Dividend Portfolio Update - December 2015

Dividend Portfolio Value

By the end of December 31, 2015, my dividend portfolio balance was at 24,434.40. If it wasn't for the tax loss season that swept away 600 points from the TSX Composite Index, my portfolio balance would have been well above the 25K mark. In a whole, Canadian market was a very difficult place to be invested in. The market peaked in mid-April, reversed, and then dropped like a rock. At this moment, it continues to be in a down-trend with no sign of support. However, I have a feeling that we are near the bottom.

In 2015, from the beginning up until September, I was focusing on non-resource stocks. I was patiently waiting for the energy sector to hit the bottom before investing fresh capital in oil stocks. Luckily, I sold some oil stocks in June of 2014, just a few months before the collapse of oil prices. Back then VSN was trading at around $18 per share, now $9; PPL was trading at around $44 per share, now $30; and CPG was trading at around $47 per share, now $16.

So, the New Year is ahead of us. The direction of market is unpredictable. If the oil moves higher during the cold winter season, it will give a great boost to energy stocks which I started to invest again as of October of 2015.

Dividends

Dividend income is a passive income for which I don’t have to work for. In December, I received a total of $151.97 in dividends vs $115.11 for the same period a year ago. That's an increase of $36.86 or 32% on year-over-year basis. My total Year-to-Date dividend income for 2015 is $1,516.81. I was forecasting to receive $1,400 in dividend income for the whole year. Next year my dividend income should surpass $2,000 milestone if everything stays status quo. It doesn't sound like a big amount, but again, I don’t have to work for that money.

Contributions

In December, I added $1,200 of fresh capital to my account. My regular monthly contribution rate was $800 during the year. However, I had to increase that in December in order to reach my contribution limit for the year which was $10,000. The TFSA contribution room will be rolled back to $5,500 as of 2016. I plan to keep my monthly contributions the same because I still have some contribution room from prior years.

My Investment Account (Tax Free Savings Account)

My TFSA consists of 24 Canadian dividend paying stocks. Most of my stocks pay dividends on monthly basis. This allows me to collect dividends and reinvest them into dividend paying stocks more rapidly.

Transactions

In December, I initiated two new positions in the energy sector. This time I chose the pipelines. I bought 30 shares of INTER PIPELINE (IPL.TO) for $21.12 per share and 20 shares of PEMBINA PIPELINE (PPL.TO) for $29.07 per share. At the current low valuations, these names look very attractive and it’s a safer way to increase exposure in energy sector than buying an actual producer. For instance, IPL had a record quarter and increase their dividend despite low oil prices.