There were several respected speakers who advised buying intermediate-term, high-quality corporate bonds to capture the yields that are so tempting when compared with Treasuries, now paying almost zero percent.
Jack Ablin of Chicago's Harris Bank went as far as to recommend an exchange-traded fund that buys high yield (used to be called "junk") bonds. He is currently willing to temporarily take the risk that either the companies would fail or that inflation would push interest rates higher in the future. But Forbes columnist Richard Lehmann warned of a slew of junk bond failures just around the corner.
Joe Battipaglia, market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus and a well-known CNBC pundit, roused the audience with a warning to avoid stocks that are anywhere near the epicenter of TARP.
He warned that once the government gets control, as in the banking or even auto sectors, they are likely to start making rules around compensation and spending -- driving the best talent to other businesses and limiting investment profit possibilities.
He reminded companies that "they'll rue the day they took government money." Of course, the banking industry didn't have much of a choice: All were required to participate.
This was a meeting of the "investor class" -- those concerned with declining values in their stock portfolios and 401(k) plans -- but still believers that the market will provide the growth they need to boost their retirement accounts.
Their relative optimism comes from long experience and stands in contrast to the many recent investors who forswear future stock market investments after watching their hard-earned money disappear down the drain in retirement plans.
The one thing these investors agreed on is the need to keep corporate America competitive and growing -- not only to provide jobs, but to return those investment dollars to their rightful owners!
And that's The Savage Truth!