Special Guest: Kristina Hooper, CFP, CAIA, CIMA, ChFC Managing Director, US Investment Strategist, Head of US Capital Markets Research & Strategy. Kristina Hooper is a managing director, US Investment Strategist and Head of US Capital Markets Research & Strategy with Allianz Global Investors, which she joined in 1998. She provides financial professionals and their clients with updates on financial-market performance, market trends, economic trends and financial-planning concepts. Ms. Hooper has appeared on CNBC and Reuters TV and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, Reuters and other financial-news publications. She has 18 years of investment-industry experience and previously worked in product management at UBS (formerly PaineWebber) and at MetLife. Ms. Hooper has a B.A., cum laude, from Wellesley College; a J.D. from Pace University School of Law, where she was a Trustees' Merit Scholar; and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, where she was a Teaching Fellow in macroeconomics and organizational behavior. Ms. Hooper holds the Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst, Certified Investment Management Analyst and Chartered Financial Consultant designations. She is a CFA Level II candidate.

Financial Repression

What is financial repression?

Government actions (lower interest rates, increased regulations, etc.) to reduce debt while maintaining inflation

Goal: Create negative real (after-inflation) returns and inflate away public debt by forcing real rates below GDP growth

Why does it matter to investors?

It's a "stealth tax" that systematically strips wealth; "safe" investments no longer generate enough income

It rewards debtors and punishes savers -- especially retirees

Financial repression: It's happening now around the globe

A Financial Repression checklist:

• Extremely low key interest rates and bond yields
• Central bank purchases of government bonds
• Political pressure on banks to purchase government bonds
• Nationalization of select banks
• Repression-friendly regulatory measures
• Restrictions on foreign capital movements
• Pension asset transfers to governments