Only a month late, but here's an update on my progress toward my investment goals for 2014.
Increase my portfolio value by 17% :
My portfolio increased in value by about 10.9% in Q114 vs YE13. This was impressive, even with my TFSA contribution for the year. It also includes about $700 I made in three quick trades (held for about two days each time); a strategy I decided to discontinue after quarter end. I'm well on my way to achieving this first goal.
Total Dividends Received Up 18%:
Total Dividends Received Up 18%:
Great progress was made toward this goal in Q1, increasing my expected forward dividends by 9.4%! This was due to a couple purchases in my TFSA, and seven of my holdings increasing their dividends in Q1 (Bell, TransCanada, Scotiabank, Cisco, Rogers, TD Bank, and Royal Bank). As of the end of April, I'm extremely close to reaching this goal. Might even revise it upwards at June 30th.
Maintain US Holdings at About 30%:
My US holdings accounted for about 27% of my portfolio at Q114. After selling Walgreens early in Q2, and given the Canadian dollar has gained a tad against its US counterpart, I think I'll be quite a bit under this goal come June. This is mainly due to me not seeing the value in paying a 10% premium to buy US companies that I look to hold for the long-haul. Instead, I've identified a couple Canadian companies I'm building positions in (Corus, Alaris Royalty, and Sirius Canada).
Doubling Down on Comfortable Holdings:
Good progress was made on this goal, when I doubled positions in solid companies like Laurentian Bank, and lately, Corus Entertainment. There's still some US companies I'd like to add more to my holdings, but I'm willing to wait out what I see as a high exchange rate at the current time.
Get rid of all companies who haven’t raised their dividend in the past 18 months:
Western Union and Intel, two companies who didn't raise their dividends in over 18 months, were sold from my portfolio during Q1. I'll do a check in June, but I'm pretty comfortable saying the rest of my holdings have raised their dividend within the last 18-months.
Figure out what to do with cash in excess of $500 (especially in TFSA and RRSP):
Sadly, I made no progress on this goal. I continue to sit with growing amounts of cash in all three of my accounts. This is definitely something I want to address, and just need to spend a couple hours figuring out which ETF I can trade in/out of for free with my brokerage in order to get a higher return on my cash.
Looking back, Q1 was pretty awesome, despite some market weakness in periods. The high-light for me is knowing how close I am to achieving my dividend goal of the year, despite being only four months into 2014. Here's hoping the rest of this year goes just as smoothly!
Looking back, Q1 was pretty awesome, despite some market weakness in periods. The high-light for me is knowing how close I am to achieving my dividend goal of the year, despite being only four months into 2014. Here's hoping the rest of this year goes just as smoothly!
