The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that a lot of people loaded up on GICs over the past 18 months. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that the thought of a 5-per-cent yield is intoxicating after years in which payouts were often half that. Compared with risky stocks and falling bonds, GICs were an island of safety. Now, though, the picture has changed. Both the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve are hinting they are finished raising interest rates. Meanwhile, forecasters are turning more optimistic, particularly on the outlook for the U.S. economy. This suggests it is time to start taking on a bit more risk. The past couple of years were hellish for bond investors. Bond prices move in the opposite direction to interest rates, so as central banks drove interest rates relentlessly higher, bond prices nosedived. Bond enthusiasts think this process will reverse itself over the next couple of years. For stocks, the prospect of interest rate cuts over the next year has already reinvigorated global stock markets. The MSCI All Country World Index jumped 9 per cent in November. Strategists at BMO, Royal Bank and Bank of America think this happy trend can continue, particularly in the United States.