Uproar Capital News: Going Paid, Name Change, What'll Still be Free

What’s this? A little Uproar Capital in your inbox despite it only being Thursday?

I’m making some changes around here and wanted to give everyone plenty of heads up on what to expect in the future.

Here’s the plan going forward.

Going paid

It has always been my plan to charge for Uproar Capital. I just didn’t know when to do it.

I’ve come to realize there’s no perfect time to take that next step. It’s easy to wait until you get a few more subscribers or get a few more followers on Twitter or you get featured a few more times on other publications. There will always be a reason to wait. Waiting is easy. Waiting is safe.

Going paid is the exact opposite. That’s when the rubber really hits the road. Once I turn on paid subscribers, this thing is more than just a hobby. It’s a business. If the business doesn’t work out, I’ve failed. If a hobby doesn’t work out, who cares? It’s just a hobby.

I’m constantly humbled that some 1,400 of you let me into your inbox twice every week. It’s a privilege to take up your precious time, and I take it seriously. Some of you have read every single word I’ve published in the last 18 months or so, and I couldn’t be more delighted that you’ve gotten so much value from this newsletter.

Without further adieu, let me announce:

Uproar Capital will officially be a paid publication as of June 1st. There will be a special introductory price of $10 per month (or $100 per year) until June 15th. Then the price will increase to $15 per month (or $150 per year).

This discounted price is my way of saying thank you for supporting me all these years as I honed my craft. I won’t just take care of my original supporters one time, either. Folks who sign up before June 15th will be special founding members that will qualify for a special discount of 33% off the regular price. Forever.

I wanted a way to reward my best customers, and what customers are better than the ones who sign up day 1? Or day 15, at least.

Why subscribe?

Before launching a paid version of the newsletter, I did a lot of brainstorming and a lot of talking to prospective customers about what they wanted to see. I wanted my service to be the best value for Canadian income investors, and it will deliver. It’ll be jam-packed with features few other newsletters offer.

Readers told me they wanted coverage of more stocks, ways to get my analysis without having to read 2,000+ words, and access to different useful tools, lists, and resources.

I listened, and I put together something that doesn’t currently exist in the market. It will be 100% dedicated to Canadian dividend stocks, especially the kinds of names most other publications ignore.

First, let’s talk about what’s not going to change.

Paid subscribers will continue to get two in-depth pieces on high-quality Canadian dividend stocks each week, delivered to their inbox each Tuesday and Friday.

They will also get:

• Access to two model portfolios, including:

  • The 5-4-3 portfolio, which will select the top Canadian dividend stocks with the following characteristics

    • 5% yield

    • 4% projected annual dividend growth

    • For the next 3 years (but ideally indefinitely)

  • The dividend growth portfolio, which will exclusively track select Canadian dividend stocks with the ability to grow their payouts by 8%+ annually

  • Each portfolio will feature 25 equally-weighted stocks with names being periodically replaced if they fail to meet each portfolio’s criteria

• A library of continually updated one-page reports on Canadian dividend stocks. These will be for subscribers who don’t want to read the more in-depth pieces and just want the important parts in an easy to digest format

• Access to any other writing I publish, including self published books, special reports, and other useful content I put together — like a list of Canadian DRIP stocks and the discounts they offer, and a list of monthly paying Canadian dividend stocks, which are both in the works

• Access to an exclusive subscribers only Discord channel, where you’ll have the ability to talk with your fellow subscribers or ask me anything

Note: there will be zero coverage of U.S. or worldwide dividend stocks. I think the U.S. market is certainly worth your time and so are select stocks in international markets. There are plenty of other places that will cover those names. This service will be hyper-focused on an under-covered area of the market. It won’t try to be something for everyone.

Name change 

I named this publication Uproar Capital as a fun tribute to my long defunct personal finance blog, Financial Uproar. It’s a reference only about 50 of you get, and it doesn’t do a very good job of telling prospective readers what this newsletter is all about.

You’ll soon see this publication renamed Canadian Dividend Investing, branding that better encapsulates what this place is all about. It’ll also give prospective readers who discover the newsletter through the Substack Network a better idea what I’m covering here.

And perhaps more importantly, at least from my perspective, it’ll give me a reminder each and every day that I’m not a value investor who happens to like dividends, I’m a dividend investor who needs a steadily increasing stream of income to cover my annual expenses. That difference might not seem like much to many of you, but it’s important to me and my goals.

What will still be free

Free Substack subscribers will still get value, including a whole different tier of free content on Canadian Dividend Investing.

The free list will get, at a minimum, one weekly recap email, covering everything important that happened in the Canadian dividend universe over the prior week. You’ll get commentary on quarterly earnings, dividend raises (or cuts), and a whole lot more.

Free subscribers will also receive occasional previews of paid posts and select entire paid posts published under a few week delay. I’ll also periodically write posts exclusively for free subscribers, shorter pieces without the level of analysis I normally deliver. And free subscribers will get access to selected one-pager reports.

If you’re retired, why charge?

Allow me to address what I’m sure will be a common criticism.

Nelson, if you’re retired, why are you charging? If you don’t need the money, shouldn’t this site be free?

First, let’s talk about retirement. I retired from my corporate career at the end of 2022 after spending a lot of time thinking deeply about the nature of work.

After all that thinking, I came to an important realization. I enjoy work. I like building things and the satisfaction of a job well done. And I especially like the people I meet while I’m working. I keep in touch with a bunch of people I’ve met from previous jobs, and not just to be nice, either. They’re good people and I enjoy my time with them.

In fact, there was really only one big thing I didn’t enjoy about work. Employers have a funny way of insisting you show up every day, and on their schedule too.

Whenever someone would ask me why I pursued financial independence the answer was always the same — I wanted control of my time. I didn’t hate work, I hated the lack of freedom that comes with a traditional job. So I waited until the right time and then pulled the proverbial trigger.

Now I work when I want to, for how long I want, and I don’t have to apologize to anyone for it. I’ve been working for free for the last five months on this letter, and it’s time I value my work by charging for it.

Am I still “retired” if I charge for this newsletter? I don’t even care enough to pursue the question. All I know is some sort of flexible work arrangement was always a part of my “retirement,” and this letter is an excellent way to accomplish it.

Plus, I truly believe this publication will be helpful. I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my 20+ years of investing, experience that has certainly been valuable in getting me to the spot I’m in today. My journey to financial independence was only the first step. Now I’m trying to navigate a scary new world where I live off my dividends, an experience I think will bring value to countless others too.

Thanks for reading

I appreciate everyone’s support as I go from a free newsletter to a paid one. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, etc., please either reply to this email or comment on the site. I’ll also announce this on Twitter later on today if you’d like to join the conversation there.

Back to your regular programming tomorrow with a closer look at Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.

And if you haven’t already, you should subscribe. This is just the beginning of an exciting future.