I recently purchased a brand new car. I know what you’re going to say: I wasted my money, that I lost at least $3000 the minute I drove it off the lot, that I could have got a better deal with a used car, blah blah blah. I don’t care.
Normally, I would have bought a demo or courtesy car with low mileage in the “going out” model year (2010), but, after some fabulous negotiating, we were able to buy the 2011 for the same cost so we went for it.
Buying A Brand New Car
When we have purchased a brand new car in the past, we kept it for 12 to 15 years. Used cars we have purchased lasted us only about three or four years and cost a lot in repairs and service.
Related: 7 steps to stop the cycle of car payments
I bought a 5-year-old Bonneville from a co-worker. Even after an independent mechanic inspected it and gave it the thumbs up, we had nothing but trouble with it from day one.
The “check engine” light was on more often than off, and it continuously lost power. For a big car, it had no guts on the highway and could barely climb a hill. It even stalled out about 2 feet from the LRT tracks – talk about hair-raising.
After putting in thousands of dollars to try to fix it, I finally walked away from it when it stalled on a 2-lane road during rush hour. I never wanted to see it again.
Another used car disaster I bought was a Mercury lease vehicle that had been turned in after the four-year lease was up.
Related: Why I Bought Out My Car Lease
This lemon was in the shop more than in my possession. Warranties were still in effect so the costs to me weren’t as high, but the car dealership just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it.
It finally died on the highway on route to a family gathering that I had to miss while I had the car towed back to the city. The motor had burned out and the dealer offered me a whopping $500 towards another used vehicle because they couldn’t repair it. I gave that a pass.
I may have just had bad luck, but used vehicles just don’t work for me. When I buy a new car, I know all the regular service is being done on a timely basis and I know how the car has been driven.
I’m leery of cars being sold that are only one or two years old – what is the matter with them? You might think I’m an idiot, but ultimately my time and (especially) my peace of mind are much more important in this case than saving some money.
My investment strategy is to buy dividend paying stocks when they are value priced and then hold them to collect growing dividends. The companies that I like to invest in typically raise their dividend annually, or they will average a high dividend growth rate over time.
While investing in dividend stocks is popular during a recession, dividend growth investors need to have the patience and discipline to stick with their strategy during economic boom times when other stocks are outperforming theirs. The reason that patience and discipline are such strong virtues of the dividend growth investor is because of yield on cost.
Related: Beat Inflation With Rising Dividends
Yield On Cost
Once you’ve purchased a dividend paying stock, you will be receiving the dividend yield as it was on the date of purchase. Each time that company raises their dividend, your yield on cost will increase, meaning more money in your pocket from dividend income.
After years of dividend growth your yield on cost could be in the double digits, beating the market each year with just dividends alone.
Related: 6 Reasons To Invest In Dividend Growth Stocks
Back in May 2009, I purchased the majority of my RRSP portfolio which consisted of about twelve stocks. Over the next eighteen month, six of these stocks have raised their dividend (some multiple times). Here is a look at the dividend growth percentages of those stocks, as well as my yield on cost:
| Company | Dividend Growth Rate | Yield On Cost |
| BCE | 18.8% | 7.46% |
| T | 10.5% | 6.62% |
| EMA | 28.7% | 5.23% |
| SJR.B | 4.7% | 4.32% |
| FTS | 7.7% | 3.83% |
| ENB | 14.9% | 3.43% |
Some of those dividend yields are starting to look really attractive and this is only after eighteen months. I will be really excited next year when the banks finally decide to increase their dividends. We haven’t even mentioned the increase in valuation of these stock prices.
EMA is up close to 30 percent, BCE is up 35 percent, and T is up close to 45 percent over the same eighteen months.
Again, this strategy preaches patience and disciplined investing. Many investors would take the profits from these stocks that are up 30 percent or more. Not me, I’m not selling.
Related: How To Use A Stock Screener To Find The Best Stocks
Not that there is anything wrong with taking profits, it just doesn’t fit with my investing strategy. The only way I would think of selling one of my stocks is if they slashed their dividend, or if the dividend wasn’t growing fast enough compared to others.
What do you think of yield on cost? Is this something you measure within your portfolio?
Retiring Baby Boomers
Next year the first baby boomers will reach the “standard” retirement age of 65 years. I read in the news the doomsday reports of the stock markets collapsing and the health care system falling apart because of the retiring baby boomers.
Is this really going to happen? I will leave the markets for the moment and discuss my views on the future of health care.
Retiring Baby Boomers
The children born in the post World War II boom years were probably the most well nourished and active kids of any generation. Good early nutrition is one of the backbones, so to speak, of healthful later years.
Baby boomers had plenty of milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, chemical-free proteins, and vitamin supplements, not to mention the vaccinations that eliminated, or reduced the effects of, some deadly diseases. The brittle bones resulting in hip and knee replacements for my parents’ generation, dentures and deteriorating vision should really not be all that prevalent in the coming decades.
While there will always be accidents and diseases and illnesses caused by unhealthy lifestyles, we generally are living longer, are active longer and I think the most serious threat could be mental degeneration rather than physical.
I see my thirty-something neighbours bringing home take-out bags from Burger King and McDonald’s at least three or four times a week, daily slurpees in cups the size I could stick my head in and cases of pop and snacks for the family that seem to be their regular diet.
I hardly ever see kids playing outside in the parks and playgrounds even in the summertime, unless there’s an organized baseball or soccer game. My friends and brother and I ran off our energy playing made-up games outside in all but the most extreme weather as much as we could. Of course there were no computers and video games then and I didn’t really watch TV regularly until I was more into my teen years.
Today obesity, especially childhood obesity, is almost an epidemic. Diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks in people in their twenties and thirties are no longer unusual – they are almost becoming the norm. I think this is the generation that will require the most serious health care in the decades to come.
I have heard that the baby boomers will be, overall, the wealthiest retirement generation due to their own earning and investing efforts, and also from becoming the beneficiaries of our frugal, saving parents. Former finance ministers have tossed around the idea of an inheritance tax. Probate fees are already quite high in some provinces.
It is my opinion that the younger generation will not entirely be on the hook for increased health care costs for baby boomers. I fear that, as retired baby boomers become more numerous, their taxes will not only increase, new ones will be implemented.
I think that health care and drug programs will increase their premiums and more and more procedures will be dropped from the health care system and will have to be paid for independently. Since we will no longer be enrolled in company health and dental insurance plans, the costs will come entirely from our own hard earned money.
What are your thoughts on retiring baby boomers?