He is a provider of financial training for non-financial professionals ? and is well-known in Bermuda for his dynamic (if not gloomy) interpretations of what is happening in today's investment market.

The BSFA said Mr. Gasior's popularity came from his ability to communicate financial information to the average investor in a non-technical manner through anecdotes gained from his experience with several Wall Street firms.

At least one attendee at the debate earlier this month said Mr. Gasior's predictions in the last year had all been "off base", but that he does make one think. For his part, Mr. Gasior ? the author of a monthly newsletter sharing his bearish views on the current equity market ? claimed his prediction last year of a Nasdaq at 1,100 and a Dow at around 7,800 were not wrong, "just early".*

Mr. Gasior flew into Bermuda from the US to participate in the BSFA's third annual forecasting event ? but blizzard conditions on the East Coast had organisers concerned that he might not make it. But there were no complaints from Mr. Gasior over the snowy conditions back home, saying that he was loving it having spent the previous day snowmobiling with his daughter.

When asked what he would invest in, Mr. Gasior said were he investing $1 million in an investment this year, he would pick two-year Japanese notes.

*The 52-week range as of February 11 for the Dow was 7,416.64 to 10,705.18 while the 52-week range for the Nasdaq was 1,253.33 up to 2,153.83 points. The Dow yesterday closed at 10,694.07 while the Nasdaq closed at 2,073.21.

@EDITRULE:

TIP (Bermuda) Limited, an exempt company, manages a number of portfolios including The International Portfolio Trust (Bermuda), a Luxembourg listed unit trust. Mr. Burpee invests, through The International Portfolio Trust, in markets outside of North America. From 1972, Mr. Burpee helped grow what is now AMI Partners from $15 million in assets under management up to $8 billion.

In 1985, he moved to Jardine Fleming in Hong Kong where he managed HK based pension funds as well as Tokkin Funds sourced from Japan.

In 1993, he started the predecessor company to TIP (Bermuda) Limited in New York and returned to Bermuda, (having lived here before a move to Montreal in 1972) in 1999.

Mr. Burpee writes the 'Weekly Comment' a one-page macro analysis of the global investment market. He travels extensively to research companies and make investment decisions. When not investing in global markets, Mr. Burpee likes to collect 17th century English silver and 18th century porcelain, not for the returns he might get but because he finds it "intellectually stimulating".

Mr. Burpee suggested that if he had a million to invest this year, he would invest 25 percent of it in the US equities market, another 25 percent in Asia, 25 percent in Europe and 10 percent in Latin America and the balance of 15 percent, he would hold in two-year American dollar bonds. He said this mix reflected his view that equities would outperform bonds this year as they did last year; and was an expression of his belief that deflation is a stronger force than inflation in 2004, which he said implied that Central bank interest rates would likely decline rather than incline this year.