April 2016 Dividend Income Update + MORE May 23rd

Half-hearted rescue efforts have done little to help Italy’s banking sector return to health eight years after the financial crisis

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Welcome to my latest dividend income update.  For those of you new to these posts on my site, every month I discuss my approach to investing focusing on dividend paying stocks and how reinvesting the dividends paid from the Canadian companies we own are helping us reach financial freedom.  You can read more about that game plan here.
For this month’s update, I thought I’d revisit some of my favourite dividend investing tips.  Here are some things that stick in my mind:

Start investing early in life. It has been said the second best time to plant a tree was yesterday.  The same goes with investing, start early if you can.
To invest, live on less than you make (and keep doing that).
Forget about watching your portfolio constantly. If you select a sound financial plan, you don’t have to do this.
Who is interested in your investment success more than you? You know the answer…
Time is a HUGE factor above your rate of return…

All of us have money moments that we missed. Maybe it’s your older brother who bought that house in the rough neighborhood, right before it got developed, tripling his investment. Maybe it’s your techie uncle who couldn’t shut up about this company called Apple back in 1999. Whoever you are, you know people who could read the financial writing on the walls, and you know people who couldn’t. But most people don’t make it big on a single opportunity. Most chances at making money happen much more frequently, and at lower stakes.
Money making opportunities, sometimes called “windfalls”, are exciting events. Think of it like a game of poker, one where you’ve made it to the last few rounds. Your eyes are focused, your pulse is up, your mind is sharp and nothing can break your attention. Because you’re involved in the outcome, you manage to pull off the win. These opportunities are the exception to the rule. In your real life, you might gain or lose money all the time, without giving it much thought…

WASHINGTON – Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills soared in Monday’s auction, with rates on three-month bills reaching their highest level in more than seven years.
The Treasury Department auctioned $31 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.350 per cent, up from 0.275 per cent last week. Another $26 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.480 per cent, up from 0.370 per cent last week.
The three-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.355 per cent on Nov. 10, 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. The six-month rate was the highest since those bills averaged 0.510 per cent on March 14.
The auction followed a clear signal by the Federal Reserve last Wednesday, which caught many investors off guard, that an interest rate increase is likely next month if the economy keeps improving. The disclosure of minutes of the Fed policymakers’ most recent meeting in late April tipped bond prices sharply lower, raising long-term interest rates…

Italian fashion house Versace named the former head of British brand Alexander McQueen as its new chief executive, in an unexpected move ahead of a planned stock market listing against a backdrop of slowing luxury industry growth.