The DIY Marketplace

 

There's not many "feel good" news stories in the press where it's filled with war, killings and violence here on the home front. My brother used to say, don't watch it and less to get stressed out about. He has a point but I like to stay informed 

With the Market news however, once involved ... it's wise to keep up with what's going on, especially if your a DIY investor.  

Short term news about market fluctuations doesn't make me sell in a panic where I'm in for the long haul. I tend to look for bargains during down markets with the stocks I have on my watchlist.

I'm a fan of Bloggers that get transparent and highlight their buys/sells where I compare but don't necessary follow their exact moves. I select my own "Picks".

In recent Dividend Earner posts, he shows "Picks" starting from scratch in a dividend growth portfolio, starting with GWO, Great-West Life (Insurance provider in Canada). I agree that it is a good choice and comes with a decent dividend.

He's 2nd pick is a BMO ETF from BMO's list of ETFs I look over quite often where I feel they offer higher dividends than the average out there. 

ZWU:TO, or BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF.

I own BMO Covered Call Canadian Banks ETF ... ZWB. The Management Fee is higher than I like to see but worth it with them doing the leg work and rebalancing for me. 

All the stats and holdings are shown on BMO's ETF page on the link above.

That's just two picks of many decent dividend paying stocks/ETFs out there. Ideal, is a combination of growth and dividends that increase over time and that can be a challenge but there are a lot of choices in the marketplace that fit, possibly making adjustments depending on how a company or ETF is performing. 

Bargain Hunting

 

Bargain shopping ... I have to do that more than ever with inflation going rampant. With BBQ season starting up here, I kept track of my fav pack of wieners over the last year ... Coachman. Don't seem so salty like the others and great for grillin'. 

Where I look for it in my local shops here, I see it as an inflation tracker and it went from below $4 over a year ago to near $8 today, which is nuts of course. Add hotdog buns and similar to buying a meal at the local restaurant.  I'll have to wait for a sale on them or go with an alternate. I just refuse to shell out money when things get over priced like that even though it's my fav brand.

Those that bargain shop in the stock world when looking at top quality stocks tends to be more of a "wait and see" thing where one can't time the Market. The Markets always cycle to bull runs like 2021 to going the other way now in the later part of April, 2022 , which has got some investors made skittish, mostly the short term crowd I figure and fund managers jostling holdings to try and make their clients happy.

Where I'm into long term holdings and dividends, I try and ignore market gyrations but keep in touch with what's going on. I buy monthly similar to those that have pay deductions going to a company defined pension plan or shared RRSP. 

For example, with the Canadian BTSX stocks ... Enbridge (ENB), and Manulife (MFC) go ex-dividend in May so I'll be adding shares of those two companies I currently hold before the ex-dividend date to be entitled to the company cash distributions.

Crypto to Cash

 

Crypto exchangers and wallet providers in Canada were names rarely seen or heard of but that has changed over the last  few months where Bitcoin is more in the press lately. 

Kevin O'Leary, the popular Canadian millionaire known as Mr. Wonderful was totally against crypto but that changed last year where I'm sure the money earning potential changed his mind and he is now a part of/backer of the De-Fi outfit called WonderFi.

WonderFi was a work in progress but now making moves and is buying it's 2nd registered crypto exchange called Coinberry for 38 million. It's first acquisition was Bitbuy. Both established and showing growth. 

I got interested when I first seen WonderFi surface knowing that Mr. O'Leary of the TV show Shark Tank and Dragon's Den, would want all to be legal and abide by Canadian regulations. Wonderfi's holdings would be an avenue to hold my Canadian crypto where I can trade, fund/withdraw with my Canadian Bank with no or low fee where before I was only involved with the US exchanges like Kraken and Coinbase.

Currently, I'm not interested in the De-Fi app of WonderFi itself where it's only available to residents of BC and Alberta while they work on being registered in other provinces of Canada. Bitbuy and Coinberry have what I'm looking for and I'm registered there.

When you think about holding Bitcoin for example, it's virtual currency, money or called 'property' with some tax laws. It doesn't become cash until withdrawn to USD or CAD so one needs the means to be able to make those transactions and that's important on my end. 

Being able to purchase directly with Bitcoin and other coins up to and including homes, condos, etc. is a growing option is areas but currently, I prefer cash in the hand with hassle free transactions when I want it and that's a reality now in Canada depending on the crypto site used and it's always wise to check that it's registered to operate in Canada.

Invested Ladies

 

It's Good Friday and the weather is getting more seasonal with temps staying above freezing the last few day, hopefully staying that way. Unlike Manitoba which had a major blizzard and anywhere from 15 to 50 cm's of snow over the province the last couple days with more snow to come today. 

While most '9 to 5' folks have a nice break from work over the Easter holidays, investors size up last weeks market activity and plan their next moves that are in the "accumulation' phase as DIY investors and that's where I will be for the foreseeable future.

Reading and researching the stocks, I pause when I see something I like and gives me ideas beyond the path I am taking. 

As I mentioned in previous posts, I follow the BTSX portfolio on Dividend Strategy and came across an invested lady from Canada and Melissa shares her dividend journey on Our Life Financial with monthly results. In her latest post she highlights an investment challenge that 7 ladies got involved with back in October of 2020 called ...

#WeInvestChallenge and their start/progress is on Instagram searching that title.

I tracked the ladies progress but focused more on Melissa and Our Life Financial.

She started with Power Financial of Canada (TSE: POW) and later added Enbridge (TSE: ENB), which resulted in growth and dividends. Both stocks I own.

Interesting along her progress posts on Instagram she mentions that she looks at the top ten holdings of XEI, an ETF in the Blackrock lineup called ... ishares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF. This is a monthly paying ETF that holds 75 stocks with decent growth and dividend yield.

XEI is rebalanced quarterly and holds a lot of top quality stocks mentioned in the sites I visit and read so I figure I'll do some research on those. I currently hold 5 of the top ten currently ranked on XEI.

Similar to what I do with the BTSX and the 10 dividend paying stocks listed.

Like everything investing, be aware of the risk involved and I only share ideas here that work for me where it's about personal choices. One should always keep in mind that past performance is not an indication of future performance when using it as a reference.

The Learning Curve

 

Fresh out of college, I got hired by a fledgling airline carrier before I finished my final year. I was armed with a wealth of knowledge about the modern jet propelled aircraft and mechanical/avionic maintenance procedures. Confident. 

On my first day on the job, it was nothing like College and I had to learn the basics the way the company wanted things done from square one and "on time performance" was and still is the motivation. 12 hours or less to get what looked like an overwhelming amount of work to be done on an aircraft and on the Gate early in the AM, ready to fly for the day.

I figure it took about 3 months or more to get the 'big picture' of everything that's going on in that busy Hangar and with the company. That company became the biggest regional airline in Canada.

When I first looked at buying stocks outside of a managed RRSP plan (with high fees), it was also overwhelming with 'information overload' looking into stocks and the Market place.

I soon found out, it would take me more than 3 months and it has become a continuous learning curve.

Where to start? With the help of a like-minded friend when it came to stocks, I got a start and quickly focused on dividend paying stocks. Eventually landing on informative Blogs and sites featured on my Blog here.

I added Mark from My Own Advisor and I look forward to reading his Blog every weekend and posts published during the week. Loads of information and he references other Bloggers as well.

Looking at the big picture once again, I can see many that include the same stocks that pay dividends, as well as "picks" I don't see in others, which I check out to see if they maybe a worthwhile addition.

For example, I have picks and ETF's, I don't see in other Blogs.

Overall, it makes for good reference material and possible starting points for folks new to investing in the stock market. 

Risk & Reward with the Coins

 

Once again although most folks are tired of reading or hearing about it, the 6th wave of the Covid-19 thru variants has cases climbing once again as hospitalizations climb. I continue to mask up and wash hands frequently when entering shops, etc.

Today I've been reading about a slowing economy now in Canada that needs a boost plus that inflation/rising interest rate factor has some investors rearranging stock portfolios but being a dividend stock holder, I'll stay the course with my picks for the long term just keeping tabs if there is trouble with a company that could lead to dividend cuts. I figure that plan would work for folks in any country that are into dividend paying stocks and ETFs but in the "Do-it-Yourself" scene, it's just that ... picking individual strategies.

In my Blog reading list, on the right side bar, Tawcan has a good explanation and breakdown of what dividends are and lists stocks he is interested in and stays invested, on Tawcan - Dividends.

I'll be adding to this list where Blog authors share their experiences (good and bad) in the stock world and provide a lot of information that comes in handy for yours truly.

With the average crypto coin volatility and with some having wide swings in price, one can make some generous gains with trading pairs such as ETH/USD on exchanges like Kraken and others where I seek a high daily volume of buys and sells to get my trade orders completed quickly at the price I seek.

These days, it takes more time for me to weigh the risks where trading is usually in a "narrow range" and countless factors influence the price of a coin like Bitcoin today that weren't around a few years back. Questions come to mind like ... is the coin 'bottomed' for now or is it still too high based on the past weeks and months price patterns?

As I look over charts and patterns, I make decisions to wait or trade. Today, I decided to trade USD for ETH at $3200 USD after ETH came off a high price and wait for another increase in price that may happen quickly or in several days where the coin is in the positive spotlight moving from Mining to "Proof of Stake". More environmentally friendly they say.

I enjoy the crypto trading game (24/7 unlike the stock market) while attempting to minimize my risk and losses.

Funding Money

After two years of pandemic that continues in 2022 despite the mask tossing, I kind of figured 2022 would be like that April refreshing spring weather but it's not better so far with inflation taking a bigger hit on my wallet from groceries to gas.

Where does one get the extra funding to invest on a modest income when inflation and rising interest costs tip the scale to the unbalanced side of expenses. For now, it's sacrificing some of the smaller pleasures in life and putting off some purchases I wanted to make that can wait until later.

I do a lot of browsing through stock and crypto related sites and pause more on individual views/experiences that I can relate to and not totally about self promotion.

I'm into weekly and monthly funding of my investing monies to put into the Markets and do "dollar-cost averaging". However, I adjust when I see an over inflated stock price that I'm interested in and figure it will eventually come down in price. The goal is to 'buy low' but of course no one can 'time' the market when looking for that set price one has in mind.

Anyway, I came across a popular investor and as a project he details the progress of investing a $100 each week into dividend paying stocks. Cool and that's along the lines what I do. Surprisingly, the results are about the same as his dividends increase over time as he totals them based on a year of distribution payments.

I also reinvest all my cash dividends paid until I'm satisfied with the monthly totals but that may continue for a long time where I enjoy the experience of reaching higher goals as I follow the BTSX strategy and other stocks/ETFs.

In Crypto related ... I like the boost in price both BTC and Ether have seen lately but hesitant to add any more funds at this time where they could slide back at any time from their current highs. Judging their low or bottom prices going forward is more a challenge these days and I don't rely on all the price forecasts out there in the news and on social media. They are rarely accurate.

I figure it's a good time to Hold, or Hodl and wait it out. 

The Terra outfit with their coin LUNA (currently in #8 spot with Market Cap) is very popular these days as this outfit is steady buying large amounts of Bitcoin to back their TerraUSD "stable" coin UST.

One factor of many that has had a positive influence on the price of Bitcoin lately. 

To wrap up about LUNA, it's over $110 now and fluctuates in price like all coins except stablecoins and there is a one million dollar bet between a Terra investor and the dude who started Terra with the investor betting LUNA'S price will be around $80 USD this time next year. Looks like a reasonable price range after the current popularity dies down some but big bucks to wager from dudes who have money to throw away on wagers.