MoneyTalk LIVE with TD Waterhouse I

I was given the opportunity to attend the invitation only TD Waterhouse MoneyTalk Live show that they held at a local hotel.  For those of you who don't watch BNN, MoneyTalk is a popular segment that is hosted by the TD Waterhouse Senior Vice President , CFP, and author, Patricia Lovett-Reid. 

I didn't have a lot of expectations, but when we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at how well TD Waterhouse treat their customers.  We were all given name tags (mine of course said "FrugalTrader"), welcomed with champagne, wine or beer (all of the above for me!), and a ton of food.  The food consisted of prime rib roast, sushi, smoked salmon, fresh pasta, fresh shrimp and scallops.

Aside from the great food that they offered, they also had their active trader platform to display/show off.  I must say that the platform is pretty nifty with lots of options for heavy traders.  The fancy software comes with a big price tag however.  To even qualify, the trader must trade at least 30 times / month in addition to paying the $99 fee.  I'll stick to my cheaper discount brokerage platforms thank you very much.

After the impressive active trader demonstration, we were ushered off to the conference room where Mrs. Lovett-Reid would host MoneyTalk Live.   The format that they setup in the conference room was very similar to what you see on TV with the MoneyTalk segment.  Patricia Lovett-Reid sitting at a table asking questions and interviewing various people.

The people being interviewed at this live event were two TD executives (surprise!).  One was the Associate Vice President of TD Economics, Derek Burleton.  The other was the Chief Portfolio Strategist of TD Waterhouse, Bob Gorman.  Both were very intelligent, knowledgeable and it was evident that they both love what they do for a living.

Tomorrow, I will get into the financial highlights from the two pros.  Stay tuned, they have some good insights as to where interest rates, oil and the general markets are going.