February 2026 distributions
The great covered call ETF pre-retirement experiment continues. As the tech/AI/crypto chill drags on into this year, I've been doing what I can to move towards (ie using distributions to buy) more sector or geographically based CC ETFs while doing a small amount of DCA in my affected positions.
At the same time, I am setting up to retire this year and am pulling out most of my monthly distributions in order to pay down the mortgage. This has limited me in reinvesting, but it also allows me to see how it will look when I am relying on my portfolio for the majority of my retirement income. This lack of reinvestment also demonstrates how the portfolio will hold up without using distributions to purchase more income producing shares.
This is only the first month where I can judge the stability of the portfolio, and, so far, so good. There were a few decreases in distributions announced in January (with many more announced in February) which I'm fine with, as it displays the responsibility of the Canadian CC ETF fund managers to MAINTAIN THE NAV of the funds. It's merely a matter of time before these tech related ETFs return to their normal values, and I am willing to wait.
Again, this portfolio is set up for retirement income, with a buy and hold mentality, but I will always take advantage and sell shares that are up significantly to reinvest the money into other depressed ETFs. My wife and I each have a TFSA, and she has a newly converted spousal RRIF while I have a newly converted LIF (from a LIRA). I have NO non-registered trading accounts.
Distributions for February:
BIGY - 3,881.26
CANY - 1,810.20
SIXY - 216.30
INTY - 62.40
HHIS - 2,049.30
UTES - 483.69
ENCL - 738.40
AVGY - 204.00
CNYE - 350.00
MSTE - 2,296.00
CRCY - 1,318.75
RDDY - 665.00
SOFY - 688.00
NVHE - 500.00
SHHI - 196.80
YTSL - 871.80
CHPY - 830.45
PME - 2.70
AMAX - 13.75
AMDY - 233.75
CCOE - 246.50
HODY - 420.00
ECHI - 312.00
HBTE - 86.00
ABHI - 27.50
ETHY - 10.88
HPYE - 7.00 (Sold out this position)
Month's total - 18,522.43
This was around $100 less than last month due to the distribution decreases mentioned earlier. Again, I'm not too concerned yet, as I know the distributions will rise when the underlying assets return to their normal levels. Meanwhile, I am excited to use this money to help pay down the mortgage and hopefully buy a new(er) family vehicle this spring.
Let's go March!
Stay safe, stay invested, and never, ever panic sell!!
