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

Rare Earths: He does not own any. Chinese have a strangle hold on it. He does not like to go there and does not trust it.

Markets. Thinks that people are getting a little more enthusiastic and deciding that we are not having a recession. Thought that there was a lot of move out of the market, really still post 2008-2009. As bond yields get lower and lower, people are finally deciding to get into the market. Commodity stocks are terribly beaten-down and they can go up a long way before they approach anything that he thinks is fair value.

Regarding the July 31 TOP PICK. My apologies. On July 31/12 a Top Pick by Barry Schwartz was shown as Assisted Living Concepts (ALC-N) and this should have been Algoma Central (ALC-T). BNN’s TV screen had the ALC-N shown instead of ALC-T. I used their info instead of double checking. This has now been corrected. (We’re having enough problems with our new site without needing any problems from BNN. Bill ;>)

Markets: Likes the positive news on jobs considering the last couple of weeks. He is not aggressively buying because of the headwinds. The most upside is with Nat Gas because it has gotten so beaten up. Once LNG plants get up and running that should be good for Nat Gas. The hot summers is helping also.

How does premium income from selling options get taxed? This is treated as capital gain. You have to be a little careful that if you were selling now and the option expires in December, that's fine because it is in the same year. If it didn't expire until March, you would still be taxed on it this year.

Covered call strategy ETF's that outperform the market? This is the nature of covered calls. People will look at the yield these things are offering and think that is what they are going to get. The yields are actually predicated upon what is happening in the stock. You have to decide if you like the particular sector. He likes the ZWB-T.

Opinion on Horizon’s new Black Swan ETF's, HUT and HUS? The problem is, when you are hedging things off with Puts, the cost of the Puts can be pretty expensive. Hasn't done well over the last couple of months. He is not thrilled with the product.

US equity ETF with a focus on dividends? XLP-N is a consumers staples (household products such as beach, etc.) and has been very popular of late. It throws off a little bit more dividend than some of the others. Near its high right now.

ETF that automatically protects against rising interest rates? You could use something like a real return bonds but he has never been happy with them. The best thing to do, is keep your cash in short-term.

What is a capped ETF? This simply means that there is a limit put on percentage that a given stock can have in the ETF.

What is an ETF and how does it work? How dangerous is it? An ETF is similar to a mutual fund in that it is diversified inherently. The big difference is that with a mutual fund, the price that you paid is determined after the market closes. With an ETF, it trades like a stock. This is a way to get instant diversification at a much lower cost than a mutual fund.

ETF wrap products and their costs versus holding ETF's individually? Wraps are basically where you hold a bunch of mutual funds or stocks, etc. You are charged for this and it depends on who is holding the wrap. Sometimes they can be static in that they are not actively managed. If you are dealing with under $50,000, you don't need a wrap.

Mrk Vectr Agribusiness (MOO-T) or BMO Agricultural Commodities (ZCA-T) and your take on agricultural ETF's in general? Right now you are seeing some run ups because of the drought in the US. ZCA tracks the futures contracts. Moo (and Cow) are corporations.

Markets: Retail investors are convinced the world is coming to an end. The investment strategists are at their most bearish since ’83. While everyone is selling he is buying. He focuses on income solutions while managing volatility. The speculators are addicted to quick fixes. A debt problem is a generational problem and is not going to be fixed overnight.

Royalty on food sales model is strange. It continues to work from a CRA point of view but there are concerns that this model may not survive because CRA does not like people getting pre-tax income. Prefers Pizza Pizza.