Decumulate & Downsize

Most of your investing life you and your adviser (if you have one) are focused on wealth accumulation. But, we tend to forget, eventually the whole idea of this long process of delayed gratification is to actually spend this money! That’s decumulation as opposed to wealth accumulation. This stage may also involve downsizing from larger homes to smaller ones or condos, moving to the country or otherwise simplifying your life and jettisoning possessions that may tie you down.

Canada’s Best Energy Dividend Stocks 2023

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By Dale Roberts,

Million Dollar Journey

Special to Financial Independence Hub 

Canada’s energy stocks have been a key part of my investing strategy for some time now.

In August of 2020 I asked if Canada’s energy dividends were in trouble?

Of course that was before energy prices and energy stocks were dominating the headlines. At the time Canadian oil prices were about $30 a barrel and energy dividends were under a lot of pressure due to collapsed earnings.

That price has more than tripled, was above $115 U.S. and now sits near $70 U.S. in 2023. Those generous oil prices have fuelled incredible earnings and dividend growth. There is no sector over the last few years with greater free cash flow.

The oil and gas sector was also the only sector in Canada to provide positive total returns in 2022. This came as no surprise, as energy is the only sector known to provide reliable inflation protection.

That said, the price of oil has been coming down thanks to the rising rate environment that is designed to cool economic activity and by extension bring down troubling inflation. We have global recession fears and the Chinese lack of demand has also weighed on oil prices.

The following chart reflects the price of Canadian oil priced in U.S. dollars. In Canadian dollars the price is in the $57 range.

cci graph
Source: Oilsandsmagazine.com

Here is a video that explains the spread (difference in prices) between Canadian oil and U.S. oil.

Higher oil prices are wonderful for top Canadian energy companies, mostly operating or active in the Canadian oil sands, but many of the producers also have global operations. They have already become free cash flow gushers. More investors, fund managers and retail investors are going along for the ride.

While the last year hasn’t exactly been spectacular (with the TSX Capped Index ETF XEG down 16%), I’m still up over 270% since I started writing about Canadian energy stocks in August of 2020.  That’s before we really dig into the juicy dividend raises and special dividends that poured into my brokerage account over the last few years.

energy stocks dividend graph
Source: YCharts.com

In October of 2020, on my blog, I had suggested that investors take a look at Canadian oil and gas stocks:

“The Canadian energy sector has been beaten up. Foreign investors have given up and so have many Canadian investors. Where there is incredible pessimism there can be incredible rewards. But there is certainly no guarantee that the pessimism for the Canadian energy patch is not deserved.
That said, it is also certainly possible that the pessimism has jumped the shark. There may be incredible value in the energy sector for Canadian investors.”

Canadian investors who went against the flow were rewarded handsomely, and it was not as big a risk as many would think. The macroeconomic and energy-specific story was quite simple. Continue Reading…

Lean FIRE (as opposed to Fat Fire)

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By Alain Guillot

Special to Financial Independence Hub

I was told on Twitter that living on less than $24k per year is very frugal. Maybe it is, but I would like to explain how I live on less than $24K and I feel that I live like a king. 

(Editor’s Note: The Twitter discussion below followed Monday’s Hub post on by Myownadvisor blogger Mark Seed: Is Fat Fire realistic?)

First of all, my net worth right now is about $500,000. If we use the 4% rule, I should be able to withdraw $20,000K/year ($1,667/month) in perpetuity.  

How I live  

Map of Alain’s neighbourhood in Montreal

I live in one of the best neighborhoods in Montreal. It’s called “Le Plateau Mont Royal.” I have a beautiful park 10 minutes walking distance to the east, and another more beautiful park 10 minutes walking distance to the west, and I have the Old Port, 20 minutes walking distance to the south. 

 

 

Alain on Duluth Street

 

The street where I live is pedestrian only; it’s a cobblestone street.

Because I have been living in the same apartment for the past 12 years, my rent is low. $815/month. 

One of my small pleasures is to go downstairs, to a little park on the corner and drink a beer with my neighbors. (beer from the convenience store $2)

My apartment is what’s called a 3 ½. One bedroom, one living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. I live on the second floor of a two floor building. 

 

 

The local supermarket

I do my groceries at a small family-owned supermarket where I have been shopping for 12 years and where I know the cashiers and the owners by first name basis. Because I follow a plant based diet, I eat 99% of the time fresh fruit and vegetables. My grocery bill hardly exceeds $10 per day ($300/month). I buy my fruits and vegetables daily. 

 

Continue Reading…

Is Fat FIRE realistic?

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By Mark Seed, myownadvisor

Special to Financial Independence Hub

 

Weekend Reading - is Fat FIRE Realistic
Image Source: Pexels, Gantas Vaičiulėnas

Is Fat FIRE realistic?

Before my answer to that question, for those outside the personal finance, devout FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) bubble, a primer based on what I know …

What is FIRE?

I would like to provide a universal definition from the personal finance community today but there isn’t one. There are, however, some general thoughts/themes when it comes to FIRE and those who follow the philosophy around it:

  • Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) is a movement related to extreme/aggressive savings rates and investment tactics that allow individuals to retire sooner than potentially any traditional budgeting or retirement planning approach might permit.
  • When it comes to savings rates: in some circles, by saving up to 70% of your annual income, some FIRE enthusiasts aim to retire early (and live off small portfolio withdrawals from their accumulated assets).
  • When it comes to portfolio withdrawals: in some circles, by withdrawing a small % of the accumulated assets (e.g., 4% of the portfolio), said FIRE enthusiasts may expect their portfolio to last a lifetime without fear of running out of money.

The FIRE movement – new term, old concept

The FIRE movement takes direct aim at some traditional retirement ages, such as age 60, 65 or even later on but there is no consensus on what is / is not a retirement age, of course.

The theory and movement goes: by dedicating the majority of your after-tax income to savings and specifically saving for retirement, well, you could “retire” sooner than most. Probably true.

From this perspective, FIRE is not a new concept even though the moniker is somewhat newish.

I’ve written multiple times about the FIRE movement and my thoughts on FIRE.

I’ll link to those thoughts here for additional reading as well.

I’m hardly anti-FIRE; this movement/approach/philosophy has always resonated how I live for the most part:

  • To live within your means or slightly below what you make as income.
  • To save early and often.
  • To avoid long-term debt that is not used for wealth generation.
  • To optimize your investing (i.e., keep your costs low and diversified, and avoid money managers).

Several FIRE retirement variations have emerged over the years to frame a particular lifestyle expectation that could come with FIRE. I’ll rank them in order of cashflow significance although these terms also vary based on the FIRE enthusiast you’re talking to:

1. Lean FIRE

As the first word suggests, lean is a strict adherence to a minimalist lifestyle. Many Lean FIRE adherents live on $25,000 per year, or less per year. Here are a few examples:

Jacob Fisker – Early Retirement Extreme. How he used to live on just $7,000 per year. Not a typo.

There is Jessica from Financial Mechanic, who spent less than $20,000 in 2020.

In more recent years, A Purple Life, wrote about a nomadic life earlier this year, living off less than $25K USD.

These are certainly jaw-dropping low numbers …

2. Barista FIRE

Not that you have to become a barista, rather, the term is used to highlight a combination of work-life balance that can be juggled – a form of semi-retirement if you will.

Barista FIRE is a type of semi-retirement whereby you can consider part-time work or work on your own terms, and still enjoy the benefits of some income and workplace benefits. (The term was coined as such since Starbucks offers benefits to part-time workers … something to consider for your semi-retirement plans!?) Continue Reading…

Uncovering the Truth behind Short-Term Trading

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Short-term trading may seem appealing to beginning investors, but it’s unpredictable and can lead to significant losses

TSINetwork.ca

Beginning investors may develop an unrealistic idea of how much money they can make by delving into short-term trading. It seems obvious to them that all it takes is some good advice from an expert.

However, any true investing expert understands that random factors play a big role in short-term stock price fluctuations. That’s why these movements are unpredictable. No outsider consistently profits from them.

In fact, there’s a lot of randomness in the stock market and a lot of conflicts of interest. You have to take that into account if you hope to succeed as an investor.

Many investors try to outperform the stock market by going in and out of it erratically, based on their assessment of risk and potential reward. The trouble is that these risk assessments rise and fall with day-to-day or month-to-month economic and business developments, which are also subject to the influence of random factors and conflicts of interest.

As a result, these investors tend to “buy on strength,” as the saying goes. That is, they do more of their buying when confidence is high and stock prices have gone up. By then, however, much of the rise they hoped to profit from will have already taken place.

They are also inclined to “sell on weakness,” when investors are generally nervous and prices have dropped. That way, they hold on to their stocks during much of the decline they hoped to avoid. They may even wind up selling at or near the bottom in prices.

It may seem like a self-evident truth, but it’s worth repeating. While it’s hard to outperform the market, it’s easy to underperform it. In fact, some investors do it almost every year.

Understanding the realities of short-term trading

Many people start out investing with unrealistic ideas of how much money they can make from short-term stock trading, and how quickly they’ll get rich.

Inexperienced investors are shocked when they learn that successful investors rarely if ever do any short-term trading. (That applies to everybody from “The Wealthy Barber” to Warren Buffett.) After all, many stockbrokers, investor newsletters, cable TV financial kibitzers and so on seem to talk about nothing but day-to-day or hour-to-hour market trends. They make it sound easy to GRQ (Get Rich Quick).

It’s easy to sort through yesterday’s investment news and pick out a reason that seems to explain why a stock or the entire market went up or down today. Trying to spot tomorrow’s winners today is vastly harder. Nobody does it consistently. Continue Reading…

Retired Money: In Semi-Retirement, reducing stress may be more important than generating extra taxable revenue

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Pexels: Amir Ghoorchiani

My latest MoneySense Retired Money column looks at the trade-offs between leisure time and using time to generate extra but taxable revenue. Early in one’s career, there’s little choice but to generate taxable revenue but Semi-Retirement has a different dynamic. Find the full column by clicking on the highlighted headline: Is semi-retirement stressful? You bet — here’s what to do about it.

One of my philosophies of Semi-Retirement is the principle that reducing stress can sometimes be more important than maximizing revenue. Assuming you are self-employed in Semi-Retirement, as I am, you may find yourself juggling multiple clients and conflicting demands on your limited time and energy.

Given the sporadic nature of freelancing, most freelancer writers or suppliers know how hard it is to turn down paying work. I was like that in my first stint at freelancing, back in the 1980s: long before I achieved a modicum of financial independence.

This time around, I have the luxury of being able to pick and choose. I’ve even stated this boldly to some clients: “My goal these days is to minimize stress, not to maximize taxable revenue.” Another way to look at this is the age-old dilemma of time versus money. It’s been years since I read the classic book on financial independence, Your Money or Your Life (by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominquez); however I’ve never forgotten their core message that time is life energy. When we earn money we do so by exchanging our time or in effect giving up some of our life energy.

There comes a time it’s time to say “Enough” to further expenditures of Life Energy

So it follows that if you have accumulated enough money after working a lifetime to accumulate it, then at some point it may be necessary to stop and say “enough!” when it comes to requests to expend still more of your life energy.

True, not everyone in Semi-Retirement is self-employed and enjoys the flexibility to make these trade-offs. More likely though, a semi-retired person is self-employed or working part-time on one or two gigs, while simultaneously collecting some combination of Government benefits, employer pensions, and investment income. The more secure those passive sources of income are, the less you may feel compelled to take on extra work requiring your time and life energy. Continue Reading…