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As I mentioned in my year end dividend update in December, I have OCD tendencies and like to see even numbers.  I have about $9000 of contribution room for my TFSA for 2013 (I sold some income trusts back in 2009 I believe for a good profit, hence the extra space in my TFSA).

Since XDV, CPD, and CYH have essentially not changed very much since I bought them (ahem, Teacher Man loves his ETFs nonetheless), I am going to purchase more since everything else is kind of expensive right now.  To even out to 100 for these, I will need about $2800 allocated of my $9400.

As for what to do with the remaining $6600, I’m not really sure.  I might buy more BMO because they are doing really well and their P/E continues to be quite healthy.  Dividend lovers, any favourites?

I had a chance to update my spreadsheet and went through each stock to check for updates.  About 25% of them had increases in their dividends, so it was literally like finding $5 in your pocket (haha because that’s how much the difference was probably).

As you all know, I won the lottery.

No, not really, I wish I did (or I wish I was that lucky but I’m not).  I did walk away from the real estate “game” (if you can call it that) with a bit of money.  I suppose the folks at Greaterfool.ca are probably all pissed off right now and are writing another rant post about me going into real estate and being completely irresponsible as we speak.  I’m sure someone else is probably looking back at the archives and calculating exactly how much I made after all the fees, the mortgage payments (not principle, of course), and other carrying costs that I had to pay for during my time holding real estate.

Although a part of me is completely relieved that I don’t have a ticking time bomb (a large mortgage) on my hands right now, another part of me is interested in delving back into the real estate game (with smaller fish to fry of course) because prices are low right now.

As a very practical person, I am conflicted as to what I should do about this large sum of money that I have now.  So in true neurotic, youngandthrifty fashion, I will go through the possible options, and I welcome other options too!

Buy Real Estate Again Option A

One of my ideas (sometimes I think I have Bipolar disorder a la Silver Linings Playbook because once I start thinking about something I can’t stop thinking about it and end up wasting hours of my time researching and thinking)… was to perhaps get two condos.  Yes, I realize your eyebrows are raised and you are probably thinking ARE YOU CRAZY? But hear me out:

One in downtown that I can rent out (perhaps furnish it for short term rentals) and one to live in.  This is probably the most risky option because:

a) condos rarely appreciate and mostly just depreciate because they get old and the maintenance fees just go nowhere but up. I would however try to mitigate this by going for newer condos. Continue Reading →

I had a wise friend once tell me that no one really can become wealthy through their day job, and that people usually become wealthy through money that they put away from their day job, through passive income.

I think it was the same wise friend who recommended that I read The Wealthy Barber, so obviously this friend knew what he was talking about.  Ever since he said those wise words to me, it had become my intention and goal to acquire money through passive income and become (one day) financially independent.

First off, it would be helpful to define the term passive income.  Passive income, according to Wikipedia, means income acquired on a regular basis, with little effort to to maintain it.

Basically, with passive income, you earn more while working less.

So how does one acquire passive income?

There are a few common ways in which people can acquire passive income.  Some of these involve a little effort to begin with and some of them require more capital (investment) to begin with.  Some people may have the time to invest in creating passive income, and some people may have the money to invest in creating passive income.  It’s usually one or the other.  Depending on the resource you have (time versus money), your ideal passive income stream may differ (or it may be a combination of both, which is also nice).

The commonly known three passive income streams are: Continue Reading →