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.

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.

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 third quarter of 2025 has proven to be a pivotal period for fixed income markets as the Federal Reserve finally ended its nine-month pause and began cutting rates in September.

Understanding economic regimes provides the conceptual foundation for modern fixed income investing, but translating that knowledge into actionable portfolio strategies requires mastering the fundamental building blocks of bond portfolio construction. The most sophisticated economic analysis becomes meaningless without the ability to implement those insights through deliberate decisions about duration, credit quality, and sector allocation.

The traditional approach to fixed income investing—buying bonds and holding them to maturity—assumes a level of economic stability that simply doesn't exist in today's markets. From the ultra-low interest rate environment of the past decade to the rapid monetary tightening cycles we've witnessed, each shift has fundamentally altered which fixed income strategies succeed and which create significant headwinds for investors.

Traditional fixed income investing faces an existential challenge. The static allocation models that dominated portfolio construction for decades are becoming obsolete in an era where inflation can surge rapidly, central banks pivot policy overnight, and economic regimes shift with unprecedented frequency.

And just like that, the presidential election did not disappoint in terms of a macro-catalyst.