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

Sell longer bonds and put them into a shorter duration bond ETF? If you are holding direct bonds that are paying more than what the current bonds are, and you are willing to hold them until they mature, hold them. If you will need the money before the maturity date, this makes sense. A laddered product such as 1-5 yr Government Bond ETF (CLF-T) or Vanguard Cdn Short-Term ETF (VSB-T) would work well.

ETFs in RRSPs? Yes. Depending on your age and how long it will be held, you might look at global equities such as MSCI World Index Fund (XWD-T). If you wanted to slice and dice, then the Vanguard products are very good for Canada, US and international merging markets. (His preference would be to diversify outside of Canada.)

RESPs? If a child ends up with $100,000 and the degree costs $50,000, what happens to the other $50,000? The government doesn't care as long as you prove that the child is in school.

Downside to covered call ETFs? These are good stories for Nervous Nellies. Downside is if markets go up quickly. If markets go up quickly, a covered call strategy will cause the holder to forgo some of the gains that would otherwise be there.Downside to covered call ETFs? These are good stories for Nervous Nellies. Downside is if markets go up quickly. If markets go up quickly, a covered call strategy will cause the holder to forgo some of the gains that would otherwise be there.

Resources. Stocks had a great run over the last few months so she expects some consolidation in this space. Expect some Cdn oil/gas stocks are going to be soft. Looking for a sideways action for the next few months.

Natural gas. Producers will probably cut back on production. Expect prices will be weak this year at around $2.50-$3.

Commodities. Expecting commodity space to do well in the 2nd half and she is fairly bullish on the global economy with a 2%-ish type of growth. This is a time for good buying opportunities.

Markets. He is expecting slow, plodding growth. 2%-3% GDP growth in North America as long as Europe doesn't blow up or something else that can't be contained. He is looking for high single-digit returns. Cautiously optimistic.

Markets: A bit of a mystery as to why the market is down. ‘Not so bad’ data released today. People are worried about China. There may be some portfolio window dressing going on. Thinks a lot of the values are still there and the market is not over bought in his sectors: Banks and Telcos, starting to look at consumer discretionary, auto sales, US multinationals and even Europe for the first time in a couple of years. With the weak Euro, means profits coming back get translated to something attractive.

Oil. Very real possibility that governments will release strategic petroleum reserves. This underscores how important it is that we bring oil down to a level that is more reflective of fundamentals. Saudis have indicated they're going to send more oil to the US to bring prices down. We are at a point where we are back in line with 5 year averages in terms of inventory so the market isn’t very loose nor is it very tight. Still a $15-$20 premium built into the price of oil to reflect what is going on in the Middle East, an unquantifiable thing that hangs over the price of oil. His portfolios are about 85% weighted towards oil right now and he is basically looking for oil to be flat right now.

Natural gas. This is a terrible situation for natural gas right now. He expects the price of natural gas will be terrible for the balance of the year. He has eliminated great natural gas companies from his portfolio last year.

Markets: A 15-20% correction would be nothing here compared to what we have had in the past. He thinks Bernaki would love a correction like that. IT will be a short-lived tumble. It is not like there are not some cheap stocks.

Markets: Expects a shallow correction. He is holding off a bit on some buys. What’s going on in Europe is still troubling. There are continuing to be more and more covered call ETFs.

Diversification: ETFs are inherently diversified. He looks at having 6 equity and 3 income ETFs.

Markets: Some things have picked up, auto, housing, we had a good rally in a relatively short time and would not be surprised to see a pullback in the short term. Always has a combination of long and short positions. Is a bit more net long right now.