Insights & Education

For investors in the highest federal tax brackets, the fixed income conversation often begins and ends with yield. What is the coupon? What is the duration? What is the credit rating? These are reasonable starting points, but they are incomplete without one additional calculation: what is the yield once income taxes are accounted for?

The consensus on passive fixed income is shifting. Survey data, fund flows, and conversations across the independent advisor community all point in the same direction: a growing number of investment professionals have concluded that index-based bond exposure is no longer sufficient.

Redemption gates are slamming shut across the private credit market. The yield you were promised and the yield you will receive are not the same number. The price of finding that out is liquidity you can no longer access.

Equity volatility, which most investors treat as a liability, generated a 14.36% weighted average coupon for structured note portfolios in Q1 2026. That gap between conventional fixed income yields and what a disciplined structured notes strategy can produce is no longer marginal. For RIAs, wealth advisors, family offices, and institutional allocators searching for customized fixed income solutions, it is worth understanding precisely how the conversion works.

Welcome to Piton Investment Management's Q1 2026 fixed income update and outlook with CIO Brian Lockwood. The Federal Reserve held rates steady at 3.5-3.75% at both its January and March meetings as policymakers navigate a historic energy shock triggered by the Iran war.

Trillions in corporate debt issued at near-zero rates is slated to mature in 2026 and 2027. For advisors, the question is no longer whether this creates risk — it’s whether your clients are positioned to avoid it or profit from it.

We argue that cash is merely a 1-day fixed income instrument. Money market funds just hit $7.7 trillion. The trade that made sense for two years is quietly becoming the expensive one.

Fixed income is back. After years of playing second fiddle to equities and even gold, bonds delivered their strongest annual performance since 2020, with core bond markets returning approximately 7%. In our latest year-end webinar, CIO Brian Lockwood examined how three Fed rate cuts, a 43-day government shutdown, and a historic shift in Fed priorities are reshaping the fixed income landscape as we move into 2026.

Welcome to Piton Investment Management's year-end 2025 fixed income update and 2026 outlook with CIO Brian Lockwood. After a nine-month pause, the Federal Reserve delivered three quarter-point rate cuts in the final four months of 2025, bringing the federal fund rate to 3.5 to 3.75 % by December.

While understanding economic regimes and mastering fundamental portfolio construction techniques provide the foundation for successful fixed income investing, the most challenging and potentially rewarding aspects of bond portfolio management involve navigating market uncertainty, managing liquidity effectively, and positioning portfolios for regime transitions.

The beginning of the 4th quarter has proven to be challenging for markets as the government shut down continues to halt economic data releases. Despite the shutdown, the Federal Reserve moved rates lower again in October, bringing the federal funds rate to 3.75%-4%. Interest rates moved only slightly as the move was mostly anticipated. Risk markets continued to defy gravity, driven by euphoria in the AI space, and solid earnings from some of the “mega caps”.

Learn how reverse convertible structured notes combine bonds and equity options to deliver "coupons well into the double digits" while providing upfront price protection in volatile markets.