Playing B2 Gold to win

I find B2 Gold (BTO) appealing. Why? Because it is opening a gold mine in Nunavut come early next year. Gold mines are all too often found in iffy parts of the globe. Nunavut is a welcome change of pace.

I paid about $3.64 for my original 2750 shares. I saw it as a bit of a gamble but it is fun to gamble as long as the risk is not too high. I was comfortable with the risk/reward offered by B2 Gold. Shortly after buying BTO I received a dividend of about $150 Canadian.

A few weeks later I sold all my position for $3.88 a share. I made a capital gain of about $640. I immediately put $200 toward my 2025 income tax and used the remaining cash to fund a bid for 2900 shares of BTO at $3.60. It was another gamble. It took some days but the order was eventually filled.

B2 Gold then tumbled daily until it found support at about $3.45. On the surface, that represents a loss but after the dividend and my capital gains are factored in, I am still in the black on my B2 Gold purchase. I have another sell order sitting on the books. This time I am hoping for $4.20. I'm patient. I can wait.

The target value for BTO as shown by WebBroker as been climbing recently. Some analysts see BTO hitting $6.00 and even $7.00 within the coming year but it might be a volatile journey. If it is, I plan on being there to profit.

By the way, I am playing this game using my non-registered account. The CRA does not look kindly on investors using their registered accounts for anything resembling day trading. Gambling, especially when done repeatedly with one stock, is not for one's registered accounts.

Stock Unlock: worth a look

Here is what Perplexity had to say about Stock Unlock.

Stock Unlock is an investment education and analysis platform that helps both novice and experienced investors research and evaluate stocks. Based on the search results, the key things Stock Unlock does are:

• Provides detailed fundamental analysis and data on stocks, including financial metrics, analyst data, insider trades, and ownership information. This allows users to thoroughly research and evaluate companies before investing.1234
• Offers investment education and guidance to help users, especially beginners, learn how to analyze stocks and make informed investment decisions. The platform has over 200 pages of custom educational content.3
• Allows users to easily compare the fundamentals of multiple stocks side-by-side, which helps identify good investment opportunities and avoid poor ones.23
• Offers portfolio tracking and monitoring tools to help users manage their investments, including features to visualize and analyze dividend income and returns over time.4

In summary, Stock Unlock aims to empower both novice and experienced investors by providing comprehensive stock research, analysis, and educational resources all in one platform, streamlining the investment decision-making process.1234

Create a portfolio and backtest your creation

Recently I joined the Facebook group Canadian Dividend Investing. Someone expressed interest in the Frugal Dividend Portfolio created by Norman Rothery. The question piqued my interest and I turned to the Ai search engine Perplexity. It returned the following:

There is a way to create and back-test a portfolio of Canadian stocks and ETFs. How? Use the Portfolio Visualizer tool. It lets you construct one or more portfolios based on selected mutual funds, ETFs, and stocks. You can then analyze and backtest the portfolio returns, risk characteristics, style exposures, and drawdowns over a specified time period. To create and back-test a portfolio of Canadian stocks and ETFs using the Portfolio Visualizer:

1. Go to the Portfolio Visualizer website at https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio
2. In the "Portfolio Allocation" section, you can add the Canadian stocks and ETFs you want to include in your portfolio. You can search for and select the specific funds you want to use.
3. Set the time period you want to backtest, such as the past 3 years.
4. The tool will then analyze the historical performance of your portfolio and provide detailed metrics like returns, risk, and diversification.

This allows you to see how your selected mix of Canadian investments would have performed over the past 3 years, which can help you evaluate and refine your portfolio before investing real money. The Portfolio Visualizer is a useful tool for building and testing investment portfolios.

There are three versions of the Portfolio Visualizer and one is free. As is to be expected, it does not deliver all the bells and whistles of the other two but it is amazingly good. It is certainly worth a look. I wonder how long the free version will remain available online.

Sometimes investing is gambling and its fun!

B2 Gold (BTO) is a Canadian gold mining company with its offices in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it's a penny stock on the TSX. Recently, I read that B2 Gold is opening a mine in Nunavut early in the coming year. With my interest piqued, I did a little research.

On one hand many of the target values for the stock are being re-evaluated downward. In WebBroker, I clicked on News and read "RBC Cuts Price Target on B2Gold to $3.50 From $4." This was but one of the bulletins announcing a lowered target.

On the other hand, when I clicked on Analysts I discovered that B2 Gold in rated a Strong Buy with a price target of $5.66. That is down from the $6 plus target that B2 Gold held recently but it is still well up from my $3.60 entry point. A check with Morningstar showed that Morningstar saw B2 Gold as fairly valued. No clear cut direction here as to whether one should buy BTO.

Finally, as a dividend investor, the 5.9% dividend was a magnet or would have been if it were not for the published payout ratio of 1,981.94%! That is just a crazy number. How is that even possible?

Did I buy? Yes. Why? Just for the fun of it. For the excitement. Yes, the money invested in BTO might disappear but it also might return a very nice profit. This is a "do you feel lucky" moment and I felt lucky. So far, I've been lucky.

I bought a few thousand shares at $3.64, kept them long enough to collect a nice dividend, and then sold all for about $3.85. Including the dividend I was now up more than $700. I placed an offer to buy but a low ball offer. Yesterday, I picked up all the shares I sold and then some at $3.60 a share. Today BTO is selling for $3.77. 

The game is not over but I may well make more than a thousand dollars gambling on B2 Gold.

A Nine ETF with Cash Retirement Porfolio

Over the past few nights I have been working on the ultimate ETF retirement portfolio. The portfolio must produce something close to the present income from my present retirement portfolio, a portfolio containing mostly stocks with a smidgen of ETFs.

I like to think of my portfolio as fairly solid. Not too volatile. But it is not true. It has lost as much as 20% of its value in long, deep bear markets.What has not been volatile has been the income. With investments like Emera, Fortis, Embridge, Bank of Montreal and Telus and many more, my dividend income very rarely suffers any shrinkage.

It is a very tough order to ask an ETF portfolio to perform as well as a carefully constructed portfolio of top-of-the-line dividend paying stocks, but I think it can be done. Or maybe I should say that I hope it can be done. ETFs are self-balancing. I would love to free myself of the chore, the responsibility, of keeping my retirement income portfolio running.

Today, I created a nine ETFs portfolio with ten percent of its value in cash. If I have calculated correctly it will produce the same yield as my present portfolio. To boost the yield, I included a number of Bank of Montreal created options-boosted ETFs. Options will boost income but will also put a ceiling on capital gains. A downside to using options. The flip side is that options will reduce losses. An upside to using options.

My Nine ETF Retirement Income Portfolio was created with $1,110,000. A full ten percent was kept in cash. Deposit this in a money market fund like TDB8150 today and reap a yield of 4.55% until at least June I believe. At the end of its first day, it had gained $2,688.49. A good start.

 

My Nine ETF Retirement Income Portfolio should yield something approaching five percent and be resistant to falling quickly in bull and bear markets thanks to the generous use of options-enhanced ETFs.

It should show fair capital gains as it contains some exposure to the U.S. market. A full ten percent exposure by way of XSP from iShares. The international exposure should also show fair capital gains thanks to the inclusion of Vanguard VIDY.

At the first of next month, and every month thereafter, I will withdraw $4,200 to live just as I would if this were a real retirement portfolio. Come January, I will make an inkind withdrawal of enough stock to meet the government demands relating to annual RIF withdrawals. The stock will be transferred to an imaginary TFSA opened for the sole purpose of accepting the annual RIF withdrawals.  

You may well wonder at the inclusion of ZUT and RIT in this portfolio. I drilled down into the investments contained in the ETF portfolio leaders. I felt my portfolio needed more exposure to utilities and to real estate.

• XEI    10%
• CDZ    17.5%
• RIT     7%
• ZUT    5%
• ZWC    20%
• XSP    10%  This entry has been corrected. Originally, there was a typo. Oops!
  
• ZWH    10%
• VIDY    5%
• ZWG    5%
• Cash    10%

It doesn't look like it but these percentages were worked out using a spreadsheet. The only clues are the percentages devoted to CDZ and RIT.

If this portfolio delivers, especially if it delivers when compared to my present porfolio, I may well slowly sell my stocks and embrace my Nine ETFs Retirement Income Portfolio.

Stay tuned.

Putting my money where my mouth is -- for real!

I did it. I added to my Emera position. I bought 100 shares of EMA. This will be a core holding. I do not intend to sell this for some time. I will hold it and enjoy a 6.07% yield on my original investment.

Emera is one of the biggest utility companies in Canada but it has extensive holdings in the United States -- especially in Florida. As a utility, it is said to have a stabilizing effect on one's portfolio. Its price should not fluctuate as much as the average stock.

Its dividend of $2.87 is not only to be trusted, it has a DGR (dividend growth rate) of 11.66% over the past three years. To ease dividend reduction concerns even more, the payout ratio is only 66.13%.

I am very happy with my purchase.

____________________________________________________________

Emera is still lingering in the depths of bear market hole. Today it is selling for even less than what I recently paid. It is at $46.41 as I write this. That is a yield of 6.2%. As a buy and hold stock, Emera is a keeper and at this price it is, in my estimation, a strong buy. -- April 18, 2024
 

Putting my imaginary money where my mouth is.

I honestly believe Telus (T) is an amazing buy today. If I didn't have so much invested in Telus already, I would be buying. Unfortunately, I put all my available cash into Telus when it was some dollars more expensive. I have lost thousands in real, hard cash.

If I could, I would put at least ten thousand into Telus today but I can't. Since I cannot put real money into Telus, I have opened a Portfolio Manager account with $10,000 in imaginary money.

That ten thousand has an unrealized gain of $84.01 already.

Each Monday, I am going to check my Telus "purchase" and post the results. 

I am not alone in my faith in Telus but I did catch a chap on BNN this morning who was very dubious of a Telus recovery and warned viewers to hold onto their cash. Don't be tempted by the Telus dividend was his position.

By the way, I may be out thousands but as long as Telus doesn't reduce its dividend, I will be reaping a nice reward for my ownership. There is a bright light at the end of this dark tunnel. By this time next year, I might be nicely out of the red and well into the black. Why today alone, I pocketed almost $2,150 in dividends. That is almost $8600 annually,

Portfolio Manager - April 1, 2024 - gain of $84.01 on Telus purchase made this morning,

 

It is Friday, April 5th and the market has closed. My imaginary Telus stock is up yet again. Still, this could be a nail-biter in the short term

Emera: a good addition to a retirement portfolio

Emera is down. It is not scrapping bottom; it could fall farther but it is still down a substantial amount. It is selling for $47.67 and yielding 6.02%. The payout ratio is a little high at 77.61% but that is still not worrisome. The Dividend Growth Rate is solid, consistent and instills confidence. The DGR hit 11.66% calculated over the past three years. Over the past decade, the DGR drops a little to 9.38%.

My goal is to have 15% of my retirement portfolio tucked away in the utilities sector. Today I am not near my goal; I have only 10% in utilities today. This might be an excellent time to add to my Emera holdings. If you are an income investor and do not have any Emera, this could be a good time to add EMA to your holdings.

By the way, I just checked the Morningstar Core Holdings recommendations and the Morningstar Income Portfolio, both Canadian. Emera is on both lists. I see this as a solid vote of confidence. In writing this, I have piqued my own interest.

The Internet is an amazing source of investment advice.

The Internet is an amazing source of investment advice. Surf the Web and learn. It is quick. It is easy. And it can be wrong. The big thing to be, along with curious, is discerning. I asked Perplexity, an Ai program I really like, where to get advice on how to be a discerning investor. Its answer: follow the advice from Investopedia.com.

The following are five tips from Investopedia on how to be discerning when doing financial research.

• Verify the credibility and qualifications of the source providing investment advice. Look for reputable, established websites and avoid anonymous or unverified sources.
  
  
• Scrutinizing claims. Do your own research to validate any investment recommendations or strategies. Don't blindly trust what you read online.
  
  
• Understand the risks and limitations of any investment product or strategy before committing your money. For instance, Investopedia explains complex financial concepts in easy-to-understand terms.
  
  
• Recognize the difference between investing and speculating. Investopedia emphasizes the importance of a long-term, diversified approach over get-rich-quick schemes.
  
  
• Develop critical thinking skills to identify potential biases, conflicts of interest, or misleading information in online investment advice.
  
  

My financial blog is an anonymous, unverified source. I realize this and so I take pains to apply the four other rules listed above and you should too.

For instance, I like REITs as a retirement investment. But REITs were yesterday's darling. Not today's. I have wisely or unwisely kept the faith. My goal is to have eight percent of my retirement portfolio in REITs. I actually have just a little more than seven percent.

I used to invest in individual REITs. No more. Instead, I have two ETFs: ZRE and RIT. ZRE is the BMO Equal Weight REITs Index ETF. It closed Friday at $20.70, yielding 5.217%. RIT is the CI Canadian REIT ETF which closed Friday at $16.15, yielding 5.015%. I may be down a little more than $7000.

On the plus side, I earn about $3500 annually from my REITs. As I have owned REITs for more than a decade, I feel confident that on the whole I am in the black. As my REITs are all held within two ETFs, I think of them as being self-balanced. ZRE follows an index approach while RIT is actually managed. Management costs money and for this reason the RIT MER is higher than the ZRE MER.

Why do I pay the higher MER? Well, the RIT holdings are quite different than those of ZRE. I like diversity. Also, RIT holds some U.S. REITs. I like that as well. And, when it comes to capital gains, RIT often bests ZRE. ZRE is the purple line in the one year graph above which I downloaded from the TSX website.

Even though it is written from an American perspective, the following linked article is quite good: How to invest in REITs. For a Canadian viewpoint, click this link: Why we invest in REITs - 5 Best Canadian REITs for 2024. This is from the TAWCAN blog. An excellent blog by a very wise Taiwanese Canadian.

Dividends can ease bear market pain.

I thought the Telus price would climb, and climb very quickly. It didn't. It wilted, and its price crashed very quickly. I am out thousands. Oops! I am in the green on my original Telus investment purchased years ago but I am down big time on the purchase made some months ago.

Come Monday I will collect another dividend. I should see a nice, well into the four figures, dividend. It is the second big payout I have enjoyed thanks to Telus. When I have collected four of these payments, I will break even, assuming the Telus price does not keep collapsing.

Telus may reduce its dividend. If it does, I will still be back in the black on my total Telus exposure in what is a very short time to a buy and hold investor like me. I'm thinking of a time frame like a year or so.

I continue to bet on a Telus recovery. When it finally recovers, whenever that might be, it will flip my frown to a grin and my Telus holdings will go from in the red to in the green.While I wait for what I see as an inevitable turnaround, the constant flow of dividend dollars will pay the bills, keeping the wolf from the door. If I don't sell, I don't realize my losses. When it comes to the dividends, I realize my profits every three months.

If I had some free cash, I'd buy a little more Telus. I'm a glutton for something. I hope it's not punishment. 😄

Telus just keep getting better!

Telus just keeps getting better? Really? Telus is selling for $21.765 at this moment. It is so far into the bear market zone, all hope for a quick recovery is hibernating. Telus is down and may stay down for some time. With its payout ratio now at 261%, Telus may suffer the unthinkable: a dividend reduction. How could it be getting better?

Let's look at the dividend first. It is yielding almost 7% today. Buy Telus at today's price, a price that has some of the fear of a possible dividend cut already factored in, and even if the dividend gets reduced you will probably enjoy a good yield. You will be paid well to wait for a recovery.

Telus is outperforming its main telecom competitors, BCE and Rogers. Of the three, Telus had the best telecom revenue and EBITDA growth to report at the end of the last quarter in 2023. Telus's strength may be in its good management. For instance, Telus has replaced most of its legacy copper network with fiber. It started early and it is finishing early. There's a lot of good news behind the scenes, and not that far behind, when you begin reading the financial reports on Telus.

So, am I buying more Telus? Sadly, no. I do not have the free cash to tie up in Telus. Having admitted this, I will also admit to why I am so low in cash: Telus. Yes, I bought Telus when I thought it had lost as much as it would. It seemed to be on the road to recovery. It wasn't. I have lost thousands.  And yet, I smile.

Come April 1, I will reap my reward for holding Telus; I will pocket a dividend of $0.376 for every Telus share I own and I own a lot. Too much. But, as a retiree, my Telus stock is paying the bills. I look forward to holding Telus for a year or two or even longer and paying oodles of bills with the yield whether it gets cut or not. 

When Telus finally recovers, I will take my profits and run, run to the nearest good looking investment opportunity available at that time. There are always places to stash one's money even if its just a money market fund.

Five ETF Portfolio

Recently, I read a post detailing a Canadian income portfolio created with only five ETFs. I wondered how I would approach this problem. Here is my answer.

• First, one must have a good whack of U.S. stocks. I would put 20% of my funds in ZSP (ZSP - BMO S&P 500 Index ETF) The yield is low (1.21%) but so be it. I can live with that to benefit from a fair amount of exposure to the U.S. market.
• To round out my non-Canadian holdings, I would put 7.5% of my money into VIDY (Vanguard FTSE Developed ex North America High Dividend Yield Index ETF.) The dividend is about 3.66% today.
  
• Now, for a decent exposure to Canadian stock I would put 57.5% into XEI. (iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF.) This ETF is yielding in the 5.2% range at this moment.
• Next, I'd invest 10% in CDZ (iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index ETF.) This yield about 3.9%.
  
• And I would finish by putting 5% in FCCL. (Fidelity Canadian Low Volatility ETF.) Low volatility and a small dividend at about 2.55%.
  

I created a portfolio similar to the above but with about 5% of the portfolio kept as cash in TDB8150 where it earns 4.55% daily interest. When the Bank of Canada lowers its rate, this money market account rate will be cut as well. I figure we are good until at least June. 

This five ETF portfolio plus its cash component would yield about 4.12% today. This is not bad but it's far short of what my true retirement portfolio is yielding. The question is will it deliver better growth?

Now, how would you handle this problem. Enter your answer in Portfolio Manager in TD WebBroker and then track your portfolio for a year or two. See how your ideas play out in real time.

_______________________________________________________________

Note: This post has been updated a few times as I learned more about suitable ETFs. It is too early to say too much about the success of this portfolio in the long run but so far it has outperformed my own portfolio which holds more than 20 investments. Stay tuned.

I realize there are quite a few overlapping investments to discover if one drills down into the holdings in the ETFs based on the Canadian market. I don't care. I didn't claim be an expert but a duffer. That said, it's Good Friday and I my Five ETF portfolio is up $14,611.58. Nice.

Bell, the telecom giant, is it a buy?

BCE is one of my core holdings but it has been on a race to the bottom, as of late. In fact, all the telecoms are dropping like proverbial stones. When BCE dipped below $49 recently, I should have added to my holding and averaged down. Maybe I will do it tomorrow as it closed today at $49.13. The Morningstar Analyst Report gives the stock a four star rating and yet many analysts I checked feel BMO is a hold. It is possible BCE is going to linger at the bottom for awhile longer. Many analysts seem to think so.

The yield today is 8.12% with a payout ratio hitting 117.19%. This payout ratio, found using WebBroker, is quite high but the number posted by Digrin is even higher -- an unbelievable 175%. Something is wrong here. These numbers are taking us into "Do you feel lucky, punk?" territory.

BMO hasn't reduced a dividend payment in years but past performance yah-da, yah-da, yah-da means don't believe such a move is off the table. DRG (dividend growth rate) is O.K. but not exciting. To put a dividend you believe you can trust into a retirement portfolio, a dividend yielding 8.12%, I am tempted to act and buy a little. BCE seems to present a buying opportunity, a too-good-to-be-true buying opportunity. So, do you, do we, feel lucky?

Bank of Montreal (BMO): Buy

In the interest of full disclosure, I own Bank of Montreal and have for many years. A damn fine stock. When it dipped well below $120 recently, I added to my holdings. It has regained some of its value but it is still a buy today. The Morningstar Analyst Report gives the stock a four star rating and most analysts I checked agree BMO is a buy.

The yield today is 4.84% with a payout ratio of only 83.31%. This payout ratio is quite high for a Canadian bank. A number closer to 45% is what I expected.  For instance, the Royal Bank (RY) is 50%.

BMO hasn't missed a dividend payment in more than 30 years. Its DRG (dividend growth rate) for the past three years is 10.71% and for the past twenty years 11.85%. With numbers like this, I see a core holding for a retiree: a dividend you can trust and it increases regularly.

If I didn't hold any BMO, I'd buy a little at this price but I'd keep some powder dry for other opportunities. With patience one can add to the BMO position when the stock is rated a very strong buy. You must stay alert though, it does not stay in the basement for long and that is a good quality in a stock one plans on owning for a very long time.

Algoma Central Corporation (ALC): Buy

I do not own Algoma Central Corp. (ALC) but at some point in the future I will. Why? Good company, well run with an excellent history when it comes to paying dividends. Today the yield is 5.1% with a payout ratio of only 32.71%. ALC has chalked up 28 dividend paying years and its DRG for the past three years is 30%

Also, ALC has a good moat. It is the only stock in the TSX Marine Shipping sector. If you like diversity, adding a little ALC today looks like a good move.

Why am I holding back? The stock is fairly valued today. I like a bargain. I can afford to wait for a more appealing entry point. When it appears, I'm in.

More advice for a retiring friend and nephew

One has to build a solid, dividend-paying portfolio if one is to have a good trusted flow of income in retirement. A stock to consider is Emera (EMA).

First, it is selling in bear market territory. It could go lower and it might but it is well off its recent highs with a drop of more than 20%. 

 

 

At a price of $46.93, EMA is yielding 6.12%. Impressive. Morningstar has Emera on its Canadian Income Pick List for good reason and recently put Emera on the Morningstar Canadian Core List as well.

All retirement portfolios should have some exposure to the utilities sector. Emera is an excellent utility. If one did not have any cash in utilities, EMA today presents an investment opportunity.

The utilities sector is considered a defensive play as people need electricity regardless of economic conditions. With stable earnings and consistent dividends, utilities are less sensitive to market fluctuations. During recessions, defensive sectors like utilities tend to outperform the broader market. But, this does not mean the sector will not lose money in a downturn. Utilities can, and do, take a dive like any other investment.

An investor might allocate 4% of their retirement portfolio to Emera, investing half of that amount today and, if the price retreats, investing the other half.

Another good utility is Fortis (FTS). Fortis is down today but nowhere near as much as Emera. Fortis is correcting. It is off its recent high by about 15%. Selling at $52.49, it is yielding 4.5% today. Again, buying 2% today and 2% later seems like a fair approach.

Utilities are known to increase their dividends regularly. The dividend growth rate (DGR) for Emera is 11.66% over the past three years and 9.38% over the past decade. According to Investopedia, the DGR is the annualized percentage rate of growth of a dividend over a set number of years.

Aiming to invest 10% of a retirement portfolio in utilities is not unreasonable. A portfolio of $400,000 would have $40,000 distributed among a number of Canadian utilities. For instance, if one invested in Canadian Utilities, Emera and Fortis, (2-4-4%), this would generate about $2175 annually.

In the interest of full discloser, I have 3.45% of my portfolio in Emera. I am looking to add another 200 shares if and when the stock price falls a bit more. I also own Fortis and I do not own Canadian Utilities at this time. I do own Altagas (ALA). A stock many include in the utilities sector.

Advice for a retiring friend and nephew

My job had a very poor pension plan. If I relied on my company pension in retirement, I couldn't pay my bills. But my wife and I live well. How? Dividend investing. Each year we earn as much or more from our stock portfolio than we do from my company pension plus our CPP and OAS payments combined. For this reason, I am a big booster of investing in stocks in retirement.

With any luck, one will be retired for a long time. So, don't be cheap with your time. Put some time aside for research. To get you started, here are a couple of Webinars I believe a retiree should watch. Log-on to WebBroker and click on Learn -- Webinars -- Past Events. Watch: Five Stock Dividend Portfolio and Defensive Dividend Income for Retirement.

(After posting the above, I found Five Stock Dividend Portfolio on YouTube.)

One caveat: five stocks is a bare minimum. It can be done but why? Why buy one Canadian bank when you could buy two or three? Adding diversity while maintaining quality is always a good move.

Last June I decided to test my retirement theories. I created an imaginary retirement portfolio with an initial value of $1 million dollars. It can been seen here: Retirement Portfolio.

Today, that portfolio is worth $999,619.09. In January, I withdrew the minimum amount as an inkind withdrawal. In accordance with RRIF rules, these stocks were transferred to a newly opened TFSA now worth $42,397.06.

To sum up, my imaginary $1 million retirement portfolio is now worth $1,042,016.15. Later today, after making my monthly $3,470 withdrawal, I will have withdrawn a total of $27,076.65 to cover living expenses in retirement. I think I can claim success for my approach at the moment.

A retiree could choose to buy an annuity rather than buy stock. They could, I wouldn't and didn't, but it is done. On the plus side, an annuity locks in annual payments. On the minus side, the locked in annual payments stays the same for the life of the annuity. A locked in payment loses a lot of buying power over the years. I have an annuity-based pension paying $6273.72 annually. To deliver the same buying power today as it did when opened in 2009. it would have to be paying $8790.

How do insurance companies raise the money to make annuity payments? The insurance companies invest in stocks, bonds and cash funds for one thing. I like to think I simply cut out the middleman. Unlike my annuity payment, my portfolio payment has grown with the passing years and thus far my imaginary portfolio is doing the same.

A good source for insights into Investing

TD WebBroker offers classes on investing. Before signing up for a class, you might benefit from having enough investment smarts to be able to ask knowledgeable questions. I have found a great source of investing info is Investopedia.

Recently, I bought a little B2 Gold Corp stock. I made my decision to buy based partially on stuff I had learned reading Investopedia. There are reasons why one stock is a buy and another is not. What are those reasons? Read Investopedia for the answer.

Click the following link: The 4 Basic Elements of Stock Value. After that, check out this one: 4 Ratios to Evaluate Dividend Stocks. Investopedia is amazingly complete. If you like video instruction, Investopedia has that as well.

I like B2 Gold Corp. (BTO)

Little bells start ringing when I decide a stock may be a buy. The first bell is the stock price. If it is off its high for the past year by 20% or more, it is in bear market territory. If it's alone in its descent, this is worrisome. But, if the entire market is down as well, we may well have a buying low moment.

Recently, B2 Gold Corp caught my attention. It was off its high for the year by 38%. Was B2 Gold in trouble or was the stock undervalued?

For an answer, check the P/B ratio. If it less than 1.0, the stock may be undervalued. B2 Gold had a P/B value of 0.9. A promising number.

As a dividend investor, before going farther, I check the dividend. I require a dividend of at least 4% and ideally with a payout ration below 80%. The lower the payout ratio the better. The payout ratio indicates the percentage of a company's earnings, or in some cases cash flow, that is being devoted to dividends. B2 Gold has a 6% dividend with a payout ratio of 68%. All good.

Keep in mind, bear markets drive yields higher. A two dollar dividend on a hundred dollar stock yields 2%. If the stock price falls by half to $50, the two dollar dividend now yields 4%. This is yet another reason to buy low.

Moving on, it is time to check the ROE or return on equity. The higher the ROE the better. To get a handle on what high actually means, check the ROEs of comparable companies in the same industry or sector. The ROE is more than just a measure of profitability, it is a measure of a company's efficiency at pumping out profits. According to TD WebBroker, the B2 Gold ROE leads the pack. Read what WebBroker had to say:

TD WebBroker has a section on Profitablility under Function. The BTO numbers look excellent. See for yourself, the numbers are reproduced below:

If a company isn't profitable you probably do not want to buy its stock but a profitable company may still have stock selling from the bargain bin. More and more this appears to be the case when it comes to B2 Gold. Let's continue our investigation.

The P/E Ratio (TTM), TTM being the trailing price-to-earnings ratio, is another indicator of whether a stock is expensive or cheap. A low P/E (TTM) ratio suggests the stock is undervalued. B2 Gold has P/E (TTM) of 10.8. This is low.

Another clue indicating a company is undervalued is the P/CF or price to cash flow ratio. This ratio compares a company's share price to its operating cash flow. It is calculated by dividing the market capitalization by the operating cash flow of the company or on a per-share basis by dividing the share price by the operating cash flow per share. The lower the P/CF ratio the better. A number below 10 indicates the stock may be undervalued. 

The P/CF ratio is seen as a better investment valuation indicator than the P/E ratio because it provides a less distorted picture of a company's value, especially for companies with large non-cash expenses. B2 Gold has a P/CF of 4.7, well below 10. Again, good!

B2 Gold is getting ready to open a new gold mine in Nunavut come 2025. That's good. At the present time B2 Gold has a large mine in Mali among others. The Russians are showing interest in Mali and its gold. That's bad. I decided to buy B2 Gold. I picked up some shares for about $3.60. The dice are thrown. Will I have a winner?

Buying B2 Gold Corp adds excitement to life

I cannot afford to gamble but I enjoy it. At least, I enjoy gambling when there is some chance of winning. The better the chance, the more the fun. For that reason, I rarely buy lottery tickets. The odds are terrible.

The other day the market price for Canadian gold producer B2 Gold Corp dropped below its Exponencial Moving Average, its Bollinger Bands and its Moving Average Envelope. The stock has dropped from a high of $5.87 to a price of $3.56. That's a fall of almost 40%. This puts B2 Gold deep in bear market territory. With a solid dividend of 5.9% today, I saw a potential buy.

How do others see B2 Gold? It is on the TD Action Buy List this month. The analysts followed by TD Webbroker rate it a Strong Buy and I like the fact that in early 2025 B2 Gold is bringing a new mine online in Canada's far north, in Nunuvut. I see a mine in Canada as located in more politically stable region than a mine in Mali where B2 has a large mine today.

The TD analysts have set an average target price for B2 Gold at $6.30. That is a gain of more than 75% over its market price today.

I see a buy. I like to invest up to 1% of my portfolio in "flings". B2 Gold looks like a "fling". I picked up some shares at $3.64 and I hope to make almost 6% on my investment, that's the dividend, while I wait for the price to pop. One gets a lot of stock when the entry price is so very low. If it jumps even $2, it is windfall.

If the Mali story doesn't deteriorate, I may have a winner.

The Next Move is to Diversify

A few days after making my in-kind withdrawal from my imaginary retirement portfolio, I had transferred some shares of Canadian Utilities from the imaginary RRIF to the imaginary TFSA. Holding only one stock, the CU shares, in my TFSA made me uncomfortable. There were a couple of stocks I wanted to hold and so today I diversified.

The TFSA now holds 309 shares of Canadian Utilities (CU), 820 shares of Telus (T) and 160 shares of TD Bank (TD). A further perk is that the value of the TFSA has increased by about $400. I will keep you posted as to changes at the first of each month.

Telus is a five-star stock by Morningstar's calculation. I will sell the Telus when the price rises. Remember, I also hold Telus in the RRIF account. I see holding Telus as a winning move. It pays a good dividend while one waits for the capital gain.

Buying the TD today will capture the quarterly dividend. Nice. And the TD stock should climb in the coming months and climb more than the CU stock I was holding. Eventually I may actually gravitate back to holding more CU. Remember, I am treating my RRIF and my TFSA as essentially one large portfolio. I do not want to be underweight in my CU holdings indefinitely.

Just to keep everyone up-to-date, the RRIF plus the TFSA is worth $1,055, 642.30 as of market close today. Not bad for a portfoliio opened with one million dollars in June. That means it is only seven months ago.

Inkind Transfers To Meet Mandatory RIF Withdrawals

The average Canadian couple retires with approximately $800,000 in retirement savings. It is not uncommon for individuals to open RRIFs worth $450,000 upon retirement. For this reason, when I created an imaginary million dollar RRIF for an imaginary couple it was not an unreasonable amount.

RRSPs are designed for saving. At retirement RRSPs are converted into RRIFs structured to dole out the saved funds. The imaginary RRIF that I created is a self-directed portfolio of mainly dividend-paying stocks plus a smattering of ETFs. The imaginary RRIF Portfolio is posted here. Please, take a look.

If this had been a real portfolio, no withdrawals would have been made in the first weeks after its creation. Dividends must be given time to collect. Emulating reality, the first monthly withdrawal of $3,333.33 was made in August. By year end a total of $16,666.65 had been withdrawn. Despite the withdrawals, the portfolio value  grew to $1,042,126.11 by December 31st.

How did I choose a monthly withdrawal of $3,333.33? Four percent of a million is $40,000. Divide that by 12, for the 12 months in a year, and the result is $3,333.33.

With each passing year the minimum percentage that must be withdrawn grows. The mandated withdrawal for a 66-year-old retiree is 4.17%. This works out to a $43,456.66 withdrawal in 2024 calculated on the imaginary portfolio value of $1,042,126.11. 

I make my mandated withdrawals as in-kind withdrawals by tranferring stock from my RRIF to my TFSA. In the case of my imaginary portfolio, 1344 shares of Canadian Utilities (CU) at $32.33, plus $5.14 in cash is being transferred from the imaginary RRIF to a newly opened imaginary TFSA.

In the coming year, $2413.82 in CU dividends, which previously went to the RRIF, now go to the TFSA. These dividends can be withdrawn tax-free from the TFSA when needed. If there is not enough contribution room in the TFSA, the balance of the mandated withdrawal is transferred to a non-registered plan. This is the way I handle my own RRIF withdrawals. I try to live solely on the dividends.

A breakdown of the withdrawals, transfers and taxes follows:

• RIF value at market close on Dec. 31, 2023: $1,042,126.11
• Mandated withdrawal (4.17%) posted on Jan. 2nd by TD WebBroker: $43,456.66
• In-kind withdrawal (1344 CU shares @ $32.33+$5.14 in cash) to TFSA: $43,456.66
• No tax is withheld on mandated RRIF withdrawal but tax will be due in the following year.
• Tax, as much as 30%, is withheld on future withdrawals over the mandated minimum withdrawal.
  

To ensure there is no nasty income tax surprise in 2025, 30% is withheld from each monthly RRIF cash withdrawal to cover future tax demands . The cash withdrawals are made to provide the imaginary retired couple with the funds needed to live. As the RRIF is expected to yield at least $39,947 in dividends, payments of at least this amount should not be a burden. An estimated $11,984 will be withheld for future tax needs.

Thanks, in part, to the tax-free nature of the TFSA payments, more money is available for withdrawal per month in 2024 than in 2023. As dividends tend to increase annually, this is another reason the monthly payments will increase in the coming year.

I imagine you are wondering how much the imaginary portfolio is worth today, Jan. 5th, after all withdrawals have been made? Amazingly, it is worth more than its starting balance and don't forget that there is almost $40,000 in a TFSA as well.

My imaginary retired couple is very happy.

Click the link to see my next move: Next Move is to Diversify