RE: The dividend....I don't know if the 6% is so unusual as most of the financials right now have rather handsome dividend ratios. This is mainly the product of the current market atmosphere. BMO has always seemed to have a more generous dividend then its peers. I think if you believe it is unsustainable then you would have to label most of the financials in the same light. I think the Canadian financials are in a better position then the US financials. The Canadian banks should really be applauded for their rather conservative stance on lending practices. If you are worried about the short term market or a possible cut in dividend in the near term then you must ask yourself, why are you holding equities if you need your capital readily accessible. Pherhaps if you have a shorter time horizan outlook then you may not want to be in equities. I think anyone who has a long term outlook should rather look for opportunities to add wonderful bussinesses at a great price to their portfolios. I do agree that TD tends to be a well run institution but the other banks are not slouchs either. CIBC got slapped hard but they took the risks and got hurt by it. They may have been pherhaps overly aggressive and lost their margin of safety in their investments. No recession is good news for a financial but it could open up opportunities for investors to make careful purchases of wonderful buinesses. If you wait too long for spring then next thing you know the tulips will be blooming. Thoese waiting for any better times to buy could be dissapointed if they wait too long. Could the market drop more in the short term, pherhaps but history has repeatedly shown that it will continue its eventual upward trend. Good luck all.
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