Welcome to March’s edition of money while you sleep. The tsx continues to climb with some pretty impressive gains from the blue chip companies like the big banks. I’ll get into that more later in the post.
- Not much action this month with the pandemic still affecting everyone.
- Work has started to pick up again which is nice to see.
- Read another book.
- Kids are staying busy and with the weather finally going into the plus’s the kids will get there fair share of Vitamin D :).
Portfolio details:
A good way to gauge your portfolio is against an index. This doesn’t mean to put your head down if your underperforming, it just gives you a basic understanding of where you are at. I have had months that I absolutely crush it and other months where I’m slightly behind, keep that in mind! Last month we underperformed the TSX market by 2%. We had some stocks in the growth sector for the second month in a row underperform, that’s okay though we didn’t purchase them to be concerned with them short term. Early in April we have seen life come back to the growth stocks so it will be interesting to see where we land by the end of this month. Currently were 60% Bluechip, 33% growth and only 7% cash.
Quick trades:
In February we had picked up some BNXA. It took off in March and we sold our full position. Sold way too early however still locked in some nice gains, no regrets.
Please note: I only do this with companies I’m comfortable holding for a long period of time.
Sold:
Full position in Imperial Oil (IMO.TO)
We were fortunate to get out of this even. Oil prices have returned to pre pandemic levels and Imperial continued to pay the dividend which helped us get out even. I sold because i like another company more in the sector so made a quick switch. We did sell after the ex dividend date to lock in one last payment.
Bought:
Opened a position in Canadian Natural Resources Limited by purchasing 80 shares $38.60.
Who is CNQ.TO:
Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers synthetic crude oil (SCO), light and medium crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), primary heavy crude oil, and Pelican Lake heavy crude oil. Its midstream assets include two crude oil pipeline systems; and a 50% working interest in an 84-megawatt cogeneration plant at Primrose. As of December 31, 2020, the company had total proved crude oil, bitumen, SCO, and NGLs reserves were 10,528 million barrels (MMbbl); total proved plus probable crude oil, bitumen, SCO, and NGLs reserves were 13,271 MMbbl; proved natural gas reserves were 9,465 billion cubic feet (Bcf); and total proved plus probable natural gas reserves were 15,922 Bcf. It operates primarily in Western Canada; the United Kingdom portion of the North Sea; and Offshore Africa. The company was formerly known as AEX Minerals Corporation and changed its name to Canadian Natural Resources Limited in December 1975. Canadian Natural Resources Limited was incorporated in 1973 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.
My why:
Quite frankly CNQ is set for a impressive year. Although last year they struggled which really is expected based on the pandemic they are coming out with a forecast of some pretty strong earnings in 2021. They have a healthy dividend of just under 5% and continue to increase. This is a slight increase over Imperials dividend that is 2.85%. They are one of the cheapest per barrel companies in Canada and with the economy looking to reopen later in the year this will reward CNRL assets. I currently only own two in the Sector now which is Suncor and CNRL. There was a time that half my portfolio was Oil and Gas but now my holdings are under 4%.
Dividend increases and decreases
- Received raise on ENB 3% in March that was reported in December.
- Received raise on XTC 5.6% in March that was reported in February.
2016 – 2021 Dividends received
March dividends came in at $348.20 which is a decrease of 10% YOY. We made a few moves last year that messed up what months we receive dividends. We set a 2021 goal of receiving $3,100 and I’m confident we will not only meet that expectation but beat it by a good margin.
Dividends received
| Stock List | Dividend | Drip | Account |
| FRU.TO | $2.34 | No | TFSA 1 |
| EXE.TO | $7.40 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| CSH.UN | $16.07 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| ALA.TO | $5.58 | No | TFSA 1 |
| PLZ.UN | $10.17 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| NPI.TO | $14.10 | No | TFSA 1 |
| SIS.TO | $5.40 | No | TFSA 1 |
| EIF.TO | $6.84 | No | TFSA 1 |
| RUS.TO | $41.80 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| ENB.TO | $66.80 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| MFC.TO | $53.20 | No | TFSA 1 |
| XTC.TO | $32.60 | Yes | TFSA 1 |
| SU.TO | $13.86 | No | TFSA 1 |
| FTS.TO | $32.83 | No | RESP |
| ABX.TO | $14.96 | No | TFSA 2 |
| Rebates | $24.25 | N/A | TFSA 1 |
| Total: | $348.20 | |
My thoughts moving forward
Current economy conditions
Canada unemployment rates are starting to improve by going from 12.3% in June to 7.5% in March. The return of jobs has been quite impressive, with new lockdowns implemented it will be interesting to see if this number can continue or will it reverse?
There is additional discussions of more money being printed. Not sure how much longer the Governemnts can print before you create crazy inflation.
My thoughts
Gold just had its worst quarter in 4 years which doesn’t make much sense at all. Now that Bitcoin seems to be here to stay it will be interesting to see if Gold still plays a hedge to Fiat currency, I’d suspect it will still have a portion of it moving forward but it would be a bad thing to allocate a portion of your portfolio to both Gold and Bitcoin.
We didn’t make any crazy moves in the month. Very happy with the blue chip portion of the portfolio as it helped us stay in the green in March when some of the other companies we hold in the growth sector were in the red. Blue Chip companies such a Banks and Insurance companies may take a breather after a very solid start to the year.
Sectors I like
- Financials
- Communications
- Healthcare
- Technology
- Utilities
- Basic metals
Current watch list
- Telus
- Enbridge
- TC Energy Corp
- Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp
- Score Media and Gaming Inc
- Bragg Gaming Group Inc
- Fortis
- Corsair Gaming Inc
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment!
Invest in yourself
Brian
Disclosure: I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. Please ensure you do your own research.
