OPTIMISM #29 - June 1, 2021

Dear clients and friends,

Stock prices continue to climb on more good news. My Canada bias is shining, as are your dividends and overall returns.

We saw a nice dividend increase from Algonquin Power last week. A 10% boost, plus it’s the tenth consecutive one.

Canadian banks reported strong earnings this week as well. Experts expect double digit dividend increases this calendar year.

BMO Chief economist Doug Porter said 14 months ago that the TSX market would be over 18,000 by the end of 2020. Everyone balked. Today it crossed 20,000. 

It pays to think differently.

Food for thought. Maybe the real estate market is not as crazy as we think. A Scotiabank article this week said Canada has the fewest homes per person of G7 countries. 

Here is a wonderful article about how the Desmarais family is growing their massive asset base. 

Think Investors Group, London Life, Canada Life, Great West Life, Wealthsimple, Mackenzie funds etc. 

The founder Paul Sr. grew it, the next generation did not do much but now the third generation is growing it again. 

You likely own POW shares in your portfolio.

https://financialpost.com/investing/how-the-desmarais-empire-mastered-the-delicate-art-of-self-disruption

PDFs are attached as well as these sites have paywalls.

OMERs, the Ontario pension fund managers, negative 2.7% return for 2020. 

These are some of the smartest people in the investment game.

It’s return was similar to my 100% stock portfolio.  Balanced approaches performed much better.

2020 was not a great year for me, but 2021 is more than making up for it.

Insider trading – it’s always a good sign when insiders are buying.

CFO Greg Palaschuk bought 3175 shares of Finning International.

CEO Fraser Atkinson bought 6000 shares of GreenPower Motor company for a total of 1,143,766 shares.

I marvel at the brilliance of retailers. We were in Superstore (Loblaws) this week.

Chick Peas.  In the ‘normal aisle, Unico brand is $1.89 a can.

In the international aisle, a different brand likely for more price sensitive shoppers, 88 cents for the Tamam brand.  Same size.

In the same store, they are selling essentially the same thing to different shoppers, for double the price.

Don’t spoil our kids.  Great article on generational wealth transfer.

Wealthy parents face delicate balance when passing their money on to their children — especially the wayward ones | Financial Post

Fantastic article on aging populations.  Theis will have huge implications for us as people and as investors.  There are more people in adult diapers in Japan than children’s diapers.

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/long-slide-looms-world-population-114958574.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGtK5_iF_H1H4xZtArpDyd8VcLXuSTu6nuLAIGE7dsXNweKnFbnthB20i-3UKw18ej1nVkAmYCthhcmWlM5O5A8KxEs6aTl0VtwVUWRg6q1pjyydooGmck2QdEkl8_eZ-D9BQ8VZ191uoOGACrMgYZaJ5HcGc5iM8cSggP5d5XAv

Thank you for the smile Bill.  He says:

“A good chunk of our tax bill comes from moving money out of our RIF.

The only “problem” we’re having is the RIF keeps growing back. It’s a good problem to have.”

Have a wonderful week.