Thanksgiving 2022

Heading into the long Thanksgiving Day weekend here in Canada, the stock markets started strong in the first full week of October, 2022. But, fell back after a couple days where optimism gave way to that there is no real change with the issues like inflation and interest rate hikes among others in the final quarter of the year.

It's no doubt safer to keep funds in cash during these volatile times but where I seek cash dividends from companies and banks, I prefer the lower cost of stocks during these times. Eventually, things will be more positive again, Probably well into 2023 from the latest news but current events can change quickly and on the fly.

So far these past weeks, Bitcoin keeps coming back to the 20 grand range with it's highs and lows. Kind of more stable than stocks these days ... but it can get into that volatile mood as well without notice.

I follow both Markets on a daily basis although after I research and but a stock or ETF, I keep it long term for the dividends and reassess probably every 6 months or so. 

I continue to focus on energy, pipeline related and banks this year. With the recent OPEC production cut and oil rising in price, oil companies are raking in more cash which makes the dividends they pass onto investors safer while some forecast higher dividends going forward ...  depending on what companies. Names like Enbridge, TC Energy Corp and Fortis come to mind of the many out there and across the border into the US.

Meanwhile, I've been thinking about the wearing of the Mask, started when the Covid hit us in 2020.

I can't recall a sore throat, cold or flu during that time, wearing the Mask when in shops, etc. I've stopped wearing it the last few weeks and boom, got flattened with a congested chest and sore throat. Cold Meds are back in high demand. I can certainly see it makes a difference wearing the Mask during our annual fall flu season and specially when the kids are back in school, which tends to spread it faster.

However, the world has moved on from the covid although it's still all around us and back to the coughs and sniffles with colder days after a hot and muggy summer.

September's Hurricane Season

 

With hurricane season and several making their way up the North American eastern seaboard, eventually one will hit over the years and most of Atlantic Canada is still dealing with hurricane Fiona that whipped through here last weekend. Power still out in areas as damage continues to be assessed while the clean up continues for awhile. 

The now-iconic pictures of Josh Savery’s family home in Port aux Basque, N.L., teetering on the edge of a cliff captured the terror of post-tropical storm Fiona in a single image. While the famous picture reminds the family of what they lost, it also attracted an outpouring of sympathy and kindness.

I certainly don't want to see another one hit this year making things even worse. Lots of people lost their homes and/or had property damage. I think about Ukraine on how those people are going through that on a daily basis with no end in sight to that war.

Makes you think of personal issues and how others have it a lot worse to put it all into perspective and cope with life's problems.

In this season of storms on our east coast, the Markets and Crypto continue to behave like a tropical storm with continued fear and selling going on. 

On my end, I'll hold and look long term as always and with the stocks, I'll look for bargains with dollar cost averaging purchases: a Google search definition of how that works.

Dollar-cost averaging involves investing the same amount of money in a target security at regular intervals over a certain period of time, regardless of price. By using dollar-cost averaging, investors may lower their average cost per share and reduce the impact of volatility on the their portfolios.

The big banks in Canada are overall down and I figure it's a good time to buy individually or in a bank related ETF. For example, BNS or Bank of Nova Scotia is down from the $90 CAD range at the start of the year to mid $60's as of today so there's potential upside or gains in the future and has a dividend of $1.03 per share with an ex-dividend date of October 3rd for the bank's quarterly cash payment to holders.

The dividend is an increase this year since the Banks couldn't adjust their dividends during the pandemic start of 2020 until allowed to do so.

In a Fund, I hold Brompton's, Split Share Class A ... Brompton Split Banc Corp.: SBC, which holds the major banks plus select financials in North America in a dividend paying ETF. SBC pays a monthly cash dividend. There are many ETF's out there that carry banks so an individual's preference as always with DIY investing.