Spring is here but the temps are up and down with flurries to rain so far but I won't complain because the humidity and higher temperatures living by the Atlantic Ocean will be here soon enough so I'll enjoy it while I can where I'm comfortable at about 20 C and below.
A retail or individual investor they call me and the growing number of people into do-it-yourself investing are making the Big Banks shift their focus slowly to offering no commission trades and other perks with the growing popularity of sites like Wealthsimple and Questrade.
I'm old school so I still keep the bulk of my portfolio in the bank like TD Bank. Recently TD enhanced their TD Easy Trade app to 100 free trades, up from 50 last year and a list of 100 commission free ETFs. I started trading on Easy Trade as soon as the app was launched. For ETFs not in their commission free list, I go to Wealthsimple to buy and sell.
My portfolio is diversified with stocks in sectors such as the banks, pipelines, energy, insurers and others. It's riding out the choppy waters despite the headwinds brought on by the Iran war, which the US and Israel initiated causing oil and gas/diesel prices to spike for now.
While many panic sell, even gold for cash which is different from the norm, I watched my energy stocks like Suncor, SU.TO and TC Energy TRP.TO go to new highs while paying dividends.
I tune into Mike, The Dividend Guy's 10 minute broadcast called the Moose on the Loose about different stocks and expanding on questions from his readers. Lots of good investing ideas with stats and what he prefers or not, leaving it up to the listener to digest and think about.
Recently on March 30th, it was about SOBO, South Bow, the spin off from TC Energy where SOBO has the pipelines and TC Energy, more into Natural Gas these days.
I gained shares of SOBO with that split and added shares, liking the potential and dividends paid in USD, converting to CAD on my end. It takes big bucks to maintain and extend pipelines. Meanwhile, the money "flows" into SOBO from the tolls/fees companies pay to use the pipelines to transport their oil. South Bow has been in the news recently about expanding their pipeline in the US and meetings with the US Feds and States involved
SOBO has gained over 25% share price in the last 3 months.
I found Mike's opinion on SOBO interesting in the link below
About South Bow (SOBO), March 30, 2026
Currently I'm watching and interested in BMO's "T for Target" ETFs
BMO released the distributions and the Target yield for 15 of their new funds.
For example, ZWB is a covered call ETF holding the top banks in Canada plus ZEB with a current yield of 5.42% and I have ZWB in my ETF portfolio.
ZWB.T (Target and new ETF) has a current Target yield of 13% and has paid out it's first distribution but I'll wait for BMO's April news release, usually around the 20th for ZWB.T's distribution payment in early May to compare the ETF price from it's starting price. It's wise to read over all the information BMO has available on these Target ETFs.
It's certainly a new twist on an original ETF like ZWB launched on January 28th, 2011 so I'll be watching ZWB.T's charts with regards to price swings and if it will be an addition or not. I like to see the monthly payments coming in but don't want to see an ETF price go lower over time ultimately bringing on a loss when it comes to total gain.
More on that in April along with how the stock sectors are performing while US policy on the Iran war and trade deals with Canada keeps everybody speculating with the constant changes from day to day.
Happy Easter, today being the 4th of April, 2026
