# TFSA - am I on the right track?



## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Hi everyone,

With the new year approaching and another $6,000 of contribution for 2020 available, I took a step back and looked at both my TFSA and my wife's TFSA and wonder... are we doing ok? I have 91k and she has 101k...mind you, this has been a fantastic year for returns across equities. We've contributed to our TFSA ever since we've opened it and currently hold 3 stocks and 1 ETF on one TFSA (101k - BCE, BNS, SLF & ZRE) and the other TFSA two ETFs (91k - ZDY & ZDV). All dividends are being reinvested. 

I'm wondering if our performance is adequate or should we consider looking at another strategy. Curious to know what amounts people have achieved here and what their investment strategy has been.

Thanks all

B


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

I think you’re doing well. From what I read in the MSM, most folks have theirs in a savings account barely making anything.

As of this morning I’m at $119.1K, but am nearly entirely in stocks:
ENB
IPL
NPI
PPL
RY
AQN (USD)

I capture the divvies in a TDB 8150 ISA over the course of the year, then combine the balance with the next year’s contribution. At some point in Q1 I’ll usually buy more of whatever tickles my fancy.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Dilbert said:


> I think you’re doing well. From what I read in the MSM, most folks have theirs in a savings account barely making anything.
> 
> As of this morning I’m at $119.1K, but am nearly entirely in stocks:
> ENB
> ...


Interesting that you don't DRIP but rather collect your dividends over the course of the year to buy more shares.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

bigmoneytalks said:


> Interesting that you don't DRIP but rather collect your dividends over the course of the year to buy more shares.


Yes, that’s because I like the flexibility to make my choices every year and they don’t always line up with what I hold. Dripping is certainly worth considering especially if you have a long time frame to work with.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

bigmoneytalks said:


> Interesting that you don't DRIP but rather collect your dividends over the course of the year to buy more shares.


I agree with Dilbert. I have never DRIP'd in all my decades of investing. I bought what I wanted with the cash and it is rarely more of the same thing I already have (since I buy full positions from the get go).


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## newfoundlander61 (Feb 6, 2011)

"Interesting that you don't DRIP but rather collect your dividends over the course of the year to buy more shares. " I do the same thing.

My TFSA:

Telus
Suncor

Contributions maxed out

Wife's TFSA:

CHP.UN
AQN
AW.UN

Contributions maxed out

Non-reg Cash Account:

RY
TD
BNS
FTS
ENB

Still have approx $140k to deploy for that account.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Not applying a DRIP, doesn't forefit the opportunity for dollar cost averaging? leveraging compounding effect? I guess this strategy has been working better for you guys given the amounts in your TFSA....


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Not if I dont want any more of that stock. If I already have a full position in a holding, I dont want more of it. I want to take the cash flow and invest elsewhere.

If you are still building a position, then re-investing the dividends in a synthetic drip makes sense.


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## MarcoE (May 3, 2018)

You seem to be doing great. As for your strategy, it's hard to say without looking at your entire portfolio across all your accounts. For example, my TFSA is mostly fixed income, because I prefer to keep my equity in my taxable accounts and my fixed income in tax shelters.


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## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

Your TFSA values seem good, probably higher than average, so you are doing something right. But to really know how well you are doing you would need to calculate your return over time using something like internal rate of return. Then you would need to compare it to some benchmark that is relevant to your holdings (looks like you have mostly CAD dividend equities). Some investors I know brag regularly about their great returns, but when asked they don't have any idea about how to calculate rate of return.

For tracking rate of return the Bogleheads spreadsheet is very good:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Calculating_personal_returns
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=150025

And for benchmarking you could use Canadian Couch Potato: https://cdn.canadiancouchpotato.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CCP-Model-Portfolios-ETFs-2018.pdf
Or Norm Rothery's wonderful Stingy Investor Asset Mixer: http://www.stingyinvestor.com/cgi-bin/downside_adv.cgi

I also do not DRIP my dividends and distributions because I prefer to decide on how to reinvest. Being retired I withdraw small amounts annually from my non-registered and RRSP accounts. For those accounts I transfer cash distributions to TDB8150. For my TFSA and 2 LIRAs I reinvest distributions into a low-cost balanced mutual fund (TD Balanced Index TDB965), then when enough builds up or when it's time to rebalance I sell the TDB985 and reinvest according to my asset allocation target. This process keeps my cash invested while minimizing transaction costs.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'm considering looking at my overall strategy and see if I should too stop my DRIP program according to my financial goals.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Bear in mind that I only make my “buy” once a year, so my commission cost is minimal. Dripping of course, avoids any commission.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Dilbert said:


> Bear in mind that I only make my “buy” once a year, so my commission cost is minimal. Dripping, of course, avoids any commission.


Yes, this is why I was DRIP'ing so I can avoid the commission fees and buy into the highs/lows..but didn't realize that dripping after achieving full position might not make any sense hence why I'm reevaluating my goals. Question - for the group, if these were ETFs, would DRIP make more sense then? I guess you're not trying to achieve full position since you're not holding specific stocks...right?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Technically, one can have full positions in ETFs too, e.g. for specific asset allocations, e.g. 30/30/30 equity (Cdn, US, Int'l) and 40 fixed income, or VCN/XAW/ZAG, or whatever.... but must less important during accumulation phase since new money can be allocated to the weakest segment, and overall the portfolio is growing. 

Of course that can happen with individual stocks too. A $1M stock portfolio of 20 stocks has twice as much in each stock as a $500k stock portfolio of 20 stocks.

It is matter of how one is building, or wants to build, their portfolio, how much new money is added and how often, how many new positions may be started each year, etc. There is no right answer but when I was accumulating, I've always avoided DRIPs since: 1) I don't like odd losts, 2) I don't like ACB tracking in non-reg accounts for DRIPs, 3) I want to feel totally independent on where new money goes, and 4) I was perhaps adding $50k or more each year to the portfolio (don't remember now).

In retirement, it makes no sense to DRIP when one should be automatically blowing.....err spending/gifting, at least 100% of their investment income each year in one form or another.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

AltaRed said:


> Technically, one can have full positions in ETFs too, e.g. for specific asset allocations, e.g. 30/30/30 equity (Cdn, US, Int'l) and 40 fixed income, or VCN/XAW/ZAG, or whatever.... but must less important during accumulation phase since new money can be allocated to the weakest segment, and overall the portfolio is growing.
> 
> Of course that can happen with individual stocks too. A $1M stock portfolio of 20 stocks has twice as much in each stock as a $500k stock portfolio of 20 stocks.
> 
> ...


Thanks for your comments... very valuable points you made here. A couple of things, I'm nowhere near retirement, but if I was, yes I would agree with you that there is no sense DRIP. Most of my money is registered so your point #2 doesn't apply to me. But if you had a one fits all ETF, say VGRO that balances itself, I think dripping make sense as the newly added money can be rebalanced and be done commission-free.

This has been a good discussion so far ! learning a lot... keep those comments coming guys!


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

True enough that it depends on where one is at in their investing journey. In a way, i don't 100% 'walk my own talk'. For example, my TFSA will be a legacy for heirs....so it is 100% in MAW104 mf with all distributions re-invested. Will just keep trucking for the next 10-30 years I remain alive I presume. The RESP I have just started for a grandchild will be 100% invested in VBAL*, potentially with distributions synthetically DRIP'd.

* Maybe. Have thought about VGRO for awhile but don't like the frothy markets. Would consider MAW104 too once a threshold of $5k is reached for minimum initial purchase.


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## pearl (Mar 5, 2015)

AltaRed said:


> True enough that it depends on where one is at in their investing journey. In a way, i don't 100% 'walk my own talk'. For example, my TFSA will be a legacy for heirs....so it is 100% in MAW104 mf with all distributions re-invested. Will just keep trucking for the next 10-30 years I remain alive I presume. The RESP I have just started for a grandchild will be 100% invested in VBAL*, potentially with distributions synthetically DRIP'd.
> 
> * Maybe. Have thought about VGRO for awhile but don't like the frothy markets. Would consider MAW104 too once a threshold of $5k is reached for minimum initial purchase.


AltaRed, you are so knowledgeable in investment and put all your TFSA in MAW104. As a novice investor, it makes me wondering if I should also do the same way and just invest in MAW104. 
My wife and I fully contributed our TSFAs and they are not doing that well. Current value at 78K and 82K.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

pearl said:


> AltaRed, you are so knowledgeable in investment and put all your TFSA in MAW104. As a novice investor, it makes me wondering if I should also do the same way and just invest in MAW104.
> My wife and I fully contributed our TSFAs and they are not doing that well. Current value at 78K and 82K.


1. It depends on where one wants to put their energy and time, their overall long term plans/goals, and where they are at in their journey. 

2. For old geezers who mostly accumulated their portfolios pre-TFSA days (I retired in 2006), the TFSA is an after-thought. In many cases, total contribution room available is a small part of one's investments, and indeed, total TFSA capacity is about equal to the value of one of my non-reg stock holdings. I gain nothing from trying to 'beat the market' with my TFSA any more than I would with any other portion of my portfolio. 

3. MAW104 has a very good track record. How can I not be happy with a 10 year CAGR of 9.33% or 8.4% since inception circa 1988? Or even 7.76% over 5 years? A 60/40 portfolio with 'minimum' volatility generating those kinds of nominal returns over those periods of time is a 'bell ringer'. A reason for the recent proliferation of asset allocation ETFs.

4. For a young investor with a 30 year investing horizon, a conservative CAGR of 5-7%, never mind adding new contributions every Jan 2nd, would provide an awesome sum at age 60 or so.

Ultimately, a person's time has to be allocated to where the most reward is. There is never enough time for everything. For a youngish investor, one's time is best spent investing in one's career and family, and budget management, so that one can pay off debt as quickly as possible and set aside funds for annual investment. Putting those investment contributions in a 'set and forget' mode maximizes return for time invested. I never paid any attention to stock investing until I was in my '50s and the kids were gone.

Disclosure: I passively invest everything except Canadian equity in my non-reg account where I actually stock pick, or maybe better said, I tinker around the edges of 'buy and hold'. That gives me some entertainment satisfaction since I became an empty nester (and eventually retiree) AND satisfies my testosterone need for having hands on the wheel.

Added: Consider using a spreadsheet to see what would happen with a 6% CAGR on your current TFSA value plus adding $6k each year on Jan 1, for the next 25-30 years. Your current $80k will be worth $320k in 24 years (the rule of 72, i.e. 6% for 12 years is a double, 6% for 24 years is a 4 timer). That is without making a single additional contribution every again. If you consider your TFSA as your primary retirement fund, and be disciplined like I suggest, you have a darn good retirement fund 30 years from now. All that is without any additional investments in RRSPs or a DB pension or a non-reg account, or the value of your principal residence. The power of compounding over decades takes care of almost everything.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Of course another good thing with the TFSA is you can return any funds removed in the next calendar year. I’m thinking about taking my accumulated divs from this year out next month in cash, from the TDB-8150. Then in 2020, I can “journal in” some stocks from my non registered account equal in value to the contribution limit (presumably $6K) plus the value of the cash previously removed.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Dilbert said:


> Of course another good thing with the TFSA is you can return any funds removed in the next calendar year. I’m thinking about taking my accumulated divs from this year out next month in cash, from the TDB-8150. Then in 2020, I can “journal in” some stocks from my non registered account equal in value to the contribution limit (presumably $6K) plus the value of the cash previously removed.


A lot of additional steps to provide a bit of alpha (some of the time) from non-reg investments made throughout the previous calendar year. May be injurious to one's health if your non-reg holdings are mostly down and in a net loss position instead. Why not just save up $6k cash instead and invest that Jan 2nd?


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Well, I have one holding that’s slightly in the red and I can use the cap loss anyway. Besides, it would be nice to enhance the zero tax revenue side of my portfolio.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

You cannot use the cap loss making contributions to registered accounts. It's a superficial loss.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

AltaRed said:


> You cannot use the cap loss making contributions to registered accounts. It's a superficial loss.


A/R, I thought you were pulling my leg, but a little googling supports your assertion!

The converse is not true where there is a cap gain, however..the CRA want their money.

I guess I’ll have to sell and re-buy.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Careful. You can never claim that loss if you turn around and buy that same thing in your registered account. Per https://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/investing/investmentlosses.htm

Also make sure you leave 30 days in between your sell and your buy (wherever that may be) in a non-reg account to also avoid a superficial loss. Also,


> The loss will also be a superficial loss if the shares are repurchased by a *person affiliated with you*, such as your spouse or common-law partner.


I find it bizarre most* of the time why ANYONE would transfer in kind to their registered account. Firstly, one has to get the dollar value right (no over-contribution) and one has to pay cap gains on anything moved in. So much simpler just to contribute cash instead.

* There are times when it can make sense to avoid 2 buy/sell commissions and I think Agent99 has done this with withdrawals from a RRIF....where X shares worth, for example, $10k are withdrawn from the RRIF as part of the minimum annual withdrawal in January. $6k worth of those X shares can then be re-contributed to the TFSA (best to do it right away) for the annual TFSA contribution. Best to do it right away before those shares lose value sitting in non-reg account for even one day. Personally, I think this is a lot of unnecessary mathematical hoops to save $20 in commissions.


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## fireseeker (Jul 24, 2017)

AltaRed said:


> Personally, I think this is a lot of unnecessary mathematical hoops to save $20 in commissions.


If you're moving less liquid securities -- for instance, preferred shares -- you also save the bid/ask spread.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

fireseeker said:


> If you're moving less liquid securities -- for instance, preferred shares -- you also save the bid/ask spread.


A good point for sure, but why have illiquid securities in the first place? There are so many easy investments out there to avoid that whole scenario. As specifically for prefs, heaven help anyone who holds prefs in a registered account. The only reason they are marginally a suitable investment is to be a fixed income alternative in a non-reg account for the DTC.

I've been playing a bit of devil's advocate in this thread today for a reason. Why make investing complicated? The 80/20 rule is so easy to apply. 20% of the effort for 80% of the solution....with the remaining 80% of the effort providing (maybe) another 20% of the solution, and that is if one doesn't screw it up along the way. I've avoided all this shite for years via a pretty simple overall portfolio....for a CAGR of almost 10% over the past 10 years. Why aim for 10.1 or 10.3% by working 5 times as hard at it? And only if you are lucky in placing the right bets?


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> As specifically for prefs, heaven help anyone who holds prefs in a registered account. The only reason they are marginally a suitable investment is to be a fixed income alternative in a non-reg account for the DTC.


Why would heaven have to help me just because I have a pfd in my RRIF that yields 5.5%? Is that in some way worse than holding a corporate bond in RRIF that yields 3%? Or a GIC yielding 2.2%? 

Sure, I don't get the benefit of a DTC on dividends that I would get in a taxable account. But what difference does it make? The money is in the registered account, not in the taxable account. Why not get the better yield?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

It is a waste of room in a registered account to have a security that doesn't provide enough capital appreciation potential vs risk of capital loss. IOW, a 5.5% yield doesn't compensate for the potential capital loss versus a common which at least has more certainty of capital appreciation while at the same time also providing a 5% dividend with dividend growth potential. I'd much rather have commons in registered accounts.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> It is a waste of room in a registered account to have a security that doesn't provide enough capital appreciation potential vs risk of capital loss. IOW, a 5.5% yield doesn't compensate for the potential capital loss versus a common which at least has more certainty of capital appreciation while at the same time also providing a 5% dividend with dividend growth potential. I'd much rather have commons in registered accounts.


With that thinking, then presumably you wouldn't recommend corporate bonds in registered accounts either? 

To me, getting double the yield on a pfd over a corporate bond is well worth while. No greater risk of loss really. Stock of same company has greater risk of loss and no greater yield. All taxed same way on withdrawal. 

That's my view anyway! I use a mix of stocks, bonds, gics, pfds in my RRIF and don't see a need for help from heaven


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Bonds have a maturity date while prefs do not which is a big difference. The concept of fixed income is 'Return OF Capital', and one has them to reduce volatility and add diversification. Prefs don't do that and for that reason that is why they are considered hybrid securities by the investment community. Won't argue any more over ground we've argued about before and derail the thread further.


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## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

One very important thing about the DRIP decision is making sure the dividends and distributions actually do get reinvested. Posters here are avid investors that will carefully manage a portfolio and ensure that distributions do get invested.

Many less hands-on investors would just let the cash build up, especially as time goes on and they may not have time or the will or a good strategy for keeping cash invested. In that case, DRIPping makes more sense. 

One thing that irked me about broker drips is they cannot buy fractional units. So the broker takes the cash and buys the nearest number of full units, and there is always some extra cash building up in the account anyway.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> * There are times when it can make sense to avoid 2 buy/sell commissions and I think Agent99 has done this with withdrawals from a RRIF..


Don't recall ever doing that, but might have discussed the possibility. Always contribute allowable amount in cash.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

AltaRed said:


> Won't argue any more over ground we've argued about before and derail the thread further.


I won't either, but maybe should start to look for some of those common stocks with _more certainty of capital appreciation _that you mentioned


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

agent99 said:


> Don't recall ever doing that, but might have discussed the possibility. Always contribute allowable amount in cash.


Okay, maybe someone else. A number of folks get hung up on a $10 commission. Penny wise and pound foolish sort of thing.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

Hey guys thought I give everyone an update. Made some changes and here is the result 
My TFSA 112k - Zdv & vgro 60/40 split between the two. Maxed out 

Wife's TFSA 118k - BCE, SLF, ZRE and Bns.. 20% each for the stocks and 40% for ZRE 

A better result than my original post or is it? I still drip albeit many do not here. I still believe in the compound effect of dripping and rebalancing when adding the 6k each year.... 

Haven't done the irr calculations yet.... But my portfolio has recovered since the crash last year which I'm happy about. 

How's everyone else doing so far??


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## MrMike (Sep 30, 2020)

bigmoneytalks said:


> My TFSA 112k - Zdv & vgro 60/40 split between the two. Maxed out


Why did you choose ZDV? Not that it's terrible but their chart doesn't look like a lot of growth and the dividend is low. I point out the dividend because I too have stocks with little to no growth but I'm getting 9% yield on them.

Just spitting an idea out there, but if you compare ZDV's chart with TD's, I think I would go with TD. I know a single company is riskier than an ETF but.... it's TD. I think I would anyways. What does everyone think?

But just so you know, I'm not criticizing. We're just discussing  You have done a great job saving, investing and building your wealth. Probably much better than I did.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

MrMike said:


> Why did you choose ZDV? Not that it's terrible but their chart doesn't look like a lot of growth and the dividend is low. I point out the dividend because I too have stocks with little to no growth but I'm getting 9% yield on them.
> 
> Just spitting an idea out there, but if you compare ZDV's chart with TD's, I think I would go with TD. I know a single company is riskier than an ETF but.... it's TD. I think I would anyways. What does everyone think?
> 
> But just so you know, I'm not criticizing. We're just discussing  You have done a great job saving, investing and building your wealth. Probably much better than I did.


Did it to increase US exposure and for diversification. Duringthe crash last year, it did better than most of my other positions becauae of the mix of large stable us companies. There is decent growth and a decent dividend... I've had it for 7 years and it's done very well. Don't bet against American as they say...


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

MrMike said:


> Just spitting an idea out there, but if you compare ZDV's chart with TD's, I think I would go with TD. I know a single company is riskier than an ETF but.... it's TD. I think I would anyways. What does everyone think?


I think ZDV is a pretty nice portfolio. But I don't understand why you'd hold it inside a TFSA. It's a dividend ETF, and the only point of holding those is to get cashflow (cash distributed).

It is a misconception that taking the dividends and reinvesting them leads to compounding. This is because each dividend reduces the share price; the DRIP just gets you back to where you started. There is no new money generated in the process (dividends are not free money). Proof of this can be found in the long term performance figures for a market index ETF versus dividend ETFs. If you compare those, you will see that over the long term, dividend ETFs do not outperform the broad market index.

If it was true that dividends generated new money and reinvesting them led to compounding, then you would see long term outperformance in things like VYM versus SPY (using an American example). Performance figures always calculate the reinvestment of dividends so *if there was an extra performance boost due to compounding, it would show up in performance figures*. The 10 year performance of VYM is 12.08% which is less than 14.13% for SPY. Clearly, there is no performance boost or free/extra money offered by reinvesting dividends.

Or look at DVY with 15 year performance 8.01% which is lower than 10.15% for SPY. Again this shows a higher total return in the regular market index, with no benefit from the dividend ETF, _even though it's being reinvested every time_.

So while I think that a dividend ETF makes sense if you want to live off the cashflow, it makes no sense if you're just going to DRIP the dividends. I think that XIC is better than ZDV.

I know people hate it when I say this, but every dividend is equivalent to selling shares, which knocks down the share price. They aren't free money, and they don't boost returns when reinvested. The proof is in those long term performance numbers.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Clarifying: I don't see anything harmful about ZDV or another dividend ETF. I just don't see a reason it would outperform XIC over the long term.

My guess is that you're likely better off in XIC mainly because it has lower fees. I think it's kind of a waste to pay an _extra_ 0.33% MER for ZDV, when there is no expected performance benefit.


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## MrMike (Sep 30, 2020)

james4beach said:


> I think ZDV is a pretty nice portfolio. But I don't understand why you'd hold it inside a TFSA. It's a dividend ETF, and the only point of holding those is to get cashflow (cash distributed).
> 
> It is a misconception that taking the dividends and reinvesting them leads to compounding.


1. One would have a dividend position to generate cash flow that can help buy other stocks, such as growth stocks or to further diversify. I want to buy EIT (11% yield) in my TFSA to help push me past $1K/month in dividends. Without dividends, I would be slower at buying many growth stocks.

Maybe you could argue that if I just bought the growth stocks in the first place, I would have better returns. Maybe, but love buying new stocks when I get paid dividends - it makes the journey more fun 

2. Can you please clarify? I get $5 in dividends, reinvest, and the next month I get $5.15 cents. That's compounding. Maybe you mean to say something else, like there's a better way to compound or something.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

AltaRed said:


> ... Okay, maybe someone else. A number of folks get hung up on a $10 commission. Penny wise and pound foolish sort of thing.


Having contributed in-kind to my TFSA, it was more about not having cash plus the crash driving the price down to a tiny CG with commission savings more as icing on the cake.

I suppose there may be some who only consider the commission savings. 


Cheers


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Sure, I understand an 'in-kind' transfer when one doesn't have the cash to make the contribution. That has never been my point. Simplicity is key and going through half a dozen hoops (okay - an exaggeration) to save a $10 commission or have the $10 commission occur in a taxable account rather than a registered account seems awfully complex for 2 Starbuck coffees. In-kind contributions are also never tidy and never exact given FMV moving targets either. 

It seems a lot easier to me to simply accumulate the cash from earned income or non-reg investment income throughout the year and make the annual contributions to registered accounts (of all types) in the form of cash.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

MrMike said:


> 2. Can you please clarify? I get $5 in dividends, reinvest, and the next month I get $5.15 cents. That's compounding. Maybe you mean to say something else, like there's a better way to compound or something.


The cash portion might be increasing, but what balances out the equation is the reduced (or suppressed) share price. So what you gain in extra cash dividends, you lose in share price.


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

james4beach said:


> Clarifying: I don't see anything harmful about ZDV or another dividend ETF. I just don't see a reason it would outperform XIC over the long term.
> 
> My guess is that you're likely better off in XIC mainly because it has lower fees. I think it's kind of a waste to pay an _extra_ 0.33% MER for ZDV, when there is no expected performance benefit.


Made a mistake. I have ZDY not ZDV... Its how I get expsoure to us companies. You're drip argument is an interesting one because when I add my drips I've é the 7 years, I do see the compound effect because I own more shares. The difference isnt huge but big enough for me justify the drip


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## bigmoneytalks (Oct 3, 2014)

bigmoneytalks said:


> Made a mistake. I have ZDY not ZDV... Its how I get expsoure to us companies. You're drip argument is an interesting one because when I add my drips I've é the 7 years, I do see the compound effect because I own more shares. The difference isnt huge but big enough for me justify the drip


So here is a site that shows your performance dripling or without dripping DRIP Returns Calculator | Dividend Channel

So again drip does help increase your returns


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## robertsclak (Feb 22, 2021)

When receiving dripped stock ,often you are getting them at a slight discount to market value.


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