Historic day for investors: Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM) undergoes a 2 for 1 stock split

I had a super nice weekend. I went to the beach this Saturday, and on Sunday, I went picking up fiddleheads (or ferns if you prefer, you'll see a pic of what I mean below) super early in the morning and I spent the whole afternoon sleeping, all burnout that I was because I didn't have my beauty sleep... The outdoors are changing quickly in New Brunswick. It's a lot greener now. The scenery is looking nice.

And the fiddleheads:

This past Friday, the TSX had regain some valuable points. Today again, the TSX surprised me, gaining a bit more than 100 points. We are still far away from the old 21,000+ points value, but if we have to remain in the 20,000 points for the present time, I will be able to deal with this without any problems. My non-registered portfolio closed today's session at $145,003.55, my US portfolio at $4,967.05, my RRSP portfolio at $64,117.53, and my TFSA portfolio at $120,285.39. My stock portfolios gain over $3,000. It had been a nice day.

Despite the market super volatility, some stocks of mine are doing well and many of them had announced great news lately, including some dividend increases. K-Bro Linen Inc. (KBL) is another of those stocks that only had good news for its investors.

Today was a historic day for Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM) investors. CM finally undergoes a 2 for 1 stock split. Personally, I adore stock splits. They're just an easy way to see your investment soaring in value with ease. Today, Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce (CM) stock gain a good 1.042%, and that's only the beginning. I am waiting for my paycheck this Friday and I am thinking about investing in some CM stocks, inside my non-registered portfolio, to help my margin breath.

The problem I have with my margin is that I always worry about it. And I cannot maximize my TFSA because I worry that my margin account might be in help of a bit of money to survive and I am not totally wrong with that. I don't mind.

A few days ago, I wrote about National Bank Direct Brokerage which now is offering a lending program. I haven't been able to find much information online, but I had find this YouTube video:

I don't understand what it is, but I see it as a way to earn an extra income, at no risk other than the one known as being a regular investor who holds some stocks that are trading over the TSX... so why now? I have to take care of this tomorrow. We'll see if I qualify for National Bank Direct Brokerage's Fully-Paid Securities Lending Program. 

Those are my last couple of days in New Brunswick before I leave for Montreal.

The real fun now begin for investors

I finally got the chance to buy a few pieces of summer clothes because I didn't have any with me, as most of my stuff is in Montreal. I am glad I did because it was still beautiful and hot weather today and it's going to remain so for the next couple of days, with a bit of rain for the days to come. I didn't spend too much and nothing fancy. I actually bought some clothes at Walmart and Rossy and some summer hats. Sincerely, it's the first time in a very long time that I bought any clothes at all at Walmart and Rossy, but I am glad I did because I was able to buy a few pieces and I only spent a bit over $100. 

I try to remain good with my expenses because I will be leaving in a couple of weeks for Montreal, and I plan to come back to New Brunswick this summer for a few weeks, and I plan to go back to Montreal after that, and later on, I will go back to New Brunswick for the hunting season... It may sound like a lot of traveling but that's basically how I had been living for the past 10 years. In 2021, what was different was that I stayed in New Brunswick from September or October (I just don't really remember lol) 2021... until now... That is just making it way too long for me to be in one single place. I am not used to it. Sincerely, I begin to miss Montreal. The summer is super fun in Montreal.

There is still no bus transportation available to cover the section Rivière-du-Loup to my X hometown in New Brunswick and that is super annoying. This kind of limits my traveling possibilities and basically, that's why I have no other choice than to spend the whole winter in New Brunswick. I am mentally not ready yet to spend another hard winter in New Brunswick, but maybe that will come later on. I just cannot see myselk asking my old folks to come and pick me up all the way to Rivière-du-Loup in the cold winter... No no no. My only option to travel during winter, is to take the plane from Montreal to Frederiction, and from Fredericton, take the bus to go home. Its doable, but it feel quite stupid having to take the plane only to go to New Brunswick, its not my vibe. And its probably a lot more expensive too. I don't live super close to Fredericton, so imagine that I am being stuck there because of a snowtorm or something...

These days, it seems like each day for the TSX is a bad one... Yesterday, my stock portfolios lost a bit over $2,000 today. Under the circumstances, my portfolio is doing relatively ok. My non-registered portfolio closed today at $141,633.64, my US portfolio at $4,915.52, my RRSP portfolio - stocks only - at $62,806.32, and my TFSA portfolio at $119,544.58. On the date of yesterday, my "buying power" - or what I like to name as being the amount of money left available on my margin - was $47,743.28. I should had now soon a buying power of soemthing around $49,243.28, since I proceed recently with a cash transfer of $1,500.

I think I will be fine, but I prefer to monitor the situation closely. I am now starting to feel better about the current state of the stock market. I decided to view this as an investment opportunity. Those are hard time, but this is how I had built my portfolio, during correction following the 2008 stock crash. Its when stocks trade cheap that you need to buy them. Even small investments can make a big difference on the long run. That's how I had reached my highest net worth ever back on  April of this year, with a net worth of $361,442.42. Its important that retail investors take full advantage of this stock market correction.

Welcoming some new BCE stocks inside my non-registered portfolio

We had another nice day today in New Brunswick. I had the visit of a little black cat.

It's been another day in the 19,000 points for the TSX. Many great dividend payer stocks are at a bargain price right now. Some other stocks are having big problems big time to deal with this stock market volatility. Among others, we find Premium Brands Holdings Corporation (PBH). I think PBH can even go lower than its current $95. At $95, PBH is for me still expensive. These days, BCE Inc. (BCE) appears to be quite appealing. I made another investment in BCE Inc. (BCE) today.

For now, I am fully loaded with BCE stocks, I don't expect to invest more in BCE at this time. Bank stocks are looking appealing to me. It's been said that it is expected that Canadian banks will increase their dividend distributions. Personally, I recently invested in some more BNS, so I wouldn't like to invest in some more BNS stocks, but I was thinking maybe of TD, but I would like the price to drop a little. I already own some CM stocks in my TFSA and I wouldn't like to invest in some more CM stocks. TD seems to be a nice pick.

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.