Q: I have zero allocated to fixed income. My brokers make it tedious, difficult and expensive to buy T-Bills. I would be happy to ignore this asset class except the apps I use keep scolding me (as did 5i analytics last year). I regarded securities like BCE.us , AQN.us and other such dull ones as bond proxies and considered them as fixed income. Is this thinking unwise? I reluctantly turned my attention— at gun point— to preferred shares. Question:

BN.PR.B has declined almost 7.5% in the last month, pushing yield up over 9% p.a. Is the price change just a function of interest rate changes or is this a flawed security? If not this one , would some other preferred shares be better? Loblaws? Enbridge? Or ETFs like HYG? I just want something to tidy up that pesky asset allocation thing and move on to things I understand. Many thanks.