I’m Nelson, and thanks for dropping in on CanadianDividendInvesting.com.

I’ve been interested in investing for about as long as I knew it existed. The concept of using money to make money fascinated me, so I’d find any excuse to read about it. I remember discovering a copy of The Wealthy Barber when I was 14 and devouring it in about two days. That prompted a trip to the library, where I discovered Rich Dad Poor Dad, which I also enjoyed immensely.

Yeah, yeah, I know. That last one didn’t really age well. But 14-year-old Nelson thought it was a hell of a book.

Then, something fortunate happened — at least for me. My dad broke his leg.

He suddenly went from hustling after dinner most nights to having all the time in the world. So I started asking questions. One of the first ones was “so, without you working, how will we be able to afford to eat?” He patiently explained that all those rental houses he had accumulated over the years were more than enough to finance a few months.

I was immediately hooked. I knew money could be used to make money and people eventually saved up enough so they didn’t have to work anymore. And here was that concept, staring me right in the face. I had to know more, and my dad taught me the basics of buying real estate that summer.

Quickly after that, I made a decision. Rather than going to college I was going to become an investor. So I saved virtually every penny I made working at the local Dairy Queen and combined that with money my parents’ put aside for my schooling and used it to buy my first rental property pretty much the minute I turned 18.

I found another one the next year and a third a couple years after that. Being in debt sucked, so I dedicated every spare penny towards paying off these houses. By the time I was 24 I had three paid off houses and was anxious to try the next thing. So I started investing in private mortgages, leveraging my burgeoning real estate knowledge into a related field.

Nothing of much consequence happened for the next decade or so. I continued to live as cheaply as possible while pouring every spare nickel into these mortgages. I began to diversify away from these after The Great Recession and started getting much more serious about the stock market.

I started off as a deep value investor, buying turds that looked cheap. I had a few big wins and a few more big losses, making just enough to not immediately abandon the whole strategy. I did that for a few years before realizing I was losing to a more quality focused framework.

I was at a bit of a crossroads, so I decided to work backwards. I started by asking myself what my goals were. In order of importance, I was looking for:

  • Steady passive income to fund early retirement
  • A boring portfolio that would let me survive market volatility
  • Filled with quality companies with a proven ability to survive (and thrive) in any market

There was really only one type of investing that checked off all those boxes — dividend investing.

Still, it wasn’t as simple as flicking a switch. I struggled with the quality part, buying too many lackluster dividend payers simply because they paid an attractive yield. But I slowly got better, resisting the urge to buy cheap stocks. Dividend income grew and grew, and in 2022 I made the decision to retire at the ripe old age of 39.

My time is now free to do whatever I’d like. My average day is filled with things like travel, golf, walks, making dinner, random adventures, extra long lunches, and whatever else might seem interesting that day. But I’m ultimately an investor, happiest with my head buried in annual reports and financial statements. So I spend a lot of time doing that, and if I’m going to do the work anyway then why not share it with you guys?

Most of my time is spent on the Canadian Dividend Investing newsletter, a premium subscription that covers everything in the Canadian dividend investing universe. Subscribers get:

  • Two in-depth research articles per week
  • Model portfolios, including one for investors looking for 5% yields today (with a bit of growth) and one for investors looking for 8-10% annual dividend growth
  • Dividend safety scores for 100+ Canadian dividend stocks
  • Access to my full watchlist, including where I’d be interested in buying
  • Visibility into my own portfolio
  • Regular Q&A sessions with your author
  • And much, much more

All this for only $150 per year!

I also have a free newsletter for folks who aren’t quite ready for a premium subscription. This includes:

  • A free gift, just for signing up
  • A once-weekly (every Sunday morning) article that covers interesting investing topics, links to good stuff I read, and more
  • A recap of stock ideas covered on the free part of this website
  • Occasional previews of paid content

Thanks again for coming by. If you’d like to get in touch, please hit me up on Twitter or use the contact me page.