Dividend Income Mar 2021

Welcome to our Financial Journey Dividend Income Update. We started the journey to Financial Independence in 2019 and paid off $60,000 in consumer debt. We got excited, and since July 2020, we’ve been tracking and sharing our journey to Financial Independence. Let’s take a look and see the dividend income received in March 2021.

Journey to Financial Independence – Dividends breakdown

In March 2021, we have received dividends from the following companies:

Ticker	Name	$
VEE.TO	Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap Index ETF	4.04
REI-UN.TO	RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust	19.12
VRE.TO	Vanguard FTSE Canadian Capped REIT Index ETF	2.37
CU.TO	Canadian Utilities Limited Class A	281.91
ENB.TO	Enbridge Inc	400.80
MFC.TO	Manulife Financial Corporation	257.04
XEI.TO	iShares S&P TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF Units	0.83
QYLD	Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF	118.50
ITOT	iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF	121.52
MSFT	Microsoft Corporation	18.09
WBA	Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc	89.76
Total		1,313.98

Youtube channel – Our Journey to Financial Independence

Here’s the video version of our Dividend Income breakdown. Scroll down to keep reading. By the way, feel free to visit our Youtube channel.

2021 Retire Early Dividend Income Summary

We are -3.16% since last quarter (Dec 2020). As you can see from the graphic, this is the quarter we receive the fewer dividend payments. This is a result of our asset allocation optimization, where we sold a few positions, including KO and IBM.

Year to date, we’ve received $4.214,05. Our goal is to become financially independent in 2028, receiving $40,000 per year in dividends.

Our Passive Income Strategy

Let’s examine some of the moves we’ve made with our portfolio (comparing with the last quarter – Dec 2020):

• Canadian Utilities [CU.TO]: We increased our position by 109 shares. This move represents an 18% increase in dividends received;
• Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap Index ETF [VEE.TO]: This is the first time we’ve received dividends from VEE. Actually, VEE.TO and VIU.TO are the ETFs we’ve decided to invest in our international allocation. Still a small position, but growing over time;
• Enbridge [ENB.TO]: We still owe the same number of shares (480). However, Enbridge increased its dividends last year. This increase represents a 3% increase;
• RioCan [REI-UN.TO]: On the opposite side, RioCan decreased its dividends… and what a pay cut! We did not sell the position and hope the dividends will increase again. Since last quarter, we’ve got three more shares (dripped). With the three more shares, it is still a -48% reduction in our dividends from RioCan (last quarter we received $28.32);
• iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF [ITOT]: This is one area of optimization in our portfolio. As you recall above, we sold a few U.S. positions and the profit was all invested in ITOT. We own 410 shares, and comparing with our last quarter, it is a 95% increase.

Asset Allocation – Financial Independence Journey