Minutes

AAII Orange County Chapter

Monthly Meeting, May 10^th, 2008

Balearic Community Center

1975 Balearic Dr.

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Reported by: Rex Chen

Title: Are Conservative Investors Doomed to CDs in Volatile Markets?

Speakers: Ken Sleeper, Managing Director, Sierra Investment Management

Chapter President Bob Welge brought the meeting to order at 9:00 am. In the beginning of the meeting, Bob announce the AAII Orange County’s website and the resources available on the web, including meeting minutes from past events. Bob mentions about the upcoming roundtable and the new meeting location for the future. Bob then introduce today’s speaker, Ken Sleeper, to discuss about today’s topic on investing in the current volatile market.

In this talk, Ken first discusses some of the investment trends for the future. These include global demand for energy, natural, and the growing prosperity of 3^rd world countries. Along with housing slump and U.S. dollar pressures, the market conditions is shifting towards potentially lower return and higher risks in the U.S. stock market. For foreigners, U.S. assets are becoming cheaper. Ken then went on to describe that it is important for investors to have a stop loss in mind when investing, especially in a volatile market. In a note on real estate, with many housing loans in California interest-only and mortgage defaults becoming more prevalent, it may be more difficult for state and municipalities to raise capital and finance new projects. Furthermore, Ken describes that as life expectancy continues to increase, it is important for individual investors to make complex decisions that effectively manage their investment holdings.

Following the conclusion of Ken’s presentation, and taking questions from the audiences, Bob adjourned the meeting at 11:00 am.