Featured Speakers

Larry Berman

CFA, CMT, CTA

Larry Berman is a Co-Founder of ETF Capital Management, (www.etfcm.com) and Prosper Experiential Media, (www.prosperexperiential.com). Over his 25 year career, Larry has worked for numerous top firms in New York, Boston, and Toronto. Prior to founding ETFCM (2006), he was Chief Technical Strategist and Managing Director for CIBC World Markets for nearly a decade where he was ranked as one of Canada’s “Top 3 Analysts” according to Brendan Wood institutional investor surveys. Larry is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder, and is a US registered Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). Larry graduated from York University with a BA in Economics and lectures on behavioural finance and technical analysis at colleges and universities. Larry is the primary author of the textbook for the technical analysis course offered by the Canadian Securities Institute (CSI). He is past President of the Canadian Society of Technical Analysts (www.csta.org), past Vice-Chairman (Americas) of the International Federation of Technical Analysts (www.ifta.org), and past President of the Market Technicians Association – where he currently sits on the board of the educational foundation (www.mtaef.org). Larry’s opinions frequently appear in the media, and he is featured weekly on BNN’s Berman’s Call.

Speaking Topic

How to Sleep at Night in a Bear Market

The previous Investor’s Guide to Thriving tour wrapped up on December 1st 2018. Aptly named “How Long Can a Bull Market Run?” we may have received our answer. The market printed the worst December since the Great Depression – bringing most of the major indices officially into bear market territory. Markets have rebounded in January as they always do after steep declines, but we are likely in the early phases of a bear market where average corrections are closer to 30% and extreme corrections are more than 50%. If this is case, we haven’t seen the last of market volatility and a downward pattern of lower highs and lower lows. Many people are surprised at this phase because it can take some time for the fallout to move from Wall Street to Main Street – showing up as a recession. Markets generally anticipate economic downturns, so even as rates continue to rise, employment appears to be strong, and many companies are still posting record earnings – you should be paying attention to the growing cracks in the system.

Larry will take the audience on a more detailed tour of past bear markets to see what we can learn about how this next one might compare. Will it be a gentle panda or a deadly grizzly? Can we hope for a soft landing due to aggressive government policy? How would we recognize a market bottom – when the next major bull market might begin? Why not go to cash or put all your money into a GIC right now? There are many questions to ask – and while (spoiler alert) we don’t have a crystal ball to give you the definitive answers, Larry can show you how to navigate bear markets. Using some of his favorite indicators and techniques, you will learn how to use a tactical approach to trading, and strategic asset allocation (including the use of gold, real assets, and other non-equity vehicles), to help keep your portfolio within your personal comfort zone – while avoiding costly emotional mistakes. Success in difficult markets is both a science and an art, so Larry will also discuss the psychological aspect of managing portfolios under stressful conditions.

You will take away from this live presentation a timely perspective on how to find opportunities in bear markets – along with actionable ideas to help strengthen your portfolio, and even a few tools and resources to use at home.