Leading Wealth Management Firm Gives Time and Money to Local Charter School As Part of Its Annual Holiday Community Outreach and Year-Round Philanthropic Program

LOS ANGELES – December 19, 2008 – Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC (Bel Air), a leading independent wealth management advisory firm to high net worth individuals, families, trusts and foundations, is extending its community outreach program this holiday season to donate both company time and money to help the New Millennium Secondary School (NMSS) in Carson, Calif. with a much needed “facelift.”

“Even when the market reacts to the snippet of good news, the enormity of bad news that is out there tends to overwhelm the short-term or temporary good news,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors, which manages assets of more than $5 billion.

“To me it’s not really clear that a rate cut is going to be terribly helpful at this point,” says Gary M. Flam, portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors in Los Angeles. “The Fed already lowered rates by almost 500 basis points this year and that hasn’t been helpful, so what is cutting the last 75 basis points going to mean?”

“Most buyers right now believe that old adage, ‘You can’t fight the Fed,’” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director of Bel Air Investment Advisors. “Clearly, otherwise, the 10-year and 30-year bonds are not attractive at these low levels.”

Even if that happens, the credit crunch may increase the cost of raising $1.1 billion to build the final link of the Foothill/Eastern toll roads. Plans to sell more bonds in 2010 might be scuttled altogether, said Ken Naehu, who manages $2 billion in fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC in Los Angeles. “It just might not be doable at these levels,” he said. “I’ve seen $150 million bonds that have had a difficult time selling to investors. You can imagine what it would be with another zero added to it.”

“The bond market is generally the quickest to recognize fear or fear subsiding,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors. “In this particular case you have what happened overnight in the Senate causing fear, and then quickly being reversed by comments from the White House and President-elect Obama saying he is disappointed by the Senate.”

“The low rates on Treasury bills and the Treasury market in general is a sign of fear that is inherent in the marketplace -it is that flight to quality trade,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

“Coming out of this bottom, you have to stick with quality,” said Gary Flam, a portfolio manager with Bel Air Investment Advisors. “We’re avoiding early cyclicals, financials and consumer discretionaries, and in general we want to stick with large-cap.”

“I’m very bearish on long-term Treasuries,” said Kenneth Naehu, head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors LLC in Los Angeles. “The U.S. is going to do whatever is necessary to keep a recession from turning into a depression. The government is clearly trying to promote inflation.”

“The crisis of confidence is back on the front page,” said said Todd Morgan, senior managing director of Bel Air
Investment Advisors, a Los Angeles-based firm with nearly $6 billion in assets under management. “You need some positive catalyst, something, to change the attitude of investors [and] the auto debate is hurting confidence.”

“Deep recession is built into Treasury market prices here,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors in Los Angeles.

Another analyst said that the uptick in lending rates was to be expected given the falloff in rates in the past month. “We are clearly not out of the woods, so you should expect volatility even in rates such as Libor,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

“This is the culmination of continued bad economic news,” said Todd Morgan, senior managing director of Bel Air Investment Advisors, a Los Angeles-based firm. “A crisis of confidence and fear is driving the market.”

“We’re going to look back in three months and six months and realize the federal government took extraordinary amounts of action,” said Gary Flam, portfolio manager at Bel Air Investment Advisors. He said that taken all together, the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cuts and other government actions were significant in restoring confidence, but “this financial crisis does have economic implications. People, businesses, governments going forward are going to have reduced leverage.” He said he does not see a swift recovery and expects the economy to continue to stagnate into the first and second quarters of 2009.

If coordinated efforts by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department successfully stimulate the economy, and the economy turns around, it could eventually lead to higher Treasury yields and lower prices, due to inflation, according to Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors. “That could cause [yields on 10- and 30-year Treasurys] to go higher,” he said.

“Where I want to be invested of the next six months, one year, and two years is in quality names. You won’t see early cycle, small-cap names lead a market recovery this time,” said Gary Flam, an equities portfolio manager for Bel Air Investment Advisors.

Grantham is buying blue chips with strong franchises and little debt. Darell L. Krasnoff, managing director of Los Angeles-based Bel Air Investment Advisors, recommends his clients do the same. “We like large-cap businesses with cash flow that can sustain their growth through a few tough years,” Krasnoff says.

“Until you start to see the 3-month Libor rate see a more pronounced move, I don’t think we are out of the woods,” said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors. “But we are seeing signs of improvement.”

“To a certain extent, we’re in the middle of a hurricane,” said Gary Flam, portfolio manager, Bel Air Investment
Advisors. “It will pass eventually and we will get through it, but there’s been a lot of damage.”

Bel Air Investment Advisors’ chairman Todd Morgan, who manages the money of some of Los Angeles’ wealthiest people, said he had more calls last week than at any other time he can remember in his 38 years in the business, with anxious clients calling at night and on weekends. “They are very worried that this environment is so unprecedented that they could lose a lot more money than they have so far,” Morgan said.

The dips signal some loosening of the tight credit hold, but there is still a long way to go before cash flows freely, said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors.

Short sellers are not the only ones welcoming the end of the emergency order, however. … Gary Flam, a long-only equity portfolio manager with Bel Air Investment Advisors, said the rule created less certainty in the market, which in turn led to lower valuations. “I thought the emergency order at the end of the day was detrimental, because you basically end up changing the rules of the game on the fly,” Flam said.

Financial Advisors Michael B. Miller And Josh Markman Are Appointed Managing Director And Vice President, Respectively

LOS ANGELES – September 23, 2008 – Bel Air Investment Advisors, LLC (Bel Air), a leading independent wealth management advisory firm to high net worth individuals, families, trusts and foundations, announced today the addition of Michael B. Miller as managing director, and Josh Markman as vice president, to its trusted and highly regarded team of professionals. Both Miller and Markman will provide investment advisory services to clients, and will be responsible for business development.

LOS ANGELES – September 23, 2008 – Bel Air Investment Advisors, LLC (Bel Air), a leading independent wealth management advisory firm to high net worth individuals, families, trusts and foundations, announced today the addition of Michael B. Miller as managing director, and Josh Markman as vice president, to its trusted and highly regarded team of professionals. Both Miller and Markman will provide investment advisory services to clients, and will be responsible for business development.