As at December 31, 2017, the market value of all holdings within the FFJ Portfolio exceeded the book value by ~CDN$66,000 and ~USD$136,000. I, however, pay very little attention to the positive variance as I have no intention of selling any holdings.
My primary focus is to continually increase the dividend income generated from the holdings within the portfolio. The REDUCTION in the value of the stocks held in the FFJ Portfolio, therefore, is more favorable from my perspective.
My preference for closely monitoring the income generated from our investment holdings is that future dividend income from a stock is a far more predictable metric than a company’s future stock price. In addition, I want our investment holdings to generate cash flow that will help us sustain our lifestyle without having to resort to the sale of any holdings for reasons other than tax planning purposes.
At the beginning of 2017, I forecast annual dividend income of CDN $7,000 and US$11,000. As the year progressed, however, I decided to take the commuted value of my defined benefit pension plan and to manage the funds myself. By doing this, I added the new proceeds to my FFJ Portfolio and in September 2017 I increased my FY2017 dividend income targets to ~CDN$12,200 and ~USD$13,000.
Now that 2017 has come to a close, I am pleased to report that the FFJ Portfolio generated CDN$12,328.01 and USD$12,965.33 in dividend income in 2017. Using these results and extrapolating for realistic percentage dividend increases, I have set 2018 dividend income targets of CDN$13,200 and USD$15,200. I don't envision any significant new money being added to the FFJ Portfolio in 2018 but should this change I will revisit these targets.
Stay tuned for monthly dividend income updates.
On a final note, I wish you all the best in 2018!
