Michael Herring

The US Fed will say that they will remove the stimulus when it is apparent that the economy is growing again. He thinks they will mean that but wont ultimately do that. They could announce an increase in the quantity of securities that they are purchasing. They would be just printing money. Value exists in US corporate bonds below investment grade (US Junk Bonds) – diversified.

121 holdings in it. High Yield Bond ETF. Experienced low defaults so far but expect it them to go up. You are getting such a high yield that you can sustain a certain level of defaults. Yield around 15%. Risk is that economy is not recovering to the extent that we think.

US Corporate, investment grade, bonds. Low risk, 6.5% yield.

Would form a good core holding for an investor. Can be paired with other two top picks. Canadian bonds will not yield as high because the situation was not as severe in Canada as in the US

Strip bonds as part of an RRSP: Excellent way to get exposure to bonds, especially in a small RRSP.

caller asked: Who gets paid first?: Debentures, Preferred Share holders, and finally common shareholder.

Real Return Bonds: Pay am interest rate on top of the inflation rate. Around 2% so total coupon rates are 2%+3%=5%. Want them at or above 3% above inflation.

How bonds are priced: Interest rate used on bond is the “coupon rate”. They trade at either a discount or a premium to face value, depending on prevailing interest rates.