Much of the recent attention on financial markets has focused on the equity market volatility. Not to be outdone, the normally stable and lethargic municipal bond market experienced a historical spell of volatility over the last couple weeks as well.…
Conservative investors have historically invested in dividend-paying stocks to generate income and increase stability in their portfolios. The ability of these companies to pay a dividend is viewed as a sign of current financial strength and a forward-looking sign of…
Lately, the topic at the forefront of headlines and discussions in the investment industry is the flattening US treasury yield curve. This phenomenon occurred as short-term interest rates, largely influenced by the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy tightening, have risen significantly.…
Where are interest rates headed? Naturally, this is a question that is frequently asked to us by both the advisors we work with and our individual clients. Our answer to clients? It doesn’t matter. As we have touched on before, no matter…
Investors are starved for yield, we want them to be careful… In the current low interest rate environment, many investors are struggling to achieve their income targets and will often reach for yield to make up for any shortfalls. In…
Owning a Portfolio of Actively Managed Individual Bonds will be Critical in a Rising Rate Environment. For advisors that allocate to fixed income (and we assume that to be most), the days of simply buying bond mutual funds/ETFs and having…
By now, we are sure you have heard someone in the financial industry declare that, “interest rates are rising.” We believe the proper response to that statement should be: What interest rates are rising? In the fixed income world, the…
Two key features for individual bond investors to pay attention to are coupon and yield. Coupon represents the annual cash flow an investor will receive as the bondholder. For example, an investor who owns a bond with a 4% coupon…