Theories and Assumptions

 

For folks who live orderly and mapped out lives, planning ahead for holidays and events ... the stock and crypto world must go against their grain for those who are involved and feels like chaos where even the experienced do not know where one down trend will end and the next upbeat bull run will happen.

There are always lots of theories and different points of view but no one can say this is the way it's going to play out. That's the main reason I invest in dividend paying stocks for the long term. 

Crypto was fun when I got into Day Trading but where Bitcoin (and the Altcoins that follow it's moves in price) got more attached to stock market moves, my Trades are now rare. 

So, I concentrate on stable companies and banks that have a decent dividend history and steady increases in dividend distributions are a bonus as companies make more money. 

With Bitcoin and Ether, I just hold and wait for the next Bitcoin boom. I can't see it happening this year but stranger things have happened as the months go by.

One can make awesome gains buying into a new and growing company. It requires taking on more risk but it's not something I'm into and not sure if I ever will although there are lots of success stories with thousands of dollars in gains depending on how much funded.

In the US and Canada, I can't see going wrong investing in top Banks, Telecoms and Energy related this year/going forward, even with all the stock world ups and downs

With the dividend related Bloggers I follow and read, it's normal for their portfolios to be currently down in overall value with uncertainty in the Markets these days teetering on a further decline or could it be the 'bottom' for another recovery such as the surprising gains for some stocks after the March of 2020 lows.

However, several Bloggers report growing cash dividends such as those listed on my right sidebar where they stay invested. Examples of staying on course is a wise move. They also buy more with some stocks being at lower prices so possible future gains there when the stock market reverses course and goes up again, which it will ... that's in my personal opinion.

Halfway & Taking Stock

 

Halfway through 2022, this year started with a feeling of how spring starts after a long winter. Like a refresh after 2 years of pandemic restrictions but that sort of went off the rails with everything that has happened to date, especially with the cost of living shooting up.

Some folks look to make extra money to keep ahead of climbing expenses in various ways such as a side hustle like the gig economy to extra part-time work to investing.

With investing, the stock market is kind of balancing on a tight rope. There could be a further overall drop in indexes (S&P/TSX in Canada for example) that drag down stock prices or maintain the current bouncing around until a bull market restarts.

Depending on what sectors, companies continue to make more profits like oil/gas, pipeline related, grocery related and most big Banks. A lot of Tech related took major hits to their stock prices this year, which is probably the worst sector currently and some of these companies ranked high in indexes bringing them down but for the most part they seem to be bottomed out in stock price and there's more buying lately. 

On the crypto side, Bitcoin news is not all that great. Currently, BTC is once again bouncing around the 30 grand range but experienced Traders and Data crunchers figure it will crash to around 15 grand before making a rebound next year to 40 grand while the BTC 'halving' approaches in a couple years. That's going by past history cycles but they are assumptions.

As always with investing, it's watch/wait and try and follow the "money". For example, most top Banks in Canada have hiked their cash dividend distributions after huge profits reported once again. Always good foundation stocks to hold or an ETF that holds all of them.

Here is a decent Telecom stock, which I own that has slow but steady growth; Telus Corp (T.TO) with a snippet from a news release about their dividend growth going forward as long as their finances increase as planned. The type of stock I like to add.

In May 2022, we announced our intention to target ongoing semi-annual dividend increases, with the annual increase in the range of 7 to 10% from 2023 through to the end of 2025. This announcement further extends our dividend program originally announced in May 2011 and extended for three additional years in each of May 2013, May 2016 and May 2019. Our long-term Common Share dividend payout ratio guideline is 60 to 75% of free cash flow on a prospective basis.

In May 2022, the TELUS Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3386 per share, payable on July 4, 2022, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 10, 2022.