Cold cash: $3,397.87
Stocks and Units investment portfolio $US:
TOTAL: $102,812.10
RSP investment portfolio:
CIBC Dividend Growth Fund + CIBC Emerging Markets Index Fund + CIBC Monthly Income Fund: $3,235.86
On the date of December 31, 2020
Because life is all about money and a bunch of other things
Cold cash: $3,397.87
On the date of December 31, 2020
Margin account: $50,731.14 @ 4%
Annual interest: $2,029.25
**For a complete update regarding my debt, click on the label "Debt situation" located at the right column of this blog.
There will be no investment portfolio update today because the TSX closed today's session at 17,543.43 points, -80.45. Nothing dramatic, but nothing that worth a portfolio update. In case of need, this one is awesome and mark my highest net value ever! Of course, I want to continue on the right curve. I keep my eyes all open, watching what's going on with the TSX. In 2020, 3iQ launched three funds related to the cryptoasset world. The latest 3iQ's fund is by far the most interesting one, is The Ether Fund (QETH.U).
Ether (ETH) is a digital currency designed to be used primarily within the Ethereum applications. At first, you could believe that Ether is similar to Bitcoin, but it's not the same thing. Ether and Bitcoin share similarities, but through Ethereum, blockchains exist to do more. Ether (ETH) evolves in a completely different financial system, in a system that is dependant. The Ether Fund (QETH.U) trades on the TSX, which is open Monday through Friday from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Eastern Time. Regarding the Ether (ETH) trading hours, it's a bit different.
Ether (ETH) can be bought or sold at any time of the day. It made ETH trading quite convenient. Other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, not to name it, and Ripple (XRP). With its around-the-clock trading, cryptocurrency is a world of its own that reveals to be quite different from the stock market. The cryptocurrency world seems to be more liberal than the stock market. At this time - and I don't think that will ever change - I don't feel comfortable buying cryptocurrencies, especially not Bitcoin (BTC). However, different funds, like Bitcoin Fund The Class A units (QBTC), The Bitcoin Fund (QBTC.U), and The Ether Fund (QETH.U) that trades under the legislation of the TSX gives investors like me the opportunity to get involved in a promising sector.
The reason why I never got any interest in cryptocurrency is because of Bitcoins. In my opinion, Bitcoins are a shit currency that is used by hackers around the world as a preferred method of payment. Around the world, ransomware victims are under one obligation. They need to pay their hackers in Bitcoins to have access to what they have lost. Such madness is being actively promoted by Bitcoin who's doing absolutely nothing to stop such crimes. For me, Bitcoin only means hacking and pain. Bitcoins had been around since 2009, but no one knows for sure the identity of the founders. Bitcoin's founder is known to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but there's no one standing behind that name. Satoshi Nakamoto is only a nickname. Maybe Bitcoin had been created by hackers. No one can know for sure. Some evil hackers would have created Bitcoin as a secure payment method for their illegal activities. The fact that no individual is standing behind Bitcoin is quite frightening to me. That's a problem we don't have when it comes to Ether (ETH).
The founders of Ethereum are Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood. From my understanding, Gavin Wood is no longer involved in Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin was born in Russia. He immigrates with his family in Ontario, he even went to the University of Waterloo, but soon drop-out to concentrate on his activities with Ethereum. Listening to interviews that been giving by Vitalik Buterin is interesting. I am far from being a specialist in cryptocurrency, but when Buterin talks about Ethereum and Ether (ETH), I get what he means. His speech is crystal clear. Vitalik Buterin is so smart and amazing. Check it out for yourself:
If I ever buy crypto in my life, it will be in some Ether coins. But for now, I prefer to invest in Ether through The Ether Fund (QETH.U). QETH.U is a recent new comer on the TSX. Today alone, The Ether Fund gains +16.916%. Those great gains are quite appealing.
Just a few days left and 2020 will be behind us. 2020 was supposed to be my year. In 2020, I turned 40, and my father turned 70, so a lot was going on. I had reserved a two-week vacation at the beach in New-Brunswick, everything was going to be a blast. But the good plans didn't happen because of the COVID. I usually go to New-Brunswick every 2-3 months, but in 2020, I didn't do anything. I didn't travel to Cuba either way. I am currently on a two weeks vacation that I am spending at home in Montreal. I could have spent that time in Cuba in a resort somewhere like Cayo Coco, but I resisted the temptation. It is not time to travel overseas, but only a time to stay home.
Despite it all, 2020 wasn't all bad. After all, it's in 2020 that I reached my highest net worth value ever. That value is currently $259,070.79. That's why this in my "vision board" for 2021 and lucky are you to have access to it:
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Mine was boring, and on top of that it was raining in Montreal. Today the weather was better, it was snowing this morning. I don't mind the snow, but I absolutely dislike rain during the winter. At this time of the year, its not suppose to rain. I knew that today, there was no Boxing Day, that stores were all closed, but I wanted to shop the Boxing Day at the drugstore and I felt somewhat excited. The idea was to check out over the beauty gift sets, to see if I could get my hands on something nice, but it didn't work out as plan. It's currently not possible to buy anything nice outside of the regular drugstore products. Unfortunately for me, perfume and gift sets are not being considered as "essential" items.
I updated my investment portfolio because I was under believe that I was up to something. And of course I did. At now $259,070.79, my net worth is super close to the 260k. It would be nice if I could closed the year a 260k net worth.
While waiting, I need to present you a tiny little dog that warm my heart, coming straight from YouTube, please meet Norbert:
Norbert is like a little doll and it makes me laugh every time I see his little tongue out of his mouth, like this:
You are welcome.
Margin account: $48,741.26 @ 4%
Annual interest: $1,949.65
**For a complete update regarding my debt, click on the label "Debt situation" located at the right column of this blog.
Cold cash: $1,691.52
On the date of December 24, 2020
Today, my non-registered portfolio closed the trading session at $112,907.27, my TFSA portfolio at $101,788.27, and my RRSP portfolio at $52,941.95. This evening I got the best meal ever, nothing difficult to make, but so good: a pancake with maple syrup and smoked salmon. I am quite good with meals that can be done quickly and easily. No time to waste. Something else that I like is cooking cranberries. I don't like cranberries, I adore cranberries. It's among the easiest thing to cook and its taste so good. It would be good with just a bit of vanilla ice cream, right on time for Christmas Eve :-)
This is the second day in the row that I am noticing great gains for Boralex Inc. (BLX). I remember back in the days, when I first invested in BLX, I wasn't expecting to be that much successful with it. Actually, my story with Boralex is quite similar to the one I have with Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPI.UN), an unexpected long love affair and I couldn't imagine not having BLX or RPI.UN in my portfolio. Sometimes - I will admit - I just want to pick something new to add up to my collection of assets. But always, I am investing in this or that, hoping for the best, but also knowing that I am making just another great investment moves. Sometimes, my results are just better than expected.
I proceed with the little contribution in kind for the BCE Inc. (BCE) shares that I was holding inside my non-registered portfolio over my TFSA. It's a good thing because now, all the stocks that I hold of BCE will be all in the same portfolio spot. The number of investments that I hold inside my non-registered portfolio is getting shorter and shorter. For 2021, I will try to contribute to my TFSA using mostly cash. I hope to make great findings on Stockopedia as I did before for RPI.UN, and many others, like Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPI.UN), Park Lawn Corporation (PLC), and Cargojet Inc. (CJT), among others.
Talking about Stockopedia, while conducting my searches on the platform, I notice that JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN) was now featuring in one of their screens that is name "Trading below Cash Screen". Briefly, that screen tries to target investments that are strong enough to handle any kind of stock market shit. And that is precisely the reason why I decided to invest in some JFS.UN units, although it doesn't pay any dividend distribution. However, some years, like last year, JFS.UN had paid some dividend distribution. Will I be lucky enough to get some juice this year? If so, I promise to never ever again to say any bad things about Jean-François Tardif. I promise.
My non-registered portfolio closed today session at $112,327.85, my TFSA portfolio at $101,752.98 and my RRSP portfolio, stocks only, at $52,723.52. Also today, for no obvious reason, Boralex Inc. Class A Shares (BLX) gains 8.114%+!!! In her latest post, Susan Brunner reviews one of my top performers, the one and only: Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPI.UN) so go check it all. I invested in RPI.UN back in 2016. While investing in a new stock, I always hope for the best, but little that I knew back in the days that Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPI.UN) was going to be one of my most successful investments OF ALL TIME! And I own this one to my very good impressions and Stockopedia. I recently registered to Stockopedia, taking advantage of their promotion for Black Friday because I missed Stockpedia. I made really good finds using that platform. Without Stockopedia, it's a lot harder for me to find some new stocks to invest in. BNN won't help in that matter, either of any of the big financial media. I just want to get a bit more than what I have now. I did some overtime in 2020 and for 2021, I expect to do even more to help provide cold cash that will quickly turn hot on the stock market. I already complete some searches on Stockopedia. Luckily, a long list of stocks results from those searches, so more good investment ideas are here to come.
I didn't invest any new money of my own in my RRSP for quite sometimes but recently, I proceed with a 1k contribution to my RRSP stocks portfolio. I decided to do so because in 2020, I worked extra hours at work and I don't want to be stuck having to pay extra in taxes because of that overtime. I think 1 k will be enough, on top of what I already contribute at work. I am not a huge fan of RRSP, I prefer TFSA and non-registered contribution because that money is available anytime I need it. But now that I have over 100k in my TFSA, close to 1115k in my non-registered, I am at a point where adding a bit of extra money inside my RRSP won't hurt me, especially if it helps me to decrease the amount I need to pay extra in taxes.
Today, I invested that money I had in my RRSP portfolio in JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN). Currently, I have a bit more than $311 cash inside my TFSA portfolio, so soon enough, it will be time to invest in something new, this time for my TFSA. For 2020, the only thing left I want to do for my portfolio is to transferred the BCE Inc. (BCE) shares that I hold in my non-registered portfolio to my TFSA portfolio. I taught about partly selling SIS because Derek Foster did so, but I decided not to do so in the present time.
Back on December 4, I reached what is now my highest net worth value ever: $258,948.73. Currently, my net worth is probably still around that number. This past Friday, my non-registered portfolio closed at $118,189.98, my TFSA portfolio at $98,760.50 and my RRSP portfolio - stocks only - at $50,887.35. Yesterday, with a TSX down to 17,387.40 points, my numbers were obviously lower. My non-registered closed yesterday session at $114,427.70, my TFSA portfolio at $101,902.50 and my RRSP portfolio, stocks only, at $52,113.34.
Today, with a TSX at a really good 17,506.48 points, my non-registered portfolio closed today session at $115,103.79, my TFSA portfolio at $102,331.70 and my RRSP portfolio, stocks only, at $52,541.99. I didn’t update my portfolio, but I suspect my net worth is currently in the $261,000. Only $39,000 left to go before hitting on the magic $300,000.
For the first time ever, my TFSA portfolio is exceeding the 100k value, and that’s because I finally proceed with a new contribution in kind for my TFSA. I took the Telus Corp (T) stocks that I was holding inside my non-registered portfolio and got them transferred over my TFSA portfolio. Another stock that I could transfer over my TFSA by the end of 2020 is the BCE Inc. (BCE) shares that I hold inside my non-registered portfolio. And that would respect the 6k contribution room for 2020 when it comes to the TFSA.
I also proceed to a 1k contribution for my RRSP portfolio. I am not an RRSP fan, but I decided to place this extra small contribution, hoping that it will help to decrease any extra taxes that I may have to pay for 2020. I didn’t really trade in 2020, but I did some extra hours at work and it will help compensate. Since I worked from home, I can also declare some extra expenses and a part of my rent so that should help.
I currently have a bit more than 1k in cash inside my RRSP portfolio and that means that I have to think about a new little investment. I now have access to Stockopedia - since I paid for a year's subscription during their Black Friday promotion. I already went through some interesting stocks that we’ll chitchat about pretty soon, but for my RRSP portfolio, I don’t want to play. It may surprise you maybe as much as it did for me, but I was thinking about investing in JFT Strategies Fund Class A Units (JFS.UN) for this new little investment. And I may do so.
Cold cash: $2,302.48
On the date of December 4, 2020
Margin account: $47,495.52 @ 4%
Annual interest: $1,899.84
Today, I reached my highest net worth value ever: $257,331.58. Before today, my highest net worth value was reached back in February of this year: $257,187.44. I am currently exceeding my best result by only $144.14, but still, it's a little victory, especially knowing how difficult 2020 had been. I may be able to close the year on a $260k net worth. No one can know for sure, including me. Once you hit a certain number, and that the stock market goes all the way down, it's just a matter of time before you hit back your best number. I had experienced many highs and lows among the way and the drill remain the same. It can be tough sometimes, but one thing you can certainly keep in mind is that it's only a number.
The reality is that $257,331.58 is nice, but it doesn't change anything about my life. Even if I would have a 300k net worth, my life will remain the same, but that's the path I need to follow to jump to the real business Fact that I am now holding on to a $257,331.58 is certainly nice and more than I ever imagined, but that's only a number. Enjoy your time of glory when it comes - mine was today -, and if it has to go away, it will come back one day or the other, sooner or later.
I was off yesterday and today as well, I have a bunch of vacation days at work that I didn't take because I was always hoping that this pandemic was going to end... But December is about to kick in and the pandemic is still on, I took a few days here and there and I have close to 2 weeks off for Christmas, 2 weeks that I will, unfortunately, spend right here in Montreal. Today was Black Friday in Montreal stores and I had spent a bit of money. I bought a nice leather purse for my mom, but I will wait to see her before giving it to her. For my father, it's always difficult to find something. One year for Christmas, I gave him some beauty products - but for men, like lotion and stuff and I was laughing hard and ask him if we had like his gift. It was hilarious because it's just not his type of thing.
One year I bought a nice winter hat, another year a nice scarf, but now, I am a bit off in terms of a gift. Maybe a wallet? I cannot buy him perfume for sure because he couldn't stand the smell... All that to say that for my father, finding a gift is always more complicated. While this pandemic is still around, it gave me more time to find the perfect Christmas gift because I won't spend Christmas with them this year.
While spending more and more time here in Montreal, I decided today to registered back to Stockopedia, which means that I decided to pay to access the service. I had found many great stocks on Stockopedia, like Richards Packaging Income Fund (RPI.UN), Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) and many others.
Today, Stockopedia subscription was 50% off so I decided to take advantage. I miss Stockopedia. Now I am getting back into it and I already find some new stock picks that I will soon write about. Nothing been the satisfaction of finding a little something new for in investment portfolio and I totally get that with Stockopedia.