My husband Rich and I have been retired for more than eleven years now and hardly remember what it was like to work anymore.  In 2023, I reached a bit of a milestone when I turned 60.  But while reaching a whole new decade should feel more momentous, in financial terms it was a non-event.  When we turned 55, we qualified for our first “seniors” discounts at Rexall and Shoppers Drug Mart, although Shoppers recently raised their seniors discount age to 65 which is why we frequent Rexall more now.  Turning 60 does not really qualify me for anything significant in terms of ext ..read more

When my husband Rich and I first joined the CDIC-backed EQ Bank in 2016, we used it solely as a savings account that paid a great interest rate (2.25 percent at its inception).  There weren't any other banking functions available and you needed to link to a "real" bank to to transfer money into or out of the account.  Yet as a savings vehicle, it offered everything we were looking for--totally liquid cash (as opposed to locked in term GICs), a steady interest rate that was significantly higher than what was offered at the "Big Banks", no minimum balance required, free unlimited ..read more

Considering that we are in midst of a time when most of the Baby boom generation are either retired or close to retirement, it boggles the mind as to how little understanding Canadian banks have regarding retirees who no longer have employment income.  Case in point, my husband Rich has been trying since the beginning of January to apply for a CIBC No Fee Dividend Cash-back VISA and has been jumping through hoops in trying to prove that he makes enough income to qualify.  This is despite the fact that he already has excellent credit history and a fee-based BMO World Elite Mastercar ..read more

This year, just before we were about to file our 2022 tax returns, Rich received a notice of reassessment for his 2021 tax return.  It indicated that he missed declaring some income and as a result, would need to pay an extra amount in tax, as well as a small interest charge. The issue turned out to be on the T5 form for our dividend stock that paid in US funds. In 2021, we had two stocks in our non-registered account that paid in US funds.  The first is Algonquin Powers (AQN.T) which is a Canadian stock that qualifies for the dividend tax credit but pays dividends in US f ..read more

My husband Rich and I can hardly believe that we have now been retired for over 10 years!  At ages 58 and 59 respectively this January, we are now welcoming many of our friends and family as they join us in retirement.  I feel like we have fulfilled so much of our early retirement wish list with extended travel and the luxury of free time to explore hobbies and interests. Now it feels like we are in the "gravy years".  I am grateful that we were able to do all of that before the pandemic brought social life and travel to a halt. I feel sorry for those who retired just as COVID ..read more

Another year has gone by and we are still dealing with COVID.  But from a market perspective, the initial shock and panic seems to be a thing of the distant past.  While there was a big dip in the stock market in March 2020 when the impact of the pandemic was first felt, the S&P/TSX index quickly recovered and has continued to climb steadily ever since.  At the end of 2020, although we had mostly recovered from the massive dip, the total value of our portfolio was still 3% lower than the start.  By the end of 2021, we were almost 18% higher than the start of the year ..read more

For buy and hold dividend-paying stock investors like ourselves, Canadian banks have traditionally been safe bets in terms of continuing to provide a steadily increasing source of income. Dating back to the period after the Great Depression, the banks in general have shied away from cutting their dividends despite numerous recessions and economic downturns.  In fact over the past several decades, all 5 “big banks” plus National Bank have consistently raised their dividends annually, just like clockwork. The COVID19 pandemic brought on a good news/bad news situation, depending on your per ..read more

What a crazy year 2020 has been!  For almost a year and counting, COVID 19 has impacted the lives of people around the world in every conceivable way, ranging from economics, finance, social interactions, physical and mental health.  As mentioned in previous blog entries, the situation for my husband Rich and I has luckily insulated us from most of the economical effects of the pandemic.  Since we are now seasoned retirees with a stable and established income flow, we have not had to worry about how to continue doing our jobs in this strange and danger-fraught environment, or wo ..read more

I wrote most of this blog entry at the beginning of the year before COVID hit, which now seems like a life-time ago.  I lost track of it in midst of the pandemic, kept busy with assessing the economic impact of business closures on our investment portfolio and dividend income (more on that in my annual Year-End in Review to be posted in January).  Much of the content of this posting may not be relevant for the foreseeable future, since it was predicated on an exceptionally strong year for the stock market (i.e. 2019 - as I said, a life-time ago!).  Since 2020 is coming to a clos ..read more

It has been over three months since everything first shut down due to the pandemic.  We have now gone through an entire "COVID-impacted" quarter of dividend payouts (or lack thereof) since the depth of the market crash in mid March.  This seems like a good time to reflect upon the economic fallout of COVID 19 and its financial impact on our portfolio.  My husband Rich and I have been through market downturns before, including the financial crisis of 2008.  That situation was less stressful for us since we were both still working and had time to wait for a recovery.  ..read more