason of the high inflation. It's a complete nightmare.

Other than that $2,100, I have another 2k that I could put on my margin to help out things, but I am still thinking about it for now. I may just put another 1k on my margin, as I would like to keep a bit in my savings.

A very bad day for the TSX

It's been a strange week, with a lot of volatility for the TSX, with a lot of ups and downs. Just two days ago, on April 22, I was reaching out on my highest net worth ever exceeding $360,000. And today, in a single day, the TSX loss -2.14%, which represents a loss of close to 6k to my stock investment portfolios. My non-registered portfolio closed the session at $145,837.14, my US portfolio at $5,135.68, my RRSP portfolio - stocks only - at $66,795.20, and my TFSA portfolio at $128,477.76.

While watching the disaster, I decided to transfer $2,100 from my savings over to my margin account. Today, my non-registered portfolio experiment a loss of $2,400, so it will help to compensate. My goal is to always make sure that my margin account is in a good shape. Paying it down a little bit can only help. I actually have room left to add another 2k in my margin if I really want to.

I had received my renewal notice from my tenant home insurance contract, and I was choked by an increase of $42 for the next year. I call to have that increase decrease, if I may say. I must admit, I didn't shop around, but what I did is that I increased the premium to $1000, which I will have to pay out of my pocket before I can access any insurance money if anything would have to happen. The amount I am insurance for my stuff is only $10,000. And I also have subsistence fees of $2,000 if anything would have to happen. It's pretty much it. I had been renting for years in Montreal, but last year was the first year ever that I got enrolled in a tenant home insurance. I think it's important, especially in regard to the civil liability coverage that such insurance provided. You never know what can happen. Also, you get taken in charge in case of a fire, to relocate and stuff. My 15 minutes call made me save $36.59 on an annual basis. 

These days, I am willing to do anything I can to save some money. The weather is getting warmer and I am thinking about canceling my subscription to Crave, which is about $10 per month. This could be my next step.

How I deal with my savings

Oh no! The TSX closed the day on a much lower note, at 21,650.41 points. My non-registered portfolio closed the day at $148,413.66, my US portfolio at $5,224.95, my RRSP stocks-only portfolio at $67,631.38 and my TFSA portfolio at $130,916.17. It was a big fun surprise yesterday to see my net worth exceeding the $360,000. This was the first time ever I was in the $360,000 mark. Obviously, today, I am no longer in the $360,000 net worth... I am waiting for a super huge paycheck tomorrow, so I am probably going to deposit some money over my margin account just to play on the safe side. I am looking forward to make a $2,000 deposit, which will reduce my margin debt to $44,098.66. I would like eventually to reduce my margin debt to $40,000.

This is one of the reasons why - in my opinion - we should all have at least 2 savings account with different banking institutions. In my case, my savings are put in 3 different accounts, within 3 different institutions. I had been set up like that for a little while now. I am not with BMO, but I think such problems can possibly occur with other banks too. Please read carefully this article, it contains valuable information that we should all follow. Never ever click on an email link to log in to your bank or broker account. Also, I would suggest that you check on your banking accounts at least on a weekly basis - that'what I do. That way, if anything suspecious happen in your accounts, you'll be able to react early.

Personally, I wanted to have different savings account with different institutions because of my margin account situation. In case of a major problem comes my way, at least I would have some savings put in a safe place and not everything would be gone... Also, I had been quite well aware of the problems explained in the article, spam, and hacking. Unfortunately, we can all be easy targets for those kinds of fraud. There is also some credit cards fraud - like those described in the article. Debit card fraud can also occur. You need to be careful. Having savings put in different banks won't protect me from anything, but at least, if a problem occurs, I know I have money available at my disposal while the problem gets resolved. There's always the cash option but I prefer the banking option. I never have too much cash in my pockets or at home. However, it could be a good idea to have a $1k - or just $500 - maybe in $20 bills, just in case of an emergency happens, but I don't do that.

Currently, I plan to keep a 5k in my main saving accounts, in my second one, about $2,100, and in my third saving account, $1,900.