Advice for my nephew

While anyone is welcome to read what I'm writing here it is primarily aimed at Canadian users and specifically my cousins: James and Melissa.

They want to "invest for their future" but have no idea where to start.

I figured I would do some investing in the real world, move the income they make to HIVE, invest in HIVE and move income back to the real world. In the end see how everything balances out.

What am I going to start with?

Juicy tidbits on what to invest in?

Nope. I'm not an investment specialist.

Am I going to tell you what sectors to look at?

Nope. I firmly believe in spreading the risk.

I'm going to start with something even more basic.

Keep good records!

What you invest in is important. However any well reasoned investment can make you money. I can't guarantee what will go up and what will go down, however, I can guarantee that if you don't keep detailed records of what you bought, how much you paid, and how much you earned when you sold it.... Canada Revenue agency will expect it and if you don't have the information when they ask? Guaranteed to be unpleasant.

What am I investing in?

REIT's (Real Estate Investment Trust)

Saying I'm investing in a REIT is like buying a rental property with a bunch of friends. I'll explain more on that in another post but here are the REIT's I've purchased.

• AP.UN .....$200 @ 18.60
• BTB.UN .....$200 @ 3.73
• NXR.UN ..... $200 @ $7.90
• FCD.UN ..... $200 @ $6.08
• PRV.UN ..... $200 @ $5.89
• APR.UN ..... $200 @ $11.80
• AX.UN ..... $200 @ $7.29
• PLZ.UN ..... $200 @ $4.21
• NWH.UN ..... $200 @ $4.95
• SRU.UN ..... $200 @ 26.79

Dividend Stocks

Now dividend stocks are just like other stocks. It is like buying a piece of a company. The difference is that these companies are making profit and they are sharing that profit with their owners. While it isn't a surefire way to pick a good company, companies making and distributing money is usually a good start. Here are the dividend stocks I've purchased.

• BTE ..... $200 @ $2.99
• FN ...... $200 @ $48.35
• WCP ..... $200 @ $10.35
• RCI.B ..... $200 @ $49.25
• CVE ..... $200 @ $23.99
• BEPC ..... $200 @ $47.19
• TA ..... $200 @ $16.99
• BAM ..... $200 @ $83.88
• SCR ..... $200 @ $38.24
• TVE ..... $200 @ $5.40

Preferred Shares

These guys are a little tricky. They are shares offered by a company and they trade like stocks. However, they pay a certain amount of money either quarterly (every three months) or sometimes monthly. They are usually issued to fund large capital projects by a company (think building a 500 million dollar stadium or something like that). They can fluctuate in value up and down but they usually have a "face value" of $25 so they tend to trade around that much.

Now, as I don't have a free way to trade these I'm only going to larger quantities of them to make up for the $9.99 I have to pay when I buy or sell them.

Here is a sneak peak at the stats behind what I'm buying. Again, more details on buying, selling, and metrics later. For now? Just something to look at :)

• AX.PR.E -- 95 shares @ $21.00 + $9.99 Fee

The CRO Crypto Coin and CRO Crypto Visa

Now for the past few days the CRO taken (not on HIVE) has been quite a roller coaster. I use the Crypto.com system to move money to and from Hive. I keep a stake of CRO on the Crypto.com site to get premium benefits like 4% cashback on their VISA card. I use their staking system to get a return on the CRO I earn by using my credit card. I also of course use their credit card to get the rewards :)

I'll be keeping track of how much I stake and earn on their system. I'll also be keeping track of how much I get from the VISA cashback. They are taxed differently and side note: keeping track of everything can be challenging. I figure I'll use the cro.gld and crovisa.gld accounts to keep everything straight. Also to add a little currency to HIVE and of course take some value out when the time comes.

I like to think I take reporting to the government seriously. Tax audits = misery.

Current Holdings:

Now with Cronos (CRO) Crypto the reporting is ugly.

You See there is the Crypto Vault (27,728 CRO), There is Crypto Staking (8736 CRO), Crypto Earn (849 CRO) and Crypto Airdrop (1536 CRO). Each one pays me a tiny drip of CRO every week. End result: 136 Entries onto my earnings that Canada Revenue wants tracked and accounted for.

If I don't keep on top if it then it becomes a big chore. That's one of the reasons I'll be tracking it weekly in this community. However, for now here are the numbers:

Current Holdings: 38,849 CRO in 4 accounts with book value $0.22 CAD each
Broken down as : Crypto Vault : 27,728
... 723 from Crypto Vault earnings
... 106 from Staking rewards (airdrop, crypto earn, and crypto stake)

829 CRO @ 0.22 --> Taxable earnings so far

5,175 CRO from -- trading fee rebates (tiny), and Crypto VISA cashback. --> Non-Taxable.

Why am I writing this?

Well, its a glimpse into what I'm doing behind the scenes to fund the community. It will take at least a month and probably longer for anything to come in, but still, its a step in the right direction.

Most importantly. I keep forgetting the book values and what's taxable which becomes a book keeping issue later. Solution: Track it weekly going forward so its easy come tax time.

As I said before.

Keep good records :)

.... more to come later.

And as a final disclaimer. I'm not recommending you follow this plan. It's just what I'm doing personally. I'm not giving tax planning advice other than....keep good records and file your taxes properly.

More for later but that's quite enough for now :)