podcast 289 - WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT BANKS.

Send us Fan MailThe largest electric vehicle manufacturer in the world is not Tesla, it is dwarfed by BYD, a Chinese company.Everyone seems to be very familiar with Tesla but they seem to know little about BYD. In this podcast I describe some of the remarkable achievements of BYD which involves far more than cars.  As a leading manufacturer of batteries they supply most of the other manufacturers of electric vehicles and in addition  manufacture computer chips for Apple, Samsung and other electronic manufacturers. With 900,000 employees they are China's largest private corporation.For 17 years, until 2025, a large percentage of   shares were owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the American conglomerate, whose profit on their original investment of $230,000,000 is reported to have had a gain of 3,890% on that original investment. While the U.S. government is attempting to protect its domestic car manufacturers by blocking BYD cars from the American market. This seems futile since BYD already has an operation in the US and also in Canada. It shall be interesting to see how long the US 100% tariff stays in place once BYD ships its first 49,000 cars to Canada within the next year.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailI do not like mutual funds of any shape or size. Thus, when a friend asked me for help in selecting ETFs for his multi-million dollar portfolio, I was quick to let him know my feeling about funds. This week's podcast gets into my concerns about funds and it brings back memories of seeing my portfolio of supposedly safe mutual funds lose $300,000 over three years.As I explain this week, with a fund you are blindly sold on putting your money into something that you have no control over, whose contents can change on a fund manager's whim and is almost impossible to determine its strength. You are much further ahead to build a portfolio of 20 financially strong diverse companies paying high dividends who for the last two decades have shown consistent growth in their share price and dividend payouts. Each of the managers of these 20 strong dividend stocks would have proven they know how to make a profit and grow a company. With a fund all you have is a big blob of stocks that are almost impossible to analyze today and may change at any moment.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast #289 on August 22nd of 2026. Banks are critical to a country's health and success. Today we answer the following questions:Who are the 10 largest banks in North America? Who are the 10 safest banks in North America?Who are the 5 largest banks in the world? (The largest 3 are in Asia, not in Europe or America).How can six Canadian banks be the safest six banks in North America? What is the difference in banking systems between Canada and the USA that creates safer banks?Note: a A written transcript is always attached when podcasts they are loaded into the buzzsprout.com website for forwarding to other podcasters.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast #288 on August 15th of 2026. Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts invest in office buildings, apartments and stores and Investors make money from rents. Mortgage Real Estate investment Trusts make money from interest and pay much higher dividend yields than Equity REITs, often in the 15% to 16% range. These high yields obviously attract income-seeking investors. However, today we explore the heightened risks in mortgage REITs that you must consider.200 million Americans own REITs either directly or through ETFs and pension funds.  5 trillion dollars is invested in them. Since being introduced in 1960 they have become a mainstream assetLet my other 287 podcasts and my 7 books help develop your investment confidence.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast #287 on August 8th of 2026. Who determines if the stocks in a mutual fund, ETF or Index fund are safe?  Could it be that fund managers deliberately bundle hundreds of stocks together to  create an illusion of safety that they can hide behind?After my mutual fund lost $300,000 in three years. I sold that mutual fund and set out to learn how to be a successful self-directed investor, relying on my common sense and the wealth of free information that is available on every stock traded on every stock exchange, That was 25 years ago. The portfolio of a few hundred thousand dollars I started with, in my fifties, grew by many multiples. The annual dividend income it generates, which I live on, has grown well into the six figures and is still growing every year. This growth keeps  my income well ahead of inflation. I now have zero fear of ever being left penniless. It was not difficult to realize this growth and security. This podcast gives you an over view of how it can be accomplished. You do not have to be a financial genius but you do have to be patient and careful. Once your portfolio of 20 financially strong, high dividend paying stocks is created, you can go for years without ever  having a need to make any changes to it.My other 286 podcasts and my books will develop your investment confidence.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast #286 on August 1st of 2026.The current threats by the US to invade Canada encouraged me to reissue a book with the new title of  "The Fifty-First State - A Lost Alliance". I wrote this book 10 years ago when a devastating drought in the American Southwest was going to trigger the invasion of Canada to reroute the water in the Great Lakes. Now, the threat of turning North America into a battle ground no longer appears to be just an excuse to give  fiction writers something interesting to write about.In this podcast, I have a short excerpt from that book describing plans to repel the  invasion but the main theme  is showing you how to protect your life and your wealth by purchasing a second citizenship in a safe nation. If you were required to escape to a safe haven, it would also be wise to have converted part of your wealth to gold that could be drawn upon when you might not have access to income from your stock portfolio.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast #285 on July 25th of 2026.I keep hearing how 90% of speculative investors within a few years lose the money they have invested in stocks. Often, I have wondered if this is an exaggeration. Surely if the odds in stock speculating were that poor then people would cease speculating. Therefore, I was intrigued to come across an article by a speculator who describes  the misfortunes of six young speculative investors over six years.For over 20 years, the value of my boring portfolio of 20 stocks has grown, year-after-year, while providing me with the very generous ever rising dividend income that I live on. After reading his article, I wrote to its author and he replied. His response gave me some valuable insights into investing which I share with you.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast # 284 on July 18th of 2026.Many investors believe we are living through a stressful time. Although our investments may have reached all time highs the future of our stock portfolios no longer seem to be as safe and secure as they were a few years ago.Was the 25% drop in the value of IBM shares in one day, earlier this week, an unusual exception, or could International Business Machines be the first sign of a coming stock market crash? One that is bring triggered by inflated AI stock prices and the world wide turmoil caused by oil insecurity, wars and threatened invasions? International Business Machines: "Wall Street views the century-old tech giant as a prominent enterprise AI players, heavily focused on integrating artificial intelligence into hybrid cloud solutions, consulting services included along with data management". In this podcast I review IBM's historical and current situation while suggesting an investment strategy that can help you weather the storm of a the next stock market crash. Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast # 283 on July 11th of 2026.Many years ago, I was responsible for building a national commercial risk database of over 2,000,000 businesses to warn banks, insurance companies and trade suppliers of serious financial problems that their commercial customers were encountering. Every business that offers the incentive of credit terms to their customers to make a sale is gambling their repayment terms will be met. If not, it can lead to not only destroying their profits but can lead to business failure.In this podcast, I share a few insights about the birth and death of businesses that I learned from building this commercial risk database. It can help you to achieve the decades of financial independence from your stock portfolio that I have achieved.One of the most critical things I have learned in choosing stocks and monitoring the stocks in my portfolios is to pay close attention to a company's operating margin. Today I explain this in detail with particular attention to recently listed penny stocks and how  to separate fact from fiction in a stock promoters rhetoric. If you do some very basic research you too can build a strong, safe portfolio.Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]

Send us Fan MailWelcome to Safe Dividend Investing’s Podcast # 282 on July 4th of 2026.Many investors appear to be impressed by current high trading volumes of some stocks. Some companies trade more than 100,000,000 shares in a day. Surely this must be an indicator that the stock is in great demand and that you could not possibly lose money by investing in such a popular stock. However as you will see in this podcast high share trading values can be misleading  You must look at other important indicators of strength like profitability, share prices over a dozen or more years, ever increasing dividend prices, book values and so on.This week we consider the buying of shares in major airlines. With the rapid acceleration of oil prices this year, because of the Iranian war, it has made travel very expensive. When higher costs are combined with attacks on immigrants, it is little wonder that the travel industry has seen revenues shrink by billions of dollars.  No one is going to travel to countries that make them feel unwanted or in danger. Although things appear to be improving it may take years before things are back to where they were in 2025. Ian Duncan MacDonald Author and Commercial Risk Consultant,President of  Informus Inc                              2 Vista Humber Drive                               Toronto, Ontario                                Canada, M9P 3R7                                 Toronto Telephone - 416-245-4994                                   [email protected]