Halftime 2022

 

We are into the 2nd half of 2022. Are things improving in the stock and crypto markets?

Unfortunately no, as fear continues to grip the Markets on a daily basis as rehashed news about inflation, corrections and interest rates circulate in the news. Predictions are, things will stabilize some by the end of the year but they are just that ... predictions, although I hope so.

Although the electric vehicle thing is getting more popular by the day, oil and natural gas continue to be one of the rulers of the economy. Demand and supply, plus shortages in areas like Europe due to Putin's war on Ukraine. has spiked prices quickly. That will eventually even out but takes time. 

Europe is looking to Canada now and other countries ... we need your natural gas. It is coming up in the news here now about how Canada can send over it's excess natural gas. Pipeline under the Atlantic Ocean or a fleet of supertankers has come up. Both expensive ventures being tossed around.

All that being out of the average citizen's control of course, forced to pay more for the essentials. Meanwhile, I continue to focus on building a dividend stock portfolio and ignore all the fear mongering out there.

BMO, I figure pays out some of the highest cash distributions with their line up of ETF's among the top banks in Canada, depending on sector and categories. 

In that lineup I scroll down to "Specialty Income" and focus on Bank and Utility related like ZWB, ZWU respectively and ZWC : BMO Canadian High Dividend Covered Call ETF with a selection of top companies and banks in it's Holdings.

In the "Canadian Sector", there's also a good selection of 'Equal Weight" ETF's there for folks who don't prefer "Covered Call" ETF's or seeking a mix of BMO management strategies.

I prefer reliable income producing ETF's that pay monthly and are reasonably cheap around the $20 range to buy on a consistent basis. Over time, a growing monthly cash dividend builds up.

In my next post, I'll touch on some popular ETF's with Vanguard and BlackRock Canada. They have some cheap management fees where they seem to be in competition to attract/retain more customers with these monster investment companies.

In the Bitcoin dominated world, it's like waiting for a snowstorm (Crypto Winter?) to pass by while Whale outfits like FTX and Binance help or buyout outfits in financial trouble. Until that clears and the sun shines once again, there won't be a lot of upward movement in coin prices for now.

Canada Day, 2022

As the coins in the crypto world continue to shake out those outfits that were not prepared for the worst, the negative fallout is keeping prices down or stalled. Where Bitcoin tends to loosely follow the Tech loaded NASDAQ fluctuations, that index isn't doing much better these days.

On my end, I continue to watch and hold. No sense in selling for losses. I'll wait for better times ahead.

As the stock market tumbles for several reasons I mentioned in past posts spring getting deeper into the summer 2022, cash dividends continue to come in from company stock and ETF's I purchased although their prices tend to fluctuate a lot during these days of fear in the markets and uncertainty.

Checking in on the Blogs on the right of this page, portfolios are down in general but dividends are increasing as purchasing continues. That's the plus side of dividend paying stocks.

If the Market continues in a funk for longer than expected, some companies have lowered dividends or cut them all together for awhile in the past. Being diversified in sectors can reduce the risk of that happening. 

An example is with the BTSX, which is listed on Dividend Strategy. In the downturn starting in March of 2020 and the Covid pandemic, one company that was in that list cut their distribution of their dividend in half but resumed later that year. Suncor or TSE: SU

I continue to hold that stock where it has a high ranking in the top 60 stocks in Canada by dividend yield.

Enjoy Canada Day on July 1st and Independence Day in the US on July 4th.

I'll be back next week with some ETF's and Income Funds that are steady dividend payers I like and own plus some I'll be adding as I continue with what they call ... the accumulation phase.

An example is one of my first picks ... EIT.UN, EIT Income Fund with a steady monthly cash distribution and a decent line-up of Holdings, all featured on the Canoe Financial site.

The Management Fee is a tad higher than I prefer but a tradeoff for being reliable to date.