Building a stock portfolio can be as simple as buying one ETF or many stocks. The complexity of building a portfolio comes from your goals and investing strategy.
The theories on building a portfolio are interesting and a starting point, but you need to discover your portfolio. My process has evolved since 2009; just be intentional about your investment decisions.
Various Stock Portfolio Examples
Before we focus on a real portfolio, here are some examples that you can start from.
For young students in university or starting to work, keeping it simple is important as your focus should be to balance your spending and savings.
- A simple beginner ETF can work for young adults.
- The student-specific portfolio is all about the TFSA, but with similar ETFs.
Assuming you started with an index portfolio and are interested in evolving towards dividend investing, the next step is to consider the beginner dividend portfolio. It’s a slower introduction to blue-chip dividend stocks.
You can assess a tollbooth portfolio if you want to be more specific about your investment selection. It’s a list of stocks with ongoing recurring revenue from subscription types of services or products.
A retirement model portfolio is what we often assume everyone is building, but it’s just for when you need to live from your income. Be intentional about the outcome you have in mind based on your age.
Portfolio Breakdown by Accounts
During the accumulation phase, dividend growth and total return drive my stock selection process. As such, you will see very low-yield stocks that I may not hold in my retirement years.
I put the table below together to give a clear view of my holdings. If you have a high yield, then you have a retirement income portfolio. There is nothing wrong with that if that’s what you need, but know your income growth to keep up with inflation.
| wdt_ID | Dividend | No Growth | < 6% Growth | > 6% Growth | > 10% Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | None | 6.90 | 0.00 | 0.62 | 0.00 |
| 3 | Yield < 2% | 5.49 | 0.00 | 13.19 | 47.54 |
| 4 | Yield > 2% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.71 | 4.64 |
| 5 | Yield > 4% | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.26 | 0.00 |
| 7 | Yield > 6% | 2.53 | 0.00 | 1.12 | 0.00 |
The accounts below represent holdings across my stock porfolio and the spousal equivalent. For now, my accounts are with RBC Direct Investing and Questrade.
The annual ROR is calculated using a portfolio tracker for a money-weighted return comparison. If your broker provides you with a money-weighted ROR, you can compare yours to my return.
| Accounts | ROR | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Computershare | 12.01 | 5.92 |
| Portfolio | 12.45 | 2.36 |
| RBC | 9.22 | 16.41 |
| RBC-S | 8.10 | 5.01 |
| RRSP | 16.31 | 0.89 |
| RRSP-S | 11.26 | 1.03 |
| TFSA | 12.41 | 0.85 |
| TFSA-S | 14.36 | 2.43 |
The details of my stock portfolio are outlined below, and you can easily see the sector exposure.
As you know, I don’t put much weight on sector diversification as there are too many businesses now overlapping. Take Disney for example, it’s a communication services company now. Visa is a financial company but it’s really a technology company at the end of the day. Industries are more representative of risk. Check out these dividend income reports for the details.
Updated: April 6, 2025