Update on Investment Goals for 2014 at June 30th (H114)

It was another fantastic quarter for my investment portfolio, with many of my goals for 2014 accomplished or well on track.

Increase my portfolio value by 17% :

My portfolio increased in value by about 18% in H114 vs YE13. This was impressive, even with my RRSP contribution for the year.  I also made another contribution to my non-registered investment account. My portfolio value would even be higher if not for the CAD appreciation to its US counter party. 

With this goal accomplished, I'm not re-adjusting it, or increasing it for YE14. I'm hoping for a market downturn so I can focus effort on improving progress toward my next goal even more dramatically.  Buying stock in companies at a cheaper price would be a dream at this point in time. I feel the market is fairly valued, and bargains are hard to come by.

Total Dividends Received Up 18%:

I accomplished this goal in the last couple days in June, with forward dividends up a little over 18% since the start of the year. Six of my holdings increasing their dividends in Q2 (Bank of Montreal, Laurentian Bank, Telus, National Bank, Realty Income, and Alaris Royalty).

In contrast with my portfolio value goal, I've decided to set a stretch revised goal for YE14. Instead of 18%, I'm now aiming for my forward dividends to be up 25%. 

Maintain US Holdings at About 30%:

My US holdings accounted for about 27% of my portfolio at Q114.  After selling a few US holdings in the first half of the year (Walgreens and Western Union) and replacing them with Canadian equities, I knew this goal would be a hard to maintain at June 30th. Add the depreciating US dollar into the mix, and my portfolio consisted of about 25.1% of US stocks at H114. That said, my plan is to slowly sell my Canadian holdings in my RRSP, and move into US stocks to increase my international diversification. I figure the entire process could take my upwards of 18 months, but I should be back around 30% by YE14. 

Doubling Down on Comfortable Holdings:

I continue to make good progress against this goal. I recently added some shares of Pfizer to my RRSP, and will look to use the proceeds from stock sales of Canadian holdings in my RRSP to add to positions in US holdings. 

Get rid of all companies who haven’t raised their dividend in the past 18 months:

After selling Western Union and Intel, two companies who didn't raise their dividends in over 18 months, during Q1, I don't have many stragglers (non-dividend raisers) left in my portfolio. The only two exceptions might be Riocan REIT and H&R REIT...both of which would be mega-tax headaches for me to sell. I'll wait closer to December to see if these two companies raise their dividends in 2014 as I thought they would. 

Figure out what to do with cash in excess of $500 (especially in TFSA and RRSP):

After thinking about this goal, I'm happy I didn't choose a vehicle to invest cash in excess of $500 in my TFSA and RRSP. I have a couple positions in both of these accounts that I'd like to slowly add to, and amounts around $1,000 will buy a nice amount of stock in the companies I'm looking to increase my holdings in. Plus, with a $10 trading cost, transaction costs will only be about 1%.

Obviously, half way through the year, my portfolio is far ahead of where I imagined it would be. During the second half of the year, I'm going to focus more on increasing my forward dividends, and slowly moving Canadian holdings from my RRSP to my taxable account.