As they put the nightmare of the global financial crisis behind them, high net worth individuals are turning positive on equities and buying them again. Most investment houses have also been advising clients to shorten the duration of their bonds and put their money in high-yield bonds or riskier asset classes such as equities. SMU Vice Provost (Special Projects) and Associate Dean (Strategic Planning) of the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business Professor Francis Koh said: "There is a belief that interest rates have no room to decline further. This environment means that bond yields will not increase and, thus, little upside is available from fixed income. The world economy looks like that it is recovering, although slowly ... But no catastrophic scenarios, so, [there's a] move to equities."