'For the value-conscious investor it's like being a child in a sweet shop' What about the future? Frankly, I am bullish. If the eurozone crisis flares up in a big way with, say, Spain leaving the eurozone, then heaven knows what is next. But otherwise I believe that the markets, even including the FTSE 100, will make further and substantial progress. For the past three years, the FTSE 100 has been going sideways, squeezed between 5,000 and 6,000 as if there were rails at each level. Meanwhile, profits have been growing. Corporate debt has been paid back. Risk has been reduced. Dividends have risen. One of the most fundamental ways you can value shares is by comparing the dividend yield with the interest on long-term government bonds. Currently the historic dividend yield on the FTSE 100 is 3.7pc. The yield on even the longest dated government bonds is only 3.2pc. It is quite a rare event for shares to have a bigger yield than very long-term government bonds. It indicates that shares are significantly undervalued because dividends will rise over the long term whereas government bond interest payments will not. True, this has been the case for quite a while. But the worries that have held back the markets have gradually faded. Consequently, shares are spending more time in the upper end of the range. Since August last year, each low of the index has been higher than the one before. Now we have started the period from November through to May, which tends to be good for shares. I think this winter season will be the time when 6,000 is finally and decisively breached. That could release a wave of positive comment and further gains. What shares should one be in? I think the main thing is to be in shares at all. I expect that nearly all the markets of the world will move ahead. My own choice is pretty aggressive. I am still heavily overweight in house building and even beginning to buy banking shares. I think it is worth having some geographical spread, just in case the eurozone collapses. My holdings now are Australia 10pc, Indonesia (via a British company) 10pc, Singapore 9pc, China (via British companies) 3pc, Hong Kong 3pc, Japan and the US 2pc each and Russia and Poland 1pc each (again via British companies). That means I am more than 43pc outside Western Europe. The rest is in British shares with a few bonds. Among my individual holdings, Catlin, an insurance company, looks good value, being priced at only 8.6 times earnings and offering a yield of 6.2pc. Hurricane Sandy knocked the shares back a little on Monday, but generally this year has been relatively light in natural disasters. Meanwhile, Kingsmen Creatives, a Singapore company that fits out exhibitions and high-class shops, is in a well-established upward trend and offers a yield in a strong currency of 5.9pc. With such attractive value like this around, investing at present feels like being a child in a sweet shop.