Book A Week Week 3: Little Fires Everywhere

On the 3rd book for reading a book a week. Last week I finished reading "Little Fires Everywhere", by Celeste Ng. 

The story begins with a house on fire. Elena Richardson somehow escaped from the fire. It was scary to know, the house was put on fire by some one. 

They cannot find Izzy, the youngest child of the Richardsons. Their tenant Mia and her daughter vacated the house. 

The story happens in the 1090s. Mia Warren and her daughter rented a little home owned by Richardsons. When the house was fire, Mia already vacated from the home. 

We learn the background of Mia and Elena through the story. Finally, we understand who set the fire and why.

There is a Netflix show loosely based on the novel. There are considerable difference between two though.

When Elena's friend is trying to adopt a Chinese baby and the mother of the child shows up, Elena and Mia have different ideas. Suspected of Mia's motives, Elena digs out Mia's past. During this time, many things were happening in her home. Her daughter Lexie got an abortion. Trip fell in love with Mia's daughter Pearl and Izzy becomes Mia's unpaid assistant. 

The author takes up to Shaker and its planned life. Then make us ride with characters. 

Who started the fire and why? Ever wondered, how many little fires we started in our lives already?? 

 

Bindu

Book A week: week2

What is your soul is not ending with you? What if there is a databse of the souls kept by government? What if the scientists can find out  if a soul is reborn? what will happen your soul previously belonged to a criminal? 

 Soulprint dwell in to that scenario. 

As a part of my reading a book a week, last week I finished "Soulprint" by Megan Miranda. 

Alina Chase is held in an island for all her life. Why? Because her soul belongs to the whistle blower and blackmailer June. Alena is held there for her own protection, authorities told her. 

On her 17th birthday, she wanted to get out and wanted to have a normal life. Other three teens are trying to help her escape. 

June broke into the soul database and used it to blackmail people. That is what every one thinks. Everyone sees Alina as June. But, in her heart, Alina knows she is not June. She wanted to be different from June. She tried so hard for that. But everyone saw her as June.

Her rescuers wanted her to break in to the soul database. They all went through high adrenaline events. With all the tense circumstances, Alina started to trust Cameron. Eventually she fell in love with him too. 

Megan Miranda takes us for a ride with Alina Chase's journey.  Alina  follows the clues left by June to find out who was actually responsible for the black-mailings . That journey led her to find love too. 

I loved reading this book. For a person who was not a fan of sci-fi, this one was fun. 

 

Bindu

October 2020

October is half way now. Thanksgiving is over.

The pandemic is not over yet. Toronto went back to Stage 2 after thanksgiving. I am trying to read more now a days. 

Reading a book in a week? It will be possible, if you get interesting books to read. I found I can keep on reading, if it is a thriller. 

Toronto public library has Libby app and I can have ebooks for free on my phone. Commute time can be utilized for reading. 

The first novel I got was "The Reckoning" by John Grisham. The story about a war veteran killing the local priest and not giving any motive.  When the story unfolded, we learn how a lie ruined the lives of the family members of the killer. I finished the book in a week time!.

The story takes us to war zones and the sufferings of prisoners of war under Japanese army during world war 2. Grisham is known for his legal suspense. This one is also not different. I will find some other thriller for next week. 

How you use your commuting time? 

Bindu

September Passive income Update

Hello,

It is  October! This year is going to end and we are still in the middle of a pandemic. 

Every one is scared about a second wave of Covid. I am still working! 

With all the PPEs it is harder than before. Yet, it is nice to go to work and see people. 

Coming to the point: I was worried about dividends going down, you know? It is better for September though. 

The combined dividend income aka passive income  from all of our accounts is $1011. All the investments during the year helped us to gain that. It is not making us financially independent yet. It is an achievement though. That is for 1K, I didn't have to work this month. 

By posting this passive income, I am trying to keep motivated to be financially independent before age 60. 

Hopefully, some one out there will read my post and get motivated to save and invest as well. 

Many people think, they need a ton of money to start investing. I can assure you you can start will even $25. To save money, there are tons of ideas on the internet. 

You can start investing with Questrade. (No affiliations here). Keep on investing is like growing a tree. It will give you the satisfaction and peace of mind of passive income!

My passive income is only from investments.  I don't have ideas for monetizing the blog. What you suggest?

Bindu

Dividend Reinvestments of September

It is fun to look on your investments to see how things are going.

May be not that much fun, but it will give some ideas to self. 

I added DRIP or dividend reinvestment to our self direct accounts. DRIP is dividend re-investment program. 

Our accounts are with the bank. We called them to ask about DRIP. They won't give partial shares. If the dividend from one company is enough to buy one whole share, they will do it. 

I agreed! This way, I can get some shares without having trading expense. 

This month I received 3 companies and 4 shares. 

This will give me added dividends next time. 

 It is nice to see your efforts are slowly paying off! 

If I was going to live off my dividends, I would not have opted for DRIP. Right now, I am still working. So, the money can grow slowly within the account. 

Still after doing DRIP, there are some money in TFSA. I am thinking of moving that money to RRSP. 

You cannot move money directly from TFSA to RRSP. You have to withdraw that money. Since the income generated in TFSA is not taxable, it won't affect your income.

But, be careful! if you withdraw money from RRSP, it will considered as income for the year and you will pay tax. 

I added several blogs to the side bar. It will help me to visit and read them. 

September is ending tomorrow. Hopefully, I will get time to update dividend income!

Bindu

What to invest in?

If you are like me, it is hard to save up money with wage earning jobs.  First of all, the income varies from pay check to pay check. It is mainly due to the hours you work are different for each day.

In a dental office, the work depends on the appointment book. When there are cancellations or the provider decide to take off, other employees suffer. 

That makes it important to save though. 

When I come up with some money, I want to invest in a good company. But, people like me have no background in investing. I don't know much about stock analysis. But, I know which companies I do business with.

Everyone has to deal with at least one bank. So, why not invest in your bank? That is where I started. I had account with Royal bank. In Canada, there are 5 big banks. Royal Bank is one of them. I checked how long they are paying dividends. A Google search of "Dividend History, RY, TSX" gave me that information. It is one of the blue chip companies in Canada. I like the experience with the bank. I like CIBC too. So, I invested in both.

So, there is your starting point. Then learn more about the companies you do business with. There will be insurance companies providing you benefits. We all have our favourite grocery stores. 

Start your research with the companies you do business with. Then know their competitors. Compare how they are doing. With your banking, grocery and cellphone or internet provider, you already dealing with 3 sectors. Have some ownership of those companies where you spend your money. Getting a part of their profit will put a smile on you too. 

 

Bindu

TFSA: Important things to remember

TFSA is a boon for most Canadians. The money in TFSA can be withdrawn at any time without a penalty. Investments in RRSP are subject to withdrawal tax.

Then there are some things we need to consider making investments in TFSA. 

TFSA is not just a savings account

Don't be limited to having only a savings account in TFSA. You can actually hold a trading account to invest money in TFSA. It can be growth oriented or dividend income  oriented: your choice. You can hold mutual funds, bonds and securities in this account. The money grow inside is not taxed. 

You can invest in interest generating accounts as well. The interest is not taxed. 

Transferring TFSA from one bank to another

If you need to transfer your TFSA to another financial institution, make sure you use the transfer form, T2033. 

If you are withdrawing money from one TFSA and investing it in another TFSA, make sure, it won't considered as an over contribution. 

Choosing the investments

If you are doing DIY dividend investing  within TFSA, make sure you are holding only Canadian stocks. Dividends from foreign stocks are subjected to withholding tax. 

You can also hold REITs like Reocan REIT in your TFSA. The distributions are not taxed. But make sure your investments are Canadian, to avoid paying taxes.

Paying Fees.

I used to invest as the money comes in. Then, I realized, each transaction costs me the trading fees. So, now a days, I will wait to make it at least $1000 to make a trade. 

You should also check the MER or the management expense ratio, if you are investing in mutual funds.  

DRIPing

DRIP is short for Dividend Re-Investment Program. I like to invest in dividend paying stocks. Some trading platforms allow to reinvest your dividend to buy the shares of the same company.

For example, you bought 100 shares of ABC company. When the quarterly dividend received, it is $12. the share is now trading at $10.25/share. If you are registered for  DRIP , you will get one new share, without having to pay trading fees. If the trading cost is $7, you are saving $7 to acquire that one share.  On top of it, you will get dividend for 101 shares in the next quarter. 

Maximizing the contribution

Every year the government will determine how much will be the TFSA contribution room. I will suggest all of us should contribute to maximize TFSA. That is the best way to grow the money. 

It may not be possible for every one to maximize the TFSA and RRSP contributions. We should at least think of maximizing our TFSA. 

Estate planning

As a final point, everyone should remember to name the successor or beneficiary for TFSA.  You can name spouse or common law partner as successor holder

Then  they can contribute the amount to their own TFSA. No need to check the contribution room.

If the beneficiary is not a spouse/common law partner, they can contribute the proceeds to their on TFSA only if they have room available. Capital gains or income  from the proceeds will be taxed as regular income from the beneficiary.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial expert. Please do your own research before making any decisions. 

Bindu