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Humpty Dumpty had a good 2022 compared to me. I’m talking my stock investments, not wall-sitting.

OMG… I hate writing these year-end investment blog posts when my Net Worth has dipped… it hurts me almost as much as when Louise C. went home from the Grade 6 Sock Hop with another boy after I paid her admission cost of 10 cents… humiliating!

But – and I’m almost over Louise now – you need to learn to accept the bitter with the sweet… 2021 was sweet… 2022… most bitter! Did you fare better than I?

I’m just rolling with the punches since I’ve been here a few times over the past 50 years; I survived the crash of ’87 and ’08. Last year wasn’t anywhere near as gnarly as those two years.

I take solace as I look back over the past 2 decades when I see I’ve had only 4 “down” years compared to 16 prosperous ones.

But why do I manage my own investment portfolio when there are scads of investment advisors waiting by their phones to help out?

Mainly because it’s so much fun. Investing for financial independence and protecting my money against inflation are mere side (but important) benefits.

My mother started me down this path of investing when I was 10 years old and I’ve never lost the joy of reading and researching the financial structure of the companies that are the backbone of our western society.

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you have the “interest”, it’s as fine a head challenge as playing chess.

My first stock purchase way back in 1967 was St. Lawrence Cement. The company still exists today (in Mississauga) under the name CRH Canada. I wonder how many millions I would have made if I still held those shares! 

What fool would ditch a face like this at the Sock Hop?
  • Back to the future… it’s 2023 today so let’s look at some numbers from 2022 cuz I’m a Number’s Guy.
  • Here’s how markets fared as a whole last year:
  • TSX (Toronto) … -8.66%
  • Dow 30 (New York)… -8.78%
  • S&P 500 (New York)… -19.44%
  • NASDAQ (New York) … -33.10%
  • My Combined (RRSP and TFSA) Portfolios … -7.78%

… not a single positive number in the batch. It’s a relative horror show when compared with my personal return of +16.8% in 2021.

These are all ugly numbers representing the biggest drops in over a decade.

The only reason the Toronto Exchange and the Dow 30 didn’t suffer much larger losses is because of the outsized gains by Oil & Gas companies (eg. Chevron) which saw high commodity prices resulting from the Ukraine invasion by Russia.

I personally don’t invest in the oil and gas sector (aside from pipelines). I also won’t invest in tobacco, alcohol or weapons’ makers. My vice list is long enough without adding these to my resumé.

Just about everything took a tumble last year, so I’ll just list the top 10 companies (in declining order) in my combined portfolios, all of which I’m very happy holding onto for what, hopefully, will be a great 2023.

Patience is all-important when building wealth.

  • APPLE (Technology)
  • ENBRIDGE (Pipelines)
  • ROYAL (Bank)
  • CVS (Pharmacy)
  • BCE (Bell Canada- Telecom)
  • AT&T (Telecom)
  • Bank of Nova Scotia (Bank)
  • AMAZON (Technology)
  • BRISTOL Myers Squibb (Pharmaceutical)
  • A&W (Food consumable)

Take away Amazon and every one of these companies pays a healthy dividend that increases every year in recent history. Rising dividends are magical words to me.

I won’t predict where my net worth will be a year from now… I hope yours will fly high.

I’ve sent out all the King’s horses and all the King’s men to help resurrect the Annus Horribilis that just passed.

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And to finish up here today, I’ll start with the famous three words that Steve Jobs used to tease before unveiling something special and notable (like the new iPhone)…

“One last thing” … I’ve come to believe in strongly, and an avenue that leads to a happier place inside us, is sharing the wealth and time we have to help others, even if only a little. We’ve all been given a bonus gift of being born into a rich life that affords us the opportunity – whether it be through sharing our money wealth, or our time and energy – to assist others. The real bonus here is that when we help others, it magically increases our own happiness.