A Comment -- General Comments From an Expert (A Commentary)

Markets. Feels it is safe to get into the market now but the caveat is, corrections can happen any time. The value of the market is there. Earnings are at an all-time high.

Markets. On Friday a German Finance minister said the Euro crisis is not over. The markets are responding a little to that. Many markets, other than Canada, are a bit overbought. Maybe the markets are due for a little bit of correction. The world is probably not going to grumble but there could be some anxiety during the summer months. If someone is worried about a 5% correction over the next month or two, maybe they should take some money off the table. The amount varies by investor.

Educational Segment. Managing your own money better. Most people are interested in how to manage an income portfolio, e.g.:

Avg. Yield: 4.20%, Std.Dev. 7.25%.

Above would be equally weighted with dividend portfolio, e.g.:

Avg. Yield: 4.20%, Std.Dev. 7.25%.

The different bond ETFs have different volatilities. The reward people can get is defined by the risk they can take.

You can shift between bonds and equities without making a significant change in the yield. You have to re-balance your portfolio from time to time.

Markets. The sell off from the comments in the Euro-zone is a buying opportunity. It is interesting that we have had some of the same concerns over the last 18 months coming back into the market. There is good macroeconomic data out there. Would not be surprised to see the rest of the year do well. When you look at how much money is in fixed income out there, and with S&P trading at 15 times earnings it is not a concern long term as money will shift into equities when interest rates rise. Industrial sector looks very good, specifically in the US. Manufacturers have a lot of cost of labour as employment is not increasing.

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Markets. Thinks there will be pretty good growth this year, but outside of Canada. Things move in big cycles and Canada had a big cycle in the 1^st part of this century. There has already been a shift in the foreign markets. Last year his global funds were up 17% but the Canadian market was only up 3%. Commodity cycle is key for Canada and he doesn’t think we are going to repeat what was done in the last 10 years. Now the shift is to some real growth markets, probably driven by consumption, capital spending, technology innovations which he feels is outside of Canada.

Markets. When you look at equities as compared to bonds, they are still mispriced. Economic fundamentals are improving. Even European numbers are starting to get a little bit better. With all this, you could argue for a higher valuation market. Canada has not participated all that well. Resource stocks have lagged. Once there is a little more solidity to this advance, energy and metals should start to participate. He has shifted some of his financial monies to energy and even to golds and industrials.

Markets. BB10 is night and day from BB Torch. 16% sell off since the launch. For his company, it is not a buy here. He has no idea how the BB10 is going to sell. Probably not a sense until the summer. There is too much going on for him in the cell phone handset companies. Thinks that world economies will do better than people think. He wants to be more economically sensitive than he has been. He will be making an asset change. He is not doing it over night. Will move 10% in balanced portfolios from bonds and into stocks.

Markets. For the first time, in a long time, we are starting to see underlying fundamentals that are encouraging for economic growth prospects in 2013 and beyond. Has been an improvement in the labour market and house prices, that will have a knock-on and wealth affect in terms of consumer spending. Corporate profitability should continue to improve and, hopefully, if corporations put all of the money they kept on their balance sheets to work, that should accelerate the growth a little further. Still going through a deleveraging process. Thinks Europe will eventually emerge out of a recession in mid to late 2014. Still good underlying growth from emerging markets as well.

Markets. Opportunities for value stocks are harder to come by but he is still finding a number of them, always looking for those that are out of favour with lots of upside. High-yield bond functioned really well in 2012 and totally focused on the corporate bond market. Spreads have come in, but are still well within the long-term averages. The risk is rising interest rates so prudence dictates a shorter term bond portfolio. Doesn’t touch emerging-market bonds at the present time.

Spreads on high-yield bonds. High-yield spreads are currently around 452 to 500 basis point range, which is well within long time averages. Defaults have been almost at historic lows over the last few years so there is still reasonable value in high yields, though certainly not as much as a year ago. Spreads have come in about 200 basis points in the last 12 months. Thinks spreads will continue to come in by about another 150 basis points in 2013 so it is still going to be a good market for high yields. However, if you hold a lot of long-term high-yield bonds, that is where the real risk is. If rates back up faster than anticipated, especially going out 5-10 years, those investors can get caught. His own portfolios average about 2 years.

Portfolio consists partly of long-term corporate bonds, 6-10 years, BBB high and better. What is the risk? Big risk is rising interest rates. We’ve been locked in this declining interest-rate world for the last 30 years and people are getting used to 10 year Canada bonds in the 2% range or so. That is not the way the world will remain for the next 5-10 years. Would be very cautious. He would be selling longer-term bonds and if you want high-quality bonds, live with a lower yield and hold shorter-term bonds.

Markets. Slightly more on the growthier side but still defensive. Still lots of REITs and dividend payers as well as some gold. Additions in the last couple of months have been growthier. Now he has less gold and more energy, US housing and a bit of the REITs. Consensus is that it will be a decent year, although not stellar and everyone is waiting for a pullback. If there was a dip he would be a little more aggressive.

Canadian Banks. Downgraded the other day. He doesn’t think it is a big deal. Still thinks it’s the best banking system in the world. 99% non-event. Holds all of the 5 but BMO.