STOCKCHASE

DEX Universe Bond ETF. With this ETF, you get every bond, which is about 1100 including government, provincials and corporate. Believes its duration is long so if interest rates rise, it would be affected adversely. This fund has done fairly well. He would prefer a corporate bond ETF.

2011-11-28

PAST TOP PICK

30.610

Michael Decter

(A Top Pick July 19/10. Up 6.59%.) Still likes but has been moving into the Corporate Bond ETF (HAB-T).

2011-08-02

DON'T BUY

29.950

Randy LeClair

Government bond index. He thinks if you are going to use them you should use a broader based one. Prefers high yield or corporate broader basted.

2011-07-05

WEAK BUY

29.920

Mark Carpani

Tracks the Canadian Bond universe. If you are a passive investor and want exposure to the bond market, it is not a bad place to invest, however the risk is that you are going to get the return of the bond index. He thinks you want to get more than the index. Return is dragged down by very short term bonds that don’t have much upside potential.

2010-11-16

TOP PICK

30.270

Michael Decter

Universal Canadian bond fund. Rather than holding money in cash or bankers acceptances that are paying less than .05%, this one yields about 3.9%. When interest rates start to rise, you might not want to be in this one.

2010-08-26

Comment

29.800

Cdn Bond Market ETF. Price should hold up relatively well as he doesn't think interest rates will rise in the next 12 months. Not a fan of ETF’s, as he prefers individual bonds.

2010-07-21

TOP PICK

29.690

Michael Decter

Cdn bond market ETF. Barclays run this and they have $1.4 billion with 236 individual government bonds. For retail investors, individual bonds are hard to buy in small quantities without getting killed on the spread. 4.3% yield. If interest rates go up, this won't perform that well but if there is deflation, this is a holding action.

2010-07-19

Comment

29.690

Mark Carpani

Cdn Bond Market ETF. Not expecting interest rates to rise significantly next year but bond market has already priced this in. This ETF is up about 4% this year but doesn't expect the bond index to rally more than 1%-2% in the next 6 months.

2010-07-19

Comment

29.720

John Hood

Canadian bond market ETF with a duration of about 5 years. For conservative investors.

2010-07-07

DON'T BUY

29.690

Mark Carpani

Doesn't like this because you are buying the index and if you believe rates are going to rise, you want an actively managed portfolio. You don't want to hold anything in the 1-5 year area, which make up almost half this index.

2010-03-11

DON'T BUY

29.800

John Hood

Converted his XBBs into XSBs because of duration and the specter of higher interest rates.. It’s a good product, but not right now.

2010-03-04

Comment

29.570

Cdn Bond Market ETF. A good fund but would prefer the Cdn Corp Bond ETF (XCB-T). 74% of this one is government bonds and he would prefer corporates looking out to 2010.

2009-12-22

HOLD

29.640

Universe of every bond issued. There are about 2000 different bond issues from 1 day to 30 years so you own the bond market itself. Good news is low fees and no guesswork. Bad news is you don't know what is going to be worth when you retire giving uncertainty. You can plan your portfolio with a laddered approach in the meantime this is not going to hurt you.

2009-10-30

BUY

29.410

Joey Mack

One stop shop in fixed income space. For a long-term investor in bonds this is the ETF to get. Looking at 12 months. Don’t get much beyond 2 years for an active trader.

2009-10-19

BUY

29.430

John DeGoey

Prevents you having to worry about what bonds your broker has in inventory.

2009-10-09

Comment

29.710

Som Seif

iUnits Cdn Bond Market. A great bond exposure index. At some point over the next couple of years, interest rates will be higher so consider diversifying into shorter duration bonds and/or corporate or real return bonds.

2009-10-05

PAST TOP PICK

29.390

(A Top Pick Aug 12/08. Up 5.7%.) Doesn't like this instrument right now, as the Canadian market doesn't give the liquidity that he needs. He changed to strip bonds instead.

2009-08-04

Comment

29.390

David Schaffner

Fixed income fund so advantage is lower volatility and lower management fees. On the other hand, there could be a fun that is actively managed and even though it has a higher MER it could be worthwhile.

2009-08-04

Comment

29.300

Christine Horoyski

Government universe index. 30% corporate all investment-grade and 7% government with about a 3.5% yield. Consider going with a very strong fixed income active manager. (Such as our Expert.)

2009-07-30

BUY

29.300

Joey Mack

Basically 50%-75% government securities. Balance is in investment-grade corporates. Looking at a 10-year timeframe, you need a core ETF and this is his favourite. If you want to be a little more aggressive you could look at the iShares Cdn Corp Bond ETF (XCB-T).

2009-06-24

HOLD

29.390

Randy LeClair

Canadian bond index. Indexes have done very well last year and he thinks they will do well.

2009-05-05

PAST TOP PICK

29.210

(Top Pick Aug 13/08, Up 4%) Bond market has had fits and starts. Volume was not there so sold it. Good little base was built. Hold it.

2009-04-20

Comment

29.020

Canadian Corporate Bond iShares (XCB-T) or Canadian Universal Bond iShares (XBB-T)? Prefers the corporate bond one because if the economy turns, he feels they would do a little bit better.

2009-03-27

PAST TOP PICK

29.250

(A Top Pick Aug 12/08. Up 2.8%.) Would have liked it to reflect a bit more of what he had seen in the US bond market.

2009-02-17

BUY

28.750

Don Vialoux

A basket of the Scotia Bank bond index. Probably the best one for corporate bonds.

2009-01-30

PAST TOP PICK

28.850

(A Top Pick Aug 12/08. Up 2%.) Didn't go up as much as the US bonds, probably because there is a smaller market in Canada.

2009-01-08

PAST TOP PICK

28.260

(Top Pick Aug 12, 2008, Up 7%) It now poses too high of a risk and it broke support recently. Would prefer to sit in cash and earn money market rates.

2008-10-08

BUY

28.470

Jeff Black

It’s a good time to hold some bonds. If you want to be in bonds and don’t want the interest rate sensitivity, then go for the shorter terms.

2008-10-06

TOP PICK

29.070

Represents a really good risk/reward. Pulled off its base in mid July/07. Dividend yield, capital appreciation of 6%-8% in this environment is very comfortable.

2008-08-12

BUY

29.390

Norman Levine

For a smaller individual investor, owning bonds through the iShares is an excellent idea, because you get great diversification at a very low cost. Right now he would concentrate on the shorter bond fund. (XSB-T?)

2008-03-10

BUY

27.970

This is the broad bond index. Has had a very significant sell off because of a perception of higher interest rates. He doesn't feel interest rates are going higher, so it's not a bad time to look at this.

2007-07-11

BUY

29.080

Given the complications for a retail investor to buy bonds, this is an alternative way of having access to this market. Low MER costs.

2007-02-05

BUY

29.580

Mimics the Scotia Capital Universe Bond Index, so when you buy this, you are buying the bond market. The fees are only .3%. Has an average turnover of about 10 years, duration about 7 with a yield of about 4.25% and the trailing 12-month performance is close to 6%.

2006-12-11

BUY

29.190

A basket of bonds, but instead of paying high MERs or transaction costs this is an index-like product. If you are not buying bonds specifically, this is a very cheap way to get into the bond market.

2006-09-05

BUY

28.740

And effective way of laddering short term bonds at very low cost. Allows you to give into the bond market very efficiently by paying low MERs.

2006-08-08

BUY

28.660

Laddering iUnits Short Bond Index (XSB-T), iUnits Canadian Bond Market (XBB-T) and iUnits Real Return Bond (XRB-T) is an effective strategy. Low fees.

2006-04-04

BUY

29.330

Are these a safe investment compared to corporate bonds? This is an efficient way to get into the Canadian bond market. Buying bonds through your brokers, results in a higher commission which is embedded into the total price and you may not know what you are paying.

2005-12-29

BUY

29.520

Represents the entire bond market. A real proxy for the bond market. His outlook is for falling rates in the first-half of 2006.

2005-12-20

BUY

29.320

A great strategy if you want to get into the bonds. The bond market is incredibly inefficient and illiquid. The problem with bond funds is that the management fees are around 1.5%.

2005-11-17

DON'T BUY

29.400

Represents an ownership of the Scotia McLeod Bond Universe which is the benchmark for most Canadian bond fund managers. With this, you never have a bond maturing, just a basket of bonds that keep getting rolled over. A good index. If you are looking for income products, it is not the greatest investment right now.

2005-10-06

DON'T BUY

29.930

Feels the bond market has a lot of risk right now and would diversify any portfolio that has just bonds in it.

2005-09-07

BUY

29.790

The fees are only .3 a year. This mimics the Scotia McLeod Universe index, so you're buying the bond market when you buy units in this. It has a composite of all maturities and all credits, so you're buying the bond market.

2005-08-19

STRONG BUY

29.680

Terrific vehicle for a retail investor who wants to get into bonds. You are only paying .03 a year and they pay out quarterly distributions of income.

2005-06-16

BUY

28.850