Canadian Dividend Investors
1
My Background
I thought you'd never ask!
Bruce Smith
I am a retired engineer who worked as an engineering consultant for more than four decades. I graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, after which I served as an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force. I left the Air Force to pursue graduate studies at the University of Alberta, earning a Master of Science in geotechnical engineering (soil and rock mechanics) in 1972. Following graduation, I spent 25 years with a small engineering consulting firm, initially as an employee and eventually as a shareholder. In 1997, I established my own small consulting business and worked as a contractor for several large engineering firms until I retired retirement in 2014.
When I first graduated form RMC, I worked on several construction projects in the Canadian Arctic. As illustrated in the adjacent photo, I received the first of many lessons about the Arctic and, on this particular occasion, learned the perils of moving heavy equipment over the tundra during the summer months.
A large earthworks water reservoir near Fort Good Hope, NT
Drilling in permafrost on Baffin Island, NU
My early experiences sparked a lifelong fascination with the Arctic. After three years in the Air Force, I decided to go to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, which at that time, was one of the few places in Canada that was conducting research into the properties of permafrost. In 1972 I graduated with a Master of Science degree in soil and rock mechanics, with a specialty in the behaviour of permafrost.
After graduation I worked as a consultant with small engineering companies on projects located primarily in western and northern Canada. These projects involved the design and construction of roads, runways, pipelines, water reservoirs and building foundations. On all these projects I was fortunate to work with teams of experienced and talented engineers, many of whom had immigrated to Canada from countries all around the world.
A bridge over the Athabasca River near Fort Mackay, AB
None of the small companies I worked for offered employee pension plans, so I was responsible for saving and investing for my own retirement. Fortunately, I enjoyed investing and, over the decades, read more than two hundred books on the subject. I experimented with several investing strategies recommended by different financial experts, but with limited success. I also found that much of the published financial advice was ineffective, self-serving, or simply not applicable to my financial situation and goals.
Eventually, through a process of trial and adjustment, I identified an effective and stress-free strategy, which was to invest in a small number of financially stable Canadian companies that had a history of paying significant and growing dividends and which were expected to continue to be financially successful.
This website is intended to be a concise and convenient reference, containing only the information considered essential for implementing a dividend investing strategy. The guidelines and suggestions presented on this site will be of interest to anyone who needs to save and invest for their retirement and, like me, did not have a formal education in business or finance and had limited time available to manage their retirement savings.