Portfolio Update #1: My Accounts

Starting at the end of October I am going to begin including my dividend portfolio balances on this site. My purpose is twofold. The first to fulfill a request from many of my readers. Apparently this is something that readers of investing blogs like to see. The second reason is sort of a personal one – making my portfolio public will hold me accountable to my dividend strategy and ensure that my blog is focused on topics that lead me closer and closer to my goal.

The first order of business in doing this is to lay the ground work for a clear understanding of my dividend portfolio. What I am going to report on here will be the majority of my accounts – it will not include my kids education accounts because I see this as their money. It will include accounts that are not specifically dividend focused such as my pension account and employee savings account – a portfolio needs to be examined in full. Overall, it will provide you with a picture of 95% of my portfolio.

Here is a description of the accounts in my portfolio:

1. Canadian Shareowner’s Association (CSA) RRSP Account

This is my primary account that holds most of my dividend stocks. As I have written before, I like them because of the low fees and the dividend reinvestment into fractional shares.

2. Canadian Shareowner’s Association Regular Account

This is a non-registered account that does not have much in it yet, but as I earn more and more money through my career I will use this account more and more.

3. Sun Life Pension Account

This account is my defined contribution pension plan that I have through the company I work for. It is not dividend focused as the fund selections are limited to large segregated pension funds. I wish there were more index funds to choose but it is what it is. The good thing is that my employer covers all fees for the funds, even the management expense ratios, so all my money goes to investing and not to fees. Like many company pension plans there is a matching component to it. In a nutshell, the company contributes 2% of my earnings to the plan, I personally contribute an optional 2%, and because I have chosen to do this the company gives me another 2%. Basically, I put in 2% and the company gives me 4%, It is amazing how fast this adds up.

4. ScotiaMcLeod Employee Share Purchase Plans

My company also offers a good matching program where I put in 5% of my earnings into the Scotia account and with that I buy company shares every month. As a result of doing this, the company gives me the 5% back and puts it into cash for me to do whatever I wish. I
use the match for additional investing and have typically put it into my CSA-RSP account. In addition, I want to hold no more than 5% of my portfolio in company shares, so as I get to that point I tend to sell the shares and transfer the cash to my CSA-RSP account.

5. ScotiaMcLeod RRSP Account

This account is tied to my employer as well but I am not doing much with it. I could transfer my other Scotia holdings to it for no cost but have not done this yet. Basically, it is a full service brokerage so anything I do above and beyond my company stuff I am charged high
fees for (everything company related is covered) so I would rather pull the money out and put it into my CSA accounts.

6. Questrade RRSP Account

This is an account I have set up do some investing in things such as small-caps and covered calls. I did a covered call on GM that worked out well and I hold a small position in Solectron, but that is it. It does not hold too much.

7. Employer Stock Options

I have a large number of stock options with my employer that are not vested yet and are a bit underwater right now but could be worth a good amount in the future if the past is any sort of guide. Although I am not banking on this money for anything because it is largely unknown, my plan is to pay down my mortgage with any proceeds I do receive. I include it here because it is investments and I need to consider it in my overall portfolio planning – again my goal is not to have more that 5% of my portfolio tied up in company stock.

When I look at all my accounts in this post, it seems like it is a lot of accounts for one person! However, many of the assets are focused in a couple of them (CSA-RSP and Sun Life Pension). As a next step in this series, I will show my portfolio as a monthly portfolio update. This should happen on the last Sunday of the month.