The Rock and Iceberg Alley

 

June is one of my favorite months where the weather patterns shift more from rain and wind to more calmer, sunny days but not overly hot or muggy yet on the Atlantic coast of Canada.

I remember well when living on the northeast coast of Newfoundland and looking at the giant icebergs that drifted down from the north along Iceberg Alley with many getting grounded on the rocky shores of the island. Awesome and a huge attraction for visitors to the east coast island province known as The Rock.

June is also the month for some top companies and banks in Canada to go ex-dividend currently within the BTSX method of dividend stock picking and it get's diversified into different sectors.

Always informative reading, Matt from Dividend Strategy gets more into that with his latest post.

Top Telecoms, Banks, Oil/Pipelines, Insurance related and Power producers are a good mix to have in a portfolio.

Bell Canada or BCE, paying dividends for 39 years in the Telecom sector is my choice along with Telus (T) with both having ex-dividend dates this month. 

POW, or Power Corporation of Canada (with controlling interests in Great-West Life) is another top stock I'll add to in June.

In a snippet from Matt's article, this is what I seek and will add to on a steady basis ...

Matt: Absolutely.  Some might argue that government bond yields are safer than these dividends, but there are three important things to remember here.  First, these kinds of stocks have a very long history of paying increasing dividends: ENB – 27 years, EMA – 30 years, BCE – 39 years, and TD – over 100 years!  Second, quality dividend-paying stocks provide capital appreciation in addition to dividend payments whereas bonds do not.  And, third, dividends are taxed far less than bond interest.

Still, short-term fluctuations can make investors nervous.  What would your advice be for readers who might be feeling a little anxious?

Dave: Always in the past, the share prices on these dividend stocks have rebounded after a drop since the yields become too high to ignore. Momentary dips like the ones I have hypothesized should be viewed as buying opportunities.  Blue-chip dividend stocks rarely go on sale but there might be one coming up. And remember, trying to pick the absolute top or bottom of stock price movements is a mug’s game.

Good advice and should be taken just as that ... advice and information from personal perspectives.

The 24th of May Long Weekend

 

Although the '24th of May' doesn't always fall on the long Victoria Day holiday weekend here in Canada, in Newfoundland ... it's the traditional start of camping for the summer despite snow or rain and called the 24th of May long weekend.

It used to be mostly about tents once upon a time but now it's more like the start of RV season. Kind of roughing it? But certainly not the same like getting out the ol' Coleman stove and having breakfast, cookups by the fire, trail walks and fishing. Usually, lots of fun to be had and a good break from work.

In the Crypto world, Bitcoin is once again hanging around the 30 grand USD range. With always lots of volatility, the coin seems to reset to that range for now, waiting for direction that buyers and sellers will take it while rolling with the US stock market ...  more with the tech related Nasdaq market.

Ethereum or ETH is evolving with another phase happening in early June on the path to some major changes to occur in August such as moving away from Mining and hopefully making fees for users cheaper overall but I don't expect transaction ETH gas fees to go down much. This could boost the price some as those events get closer. 

June is another busy month for the dividend paying stocks I watch and hold with some top companies nearing ex-dividend dates, which is the date buyers must own the stock to receive the cash distributions paid. I'll highlight a few in my next post.