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This week I had the opportunity to meet Benjamin Tal, a senior economist at CIBC World Markets, at the annual conference of the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners. He is clearly a bright individual with a lot of insight into today's markets and some future long-term trends.

Armed with mountains of data and compelling arguments, he spoke about the issues surrounding the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis and some of the negative economic issues that face investors today. What I found most interesting was his enthusiasm and case for investing in the infrastructure sector.

Infrastructure assets are generally defined as those that support the community and exist to provide the basic services that are essential for countries to operate and for economies to prosper and grow. They could involve essential services surrounding electricity, utilities, water, gas and oil. They could also involve transport such as roads, airports, rail, ports and logistics.

His company's case for investing in infrastructure is that for decades, countries across the world have been under-investing in this area. Governments (like our own) are now turning to the private sector to fund the construction and renewal of these essential services. You may have noticed a lot more talk about PPPs (public-private partnerships). His research (as well as other material I have read) indicates this category of investment offers clients the potential for steady income, stable growth and strong diversification from other asset classes.

Pension funds, generally the model for risk-adjusted investing, have really begun to ramp up their exposure to this sector in the last five years. The basic idea is that not only does this asset class have a low correlation to the rest of the market, but the long-term nature of the assets match up perfectly with their long-term pension liabilities and their need for hedges against inflation and global diversification.

There are many ways that a person could take advantage of this long-term trend, but the first step is identifying it as a trend and believing in it. This may be hard for investors who are fixated on today's headlines.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily be those of Berkshire Securities Inc., Member CIPF. Greg MacPherson, BBA, CFP, FMA, CSA, FCSI is a financial advisor in the Woodstock branch. Contact his office with questions or to book a free appointment: 328-8889.