JULIAN GALVIN OF PALLADIAN GIVES US A VIEW OF HOW HE ALLOCATES HIS PORTFOLIO FOR HIS CLIENTS AMID THE CURRENT ECONOMIC DOWNTURN. SHOWS: HONG KONG, CHINA (NOVEMBER 29, 2012 (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL JULIAN GALVIN, BUSINESS OWNER & DIRECTOR, PALLADIAN FINANCIAL PLANNING 1. REPORTER OFF CAMERA SAYING: "Given global risk at the moment, how do you allocate your portfolio in this kind of risk environment? 2. (SOUNDBITE (English JULIAN GALVIN SAYING: "It's a very good question. I think the fiscal cliff is a bit of a fable and something of a smokescreen. I think the real problem is actually the large amounts of sovereign debt that the U.S. carries and also in the euro zone. And I'm really amazed that the euro is still trading at 1.28 to the U.S. dollar, so clearly investors think that the euro zone is not as bad as the U.S. I'm quite surprised by that. The real problem is that sovereign debt problem is not going to go away. It's completely amazing how large it's become, and they really need to do something to fix it and there doesn't seem to be any talk about this at all. In terms of managing a portfolio right now, basically the way we work is looking at the risk tolerance of our clients and their expectations. And managing portfolios will stream to them an expected rate of return, so we use this through a blending of assets. We use bonds and equities, just traditional common or garden financial planning techniques which have been around for a long time." 3. REPORTER OFF CAMERA SAYING: "What is the biggest risk event that investors have to brace for in the current environment? 4. (SOUNDBITE (English JULIAN GALVIN SAYING: "I don't think that's really the question. I think a better question is what type of investments are you able to hold in any given environment regardless of what's actually going on a macro basis. What we do is we look to research and source those investments that are doing really, really well. I mean, it doesn't really matter what particularly happens with the sovereign debt situation. There's still a lot of companies out there and a lot of sectors that are doing really, really well in spite of all the doom and gloom that we've got. You know, a classic example would be when Apple ran up in its price, I mean it's come off right now and pulled the NASDAQ down with it, but at one point there it was doing really, really well. And that's simply because it was producing products that people wanted, it knew the market. For clever investors who got in there and say, got in at the 250 level whatever, and got out at the 600 would've been very happy with that." 5. REPORTER OFF CAMERA SAYING: "Precious metals only accounts for 10% in your portfolio. Given global inflation concerns, why are you not investing in this sector in higher rating? 6. (SOUNDBITE (English JULIAN GALVIN SAYING: "Okay very good question. I think if I had a printing press, I'd want to print money too, wouldn't you? And I think people are really concerned that governments might start printing money. So there is a big inflation fear. The problem with gold at the moment is it's being treated as a risk commodity rather than a safe haven commodity. I mean last night for example, we saw the gold price drop $26. I think there was a large number of put options put on that particular commodity last night. So traders and investors are using it as just a means of making money rather than holding it as a safe haven. So for this reason, there's a certain risk in holding gold as a safe haven and we bought into it, or started to accumulate on a technical basis when it got to 17.38, you know it jumped to 17.50 and then fell again last night. So right now we believe that moving through that technical barrier was a sign that all was not right with the world and we're advising clients to accumulate more at the moment. So we'd probably want to increase our holding there a little bit I think."

• published: 06 Feb 2013
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