Whether a tops-down or bottoms-up investor in bonds, stocks, or private equity, the standard analysis tends to judge an investor or his firm on the basis of how the bullish or bearish aspects of the cycle were managed.

Both from the standpoint of stocks and bonds, an investor wants to go where the growth is.

Companies typically borrow money at less than their return on equity and therefore compound their return at the expense of lenders.

Bonds as an asset class will always be needed, and not just by insurance companies and pension funds but by aging boomers.

Falling stocks can prompt some buying of bonds.

I've just done a commercial in the U.S. in which I talk about stocks, shares and bonds. Everyone is amazed. They ask me: 'You really know about that stuff or did you just learn it for the commercial?' I tell them I wouldn't do it unless I understood and had an interest.