When I retired I made a bet. I bet that putting all my money into the market would yield the best income for me and my wife. So far, my thesis has worked. Oh, I've modified my holdings over the years, I've jettisoned my bond funds and bond ETFs and made other changes, but I'm still guiding my retirement portfolio and it is heavily into Canadian income-producing stocks.
This year the market has not been good to me. Come January 1st, I can envision being down 10% or more from where I was just one year earlier. This sounds bad but it is not as bad as it sounds. I will still be up something like 55% from where my holdings stood at the time of my retirement in early 2009.
The big test of my retirement plan will be my dividend income. If my revenue drops substantially, making it impossible for me to pay my bills, my thesis will have failed. If I get through the market down time with my finances intact, I will count this as a win.
But win or lose, I will be reallocating my money, I will be making changes to my holdings yet again. I may get back into bonds. I will definitely take on more exposure to the States, at least in my RIFs. I will spread my bank investments among more financial institutions and not be so concentrated in just three banks and one insurance company. I'll take some time to carefully increase my exposure to utilities. I will again consider ETFs and possibly cut back on my direct ownership of specific stocks.
Stay tuned.
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