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Time Flies – 40 years ago
1984 – coaching minor hockey – overweight, out of shape, nearing middle age, struggling financially.
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February 2024 results
Another good month on the markets. The TSX gained 1.63% with a YTD gain of just under 2%. The Dow gained more than 2% and the S&P was up more than 5% with both showing strong YTD gains.
My portfolios also showed gains in February but lagged the markets. My Canadian portfolio gained about 3/4 % bringing the YTD to about break-even. My US portfolio gained about half a percent, with the YTD just under a 3% gain. My overall portfolio is up about 1 1/2% YTD.
My net worth is up more than 1% on the year and although it is 12% below the maximum set in 2022, it is up almost 21% in my nearly 10 years of retirement.
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Two-Month Scorecard
Here is how my individual stocks have performed for the first part of 2024.
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Brokerage Accounts
Here are the Globe and Mail rankings of online brokerage companies.
My brokerage, HSBC InvestDirect, continues to rank as the lowest, but it still more than meets my needs. By my next report, HSBC will be merged into Royal Bank of Canada and my brokerage will be RBC Direct Investing. RBC ranks higher than HSBC so I will see increased functionality. TD and Qtrade are ranked at the top.
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Long-Term Holding
Here is an article that shows how investing for the long term is the best strategy. It uses the example of BCE stock. It shows that if you bought $10,000 in BCE shares in 2010, it would be worth $32,434 today, including dividends paid, and if you reinvested the dividends, that amount would be $39,087.
In my case, I bought BCE prior to 2004, so I looked at my investment from January 1, 2004, to date. The price for BCE as of January 1, 2004 was $29.55. Ten thousand dollars would buy you about 344 shares. Those shares trade at $50.76 (Feb 23, 2024) and dividends paid over those 20 years amount to $98 bringing the $10,000 investment to $33,738 or a gain of 237% (almost 12% per year using simple interest). That is before reinvesting the dividends and includes the 2008 market crash.
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Suggested Stocks
US
Canada
Note: PPL has dropped from B++ to B+. I will keep an eye on this stock.
Note also: if you run a screener on your portfolio platform screening for company size, dividend yield, and dividend growth, you will get almost exactly this list – only a few insignificant exceptions. The following companies tend to be the biggest companies traded on the TSX.
Europe
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Happy Investing!!
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Brian Borgford - Investing 
Thanks for your generous advice.
Sharon