March’21 – Monthly Passive Income update!

Hi there!

Early arrival of warmer weather is a silver lining amidst third wave (.. or not sure at what number we are now!) of pandemic and new restriction enforcement. My work from home routine is getting bearable with half of my time working from the deck or backyard, soaking in the sun and listening to the chirping birds! I never imagined infrastructure build for Amber alert will be used to broadcast stay at home emergency order!

The rising cases all over the world (..in some parts even more than first phase) makes us believe the whole situation is really grim, out-of-hand, and slow vaccine rollout is quite hopeless. I feel the administrations all over the world could have done a better job with speedup vaccination drives, it could have helped contain the pandemic to some level but then what do I know.. there could be endless challenges. Anyways I am hearing that in “hot zones” of Ontario, the plan is going to be much more aggressive now and the goal is to reduce the age group by 5 years; and I am really glad they are looking at it this way not but my question remains, what made you go soft to begin with! I really hope the rollout goes quicker as a lot is at stake, more than ever and people are really getting restless and we all really want to witness a stress free summer!

Our monthly update begins with updating below two pages with the latest data:

• 2025 Goal tracker on homepage – Again an overall negative income because of more expenses than earnings, two months in a row!
• Dividend Portfolio with latest holdings

Passive Income Pie

Monthly Dividend Earnings

The recent surge in market helped our portfolio attain new highs! Key points from this month’s dividend income are:

• We received dividend deposits from total 20 companies (18 Canadian & 2 US), with total value of $484.76
• For ease and simplification, I assume 1 USD = 1 CAD
• We dripped a share each for Diversified Royalty, Pizza Pizza, Plaza REIT & whopping 3 shares from Enbridge
• Received an increased dividend from A&W 35% and CNR 7%
• Monthly average for 2021 dividends so far is $538.36 OR about $18 a day!

Dividend Goal Tracker – Planned vs Actual

Achieved 19% of this year’s goal which is $1615 out of total $8500 as compared to target of 25%. Realizing shifting priority (allocate more towards growth stocks) and slippage in achieving targets, I may have to revisit the goal towards the end of third quarter.

My Marketplace

I was holding a tiny bit of Saputo for 3 years with no growth at all and I lost my patience with this one and hence was looking for an escape route with dignity! The recent rally produced an opportunity to sell my 30 shares with no-profit/no-loss, dividend included. If I exclude the dividends then I would have been at a loss of about 4.5%. This experience give one more reason to think twice before putting money into anything, but no qualm as the stake was quite low (.. well if you compare it to my Vermilion Energy fiasco!)

The proceed was used to get some more of NIO Inc. I first dipped my toe into this in January and again bought 24 shares to lower the cost basis to $46.6 from $58!

As usual, I kept collecting my CIBC shares as part of my regular RRSP contribution through my payroll clubbed with Employee Share Purchase Plan. If you aren’t using ESPP program from your employer then <<scream begins>> ENROLL NOW AND DON’T LEAVE THE MONEY ON THE TABLE! <<scream ends>>!

Lastly, I dropped $500 again towards Bitcoin bringing the total allocation to $3500 which I am comfortable losing it all which I doubt will happen! So far I think I am at a gain of about 30% in 3 months. I may not go over $5000 on cryptocurrency and although I don’t track it yet as part of my portfolio, I may if the valuation increases significantly (.. insert optimism!).

Rental Earnings

No rent yet again from both of our investment properties and if you follow.. this was the third consecutive month for which we had no earnings! Since I started this month’s update quoting silver lining, I will use it one more time.. we found a good tenant for one of the property starting April. Application screened, first and last rent collected, place cleaned, painted, and minor issues fixed! The rent I got is significantly lesser than my previous tenant but the person is good with stable income and hopefully, both of us have a good time! Three months without income puts us in a bleak position as we bleed money towards mortgage, insurance, utilities and other expenses, but the silver lining is we survived and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Even for the townhouse, we are in a much better position. The renovation got completed, cleanup done and the property was listed on MLS for sale. We already have an offer that we accepted and I will share more on it next month.

For the third house, we are still waiting for the legal basement work to start as the hydro company is yet to move the electric meter to the side of the house. With increasing lumber cost, I would hope for my contractor to honour the agreed price else I will again have a setback! I am going to reach out to him as soon as the meter movement work is scheduled.

Lending Interest Earnings

We received back the principal from the only outstanding loan and hence it’s a wrap on our lending earnings except Lending loop for which I have under $25 of monthly interest from various commitments. The certified check took 5 business days to clear, talk about efficiency and advancement! I literally checked my banking app twice a day as I was so eager to pay of some of my line of credit balances! Needless to say I immediately did it and now our overall debt is in control. The plan now is to refinance our principal resident and pay off completely and if opportunity presents, may initiate the private lending once again!

We continued our new year’s resolution of sharing our good fortune in a measured approach, wherein we aim to giveaway 10% of our previous year’s passive income towards a good cause. I document our monthly giveaways here at Sharing with Society, please do visit when you get a chance. I personally also decided to express more gratitude and appreciation towards the little things in life that I feel blessed with and enjoy, but is mostly taken for granted. While I normally document it at this link – Gratitude & Goodness, I haven’t gotten a chance to update it lately. I hope to resume it soon after these rental madness ends.

This is a wrap for now and please do subscribe using the widget at the bottom of the page to get monthly updates, I don’t spam and you will only get an email whenever I post on this website.

Stay indoor, Stay safe and Save-Invest-Repeat. Do share with people in need and count your blessings.. Good luck! 😊