Top Posts of 2009

by Brad Ferris on January 11, 2010

Each year since I started this blog I take the time to look back on the content posted on Triaging My Way To Financial Success and reflect on some of the main developments in my life, portfolios and the market.

2009 was definitely an interesting year for investors and myself with uncertainty as the key driver for investment activity and behaviour throughout the year. While I kept to my investing thesis with a disciplined approach within my portfolios that didn’t mean that on more than one occasion I questioned the strength of the market’s rally or the health of the companies that shot forward with such impressive returns. While the portfolios of some investors have recovered to their highs of 2007 many remain frustrated and asking questions on how their portfolios have lagged in the face of such a strong equity market rally.

With investors looking forward into 2010 here are some of the top posts recognized by popular readership, high traffic and comments.

First I had the priveledge to be mentioned in a few articles this year in both The Globe and Mail and CanadianBusinessOnline courtesy of financial columnist Larry MacDonald. In May I was involved in a weekly column in The Globe and Mail titled “Me and My Money” discussing some of the financial moves I made in early 2009 and outlining my specific investing style and discipline. In December Larry quoted both myself and The Dividend Guy in a post examining the Dividend 15 Split Corp

In January I incorporated my private consulting business with the creation of Triage Capital Management Incorporated, changed over the ownership of TMWTFS and Dividends Anonymous to the corporation and launched my corporate website.

I had the intentions of posting a number of Stock Analysis Mailing List (SAML) articles but because of time was limited to posting only two: Taking Stock in Coca-Cola (KO) and Taking Stock in Pfizer (PFE).

I took time to outline an investing strategy that I use to effectively leverage dividends in a portfolio with a focus on a conservative approach.

I shared an alternate fixed income strategy that I use in my RSP with a post on Fixed Income Alternatives.

The Importance of Business Fundamentals was a follow up post to Getting Intimate with Stocks where I shared an important quote: “Without strong qualitative performance no company can enjoy sustainable quantitative success.”

One of the most popular posts of the entire year was The Bond Guide; an investment guide to corporate bonds that addressed a lot of issues many retail investors have with understanding corporate bonds and their risks.

The Competitive Analysis was a follow up post on a four part series I published in the past on my stock analysis techniques that identified how an investor can analyze the competitors of a company they’re researching.

I published my perception of why Shoppers Drug Mart (SC) has not raised their dividend in quite some time.

I also had the pleasure of reaching some important milestones in my life during 2009. My major investment milestone was one that dealt with dividends in my Canadian non-registered dividend portfolio (DivG). I got engaged to the love of my life in April with a wedding date in Fall of 2010 and together we bought our first home in a neighbourhood where I grew up. The mortgage was organized by a good friend of mine at TD Canada Trust with very attractive terms. The five-year fixed rate mortgage was for 3.64% which to my knowledge was the lowest five-year fixed rate mortgage available in Canada during 2009. I bought the home privately with 20% down and hope to own 50% of the home (based on a conservative market value) when the mortgage is up for re-financing in 2014.

I encourage readers to submit their favourite(s) posts from 2009 if I missed highlighting any of importance and I’ll take some time to reflect on the performance of my portfolios, with specifics, very soon.

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{ 1 comment… add one }

Think Dividends January 11, 2010, 1:32 pm

Great work Brad.

My favourite posts from 2009 were:
1) Me and My Money
2) Shoppers Drug Mart
3) Leveraging Dividends
4) CML Healthcare

My all-time favourite post on TMWTFS is "Inside My Dividend Dream" from November 2008. It would be great if you could do an update on your DivG portfolio in 2010.

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