2016 - My Year in Numbers, Tables and Graphs

At the end of 2015, I completed my assessment of progress toward that year's goals with a post that was very focused on numbers. Since that entry was fun to write and because even I found my 2016 goals assessment depressing, here's a far-ranging review of 2016 with some numbers, tables and graphs! Sometimes the accountant in me really shines through :-)

Dividend Growth Metrics
17.1% increase in expected dividend income at YE16 vs YE15
32.1%, 8.7%, and 4.4% increases in expected dividend income in my unregistered account, TFSA, and RRSP at YE16 vs YE15
5.4% dollar-weighted average increase in dividends per holding in my portfolio during 2016
4.1%, 5.2%, and 7.6% dollar-weighted average increase in dividends per holding in my unregistered account, TFSA, and RRSP at YE16 vs YE15
1:1 CAD/USD exchange rate I use to calculate forward dividend income in CAD
1.34:1 CAD/USD actual exchange rate on December 30, 2016
36 dividend increases announced in my investment holdings during 2016
0 dividend cuts announced in my investment holdings during 2016
2 dividend freezes announced in my investment holdings during 2016 (RCI.B and CJR.B)
Here's a graph showing the slowing rate at which I'm growing my expected forward dividends


Return Metrics
15.95% internal rate of return for irregular cashflows (XIRR) of my portfolio in 2016
16.15% benchmark total return (33% SDY return 2016 + 67% CDZ return 2016)
26.43% increase in portfolio value at YE16 vs YE15
42.27%, 39.2%, 4.39% increases in value for my unregistered account, TFSA, and RRSP at YE16 vs YE15.

Transaction Metrics
39 total buy and sell transactions conducted in 2016
26 buys consisting of 20 long-term buys and 6 short-term buys
13 sells consisting of 5 long-term sells and 8 short-term sells

Blogging Metrics

48 total blog posts in 2016 (averaging 0.92 posts per week)
115 comments on my 2016 posts (about half by me, likely including some spam I haven't cleaned up)
$18.25 cost of renewing this domain name for a year
67% more page views in December 2016 vs December 2015
904 Twitter followers today vs 299 at December 30, 215 (thank you all!)
3 most popular posts this year (ranked 1st to 3rd by pageviews)
1) My ETF Experiment - Bought VCN and VXC (love the irony of this being popular)
2) 12 Monthly Paying Canadian Dividend All-Stars (understand how this would be popular)
3) 5 Common Mistakes Dividend Investors Make (people love hearing about my screw-ups)
#1 least popular posts this year
1) Financial Lessons from the Trailer Park Boys (one of my two favorite posts to write along with this unloved gem)

Expenses & Passive Income Metrics
7.1% forecast error, having never tracked my expenses, the amount I underestimated my 2016 total expenditures at the start of the year
51.7% of my 2016 expenses covered by my dividend and trading income (half way to FI!)
12 categories of expenditures identified in the pie chart below:

Diversification Metrics
Updating a post regarding diversification from over a year ago, it's fun to see the movement within my investment holdings:

Fantasy Dividend Stock Picking Metrics
After finishing 3rd in R2R's 2016 single stock picking contest by picking TransCanada Corporation (39% return in 2016), deflating my ego by revisiting my 10 Canadian dividend all-star stock picks in different sectors seemed warranted:



Hopefully I didn't overwhelm you with too many numbers, tables and graphs. If there are any figures or pictures that particularly peak your interest, let me know via comments and I'll address them as best as I can.

Do you prefer numbers, tables or graphs???