A Raise, a Sale, and a Donation

     As the Canadian stock market continues to slump, it turned out to be a great week for me due to a raise, a sale, and a donation.
      The raise came thanks to Realty Income Corp (NYSE :O), that keeps chugging along, turning out regular raises, and yielding about 5%. The five basis point raise doesn't sound like much, but this real estate investment trust pays monthly, and has an impressive record of raising their distribution 81 times since 1994.
     As part of my plan to pay less taxes going forward, over a month ago, I bought a full position of H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: HR.UN) in my TFSA, in preparation of selling it in my unregistered account. I was happy to take advantage of a price spike on Thursday to sell my H&R shares in my unregistered account at a profit. This frees up some capital to help complete my portfolio transformation that should make my holdings more tax efficient in the future. I plan on putting this extra capital to use in the near term, so stay tuned.
     A week ago, I took part in the annual Government of Canada's ultimate tournament for charity. The charity that benefited from the tournament this year was the United Way of Ottawa, who directed funds raised from the day toward youth initiatives. Supporting this organization, along with regular payroll deductions going to United Way Centraide (aimed at the community in which I live) have helped me reach my goal of donating as much through six months in 2015, as I did in all of 2014.
     All in all, an excellent week that ended last night by taking my younger brother to the absolutely hilarious Entourage movie. It's sad to think that will be the last time seeing Vinny Chase and the boys all together, but what a way to go out!