As we watch the market rise and fall, sometimes we see a big drop – the perfect opportunity to push some capital into the market and make some dividend growing investments. However, when this happens, many will watch and become lost in the vast amount of opportunities and potential investments. Which one is the best fit? Which one has the greatest expected dividend growth? These exact queries are the reason it’s so incredibly useful to make or follow a stock watch list every month, so when opportunities present themselves in abundance you know where to put your money. Following are my pic ..read more

Sometime ago, the stock exchanges were for the brokers to take and direct them to whichever direction they desired. All access to exchanges was controlled by brokers. However, the emergence and strengthening of other players in the industry and more stringent rules and regulations has changed the world of stockbroking. While the technological advancement has brought with it many benefits including introduction of big online trading platforms such as CMC Markets which has eased the work of stockbrokers, it has heaped a lot of pressure on brokers to change the way they conduct business. However ..read more

This post was written in partnership with TheFXview. The Foreign Exchange market, also known as forex or fx market, is the world’s largest and most liquid market. Unlike the stock market which is centralized, the fx is decentralized which means it is running consecutively, 24/7. Most investors view the currency market as highly speculative and volatile, and thus, steer away from investing directly into it. I personally see it as a staple ingredient of an investment portfolio, and in this article I will explain why. This article won’t explain how to make currency predictions. This topic is too ..read more

Telus is the second largest holding in the Dividend Beginner portfolio. Bell is a new interest of mine. Telus is one of the few stocks I’ve come across in the Canadian markets that fits all Five of the Dividend Beginner’s stock picking criteria. I’ve purchased shares in Telus three times over the past year, and it currently accounts for 9.5% of my total portfolio value. That’s also my entire exposure to the telecommunications sector, which is one of my favourite sectors. After all, cell phones and mobile plans are basically requirements in today’s society – every one and every new person will ..read more

As we watch the market rise and fall, sometimes we see a big drop – the perfect opportunity to push some capital into the market and make some dividend growing investments. However, when this happens, many will watch and become lost in the vast amount of opportunities and potential investments. Which one is the best fit? Which one has the greatest expected dividend growth? These exact queries are the reason it’s so incredibly useful to make or follow a stock watch list every month, so when opportunities present themselves in abundance you know where to put your money. Following are my pic ..read more

While I find it enjoyable to jump head-first into financial metrics; analyzing 52-week range lows and highs, price-to-earnings or price-to-FFO values, dividend yields and growth rates, payout ratios and earnings-per-share – this is not for everyone. Investing Made Easy Some people don’t want to pick stocks; I hear people often say “I don’t know the first thing about investing. I’m afraid to lose money. I don’t trust the stock market“, and the list goes on. And for those people, picking stocks is likely not a good idea. This type of person choose a quick pick, following the herd without perform ..read more

Below is an example plan to contribute $1,500 a month to a financial independence fund (starting with $6,000). Assuming this investment fund could receive a conservative capital appreciation of 5.0%, while yielding a 4.5% dividend (without taking dividend growth into account), by the time one turns 50 (29 years later), they would have a portfolio nearing $3 million, while receiving $124,000 in annual dividends without even touching the $3 million it would have grown. All the math is detailed in this spreadsheet: In the shorter-term, at 33 years old, this investor would generate $1,563 in ..read more

The entire point of achieving financial independence through dividend growth investing is to pay off your living expenses through the dividends your investments return to you on a monthly or quarterly basis. Let’s look at exactly how we can accomplish this. Let’s go one step further and lay out a plan that will allow us to do so with a high level of motivation and enthusiasm. It’s important to do it this way when achieving financial independence can take more than a decade. Bills, Bills, Bills Almost all of us have rent or a mortgage to pay. We also need to eat or we’ll die… so there’s that to ..read more

If you have heard great things about reverse mortgages but don’t really understand them, you aren’t the only one. Many people have no idea how such mortgages came about or how they work. Here are some reverse mortgage basics that can help you to understand them better and decide if you want them. Reverse Mortgage Basics Reverse mortgages are home loans designed to help seniors who are 62 and older stay in their homes, even when they have low incomes. If you are that age and have built up a lot of equity in your home over the years, you can convert that equity into cash. In fact, the government ..read more

On February 24, 2017, “Royal Bank of Canada (RY on TSX and NYSE) announced today that its board of directors declared an increase to its quarterly common share dividend of four cents per share, or five per cent, to 87 cents per share.” (rbc.com) Royal Bank of Canada has seen an incredible run-up consisting of a 44% one year gain in share price. The stock is at an all-time high now and is constantly pushing on them, which is what I’m coming to really like in stock investing. That’s the strategy I followed on Apple. Unfortunately, I don’t see as many catalysts with RY. However, the reason I ..read more