Safe Dividend Investing

Hosted by Ian Duncan MacDonald

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299

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Knowing little about investing I entrusted my life savings to an investment advisor. Within three years the value of my retirement savings had shrunk by $300,000. He had assured me that mutual funds were safe and that when I retired and liquidated 4% of my portfolio each year to live on that the income could be relied on until I was 90. It now appeared that it would be all gone before I was 65. I now had the motivation to find a better, safer way to invest. My hundreds of weekly podcasts relate to what I learned over the last 22 years in creating for myself a generous, reliable income and in growing my wealth. My annual income is in the six figures and my portfolios are in the seven figures. My portfolio has survived very well through the 2008 and 2020 market crashes. It has never stopped growing and keeping my income well ahead of inflation. Much of my success was a result of my experience as a commercial risk executive with Dun & Bradstreet, Creditel and Equifax. In the past I had built commercial risk scoring systems that had helped guide banks, insurance companies and trade suppliers from incurring losses. I now built stock scoring software to help guide my choice of stocks for my portfolio. This easy-to-use software is supplied free with my 10 investment books. In the the 300 weekly podcasts and the 10 investment books I pass on advice and recommend proven practices, such as: (1) It is critical that you become a self-directed investor..... (2) If you can not easily measure the risk and potential in an investment, then do not invest in it. This excludes from your portfolio bundled investment devices, like mutual funds, ETFs and Index funds,..... (3) Financially strong companies who have paid “good dividends” for decades will continue to stay profitably strong and continue to pay good dividends because it is both part of their "character" and in their executives selfish interest..... (4) Diversification is critical. Investing equally in the best 20 strong dividend stocks is the ideal.....A portfolio of 20 limits your risk in any one deviant stock to only 5% of your wealth..... (5) No matter how strong you think a stock is, do not fall in love with it. I have lived very well off my steady dividend income for 22 years, through two market crashes and one pandemic. I have watched my portfolio’s capital more than quadruple from where I started, despite taking out a generous dividend income every year to live on. For my books and podcasts I have spent years scoring thousand of high dividend paying stocks traded on the TSX, NYSE and the NASDAQ. I proved that carefully chosen financially strong stocks paying high dividends can provide not only a generous dividend income but outstanding capital growth .Financial independence is realizable.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 7, 202618 min

Podcast 300 TD BANK ELIMINATES BOOK VALUES AND OPERATING MARGINS

Send us Fan Mail SAFE DIVIDEND INVESTING For years, the TD Bank's free stock analysis database has been a valuable information resource for self-directed investors like me. It provided a convenient one-stop-shop to research publicly traded companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. TD has now eliminated some of the important financial information that careful investors like me relied upon such as a company's operating margin and its book value. These two important measurements provided valuable insight into the financial health and valuation of a business. In this podcast I show how a free, user friendly, Google, Artificial Intelligence program can be used to solve the problem of this missing data. 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 imacd@informus.ca

October 31, 202615 min

Podcast 299 - 2 DIVIDEND PAYERS WITH YIELDS OVER 14% ANALYZED

Send us Fan Mail SAFE DIVIDEND INVESTING I believe, it is important in investing to keep things as simple as possible. Safe companies that you choose to invest in, should recognize that they must be constantly be returning money to improve their operations to generate greater sales. If they do not grow their revenues then inflation will eat up their profits. Unprofitable companies go out of business. This week I analyze a US company and a Canadian company that are paying dividend yields greater than fourteen percent. I explain why I prefer to receive the 3.5% dividend yields I receive from thousands of shares I own in major Canadian bank stocks then the 14.16% dividend yield I would receive if I invested in Canadian Bank Corp, stock symbol BK. While the second stock analyd is Seven Hills Realty Trust pays an even higher dividend dividend yield of 17.02%. It has been established on the NASDAQ since 2006. However, I explain why it is not safe enough for my portfolios. For safe investment growth and income, it is critical to spend time analyzing your stock choices before buying them. 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 imacd@informus.ca

October 24, 202623 min

Podcast 298 - IS TESLA A BETTER STOCK THAN JPMORGAN AND HONDA?

Send us Fan Mail Safe Dividend Invest Tesla has been part of the S&P 500 since 2020. Does it deserve to be part of that elite group of stocks? What did they have to go through to be accepted by the S&P 500 where such giants as JP Morgan & Chase have been resident since 1975. Will Tesla still be there five years from now? How does Tesla's strength compare to a long established auto manufacturer like Honda? Which of the two auto stocks would be a safer stock to buy in 2026? Are we soon going to experience another stock market crash like we had in 2020? These are just a few of the questions explored in this podcast. 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 imacd@informus.ca

October 17, 202620 min

Podcast 297 -FIVE QUESTIONS FROM INVESTORS

Send us Fan Mail "IS YOUR INVESTMENT ADVISOR A SALES REPRESENTATIVE? Does your investment advisor see his or her job as one of hand holding and advising you when your portfolio shrinks to buy more of this now cheap stock. When your portfolio grows you are then congratulated on listening to his advice and you are now advised to buy into this upward momentum. Is it possible that the advisor is going to make money on your activity no matter what you do? Over the years I receive many questions from investors. Some are about how possible legislation could impact investors. Others are about interpreting how high dividend payments will impact a portfolio. This week I answer five questions. 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 imacd@informus.ca

October 10, 202621 min

Podcast 296 - BEWARE OF CROOKED INVESTMENT ADVISORS

Send us Fan Mail "A FOOL AND HIS MONEY ARE SOON PARTED". Investment advisors love clients who never question what they are doing with their client's money, Many clients put their blind faith in an employee of a large financial institution who is being paid by that institution to transfer as much of the client's money as possible from the client's pocket to the bank's pocket. Learn in this week's podcast how this is done legally with fees, charges and commissions that you agreed to in the small print of the investment contract you signed with the the financial institution your advisor works for. You can also be the victim of a dozen legal illegal schemes such as conversions, embezzlements, misappropriations, churning and unauthorized trading. What red flags should you be looking for in your monthly statements. Ten warning signals are detailed in this podcast. Safety is found by taking back total control of your portfolio as a self-directed investor. 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 imacd@informus.ca

October 3, 202619 min

Podcast 295- SAY NO TO BONDS, PREFERRED SHARES, ETFs AND MUTUAL FUNDS

Send us Fan Mail Bonds, Mutual Funds, Preferred Shares, Real Estate and ETFs are often promoted to investors who fear investing in the stock market. They are described as safer investments than stocks - whose share prices are controlled by speculative bidding. However if an investment is unlikely to ever show a gain in its value that investment is no better than a bank savings account paying a negligible interest rate. If inflation is eating away at your savings by 3.5% every year, your portfolio is losing value annually unless you can realize a safe, growing return of more than 5% from your investing. This week I review why a portfolio of financially strong stocks paying high dividends beats bonds, mutual funds, preferred share and ETFs. It will keep your retirement savings ahead of inflation and grow your portfolio and income year after 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 imacd@informus.ca

September 26, 202623 min

Podcast 294 - DOUBLING YOUR INVESTMENT MONEY

Send us Fan Mail Podcast 294 Canadian Top 10 High Scoring Stocks This podcast is a continuation of Podcast 293 on the US Top 10 high scoring stocks, There are millions who have patiently saved their money for decades in bank savings accounts. Money they expect to help pay their living expenses when they are no longer be able to work. These savers would never consider Investing their money in the stock market. To them the stock market is seen as a form of gambling where they could lose all their life savings and be left penniless. The banks may pay them as much as 0.01% for the use of their money which they will lend to borrowers at rates as high as 22%. Meanwhile their savings account is under attack from an average annual inflation rate of about 3.5% a year. In ten years they will be able to buy 30.50% less than what the money in your savings can now buy. There is a much better, safer place for your savings than in bank savings account. I say this as an investor who twenty-five years lost $300,000 of my life savings investing in supposedly safe mutual funds chosen by an investment advisor. That loss is made me realize my savings would not be safe until I learned how to wisely manage my savings. I am now sharing with you the benefit of my 25 years of research and experience in safe, effective money management. To illustrate how my better way of managing money can safely benefit you over many years, in this week's podcast I take the data of 10 financially strong high dividend stocks from my 2021 book on Canadian high dividend stocks and compare these historical results to their current 2026 results. All my information sources are instantly and freely available so that you can verify how easy it is for you to make wise choices. My retirement savings have grown over these 25 years by many multiples and provide me with a very generous, ever growing monthly income that exceeds my needs and wants. How confident are you that your retirement savings will be able to meet your needs and wants? 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 imacd@informus.ca

September 20, 202625 min

MONEY, RISK AND TIME

Send us Fan Mail Podcast 293 There are millions who have patiently saved their money for decades in bank savings accounts. Money they expect to help pay their living expenses when they are no longer be able to work. These savers would never consider Investing their money in the stock market. To them the stock market is seen as a form of gambling where they could lose all their life savings and be left penniless. The banks may pay them as much as 0.01% for the use of their money which they will lend to borrowers at rates as high as 22%. Meanwhile their savings account is under attack from an average annual inflation rate of about 3.5% a year. In ten years they will be able to buy 30.50% less than what the money in your savings can now buy. There is a much better, safer place for your savings than in bank savings account. I say this as an investor who twenty-five years lost $300,000 of my life savings investing in supposedly safe mutual funds chosen by an investment advisor. That loss is when I realized my savings would not be safe until I learned how to wisely manage my savings. I am now sharing with you the benefit of my 25 years of research and experience in safe, effective money management. To illustrate how my better way of managing money can safely benefit you over many years, in this week's podcast I take the data of 10 financially strong high dividend stocks from my 2021 book on US dividend stocks and compare the historical results to their current 2026 results. I use information sources that are instantly and freely available so you can verify how easy it is for you to make wise choices. My retirement savings have grown over these 25 years by many multiples and provide me with a very generous, ever growing monthly income that exceed my needs and wants. How confident are you that your retirement savings will be able to meet your needs and wants? Ian Duncan MacDonald 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 imacd@informus.ca

September 13, 202618 min

WHY LAW FIMS INITIATE CLASS ACTION LAW SUITS

Send us Fan Mail Podcast 292 Why do law firms initiate hundreds of class action law suits? Do they earn millions of dollars in profits if the class-action law suit is successful? What happens when they are not successful? Researching the motivation of lawyers who initiate legal actions arose when a long-time listener to my podcast wrote, after listening to Podcast 288, "I am surprised you seem to recommend the REIT IIPR given their recent legal issues....I held the stock briefly in 2023 and 2024 only to sell it at a loss and join a large group of shareholders in a legal action against the company". My mention of IIPR in that podcast was to illustrate how a high dividend yield had resulted in its then low IDM risk score. The idea that unusually high dividends are due to an unusually high investment risk, like most generalities, ignores exceptions. In this podcast I do a thorough analysis of the IIPR risk. I found the stock had many strengths which is probably why the class actions were dismissed in August as having no merit. However it raises questions: Why did the law firm initiate a class action law suit? What role do those investors in the class-action lawsuit play? What percentage of the judgment would the plaintiff lawyer realize if its legal action were successful? Who pays if the lawsuit is unsuccessful. I was surprised to see the huge number of blue chip stocks that the IIPR law firm had initiated class action lawsuits against. The reward for investors participating in the class action lawsuit was not obvious. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who felt after participating in a class action lawsuit against a stock that they had greatly benefited. 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 imacd@informus.ca

September 5, 202622 min

WHY CHINA'S BYD BEAT TESLA

Send us Fan Mail The 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 imacd@informus.ca