small smiles
- 4 sources of passive income
- $1,279.67 from dividends
- 45 stock/units dripped in December
- Trailing 12-Month Portfolio Return 4.35%
S&P 500 12-Month Total Return +22.77% for February 2024
S&P/TSX Composite Index 12 Month +5.62% February 2024
The market keeps on ripping. It’s actually kinda crazy how much it’s run up since November in particular. We see a lot of companies lowering guidance and firing off lots of employees, but the market doesn’t seem to care. It’s all about the Magnificent 7.
Raises/ Cuts
The start of the year always comes with a bunch of dividend raise announcements.
APD announced a pretty disappointing dividend raise of 1.1%. It’s not a bad move considering how much they are spending on new projects, but the CEO made some weird comments about the dividend offering a high starting yield, so why really raise it. I dunno it came off differently in my opinion.
This raise added $3.93 in forward income.
CNR (CNI, CNR:CA) – Probably my favourite Canadian stock. Like clockwork, they announced their raise in January. They have raised it every year since becoming a publicly traded company. They bumped theirs 7% and announced another solid buyback.
This raise added $25.96 in forward income.
Total Added Income from Dividend Raises in 2024 – $29.89
January had 2 dividend raises for our portfolio, but February has been full of them so far. It should be a good year for raises if things continue moving along without any big hiccups.
January 2024 Dividend Income
12 companies paid us this month.
| Stocks | January 2023 Income | January 2024 Income |
|---|---|---|
| Disney (DIS, DIS:CA) | 18.30 usd | |
| Costco (COST, COST:CA) | 0 | 27.65 |
| Nutrien (NTR, NTR:CA) | 31.21 | 51.17 |
| TELUS (TU, T:CA) | 1.40 | 81.24 (3 Drips) |
| Bell Canada (BCE, BCE:CA) | 155.48 (2 Drips) | 195.44 (3 Drips) |
| Allied Properties (OTC:APYRF, AP.UN:CA) | 177.66 (8 Drips) | |
| TD Bank (TD, TD:CA) | 42.24 | 141.78 (1 Drip) |
| Aecon (OTCPK:AEGXF, ARE:CA) | 116.55 (12 Drips) | 123.77 (9 Drips) |
| TC Energy (TRP, TRP:CA) | 159.30 (2 Drips) | 174.84 (3 Drips) |
| Cisco (CSCO, CSCO:CA) | 53.58 (1 Drip) | 56.55 (1 Drip) |
| XAW ETF (XAW:CA) | 82.68 (2 Drips) | 98.49 (2 Drips) |
| Algonquin Power (AQN, AQNU, AQN:CA) | 206.08 (22 Drips) | 132.78 (15 Drips) |
| Totals | 848.52 | 1,279.67 |
45 stocks/units dripped in January.
Almost 13 hundred bucks. Beauty! We had that Disney (DIS, DIS:CA) dividend, which just got reinstated. That special Costco (COST, COST:CA) dividend got deposited, and we even had that special dividend from Allied Properties (OTC:APYRF, AP.UN:CA). A very good month, love seeing these totals increase.
Our Drips (Dividend Reinvestment Program) added $63.83 to our forward income…. Pretty sure that’s a new record.
Other Income
Private Investment Payment – $1000.00
1k a month, very nice!
Solar Panel Income
In December (we always get paid a month later), our solar panel system generated 156 kWh. Since we bring in a fixed rate of 28.8 cents per kilowatt hour, Hydro One (OTCPK:HRNNF, H:CA) deposited $44.94 into our chequing account this month.
Last December, the system generated $27.98, so it’s safe to say the weather has been nicer this year than last, well, at least December.
Total Income for 2024 – $44.94
System Installed January 2018
Total System Cost ——–$32,396.46
Total Income Received ——–$14,323.9
_____________________________________________
Amount to Break even —- $ —18,072.56
Bob asked me if I could include my monthly power bill in the post to compare, so here it is. Our bill for December was $167.46. So our system wouldn’t have covered the power we used this month.
Cashback Credit Card
We always pay our credit card balances in full so we don’t get charged any interest. In January, they pay us a yearly bonus for using their card.
This year, we got $775.06, sweet!
While I thought it was a lot, it’s actually not a huge jump from the previous year of $763.84, so maybe inflation is cooling off a bit.
Total January 2024 Passive Income – $3,099.67
January 2023 Passive Income – $2,640.34
A solid growth rate of 17.39% year over year. This is also the first time we surpassed 3k in passive income. Feels good and just shows what sticking to the plan can do. The chart below shows it all. You start with a couple bucks and momentum picks up, the snowball grows, and the income does too!
When people ask for finance advice and I mention starting with a little bit of Enbridge (ENB, ENB:CA) to start to feel some income coming without doing anything, they get excited. Then I say 1k will bring in like 80 bucks a year. 80 bucks? That’s it? That ain’t gonna do anything for me…. It’s always the same, and they don’t start investing. But it’s not the start, it’s the consistency of investing that will really get things moving for ya.
I don’t share and write these posts to brag. They help me stick to the plan, and I also hope they inspire some of you. I’ve said it before, but when I started investing, I knew nothing. I stumbled across some bloggers doing these exact posts and got fired up. You can do it as well. This is your year.
Totals For 2023
Dividends Year To Date Total – $1,279.67
Other Passive Income Year to date – $1,820
Total Passive Income for 2024 —– $3,099.67
Year-End Goal – $26,500 (11.69%)
Since we brought in $24,184.07 last year, the goal is to bring in $26,500 this year. Let’s see if we can achieve this in 2024. A 10% increase seems like a pretty good goal for the year.
January Stock Purchases
TD Bank (TD, TD:CA)
We added 12 more shares to our portfolio at a cost basis of $85.54 per share. arg! Well, it’s a long-term game, all good.
This purchase added $48.96 in forward dividends.
APD
We added 5 more shares of APD before earnings at $259.04 per share. Ouch, again. Well, this one hurt. A tiny dividend raise and the stock got killed as they spent more on projects. Long term, this should be fine, though. I like the hydrogen space moving forward.
The 5 shares added $35.10 in forward income.
Costco CDR
As I’ve said in the past, I plan on adding to this one once a quarter moving forward until it becomes in my top 5 core holdings. It ain’t cheap by any means, but the business is fantastic, and we needed a grocer position in the portfolio. We also could use more growth stocks, and Costco has got so much room to grow in my opinion.
We added 32 more shares at $32.12 per share. This adds $6.09 to our forward income.
Overall, we added $90.15 in forward income this month from purchases.
Total added forward dividend income from purchases in 2023 – $90.15
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) had a heck of a month. It’s now become more mainstream as it’s allowed to be traded like an ETF. I guess some of the hype was baked into the price as it quickly tanked after the announcement but now has been rocketing higher once again.
As always, we buy a small amount every paycheque and just keep dollar-cost averaging into it.
Financial Goals Update
Charities
- We continue our monthly donation to The Nature Conservancy of Canada of $85.
ETF Monthly Minimum Purchase of $250
- This month, we added 0 more units of XAW ETF (XAW:CA).
- Questrade is great because it offers free ETF trades and cheaper stock trading options than most Canadian brokers. $250.00 a month would kill us if we needed to pay high trading fees.
We didn’t buy any XAW this month.
January 2024 Passive Income Conclusion
As we start the new year, it’s great to set new records for passive income and also set new goals. I’m looking forward to seeing how this year’s results will be and how the market does in general. I’d like to think we are due for a pullback, but the market seems to disagree with me. While there are stocks setting new all-time highs, there also is some good value out there. This year, I’ll try to get a good mix of both. At the end of the day, total returns matter, and I’m lagging the market.
What are your goals for 2024 financially speaking? How do you think the market will do by year-end? We be up or down from current values?
Editor’s Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
