March recap: dividends, easter & finally some nice weather

Dividend Income & Portfolio Update

Personal Highlights – March 2021

• Things here in Winnipeg are starting to open up again.  Restaurants, hairdressers, etc are all open for business.  Vaccine rollout albeit slow seems to be picking up as well (both my parents now have appointments to get one in the next couple of weeks. 
• The weather has started heating up (finally).  All the snow is gone, the patio furniture is out, and I picked up a firepit and compost bin for the backyard.  I’ve begun some yard work, and I’m planning on stepping up our game this year with the look of garden/yard.  
• We had a fun easter, with some surprise visitors in the backyard, and lots of treats, presents and egg hunts.  
  Earlier in the month we checked out the “Chickadee Trail” at Birds Hill provincial park, which was awesome.  Basically it’s a long hiking trail with thousands of chickadees.  You can take some birdseed with you, and they will come eat it right out of your hands.  Our daughter was the crazy bird lady, they just swarmed her and kept coming back for more.  The little man tried once, but got too scared…
• Not sure if it was an error – but a friend posted on facebook that Walmart.ca had area rugs on clearance for $3.49 (regular price $300-900).  I tried adding a whackload to my cart – but by the time I got to check out most were already sold – so I only ended up with 3.  My friend got 6.  I’m still thinking this was an error, and I’ll get an email saying my order couldn’t be processed – but we will see.  Check this out:
  
• Not much knew on the whisky/cocktail front.  I missed our Winnipeg Whisky Club even this month because our whole house came down with a cold.  I did get a new bar fridge for the den – the old one didn’t have a freezer and whenever I was making cocktails I had to go to the kitchen to get ice (first world problems I know), but for the amount of times I make cocktails and entertain people – I figured it was definitely worth it.  I also stocked up the new fridge with some summer beers and made a new batch of demerara syrup for cocktails.  A couple cocktails I made in March (Paralyzer & Old Fashioned):
  
  

  Financial Highlights for March:

• Got our tax returns back!  Will use the proceeds to pay off cabin taxes, purchase a new patio set for the front stoop, and dump the rest into TFSA & savings.
• Added to my position in Greenlane Renewables.  Picked up an additional 827 shares at $2.00
• Still sitting on a bunch of cash in my RRSP (from the sale of my XAW shares).  Waiting another couple months to see what happens before buying back in.
• Got dividends from 10 companies and 1 fund.  Dripped an additional 47 shares/units.
• Portfolio (including cash position) reached an all time high!  

Passive Income Update For March 2021.

TFSA’S:

Diversified Royalty Income: $24.39 (dripped 10 shares)

Western Forest $20.49 (dripped 12 shares)

Artis Reit: $38.15 (dripped 3 shares)

Plaza Reit: $31.59 (dripped 8 shares)

European Residential Reit: $7.60 (dripped 1 share)

Interrent Reit: $4.50

Canadian Western Bank: $0.29

Manulife: $41.72 (dripped 1 share)

Nexus Reit: 14.61 (dripped 1 share)

Intertape Polymer Group: $54.27

TFSA’s Total: $237.61

RRSP:

Canadian Equity Income Distribution: $365.54 (dripped 11.297 shares)

Total Passive Income March 2021:  $603.15

Portfolio Update:

My portfolio (including cash position) increased another 3.89% in March  to a new record high: $475,553.39.   I am still sitting on about 30% cash – which I plan on being patient with and waiting to see what happens over the coming months.  The market and housing markets seem completley unstable – we are seeing a potential third wave of Covid and nothing is making sense, so for now I am okay sitting on the sidelines with some cash to see how things shake out – even if it means I miss out on some potential gains on a portion of my portfolio.  

Hope you had a great March. 

Cheers!