STOCKCHASE

19.160

Preferred D 4.45% Series 4. Have been really beaten up. A perpetual so it is longer term. Trading under par. Has tremendous upside and is giving a very generous yield.

2011-12-07

BUY

0.020

European sovereign bonds. This is too much of a wild card right now. The situation seems to be very fluid, going back and forth. If you're looking for safety and income there are a lot of other wiser choices in Canada and the US. This is a definite slowdown, which will put a cap on growth but in one sense is good for fixed income in that you know that rates are not going to go up immediately.

2011-12-07

Comment

0.020

Do bond yields have to rise from here? If so, where does a bond investor “hide”? Can't see bond yields rising, at least for another year or more. 2 places that bond managers make money is either in their term or duration so in a rising rate environment, you get as short as possible. The other place is a mix between government and corporate. In a rising environment corporates are going to take it a little bit harder so reduce corporates and go into governments.

2011-12-07

DON'T BUY

0.020

Money market funds? They pay a very, very low rate. The big risk is if we stay in an almost zero rate environment.

2011-12-07

HOLD

0.020

Ford Credit Canada 4.25% Bonds due 2014. BB but is there a possibility it gets upgraded to BBB? BB is just below investment grade and Ford has been very public in saying they want to make it back to investment grade. That is good news and their sales are up. If you buy them, make sure they are in the shorter terms.

2011-12-07

PAST TOP PICK

Claymore Advantage High Yield Bond ETF

11.800

(A Top Pick July 5/11. Up 3.3%.) Groupe Aeroplan 6.5% Series 1. Still Buying.

2011-12-07

PAST TOP PICK

Bell Aliant

BA-T

28.110

(A Top Pick July 5/11. Up 3.2%.) Bell Alliant 4.85% Series A, Rate Reset. Still Buying.

2011-12-07

Comment

CHB-T

19.560

High Yield Bond ETF. Danger here is where people load up (like 100%) in high yield. This is a great way to play the high yield market. 2 big risks. 1) They are passive, so you are not getting a manager to pick out the better credits. 2) Not really developed in Canada so they have to go to the US for them and you could lose on currency.

2011-12-07

Comment

39.020

6.8% strip bonds expiring May 2042. Strips have definite purposes. You can match them up to retirement, education, that sort of thing. As long as you are comfortable that the company was last that long, they make a lot of sense.

2011-10-17

TOP PICK

Manulife Financial

MFC-T

0.010

Series 2. (MFC.PR.B-T) 4.65%. A perpetual preferred share with a possible call date March 19. Doesn't expect they will call it. There has been a black cloud over this company, which presents a bit of an opportunity. Current yield is 5.38%.

2011-10-17

PAST TOP PICK

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 15.2%.)(Preferred A.)

2011-10-17

TOP PICK

Shaw Communication (B)

SJR.B-T

0.010

Series A callable on June 30/16. At this yield to call is 4.27%. Like buying a bond with a 5.7% yield.

2011-10-17

PAST TOP PICK

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 14%.)Preferred

2011-10-17

TOP PICK

Trans Canada Corp

TRP-T

0.010

Preffered 4.4% Series 5. Callable at January 30/16. He doesn't own them yet but is looking at them.

2011-10-17

BUY

George Weston Ltd.

WN-T

0.010

(Preferred) This issue is trading just below $25 with a current yield of about 5.3%. For non-financial perpetuals, you might be better with Transcanada or Westcoast. (Couldn't find the symbols for either of these. – Ed.)

2011-10-17

Comment

0.020

Why did preferred shares drop in March 2009 but are currently doing just fine? It was just a panic in 2009. Currently it is a different situation. Europe is so far away. Also, we didn't have rate resets, shorter-term preferreds that are usually issued for 5 years. Also interest rates are dropping.

2011-10-17

Comment

0.020

For a 55-year-old retiree, what percent of portfolio should be in bonds? The old rule of thumb is that fixed income should be equal to your age, which would be 55% in this case. You should check with your advisor.

2011-10-17

BUY

0.020

Phillips Hager North High Yield Bond fund. Very well-known bond manager with all kinds of awards. Definitely know what they are doing. Probably has had difficulty over the last 3-6 months with the high-yield market being driven up in yield and down in price.

2011-10-17

Comment

iShares US High Yield Bond Index ETF

0.020

Claymore Advantage High Yield Bond ETF (XGB-T) and Cdn Corp Bond ETF (XCB-T) for someone starting retirement?. This is definitely a way to do it, but the big question is what the weight should be between government and corporate. You should talk to your advisor. Another option is the DEX Universe Bond ETF (XBB-T). This may not optimize what you are doing in your portfolio as these are passive.

2011-10-17

Comment

XHY-T

19.810

US High Yield Bond Index ETF. Not a fan of ETF's or high yields but for someone looking to replace a small part of their portfolio, maybe 10%, this would be fine. Hedged. For high-yield, you have to look to the US. You could also look at Claymore Advantage High Yield Bond ETF (CHB-T).

2011-10-17

PAST TOP PICK

RBC Capital Trust

RYT.NT.P-T (Dea

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 5.55%.)

2011-10-17

Comment

36.130

Floating Rate Preferreds series A.I. Just got a notice they can be converted to a new series AJ. Should I convert? Every 5 years, is give the option of going to fixed or floating. These rates will be bumped down to 4.5% or you can convert to the J series, which is a floating rate at 100% prime. He doesn't see rates rising anytime soon.

2011-08-04

PAST TOP PICK

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 10.8%.)(Preferred A.)

2011-08-04

TOP PICK

Rona Inc

RON-T

11.120

(All 3 of his Top Picks are Preferred “Rate Resets” and are laddered so they come up in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Also staying with non-financials with a slightly lower credit grade.) 5.25% Series 6, Class A. dividend yield is around 5.18%. Makes a lot of sense, especially in a non-RRSP account.

2011-08-04

PAST TOP PICK

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 4.45%.)Preferred

2011-08-04

DON'T BUY

Yellow Media Inc

YLO-T

1.100

Preferreds due Dec 2012. Safe to hold to maturity? Just reported and results were not good. There is a big black cloud hanging over them because of 1) their sale of Trader.com, auto trader's publication and 2) they cut their common share dividend. This particular preferred is retractable in Dec 2012. There is a question if they will have enough money at that time to pay these out.

2011-08-04

Comment

0.020

Corporate strip bond portfolio? It is very difficult, especially in Canada, to buy corporate strip bonds. If you are building a “Strip” portfolio, on ladders they should go out to 10 years at least and even add in a few longer-term if you can find them. This can be handy if you have a child's education in 18-19 years, you can have a strip go out that long.

2011-08-04

Comment

0.020

Bond values will drop when interest rates rise. Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of bonds? Interest rate cycles last anywhere from 5 to 7 years. This is usually followed by an “easing phase of the cycle” and rates drop, when you usually get your very best year in bonds. You can't just focus in on 1 year.

2011-08-04

TOP PICK

Claymore 1-5 yr Government Bond ETF

12.850

(All 3 of his Top Picks are Preferred “Rate Resets” and are laddered so they come up in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Also staying with non-financials with a slightly lower credit grade.) 6.5%, Series 1. The yield is approaching 5.5%.

2011-08-04

Comment

CLF-T

20.380

1-5 yr Government Bond ETF. This is only 1 o 5 years and he prefers a longer period. Rates have gone down but not as much as the 10 year or 30 year bonds.

2011-08-04

TOP PICK

Co-operators General Insurance Company (Pref-D)

CCS.PR.D-T

27.100

(All 3 of his Top Picks are Preferred “Rate Resets” and are laddered so they come up in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Also staying with non-financials with a slightly lower credit grade.) 7.25%. Can be reset in 2014. Expectation is that the company will call them back.

2011-08-04

PAST TOP PICK

RBC Capital Trust

RYT.NT.P-T (Dea

0.010

(A Top Pick Sept 17/10. Up 6.47%.)

2011-08-04

PAST TOP PICK

38.130

4.35% Series AG Preferred (Top Pick Jun 16/10, Up 25.60) Expected it to do well but not this well. It is a unique preferred. It is in a fixed floater, which is not understood well. It came up for a reset in April. You choose between fixed and floating. He stayed with the fixed. Got a bump up in dividend to 4.5%, so people were quote happy.

2011-07-05

PAST TOP PICK

Emera Inc

EMA-T

32.070

4.4% Series A Preferred Share (Top Pick Jun 16/10, Up 8.69%) New issue and a solid performer.

2011-07-05

Comment

Rogers Communcations (B)

RCI.B-T

38.900

Preferred shares will do you a world of good because of how they are taxed. Caller wanted Rogers. You have to go preferred if you want them.

2011-07-05

TOP PICK

Shaw Communication (B)

SJR.B-T

21.970

Shaw Communications 4.50% Rate reset Series A. 99% of time company redeems them at reset. Non-Financial. Likes numbers on Shaw. Doing well with Canwest acquisition. Everyone is waiting for what they will do in the wireless segment if anything. Firing on all cylinders.

2011-07-05

PAST TOP PICK

29.380

5.68% Bond (Top Pick Jun 16/10, Up 8.71%) 2108 maturity callable in 2019. Tier 1 hybrid bond. You might have interest rate risk coming up in the next few years.

2011-07-05

Comment

Trans Canada Corp

TRP-T

42.080

Preferreds. Credit quality: They are good – it is quite regulated. It is more about the preferred share type. They have rate resets and perpetual. Perpetuals yield more but are more volatile.

2011-07-05

Comment

Yellow Media Inc

YLO-T

2.550

6.25 convertible bond. He has been looking at this one for a while. It is convertible to equity at some point. You can convert it at $8 at which point it is like a common share. They sold their Auto Trader publication to pay down debt. This bond could get paid out at any time. There are yellow preferred shares and you get a descent dividend.

2011-07-05

N/A

0.020

Market: Interest rates: We should be seeing a lot better growth. At this point in the cycle you just clip the coupons. Rise in interest rates is on hold for 6 to 12 months. We’ve never had a cycle where the less developed economies are lending money to the first world. Preferred shares and corporate bonds are the place to be right now. As corporate profit start to approve you want to shift more to corporate bonds. We are not going into a huge slowdown.

2011-07-05

SELL

0.020

Shaw 7.5% bond trading at $111. Professional investors look at the spread between this and government bonds. This one has about 1.2% spread. If you think it will get tighter, then you should sell the bond. Could consider selling it. Go into the preferreds.

2011-07-05

Comment

0.020

Government bonds – what to pay: It is difficult to buy directly from the government. You can work through a broker. Can buy Canada Savings Bonds each fall and you can buy them directly.

2011-07-05

SELL

0.020

BC, Ontario, Newfoundland Bonds due 2025 – should caller redeem? Gov’t yields have dropped and spread from provincial to federal bonds has compressed. He recommends getting out of them and into cooperates.

2011-07-05

Comment

0.020

Real Return Bonds: Protects against inflation for pension funds. Usually very long terms. There has to be inflation for them to work for you.

2011-07-05

Comment

0.020

Floating rate preferred rate shares: Why are they not more popular? Probably because of issuing companies. A small sliver of market place.

2011-07-05

Comment

0.020

Split fixed income portfolio between 3-month T-Bills and long dated corporate strip bonds (Bar Bell): It is difficult to find corporate strip bonds in Canada.

2011-07-05

Comment

0.020

Intac Financial Just did their first preferred share issue and he bought some.

2011-07-05

DON'T BUY

iShares DEX Universe Bond ETF

0.020

US Preferreds. He would avoid them. He would go with a broader based ETF.

2011-07-05

DON'T BUY

XBB-T

29.950

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

TOP PICK

13.500

Group Areoplan 6.5% Series 1, 99% of time company redeems them at reset. Highest yielding preferred out there. Callable in 2015.

2011-07-05

TOP PICK

Bell Aliant

BA-T

29.050

Bell Alliant 4.85% Series A, Rate Reset: 99% of time company redeems them at reset. Solid stable earnings. Yield to call is 4.82%.

2011-07-05

PAST TOP PICK

33.460

(A Top Pick Aug 28/09. Up 12.37%.) 4.35% Series 17 preferred bond.

2010-09-17

TOP PICK

0.010

Preferred (PWF.PR.L) 5.1%. Current yield of about 5.69%. Next call is Oct 31/11. If it got called out at $26, you are looking at an almost 20% return but he doesn't think it will get called out.

2010-09-17

HOLD

Royal Bank

RY-T

54.400

Perpetuals that are approaching the purchase price. If rates continue to go up so that yields fall, should they sell? He feels they won't get called. Nice yield that should run for a very long time.

2010-09-17

PAST TOP PICK

Royal Bank

RY-T

54.400

(A Top Pick Aug 28/09. Up 8.27%.) 6.1% Series AX Bond yielding 5.5%.

2010-09-17

TOP PICK

0.010

Preferred (SLF.PR.D) 4.45%. Current yield at about 5.64%. Next call is next December at $26. Doesn't think it will be called out but if they did you would have a 27% return from here.

2010-09-17

HOLD

George Weston Ltd.

WN-T

66.250

Preferred D series. Redeemable starting in October. Pretty sure this won't get called. One of their perpetuals. Probably trades below its call price of $26. Good holding.

2010-09-17

Comment

0.020

Actual bonds, ETFs or bond mutual funds? Depends on whether you are a do-it-yourself and how much money you have. With $20,000 you are better off with an ETF, which gives you a diversified basket. Doing it yourself open you up to a lot of single issue risks.

2010-09-17

Comment

Co-operators General Insurance Company (Pref-D)

0.020

Bank bonds called Trucs and Cats. What are they? These are hybrid Tier 1 capital bonds. Trucs are issued by RBC Capital Trust and Cats are issued by TD Capital. They have conversion privileges under certain conditions.

2010-09-17

PAST TOP PICK

CCS.PR.D-T

27.500

(A Top Pick Aug 28/09. Up 8.23%.) 7.25% Series D Bond.

2010-09-17

TOP PICK

RBC Capital Trust

RYT.NT.P-T (Dea

103.000

(TRUCS) 4.87% maturing Dec 29/2049. Callable at the end of 2015. Expects the call to be exercised and would have to pay you 19.5 basis points over Government of Canada bond.

2010-09-17

TOP PICK

31.090

4.35% Series AG Preferred. Decent yield for a leading telecommunications company in Canada. You could do better holding the common, but he likes the fact that you are paid before the common. You get extra yield over Rogers and Telus.

2010-08-03

BUY

Corus Entertainment (B)

CJR.B-T

19.140

Corus 7.25% bond Feb 2017 @$102. He is not a high yield person but there is a place for them. It might make sense to buy and hold. Just below investment grade. There isn’t a lot of liquidity.

2010-08-03

TOP PICK

28.300

5.10%. Parent for Great West Life, IGM Financial, investors group and Mackenzie financial.

2010-08-03

TOP PICK

28.810

4.45% Perpetual preferred. There’s more potential in the preferred than in the bonds. Chose over MFC because of the slightly higher yield.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

You should have 25% of portfolio in bonds and increase during bad times.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

He is not a big high yield guy. You have to do it in small doses. Prefers government and investment grade bonds. But this is a time, if there is one, to get some high yield bonds through an ETF, for example.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

Choosing between common, preferred or bond depends on where you want to stand in line. Dividends get cut, e.g. BP.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

Advantages of a bond fund: Access to inventories at all the dealers, competitive pricing, expertise, and credit management (which companies to buy). Prices you get as a retail investor are not as good as those a professional can get.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

If you only have $10K to invest, the built in commission is not going to be significant for the broker. Retail investor needs to go into a fund or an ETF.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

What do you do with a bond that you got above par that is approaching maturity and you old it in a non-tax account: This is why a lot of retail investors use ETFs.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

Term deposits vs. deposit notes. Later are backed by deposits of banks. A term deposit is a retail product issued by a bank. Term deposit is redeemable. Deposit notes have a secondary market so can be sold.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

Ontario strip bond due 2021. Value will fluctuate on a secondary market but it will mature at $100. If you are going to hold to maturity, the day to day fluctuations can be ignored.

2010-08-03

Comment

0.020

Future of interest rates and impact on fixed income investors: Interests rates will stay low for some time. There’s a 5-year cycle in bonds. First year is crummy year when yields go up sharply. Second year is best year in bonds after all easing takes place, the best in the 5. Following years go sideways – clipping your coupon time. You have to watch the disconnect between government and financials.

2010-08-03

N/A

Royal Bank of Canada (Pref -Y)

0.020

Even though we are in the summer doldrums there are exciting things. US Fed making some comments. Don't have a lot of weapons left to use. They are buying bonds and stock piling up. They will be maturing and what do they do with the cash. With corporate bonds we are seeing lots of issuance. Yields are all over the place. The Canadian banks are issuing bonds in the US. Preferred shares offer some advantages. Fixed rate resets as well as perpetuals. More tax efficient (dividend).

2010-08-03

PAST TOP PICK

RY.PR.Y-T

27.560

(Top Pick Jul 10/09, 6.1% Total Return) There was a roller coaster dip in April and May. He trimmed it back a bit.

2010-08-03

PAST TOP PICK

Co-operators General Insurance Company (Pref-D)

CCS.PR.D-T

27.500

(Top Pick Jul 10/09, Up 3% plus yield) 7.25% Cooperators General Insurance. Rate reset that was done just after the correction. Price has moved up since last year.

2010-08-03

PAST TOP PICK

Westcoast Energy Inc. (Pref-J)

W.PR.J-T

23.650

(Top Pick Jul 10/09, 13.19% total return) West coast energy 5.6% Perpetual. Has been switching into this one.

2010-08-03

TOP PICK

31.710

(A Top Pick March 29/10. Down 4%.) 4.35% Series AG preferreds. If it ever got called out it would be at $25. 5.28% yield.

2010-06-16

Comment

BP PLC

BP-N

31.850

Bonds. Doesn't follow this one closely but with common share dividends being suspended for 3 quarters, this gives more protection to the bonds. Believes they have held their credit rating so far. If you want some risk in your portfolio, this is probably a solid player that will come back.

2010-06-16

Comment

CitiGroup

C-N

3.990

Bonds. Higher yields, but he tends to buy these 1 year and under because of the risk element. Would be careful.

2010-06-16

TOP PICK

Emera Inc

EMA-T

25.120

Preferred 4.40% Series A. Newly out and he doesn't own yet. Reset is quite narrow at about 145 basis points compared to some of the older resets. Trading at about $24.65 and is callable at $25. Could go a bit lower because the yield is only 4.75%. Decent yield for a decent utility non-financial credit.

2010-06-16

PAST TOP PICK

28.890

(A Top Pick March 29/10. Up 3.5%.) Series L 5.10% Bond. Still likes and is still a buy.

2010-06-16

TOP PICK

30.620

(A Top Pick March 29/10.) Trust II 5.863% maturing December 31/2108 and callable in 2019. Trading at 2% over Canada savings bonds. Good value. Still a buy. Yields is 5.43%.

2010-06-16

DON'T BUY

Telus Corp

T-T

39.280

4.95% Bond maturing May 15/14. BBB+ rated, just above investment-grade. Likes that it is within the 5-year yield curve however, credit spread has started to shrink to about 3.87%. You are paying almost $104 for a $100 bond. Probably better choices with better credit ratings and higher yields.

2010-06-16

DON'T BUY

iUnits Real Return Bond ETF

9.320

Bond. This one is a little on the risky side so he tends to veer away from it. Trading well, but he would prefer to err on the conservative side.

2010-06-16

HOLD

XRB-T

20.900

Real Return Bond ETF. Real return bonds are linked to inflation, so as inflation goes up, the coupon will adjust to that. He is not worried about inflation at this time.

2010-06-16

BUY

Westcoast Energy Inc. (Pref-J)

W.PR.J-T

22.800

Likes the story. Parent company is now Spectra Energy (SE-N). Solid earnings, which are improving.

2010-06-16

TOP PICK

30.300

4.35% Series AG preferreds. One of Canada's leading communication companies. Safe play because you have protection of the dividend yield and any cut would have to come off the common shares first. Rate is fixed for a certain term and then can float in you some protection against rising interest rates.

2010-03-29

WATCH

Bank of Nova Scotia

BNS-T

51.090

Preferreds? Just did a new issue today and are very popular so this might affect existing shares and could take a week or a month for the existing ones to catch up. Would hold for a while.

2010-03-29

Comment

Manulife Financial

MFC-T

20.080

7.68% Bonds maturing 2019? If you are a trader you’ve probably made the lion’s share of your capital gain and you could think about exiting in the next 3 to 6 months. If you hold on until maturity, 7.68% is a very nice yield.

2010-03-29

TOP PICK

33.500

Series L 5.10% Bond. This is a perpetual and the perpetuals have really gotten beaten down so are worth a look.

2010-03-29

PAST TOP PICK

Royal Bank

RY-T

59.450

(A Top Pick March 2/09. Up about 10%.) 4.58% Bond callable 2012. If he still owned it, he would be looking to get out of it now.

2010-03-29

PAST TOP PICK

Shoppers Drug Mart Corp

SC-T

43.600

(A Top Pick March 2/09. Up 8.3% not including dividend.) 5.19% bond due 2014. (Manulife (MFC-T) acquired his bond fund.)

2010-03-29

TOP PICK