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.