Weekend Reading - Do Nothing

Weekend Reading – Do Nothing

Welcome to some new Weekend Reading about your investing behaviour: do nothing.

(I also want to again thank some readers and their email questions of late, I enjoy them in the comments section. They make me reflect and think!)

Before the do nothing subject, a reminder about my post this week…

Yay!

We crossed a HUGE new major forward dividend income milestone this month even after the small BCE dividend cut we incurred (since we just don’t own very many BCE shares any longer – long since sold most in 2023 and also sold more in 2024, highlighted in this June 2024 post that a dividend cut should be coming in 2025….it has arrived…)

April 2025 Dividend Income Update

With the recent 7% Telus dividend increase in particular this week over last year, it will be interesting to see where we might end up next month!?

Weekend Reading – Do Nothing

I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone personally who got rich quickly.

Instead of hoping or following some get rich scheme, we’ve been on a much more boring yet somewhat predictable get wealthy eventually path for 20 years now. We haven’t fulfilled all our financial goals yet but we have surpassed a few along the way…

I’ve learned as a DIY investor a long time ago to largely treat my/our portfolio like a bar of soap.

Like a bar of soap, the more I touch the portfolio the smaller it could get…

Source: Pexels

Sure, while I continue to adjust stocks (sell some) and ETFs (buy some) along with using more fixed income assets like cash-alternative ETFs for retirement planning, I know the best way to grow our wealth over time is to largely do nothing.

I’m getting better at that as an investor as I age.

Long-term success, maybe like most things in life, usually involves doing the boring, small stuff consistently well over time. Wealth building and investing seems no different.

Pay off your debt/get debt-free.
Save your money.
Develop a long-term investing plan.
Invest your money in products/investments that align with your plan.
Stick with your plan as much as you can.

Learn to keep saving and investing very, very simple.

This Weekend Reading edition was inspired by this article in The Globe and Mail (subscription) entitled:

“The best advice for investors right now: Do nothing. Really.”

“There are two reasons to invest in stocks that pay dividends. One is to improve the portfolio’s total returns, accomplished by reinvesting their payouts. The other is to generate retirement income. Rather than reinvest dividends, retirees could spend them. In effect, dividend stocks would substitute for cash or bonds.”

Some of the article conclusions:

“We have now addressed the first two potential benefits of adding dividend stocks to a portfolio: higher returns and lower risk.”

“The third potential benefit, as previously mentioned, is portfolio diversification. After all, as Dr. Harry Markowitz taught us, investment contributions should be measured in context, not isolation. If dividend stocks behaved differently from other securities, thereby providing the portfolio with what other investments cannot, they would deserve inclusion.”

As always, happy investing!

Mark

My name is Mark Seed – the founder, editor and owner of My Own Advisor. As my own DIY financial advisor, I’ve reached financial independence. Now, I share my lessons learned for free on this site. Find out what I did and how I reached financial independence to tailor your own path. Join the newsletter read by thousands.