Dear shareholders of Dividend Café. We are pleased to report that your portfolio had a record amount of dividend income. Never have we reached the cashflow amount of this last year. Our dividend increases over the same period from the year before was 7.75 percent. We have averaged annual increases of over 9 percent in dividends over the last 10 years. This is what the portfolio is designed for. Our performance is measured by the amount of dividend income received. As of this writing we already have announced dividend increases for 2024 of 9 percent. That is without any re-investments. This is ..read more

When it comes to investing, everyone has a different opinion. Nothing wrong with that. But as a Canadian investor there is also nothing wrong with having a home bias. So much is written about how small the Canadian market is, that it is concentrated too much on financials and energy, and more. But we have some proven strategies that show otherwise. The BTSX strategy has a history of over 30 years that has outperformed the TSX, and the US markets. And is a simple strategy that any novice can do. You buy the 10 highest yielding dividend stocks in equal quantities on the TSX. You hold them for a ..read more

At the Dividend Cafe we really like Canadian Banks. They provide us with consistent and rising dividends, as well as growth. Let me tell you why. The Canadian banking industry is known for its stability, efficiency, and well-diversified operations. With a long history of serving the financial needs of Canadians, these banks have developed a reputation for being some of the strongest and most diversified banks in the world. One of the key factors contributing to the diversity of Canadian banks is their broad range of services. In addition to traditional banking services, such as personal and bu ..read more

Dear shareholders of Dividend Café. We are pleased to report that your portfolio had a record amount of dividend income. Never have we reached the cashflow amount of this last year. Our dividend increases over the same period the year before was 13.34 percent. We have averaged almost a 10 percent increase in dividends annually over the last 10 years. This is what the portfolio is designed for. Our performance is measured by the amount of dividend income. Your portfolio manager has worked hard to make sure that the asset allocation and diversification of the holdings are where they should be. N ..read more

Investing for the long term is a commitment. When we made our investment plans and started implementing them, we knew that it was NOT going to be a straight line up and everything would be grand. The key to a good plan is to have holdings that you are confident in and will be strong enough to survive some major setbacks. This is not a time to re-evaluate and start changing investments. Therefore, I have so little to add to my blog posts. There is nothing new to report. My Dividend Plan is working and does not need changing. When reading other blogs, I see very quickly that the ultimate objecti ..read more

One of the best gifts we ever got from our Canadian government was the Tax-Free Savings Account. (TFSA). But apparently a lot of people aren’t taking full advantage of this opportunity. On September 18th a Globe and Mail article said that 43% of people surveyed believed that it is for savings and not for growing investments. (Canadians should be making better use of TFSAs) Since it’s inception I thought this was the best vehicle to invest in for retirement. If done for 30 – 40 years you can really see the power of compounding. The chart below shows how a maximum allowable amount is invested ea ..read more

How to build a dividend income portfolio to last   We are just about at the end of another challenging year. This pandemic is not showing any signs of going away. We try to adapt as best we can, and our investments keep us going. It’s been a good year for total return. Year to date ours is 28%. The dividend income portfolio of The Dividend Café is built to provide dividend income to cover all our expenses. The invested capital remains and will hopefully be passed on to the next generation. To accomplish this, we are working on a withdrawal strategy to pay more taxes now and not all in one ..read more

Investing is complicated. You need an advisor to help you understand all the terms that you have no idea what they mean. EPS, EBITDA, ETF, Ex-Dividend, FAANG, Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap, etc. And when he has you convinced that he is better equipped to manage your money you hand it over and let him invest it for you. But it really is not that complicated. There are some advisors that are not just selling products that their employer offers but will offer advice on a fee for service basis. But why pay anyone when you can do it yourself. All you need is a reliable source for your investment ad ..read more

Long term investors know the value of staying invested. In order to achieve the dividend income we wanted for our retirement, we bought dividend paying companies and re-invested all dividends for more shares, or shares in different companies for diversification of the portfolio. A recent article by Tom Bradley, the chairman and chief investment officer at Steadyhand Investment Funds, talks about portfolio creep. The article was in the Financial Post on April 24th, 2021. “Don’t fall victim to portfolio creep. Going with trends can pose higher risk.” “Is your portfolio creeping? Does it reflect ..read more

A friend recently sold an investment property and asked me about creating income with the proceeds. We have been talking about my dividend journey to financial independence for some time. But as everyone’s idea of investing is different, he is just looking for ideas. I gave him my sample portfolio for Canadian dividend paying companies. This list only has 6 companies, (I have 30 in our portfolios), but I believe it is a good starting point to what a portfolio could look like. We have owned all 6 for a long time. There have been some phenomenal growth stories lately and it would be hard for an ..read more