Building Wealth

For the first 30 or so years of working, saving and investing, you’ll be first in the mode of getting out of the hole (paying down debt), and then building your net worth (that’s wealth accumulation.). But don’t forget, wealth accumulation isn’t the ultimate goal. Decumulation is! (a separate category here at the Hub).

7 ways to tell if a stock pays a solid Dividend and will keep doing so

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TSInetwork.ca

We believe investors will profit most, and do so with the least risk, by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.

That then raises the question, how to tell if a stock pays a solid dividend? How to find out if a stock pays dividends is an important skill for investors.

The best companies to invest in for dividends have strong positions in healthy industries. They also incorporate strong management that makes the right moves to remain competitive in changing marketplaces.

How to tell if a stock pays a sustainable dividend?

These types of stocks give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price), and promising growth prospects.

Today we’re going to look at how to tell if a stock pays a dividend and — more important — if it’s likely to keep paying it. You’ll want to recognize these stocks when they are available. Learning how to find out if a stock pays dividends can help you make informed investment decisions.

But first, let’s quickly recap the value of dividends and dividend-paying stocks by looking at some reasons for investing in them.

Why invest in dividend stocks?

1.) Growth and income. The best dividend-paying stocks offer both capital-gains growth potential and regular income from dividend payments.

2.) Dividends can grow. Stock prices rise and fall, so capital losses can follow capital gains, at least temporarily. Interest on a bond or GIC holds steady, at best. But top-quality dividend-paying stocks like to ratchet their dividends upward: hold them steady in a bad year, raise them in a good one. That gives you a hedge against inflation.

3.) Dividends are a sign of investment quality. Some good companies reinvest profit to spur growth instead of paying dividends. But fraudulent and failing companies are hardly ever dividend-paying stocks. So if you only buy stocks that pay dividends, you’ll automatically stay out of almost all the market’s worst stocks.
For a true measure of stability, focus on those companies that have maintained or raised their dividends during a recession or stock-market downturn. That’s because these firms leave themselves enough room to handle periods of earnings volatility. By continually rewarding investors, and retaining enough cash to finance their businesses, they also provide an attractive mix of safety, income and growth.

4.) Dividend income gets favourable tax treatment. Taxpayers who hold Canadian dividend-paying stocks get an additional bonus. Their dividends are eligible for the dividend tax credit in Canada. This means that dividend income will be taxed at a lower rate than the same amount of interest income (investors in the highest tax bracket pay tax of about 25% on dividends, compared to about 54% on interest income). Investors in the highest tax bracket will now pay tax on capital gains at a rate of roughly 27%.

The 7 suggestions

1.)  How to tell if a stock pays a dividend? Look for companies with long-term success. These companies are the most likely to keep paying and increasing their dividends. Continue Reading…

How to Shield your Nest Egg from a Single Point of Failure

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By Devin Partida

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Building a nest egg is a respectable goal for financial enthusiasts at all levels, but many focus entirely on accumulating capital, losing sight of key structural considerations.

As fulfilling as it is to watch your balances grow through long-term discipline and determination, ensuring that Wealth is supported by sufficient pillars is imperative for success. When the entire fate of your security relies on a single stock or industry, it’s more of a gamble than a solid foundation.

What is a Financial Single Point of Failure?

In Engineering, a single point of failure is a component that brings down the entire system if it malfunctions. The world of Finance is no different. A financial single point of failure occurs when a specific asset or condition in your portfolio accounts for a disproportionate share of your net worth.

For many professionals, this often manifests as concentrated stocks. If your primary income or retirement savings are tied to the success of your employer, a scandal or industry downturn could wipe out both your career and savings at once.

Another common problem is not having an appropriate amount of liquid reserves. While having home equity is a key aspect of a wealth strategy, having little liquidity is a risk. A sudden shock like a medical emergency could force you into a high-interest loan or a badly-timed panic sell.

Core Strategies for Financial Protection

Effectively shielding your nest egg requires understanding and implementing a few fundamental concepts:

Diversify your Investments

Many financial enthusiasts believe that portfolio diversification simply entails owning multiple stocks. While this holds some truth, it’s a small part of the equation. Optimal diversification requires an understanding of correlation.

If you own 10 different companies, but they all belong to the software industry, it is still considered a single point of failure. A shift could cause all your assets to depreciate simultaneously. If your portfolio looks like this, consider branching out to other asset categories, such as bonds or real estate.

How you allocate assets should be determined by personal risk tolerance, financial targets and current situation. Many people prefer sticking with longer-established investments such as government bonds or Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs.) Others lean toward newer and more  “adventurous” investments such as cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, which have shown considerable innovation in recent years.

Protect your Major Assets

If you own a home, that is likely your largest asset. It can also be a significant liability if not managed with vigilance. Proper diligence involves paying for insurance and managing the risks associated with maintenance.

For example, it’s essential to ensure hired contractors carry adequate insurance to shield you from liability during renovations. Taking the time to verify coverage prevents sudden workplace accidents on your property from turning into expensive lawsuits that drain your investment accounts.

Build an Emergency Fund

A liquid emergency fund is the most effective insurance for your long-term investment strategy. Continue Reading…

Early Retirement Planning Q&A with Tawcan

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By Bob Lai, Tawcan

Special to Financial Independence Hub

Early Retirement Planning - Q&A with Reader P
Image courtesy Unsplash/Tawcan

As you can imagine, a lot of planning is required to reach early retirement. Despite all the planning, projections, and running different scenarios, there will always be some level of uncertainty when it comes to early retirement. However, because the financial independence retire early (FIRE) community is a very supportive and tight-knit one, it is not difficult to find help and support.

A few months ago, I wrote about some of the steps we are taking and plan to take in our early retirement planning. After the post was published, a long time reader called Reader P reached out and shared his and his wife’s early retirement plans and some of their thoughts. After some back and forth, I thought it would be interesting to share their story and their early retirement plans in the form of a Q&A.

Q1. Welcome to this blog, Reader P. We have exchanged emails over the years (8 or more years, I think). Very happy to hear that you have enjoyed reading this blog. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your wife? 

A1. First of all, thank you, Bob for giving me this opportunity! Your blog is one of the very few blogs I frequent and I admire what you have accomplished. Moreover, you are an inspiration to anyone who wants to achieve Financial Independence.

As for us, we are in our mid-40s with 3 kids aged 14, 11, and 9. I am a Professional Engineer earning $130K (before any bonuses) and my wife is a Registered Nurse who now works 0.6 FTE (full time equivalent, starting 2022) and picks up additional shifts; her total salary hovers around $80K. She was full-time before but with our current situation, it is time we lead a little more balanced life.

We try to live off of her income and my income is used for investing, mortgage pre-payments, and for anything that is “fun” which includes travel, kids recreational activities, and cars.

We didn’t start saving/investing until we turned 30, and in our 20s, a lot of $ was spent on things that ultimately added no value to us.

Q2. That’s interesting you try to live off Mrs. P’s income and use your salary for mortgage payments and investing purposes. What was the reason for such an arrangement?

A2. Because my job isn’t always secure, it made sense for us to live off of her income, as she is a nurse and her job is quite secure.

Thankfully, I was only laid off once early in my career and found another job within a month. However, being laid off early in your career can significantly alter your perspective on the world.

Q3. Are both you and your wife maxing out TFSAs and RRSPs every year? Why do you think that so many Canadians don’t max out their TFSAs and RRSPs? 

A3. Yes, we max out both TFSAs and RRSPs each and every year, after we turned 30. TFSAs were introduced when we were in our late 20s so it was rather easy to use up the contribution room once we got serious about investments.

As a nurse, Mrs. P’s actual RRSP contribution room is reduced because she has a defined benefit pension plan. So it is “easier” to max out her RRSP room as it’s under $4K per year. Mine is a little more, but we are still able to save each month, which we then put towards a non-registered account(s).

Most folks don’t put in as much in their registered accounts, probably because of a lack of knowledge, information, and understanding. Compounding works amazingly, and its full power can only be felt if you start early. That is what I’m teaching my eldest.

Q4. Do you have pensions through work? Has having pensions through work made your early retirement planning a little bit easier? If not, please explain. 

A4. Yes, I do have a pension through work via SunLife. Unfortunately, I don’t have much say except that I have selected or opted for index-based mutual funds. I only contribute enough to get the match from the employer, which is 5% (so I contribute 5% and the employer matches that). The rest of the RRSP contribution room is done by me directly, by investing in low-cost index funds.

I think having a defined benefit pension plan is like gold; they are hard to come by, but once you have it, you should never let it go (within reason). But having a pension through work that is mostly mutual funds with high fees isn’t that great. I sometimes wish my employer would just give me the 5% directly, and I would invest it myself. I have kept track of my performance for RRSP from work and RRSP that I self-manage, and as you expect it, my self-managed RRSP is easily outperforming the Sunlife options because of the fee difference.

As for early retirement planning, I would say that for most, having pensions through work is very beneficial, given the match from the employer. And having a defined benefit pension plan is like hitting a jackpot.

Q5. You shared a similar investing path as us: started out with mutual funds then went into DIY investing. Why did you make this switch?

A5. So we started investing in 2010 when we were expecting our child. In the 2000s, we didn’t invest anything other than a matching work pension. At that time, I had no idea how to invest, and everything felt so new. But with a kid on the way, it prompted me to do more work.

I started with reading several books (Millionaire Next Door, Stocks for the Long Run, etc.), and I found the Canadian Couch Potato blog and realized that investing is quite simple: just buy a low-cost index fund and stay the course. We were with TD bank, so buying TD e-series mutual funds, which were index-based funds with the lowest MER was the way to go. So we started DIY investing. We went with what was called an aggressive portfolio: 25% each of CAD, US, Int’l and Bonds (TD900, TD902, TD911, and TD909). I’d buy once a month each so that is 48 total transactions, and the best part about TD e-series mutual funds is that they are commission-free. So we were saving $480 per year in transaction fees. Another benefit of TD e-series mutual funds is that there is no bid-ask spread, so that is some savings there as well. Plus, your dividends are automatically reinvested which means that there is no drag of uninvested cash. TD e-series mutual funds were our go-to from 2010 until 2022.

Side note: I eventually got rid of my entire bonds position in 2022 because I realized that I don’t need bonds to help me stay the course. Volatility didn’t bother me one bit and I already had a mortgage so logically speaking, having bonds made no real sense. With that said, I would still consider buying bonds again about 5 years before full retirement.

Tawcan: Agree with you, the TD e-series mutual funds are pretty great,

Q6. When you went away from mutual funds, you went with index ETF investing, then switched to dividend growth investing, and recently moved back to index ETF investing. Can you explain the reasons behind these moves? 

A6. The more I read, the more Dividend-Growth-Investing spoke to me. I loved the idea of having free income coming in, and having lost a job in 2012, I really was intrigued by the idea of living off of dividends, so we started buying dividend-paying Canadian individual stocks. We did that from 2015 to the summer of 2022.

In the spring of 2022, my eldest, who was 11 at the time, was displaying some negative behavioural symptoms. We initially thought that she was just going through puberty, but it turned out to be far, far worse.

Because of school shutdowns and a lack of social interactions due to COVID, many, many kids got the short end of the stick. My girl was one of them. She also faced cyberbullying, and we had to take major interventions to ensure that she went back on track (and thankfully, she is now). Basically, a smart, hard-working girl who gets good grades started getting below-average grades, got bullied, started having suicidal thoughts, etc., really puts another perspective on what is important in life.

Tawcan: Sorry to hear that you went through that. That must have been rough for the family.

A bit more background. In spring 2020, when markets crashed, both Mrs. P and I agreed that this is a once a once-in-a-generation buying opportunity. In fact, many stocks in 2020 were as cheap as they were when we first started buying them in 2015!

As such, Mrs. P. picked up as many nursing shifts as she could. Because of shift-differentials (you get paid more if you work evenings, weekends, and a lot more if you work STAT or Overtime), Mrs. P worked extra long and we banked a lot of cash. In 2020 alone, we saved and invested six figures in non-reg accounts. We did that again in 2021, and we did around $40K in 2022. Then we had this behavioural problem that came upon us, and it dawned on us that money isn’t everything.

So we changed our strategy: she went to work part-time and we started paying a lot more attention to all three kids to ensure that they are on the right track. What good is having a 7-figure portfolio if your kids are on drugs and are under a bad influence?

At the same time, I had been reading Humble Dollar blog and came to the conclusion that volatility doesn’t bother me at all. So I sold all the TD e-series mutual funds and converted them into XEQT in both our TFSAs and RRSPs.

We also stopped adding to our non-registered accounts but we still max out TFSA and RRSPs.

The main reason we stopped buying individual stocks is that there is a tremendous amount of empirical evidence that suggests that buying individual stocks is a loser’s game.

So I honestly asked myself why I even started buying dividend-paying stocks? I came up with 4 reasons: Continue Reading…

BMO ETFs’ Spring Road Tour

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On Tuesday, I attended the Toronto instalment of BMO ETFs’ Spring Road Tour, the first of a 10-city Canadian tour that extends into early May.

The title is We’ve got you covered, which is a sly allusion to one of the main themes of the series: Covered Call ETFs.

Aimed primarily at financial advisors, the sessions are roughly an hour long, coinciding either with breakfast or lunch, depending on the city. There are three main segments:

  • Bipan Rai, Head of ETFs & Alternatives Strategy, provides insights into BMO’s current macroeconomic outlook, including positioning across asset classes and risk models
  • Jimmy Xu, Head, Liquid Alts and Non linear ETFs, manager of BMO’s flagship Covered Call ETFs, discusss these innovative solutions designed to help clients meet their cash flow needs while maximizing long term growth.
  • The road show ends with an introduction to BMO’s new Portfolio Consulting Services, designed to help advisors navigate an increasingly complex investment landscape. Senior Portfolio Consultant, Hilly Cutler shares how BMO supports advisors in optimizing their model portfolios—reducing costs, enhancing diversification, and managing risk as CRM3 approaches.

As the chart below summarizes, the road shows ends in Burlington on May 7th:

Except the Toronto event, which was a breakfast session, the other sessions all begin at either 12 pm or 1 pm. Below we reproduce some of the slides presented at the show.

Current Market outlook and Positioning by Bipan Rai

Bipan Rai, BMO ETFs

The sessions kick off with a current market outlook delivered by Bipan Rai, who focused on the impacts of the ongoing Iran war, which began at the end of February. He confessed to having a few sleepless nights about the closing of the Hormuz Strait. Not surprisingly most investors suffered negative returns in both stocks and bonds during March. Hormuz matters for the macroeconomic picture, not just because of oil, but also because of Liquid Natural Gas, fertilizers and Helium: the latter helps cool AI systems. (shown below).

Rai also showed the following two charts, which illustrate how the Consumer Price Index changes the longer the price of oil stays higher. The longer the Strait is closed or traffic severely constrained, the more it will create inflation and create risks to economic growth.

If the price of Oil does stay higher for longer, Rai commented that investors may want to take a more defensive tilt to equities, emphasize quality and low volatility as factors, diversify with Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and embrace broad commodities. BMO has of course ETFs for all of these: such as  ZTIP (BMO Short-term US TIPS Index ETF) or the new ZCOM for broad commodity exposure.

Rai’s “big takeaway” is that while Commodities are the “source of the shock,” they also “benefit from supply constraints, fiscal demand and de-globalization.”

Knowing that Inflation risks are “to the upside” and “growth risks are to the downside” Rai concludes that “We are most likely migrating from a ‘reflation’ to ‘mild stagflation.’ ”

He says we are likely in a transition from Strong Growth and High Inflation to Slower Growth and High Inflation, while North American banks are “likely to keep rates on hold.”

As a result, as shown below, BMO is neutral to overweight Equities, underweight Fixed Income, and overweight Alternatives:

Jimmy Xu on the Benefits of Covered Call ETFs

Jimmy Xu, CFA, BMO ETFs

The second talk is by Jimmy  Xu, Head of Liquid Alts and Non linear ETFs. His focus was on Covered Call ETFs, which BMO has pioneered in the Canadian market. While investors often buy covered call ETFs just for yield, yield is not the most important consideration, Xu said. “Chasing yield is the quickest way to have unstable income, capital erosion and unhappy clients.” Continue Reading…

Relying on Inheritance: Retirement Cash Flow Review

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By Dale Roberts, Retirement Club/Cutthecrapinvesting

Special to Financial Independence Hub

The Globe & Mail offers ongoing real-life retirement funding (cash flow plan) scenarios. They also invite a financial planner to offer their opinion. They call the series Financial Facelift. A recent article caught my eye. I thought I would give it a go using a popular free use retirement software that allows DIY retirees and near retirees to run their own plans.

The following is a cash flow review from the Globe. I was curious, so I started to enter the details at MayRetire:  a very intuitive, easy-to-use (free use) retirement cash flow calculator.

And I’ll show you how:  you can join Dale for a …

How to use MayRetire Intro Zoom Call Session

You can join a 12 pm or 7 pm EST session this Thursday, April 16th.

Time: Apr 16, 2026 12:00 PM Eastern Time

Join Zoom Meeting: Click on this Zoom Call LInk

Enter this Passcode: 156627

Meeting ID: 865 0137 0741

Time: Apr 16, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time

Join Zoom Meeting: Click on this Zoom Call Link

Enter this Passcode: 828943

Meeting ID: 585 884 9710

The Financial Facelift scenario

Ennis and Kara are planning to retire soon, leaving behind joint family income of more than $340,000 a year. Ennis is 61 years old and earns $220,000 a year in senior management. His wife, Kara, is 54 and earns $120,000 in research.

Both have defined-benefit pensions. Ennis’s will be $27,960 a year, while Kara’s will pay $9,000 a year. Both pensions are only partly indexed to inflation, his 50 per cent, hers 60 per cent.

“We’ve received no shortage of advice on how to prepare for this transition, but are interested in getting an experienced, objective view on whether we can retire on our timeline or are being overly optimistic,” Ennis writes in an e-mail.

Both anticipate receiving inheritances at some point.

Their goals are to travel and help their three young adult children buy first homes when the family cottage is sold. Their share will be about $150,000.

Two of their children are still living at home.

Check out Retirement Club for Canadians

The couple’s home in an Ontario city is valued at $1.1-million, and has a $300,000 mortgage. Their retirement spending goal is $135,000 a year after tax.

The G&M asked Ian Calvert, a certified financial planner and head of wealth planning at HighView Financial in Oakville, Ont., to look at Ennis’s and Kara’s situation.

What the expert says

Ennis and Kara have a net worth of about $2.18-million, Mr. Calvert says.

“They have a healthy asset base, and their pensions are a strong component of their retirement plan,” he notes. “However, without any non-registered assets or tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), all of their withdrawals in retirement will be treated as taxable income, with the exception of their cash savings.”

To fund their cash flow requirements, they will need to withdraw about $129,000 a year from their combined RRSPs and locked-in retirement accounts, or LIRAs, the planner says.

“Before they start consistent withdrawals from these accounts, they should consider converting their RRSPs to registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) and unlock 50 per cent of their LIRAs,” Mr. Calvert says.

Unlocking 50% of the LIRAs

The unlocking of retirement assets adds more flexibility: They are moving assets out of LIRAs, which have annual withdrawal maximums, into RRSPs, which do not.

Moving assets from RRSPs to RRIFs makes sense because they are entering their withdrawal phase and need consistent income from these accounts.

“It’s important to remember that the 50 per cent unlocking is a one-time option that should be completed at age 55 or older when you are completing the transfer from a LIRA to a life income fund (LIF) and starting to withdraw.”

The couple’s $129,000 withdrawal, plus combined pension income of $37,000 a year, will give them a total family income of $166,000 a year, less $31,000 in income taxes. This will meet their after-tax spending target of $135,000.

“The required annual withdrawals from their retirement savings represent about 10 per cent of their portfolio,” the planner notes. “It would be challenging to maintain their capital at this withdrawal rate, and they should expect a decline in capital over time.”

Fortunately, they have two items that will reduce the withdrawal rate. “First, they are expecting a combined inheritance of about $1.3-million in the next few years,” Mr. Calvert says. “Second, they will both be getting Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits.”

When their inheritance comes through, they should use part of it to fund their TFSAs to the maximum available limit at the time, Mr. Calvert says. Currently, the lifetime maximum TFSA contribution is $109,000 each, increasing by $7,000 each year.

This will leave a substantial amount to be invested in their non-registered portfolio.

“Investing the remaining non-registered funds to generate steady and reliable income would be beneficial for a couple of reasons,” the planner says. With $1-million or so to invest, “they should build a portfolio structure that not only will participate in growth, but will generate a consistent dividend yield of about 3.5 per cent, or $35,000 a year.”

Relying on inheritance

The inheritance money will give them much more flexibility, the planner says. They will have funds they can access without adding to their taxable income. However, the new investment income from the funds they can’t shelter in their TFSAs will be reported and taxed every year.

“Once their inheritance is received, they could withdraw $35,000 per year from the non-registered portfolio and reduce the withdrawals from their RRSPs and LIRAs to about $89,000 a year. This, combined with their pension income of about $38,000 (with inflation), would bring their total income to about $162,000 year while reducing their taxes to $27,000 per year, he says.

When to take CPP and OAS will depend on the timing and amount of their expected inheritance, the planner says. Without the inheritance, starting their benefits at age 65 would help reduce the annual withdrawals from their portfolio, the planner says.

Because of the seven-year difference in their ages, Ennis and Kara have time to think about when to take benefits. “They could take a hybrid approach,” the planner says. “For instance, if no inheritance was received by 2029 when Ennis turns 65, they could start his CPP and OAS payments to reduce the withdrawals from their savings,” he says. “They would still have lots of time to make the decision for Kara because she won’t turn 65 until 2037.”

They also ask about helping their children. “The challenge in their current position is they don’t have the after-tax capital to do it today,” Mr. Calvert says. “Large withdrawals from their RRSPs would not be tax-efficient and would further hasten the decline in their capital,” he says. “Their only other option is to pull equity from their house, which would come with additional debt servicing.”

The situation

The people: Ennis, 61, Kara, 54, and their three children, 20, 24 and 26.

The problem: Can they afford to retire soon and still meet their retirement spending goal?

The plan: A lot depends on the anticipated inheritance. They’d be drawing heavily on their registered savings in the early years. Ennis could start his government benefits at 65 to keep the withdrawals to a minimum. Continue Reading…