Canadian Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs)

The world of Dividend Reinvestment Plans is constantly changing. These past few weeks have been no different. Since my last update I have made four changes to my list of Canadian DRIPs & SPPs. I have included links to some stories announcing the updates.

I have added the following new plan:
Equitable Group Inc. (TSX:ETC)
Equitable Group Inc. announces Dividend Reinvestment Plan

I have deleted the following two plans:
Advantage Energy Income Fund (TSX:AVN.UN)
Advantage Announces Intention to Convert to a Growth Oriented Corporation and a Strategic Asset Disposition Program to Increase Financial Flexibility

Boyd Group Income Fund (TSX:BYD.UN) - DRIP terminated

I have updated the following plan:
NAL Oil & Gas Trust (TSX:NAE.UN) – DRIP reinstated
NAL Oil & Gas Trust Announces March Distribution and Reinstatement of the DRIP

As always, if you see any discrepancies please post a comment.

Happing DRIPping,
Ken

List of Canadian DRIPs & SPPs
Company	Symbol	DRIP?	SPP?	Discount?	Minimum	Maximum
Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Investment Company Limited	FAP	Y	Y	N	$100/Month	$20,000/Year
ACTIVEnergy Income Fund	AEU.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
AGF Management Limited	AGF.B	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited	AEM	Y	Y	5%	US$100	US$20,000/Year
Allied Properties REIT	AP.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
AltaGas Income Trust	ALA.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$100,000/Month
ARC Energy Trust	AET.UN	Y	Y	5%	$500	$3,000/Month
Arctic Glacier Income Fund	AG.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$12,000/Year
Artis REIT	AX.UN	Y	Y	4%	$1,000	$10,000
Bank of Montreal	BMO	Y	Y	2%	-	$40,000/Year
Bank of Nova Scotia	BNS	Y	Y	2%	$100	$20,000/Year
Baytex Energy Trust	BTE.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
BCE Inc.	BCE	Y	Y	N	-	$20,000/Year
Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund	BA.UN	Y	Y	N	-	$3,400/Month
Brascan SoundVest Diversified Income Fund	BSI.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
Brompton Equal Weight Oil & Gas Income Fund	OGF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	$20,000/Year
Brompton VIP Income Fund	VIP.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	$20,000/Year
Brookfield Asset Management Inc.	BAM.A	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
CAE Inc.	CAE	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Caldwell Partners International Inc.	CWL.A	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Calloway REIT	CWT.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Canadian Apartment Properties REIT	CAR.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Canadian General Investments, Limited	CGI	Y	Y	N	$100/Quarter	$5,000/Quarter
Canadian Oil Sands Trust	COS.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$100,000/Quarter
Canadian REIT	REF.UN	Y	Y	3%	$250/Month	$25,000/Year
Canadian Tire Corporation	CTC	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Canexus Income Fund	CUS.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd.	CUP.U	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Cervus LP	CVL.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Charter REIT	CRH.UN	Y	Y	3%	$1,000	$12,000/Year
Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT	CSH.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
CIBC	CM	Y	Y	N	$100	$50,000/Year
Citadel Diversified Investment Trust	CTD.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Citadel Premium Income Fund	CPF.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Citadel S-1 Income Trust Fund	SDL.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Citadel Stable S-1 Income Fund	CSR.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Claymore Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF	FIE	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
CML HealthCare Income Fund	CLC.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Cominar REIT	CUF.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
COMPASS Income Fund	CMZ.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
Contrans Income Fund	CSS.UN	Y	Y	5%	$250	$5,000/Month
Corus Entertainment	CJR.B	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Daylight Resources Trust	DAY.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$100,000/Month
DDJ High Yield Fund	HYB.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Deepwell Energy Services Trust	DWL.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
diversiTrust Income Fund	DTF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
diversiTrust Stable Income Fund	DTS.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Dundee REIT	D.UN	Y	Y	4%	$1,000	$250,000/Year
Emera Incorporated	EMA	Y	Y	N	$25/Quarter	$5,000/Quarter
Enbridge Inc.	ENB	Y	Y	2%	-	$5,000/Quarter
Enbridge Income Fund	ENF.UN	Y	Y	N	$100/Month	$1,000/Month
EnCana Corporation	ECA	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Enerflex Systems Income Fund	EFX.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Energy Plus Income Trust	EPF.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Energy Savings Income Fund	SIF.UN	Y	Y	N	$500/Month	$100,000/Year
Enerplus Resources Fund	ERF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$250/Month	$5,000/Month
EnerVest Diversified Income Trust	EIT.UN	Y	Y	N	$500	$1,000/Month
EnerVest Energy & Oil Sands Total Return Trust	EOS.UN	Y	Y	N	$100	$1,000/Month
Equal Sector Income Fund	ESF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
Equal Weight Plus Fund	EQW.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Equitable Group Inc.	ETC	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Eveready Income Fund	EIS.UN	MANDATORY	N	N	N/A	N/A
Extendicare REIT	EXE.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Financial Preferred Securities Corporation	FPR.PR.A	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Trust	FC.UN	Y	Y	N	$1,000/Month	$12,000/Year
First Capital Realty Inc.	FCR	Y	Y	2%	-	-
First National Financial LP	FN.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
First Premium Income Trust	FPI.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Flaherty & Crumrine Investment Grade Fixed Income Fund	FFI.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	$20,000
Fortis Inc.	FTS	Y	Y	2%	$100/Quarter	$30,000/Year
Freehold Royalty Trust	FRU.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Global Plus Income Trust	GIP.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
H&R REIT	HR.UN	Y	Y	3%	$250/Month	$13,500/Year
Harvest Energy Trust	HTE.UN	Y	Y	5%	$5,000	$100,000/Month
Home Equity Income Trust	HEQ.UN	Y	N	4%	N/A	N/A
Huntingdon REIT	HNT.UN	Y	Y	4%	$1,000	$10,000/Month
Imperial Oil Limited	IMO	Y	Y	N	$50/Quarter	$5,000/Quarter
Income & Equity Index Participation Fund	IEP.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Income Financial Plus Trust	INC.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
IndexPlus Income Fund	IDX.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
ING Canada	IIC	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
InnVest REIT	INN.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
InStorage REIT	IS.UN	Y	N	4%	N/A	N/A
Inter Pipeline Fund	IPL.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	$100,000/Year
InterRent REIT	IIP.UN	Y	Y	4%	$250	-
Keyera Facilities Income Fund	KEY.UN	Y	Y	3%	$1,000/Month	$60,000/Year
Killam Properties Inc.	KMP	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Lanesborough REIT	LRT.UN	Y	Y	4%	$1,000	$10,000/Month
Lawrence Income & Growth Fund	LIGF	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Macquarie Power & Infrastructure Fund	MPT.UN	Y	Y	N	$500/Month	$20,000/Year
Magna International Inc.	MG.A	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Manulife Financial Corporation	MFC	Y	Y	N	$100/Quarterly	$250,000/Year
MCAN Mortgage Corporation	MKP	N	N	N	N/A	N/A
Medical Facilities Corporation	DR.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
MINT Income Fund	MID.UN	Y	Y	N	$100	-
Morguard Corporation	MRC	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Morguard REIT	MRT.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
NAL Oil & Gas Trust	NAE.UN	N	Y	N	$1,000	$5,000/Month
National Bank of Canada	NA	Y	Y	N	$500	$5,000/Quarter
Nexen Inc.	NXY	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Norbord Inc.	NBD	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Northland Power Income Fund	NPI.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Oil Sands Sector Fund	OSF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
Onex Corporation	OCX	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Pantera Drilling Income Trust	RIG.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Parkland Income Fund	PKI.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Pembina Pipeline Income Fund	PIF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$100,000/Year
Pengrowth Energy Trust	PGF.UN	Y	Y	5%	-	$1,000/Month
Penn West Energy Trust	PWT.UN	Y	Y	5%	$500	$5,000
Peyto Energy Trust	PEY.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	-
Plazacorp Retail Properties Limited	PLZ	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Potash Corporation	POT	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Precious Metals and Mining Trust	MMP.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Primaris Retail REIT	PMZ.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Provident Energy Trust	PVE.UN	Y	Y	5%	$1,000	$100,000/Month
Pulse Data Inc.	PSD	Y	Y	5%	$200	$50,000/Year
Realex Properties Corp.	RLX	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Retrocom Mid-Market REIT	RMM.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
RioCan REIT	REI.UN	Y	Y	3.1%	$250/Month	$25,000/Year
Royal Bank of Canada	RY	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Royal Host REIT	RYL.UN	Y	N	3%	N/A	N/A
Sentry Select China Fund	CHZ.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Sentry Select Diversified Income Trust	SDT.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Series S-1 Income Fund	SRC.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Shaw Communications Inc.	SJR.B	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Skylon Growth & Income Trust	SKG.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Suncor Energy Inc.	SU	Y	Y	N	$100	$5,000/Quarter
Sun Life Financial	SLF	Y	Y	N	$100	$50,000/Year
Sustainable Production Energy Trust	SPU.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Telus Corporation	T	Y	Y	N	$100/Month	$20,000/Year
Thomson Reuters Corporation	TRI	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Top 10 Canadian Financial Trust	TCT.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Toronto-Dominion Bank	TD	Y	N	1%	N/A	N/A
Torstar Corporation	TS.B	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
TransAlta Corporation	TA	Y	Y	N	-	$5,000/Quarter
TransCanada Corporation	TRP	Y	Y	3%	$50/Quarter	$10,000/Quarter
Triax Diversified High-Yield Trust	TRH.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Trilogy Energy Trust	TET.UN	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Tri-White Corporation	TWH	Y	N	5%	N/A	N/A
Uranium Focused Energy Fund	UF.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-
Westshore Terminals Income Fund	WTE.UN	Y	N	N	N/A	N/A
Whiterock REIT	WRK.UN	Y	Y	4%	$250	-
YIELDPLUS Income Fund	YP.UN	Y	Y	5%	$100	-

LEGEND: Company - name of company offering a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP); Symbol - company's stock ticker symbol; DRIP - does the company have a DRIP?;
SPP - does the company offer a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) or Optional Cash Purchase Plan (OCP) which allows the user to purchase additional shares/units through the company's transfer agent?;
Discount - does the company offer a discount on the price of additional shares/units purchased through an SPP/OCP or through dividend reinvestment?;
Minimum - the minimum amount per SPP/OCP; Maximum - the maximum amount per SPP/OCP; Highlighted Row - company has an SPP/OCP;
Company Hyperlink - click the link to view the plan details

I have received several inquiries lately as to whether I am Derek Foster or if I have some affiliation with him. To set the record straight, I am not him nor do I have any relationship to him.

The reason the confusion has come about is that this blog was mentioned in Foster's second book entitled The Lazy Investor: Start with $50...and no Investment Knowledge published in 2007. It highlighted his venture into Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs) and how others can get started the same way. As people came to my site they began asking me questions about investing and money matters thinking I was him.

For those who don't know about Foster, he bills himself as Canada's Youngest Retiree. He wrote his highly successful book STOP WORKING: Here's How You Can Using the Strategy of Canada's Youngest Retiree in 2005. It was a national bestseller and it also spawned a third book called Money for Nothing: And Your Stocks for FREE in 2008.

For anyone looking to talk to Derek, you can contact him here.

If you would like to order his books, they are available on his site or at Chapters.

Happy Dripping,
Ken



Great prices on Brand New business books!

There have been three changes since my last list update. I have included a link to each story announcing the Dividend Reinvestment Plan updates.

I have added the following new plan:
Realex Properties Corp. (TSX:RLX)
Realex Properties Corp. announces Dividend Reinvestment Plan

I have deleted the following plan:
Homburg Invest Inc. (TSX:HII.B) - DRIP terminated
Homburg Invest Inc. announces dividend policy

I have updated the following plan:
Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) – 3% discount added
Royal Bank of Canada announces amendments to its dividend reinvestment plan

As always, if you see any discrepancies please post a comment.

Happing DRIPping,
Ken

In the Friday, February 27, 2009 edition of The National Post, columnist Jonathan Chevreau talks about the fact that the Royal Bank (TSX:RY) has "sweetened its dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) by offering a 3% discount for common and preferred shareholders wishing to reinvest their dividends in more RBC stock."

This move falls on the heels of both The Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) and The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) which each implemented a 2% discount late last year.

As for me, I love discounts! They can increase your postion faster and at less cost. And as Chevreau says, "With banks yielding a mouth-watering 6.27% to 9.72% these days, what's not to like if you're an income-oriented investor with a long time horizon?"

The full article can be found at: Drip discount tough to avoid

I last wrote about the Mergent's Dividend Achievers list in January 2008. However, since then Mergent's has changed their hyperlink to the list. As such, I have included the proper link in this post and on the Blog Roll below.

Every year Mergents compiles a list of companies, royalty income trusts and REITs from Canada that have increased their dividends for five consecutive years or more. The 2009 Canadian version now has 71 constituents, up from the 46 I reported last year. This increase was not an easy feat given the troubling economic times we now find ourselves in.

Stalwarts like The Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS), The Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO), Fortis Incorporated (TSX:FTS) and TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) are consistently on the list. However, several income trust funds that also have dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs) find themselves on the list including Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:REF.UN), Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:CUF.UN) and Keyera Facilities Income Fund (TSX:KEY.UN)

Mergent's have also published another index called the Canadian High Yield Dividend Growth 30 Portfolio. To be included, companies must trade on a major stock exchange like the TSX, have five or more years of equal or increasing regular annual dividend payments, a minimum average daily cash volume of $3,000,000 USD and a current dividend yield of 1%. The 30 companies with the largest market cap as of the last trading day in December are chosen for inclusion.

This index could be useful for an investor who wants to invest their money in large cap firms only. The indexes are by no means identical as companies like George Weston Limited (TSX:WN) and Loblaws Ltd (TSX:L) exist in the latter list and not the former.

Finally, while most companies in the indexes have DRPs, not all do. This is why it is a good idea to compare the index's list of constituents to the List of Canadian DRIPs and SPPs on this site to see which companies offer a DRIP.

Well, it has been almost one year since my last major list update. I want to start out by apologizing for the delay. I have had good intentions of revising my dividend reinvestment (DRIP) list for several months now but something has always seemed to crop up. Recently, I have received a couple of inquiries as to whether I was ever going to update my list (thanks for taking the time to write!). It was then I realized that I needed to spend some time working on this.

So, I have compiled the following list of changes:

I have added the following new plans:
Canadian Oil Sands Trust (TSX:COS.UN) – DRIP reinstated
Corus Entertainment (TSX:CJR.B)
EnCana Corporation (TSX:ECA)
First National Financial LP (TSX:FN.UN)

I have deleted the following plans:
Boardwalk REIT (TSX:BEI.UN) - suspended
Brompton Equal Weight Income Fund (TSX:EWI.UN) – merged into Brompton VIP Income Fund (TSX:VIP.UN)
Brompton Stable Income Fund (TSX:BSR.UN) – merged into Brompton VIP Income Fund (TSX:VIP.UN)
Business Trust Equal Weight Income Fund (TSX:BWI.UN) – merged into Brompton VIP Income Fund (TSX:VIP.UN)
Builders Energy Services Trust (TSX:BET.UN) - merged into Essential Energy Services Trust (TSX:ESN.UN)
Crown Hill Dividend Fund (TSX:PBK.UN) – merged into Crown Hill Fund (TSX:MYT.UN)
Fairway Diversified Income and Growth Trust (TSX:FDT.UN) – merged into Crown Hill Fund (TSX:MYT.UN)
Flaherty & Crumrine Investment Grade Preferred Fund (TSX:FAC.UN) – merged into Flaherty & Crumrine Investment Grade Fixed Income Fund (TSX:FFI.UN)
Fording Canadian Coal Trust (TSX:FDG.UN) - bought out by Teck Cominco (TSE:TCK.A)
Foremost Income Fund (TSX:FMO.UN) - suspended
Newalta Income Fund (TSX:NAL.UN) - converted to corporation
Paramount Energy Trust (TSX:PMT.UN) - suspended
Sixty Plus Income Trust (TSX:SIX.UN) - trust terminated
Strategic Energy Fund (TSX:SEF.UN) - converted to an open-end mutual fund called Sentry Select Energy Income Fund
Superior Plus Income Fund (TSX:SPF.UN) - suspended
Trinidad Energy Services Income Trust (TSX:TDG.UN) - suspended
Vermillion Energy Trust (TSX:VET.UN) - suspended

I have updated the following plans:
Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) – 2% discount added
Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS) – 2% discount added
Fortis Inc. (TSX:FTS) – maximum increased to $30,000; 2% discount added
NAL Oil & Gas Trust (TSX:NAE.UN) changed (DRIP suspended; SPP active)
Thomson Corporation – updated name and stock symbol to Thomson Reuters Corporation (TSX:TRI)
Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD) – 1% discount added
TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) - discount increased to 3% in December

As well, I have verified that all of the company hyperlinks are working. They will again point the user to each company's DRIP information page.

While working on the blog I also had many ideas on how to improve it. So, I have created a list of additional items I wish to include and I will also be making constant improvements to the site over the next few weeks.

As always, if you see any discrepancies please post a comment.

Happing DRIPping,
Ken

While researching changes to my list for the most recent update, I found a couple of news items that may impact some DRIPpers that frequent these boards.

Energy Savings Income Fund Amends DRIP Program
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 24, 2008) - Energy Savings Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:SIF.UN) announced today that it has amended the Distribution Reinvestment and Optional Cash Payment Plan (the "Plan") to reduce the minimum number of Units required to be held by Unitholders to participate in the Plan from 500 Units to 100 Units. The amended Plan will enable Unitholders holding a minimum of 100 Units to acquire additional Units of the Fund.


Impax Energy Services Income Trust Announces Suspension of Cash Distributions
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 6, 2007) - Impax Energy Services Income Trust (the "Trust" or "Impax") (TSX:MPX.UN) announced today that the Trust is suspending its monthly distributions following the payment of the previously announced distribution to unitholders of record as of November 30, 2007, scheduled for payment on December 14, 2007. Impax Energy Services Master Limited Partnership ("Impax LP") is also announcing the suspension of its Distribution Reinvestment Plan ("DRIP") in accordance with its terms. The DRIP provides the opportunity for holders of Exchangeable Class A and Class B Units of Impax LP to reinvest their cash distributions in additional Exchangeable Class A Units of Impax LP from treasury. The suspension of the DRIP will not affect the distribution payable on December 14, 2007, which will be reinvested in Exchangeable Class A Units.

Happing DRIPping,
Ken



Great prices on Brand New business books!