The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that the trade war has intensified in the past month, but stocks have sailed on serenely. In a Globe special, Rob Carrick writes that year-to-date total return for the S&P/TSX Composite Index for the year to Aug. 31 was 16 per cent, a nice follow-through to returns of 31.7 per cent in 2025, 21.7 per cent in 2024 and 11.8 per cent in 2023. You understand this can't last, right? Economic damage caused by tariffs might trigger a downturn for stocks, or maybe the AI boom enters the inevitable phase where the hype gets deflated. The cause of the next downturn doesn't matter. What does is your preparation, particularly if you're a retiree. The U.S. decision to apply tariffs on imports from Canada and other countries hit the stock market hard in March and April, 2025, with shares down around 10 per cent in the first eight days of April alone. Investors who have yet to retire can prepare for a stock market crash by basing a portfolio on Canadian, U.S. and international stocks, and then including per-cent bonds, guaranteed investment certificates and cash. Diversification with stocks, bonds, GICs and cash is the primary line of defence against stock market declines.