Acting quite well. He's been picking some up, including a broad-sector one in the US. Rates coming down has certainly helped, as it makes housing more affordable. Lots of predictability in this sector and usually ( though not always) safer. Income you get from it tends to buffer against other issues.

It's also local, so tends not to be impacted as much by the macro. Though what we're seeing in the markets now is because everyone will be impacted, but having a more "domestic" look insulates you a bit.

A chart of options expirations and the cost of options on these days in the past week. Those on Thursday and Friday this week (post-tariff announcements) are very expensive like 36-28%.  But next week Friday it's 20.79%, a huge drop which means the market expects a lot of volatility the next few days, but will be over by Monday. Another chart: the VIX 9 Day (9 days out) vs. VIX (30 days out) shows the VIX 9 trading much higher than the regular VIX, which is rare. This also shows more volatility in coming days than later. Tomorrow could see a 1.6% swing and Friday a 2.1% move either way, and -3% in the next two days possibly. But after that, we should be in the clear.

Yes. They didn't stop paying dividends even during the 2008 financial crisis. Except for MFC, all financial services companies also kept their dividends. At the best of times, it's a severe, career-interrupting move to cancel a dividend. For a Canadian bank, it would be catastrophic. 

Some are stronger than others. RY is the 800-pound gorilla that all the others are chasing. TD has had its issues in the US; but you'll notice it's up from the time US sanctions were imposed. All are resilient, a fiercely protected species.

Fund Performance Metrics: Benchmark Holdings

Benchmark Holdings indicates the overlap between the portfolio holdings and the benchmark set for the portfolio. The ‘active’ measure in the third column measures the percentage of the portfolio, as position weight, that differs from the benchmark index. It is a metric quantifying the level of active management within a portfolio. While this metric might not give a whole lot to an investor, investors allocating to investments with a higher portion of ‘active’ holdings typically expect a differentiated return profile relative to a passive or a benchmark-driven portfolio.
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Welcome to the world of dividends! She invests in dividends for clients at any stage of investing, but understands the extra motivation for dividends and stability as a person inches toward retirement. 

Last year, they were earning 4.8% on client funds invested in money market funds. This let them have the patience to ease into the market. Seeing more volatility in markets this year, which is good if you're seeking to deploy some cash. The yield on cash has come down significantly in the past year, especially in Canada with the BOC dropping rates. It's now only ~2.5%, and that's not enough to live on. So you're more attracted to investing in high-dividend-earning stocks.

Could we see more volatility in the market? Absolutely. She'd probably get 1/3 in now, and wait and see. On days when the market's taking a beating, buy more. And do it selectively. The pipeline space, for example, is still giving you about a 6% dividend yield. A name like Telus is also one to consider. Still some good opportunities for yield, without the crazy valuations. Selling some of those high-flying tech names at 30-50x PE and buying a utility at 20x PE, doesn't seem so expensive on a relative basis.

We're finally waking up as a country. It's amazing to see everybody coming together and talking about working together. Dropping barriers, like crazy taxes, to move products from one province to another. Those make no economic sense. Dropping them will unleash a lot of GDP right there. 

Great to hear the talk. He would like to see some action, which will probably come after the election. When it comes to Canadian infrastructure investment, there are some good companies out there and already trading at attractive multiples. And that's before accounting for any additional investments.

You really have to pick your spots. Have to make sure companies don't take on any fixed-price contract risk. Many have smartened up over the years and now structure contracts differently. Take a look at ARE. And ATRL, in consulting, is probably an even safer way to play in the space.