Cindy Krischer Goodman | 3/27/2012

Patrick Dwyer
Managing director-investments/private wealth adviser - Merrill Lynch - Miami

[Photo: Brian Smith]

"Within our fixed-income asset allocation, we don't advise having cash. Instead, we have municipal bonds and corporate bonds for those who want to be supersafe. There's low return but high safety. Bond portfolios should be as diversified as equity ones.

Where we're trying to gradually increase our exposure is emerging-market bonds. We're looking at countries with less debt and better growth prospects. We think over the longer term, the risk of owning long-duration bond markets in the U.S. and European markets is high.

Our equity allocation is balanced and diversified. We're focused on U.S. stocks that pay a dividend. This is not a fixed-income alternative. We're investing for growth, not the dividends. We're also invested in higher-dividend yielding stocks in emerging markets. In our equity portfolios, I think you will see a gradual bias toward emerging markets. This is where we think there may be opportunity. We believe that the dollar might decline, and as a result you may want to own stocks and bonds in countries with currencies growing faster than ours. Our investment in global REITs should also get larger over time."

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Tags: Banking & Finance