Happy New Year!
Our 2024 Portfolio Recap
With the beginning of each new year, my husband and I are eager to review our portfolio performance and also set new goals for the year ahead. Although I won’t receive my performance statements for the individual accounts we hold until later this month, I can tell you that our portfolio returned approximately 25%. If you read my December post, you’ll notice that I did jinx it, as it was on track to return over 30% at that time.
Regardless, this type of return is nothing short of amazing. Historically, on average, we can expect to see about 7-8% a year (taking into account inflation). So 2024 was a great year! It might have been even better for you, so congratulations!
The TSX Composite returned 21% (including dividends) in comparison to the S&P 500 which gained 25%.
Paid subscribers can see how each company in our portfolio performed in the subscriber section below.
Our portfolio did drop during the month of December, mostly due to tax-loss selling and the price of oil and gas stocks lowering. When the month began, I didn’t think I would participate in any tax-loss selling but I did. I parted ways with my Bell Canada shares in my taxable account. There are a lot of us in the same boat and it was a pretty easy choice for me, as it was one of the only stocks in my portfolio that was down. I have also lost confidence in the management team. I can use the loss to offset some capital gains as it was held in my taxable account. My husband held on to his shares as they were in his TFSA. Personally, I’m not comfortable buying it back right now so the money will be allocated elsewhere.
With this new year upon us, I’m sure we’re all wondering what the markets will deliver in 2025. We’ve recently seen companies laying off employees in an effort to cut back their costs and unions voting to strike to safeguard employee wages and working conditions in the latter half of 2024. A record high stock market combined with company layoffs and striking unions are two tell-tale signs of a recession. And that’s before we even begin to talk about the cost-of-living that continues to skyrocket. With political tensions, possible tariffs and governments focused on reduced spending, it will be an interesting year. Your guess is as good as mine as far as what’s to come.
One thing we can all be very happy about is being dividend investors. If the markets underperform this year, we will still earn a generous income without having to sell any shares. That’s a very nice position to be in, particularly in retirement.
Our 2024 Dividend Income
Year-over-year our dividend income rose by over 12% and December brought in approx. $4,500 of dividend income which means we fell just shy of our goal of earning $50,000 in dividend income this year.