The Macro View

Bonds: Doing Diversification’s Dirty Work

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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 where interest rates are headed, bonds should always have an allocation in a… Read more »


Reaching Too Far For Yield?

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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 a fixed income portfolio, this reach for yield can be accomplished in two distinct ways:… Read more »


Don’t Confuse Maturity With Duration

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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 them sit essentially unmanaged in client portfolios are quickly coming to an end. Rising interest… Read more »


Exactly Which Interest Rates Are Rising?

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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 most common reference points for interest rates are (1) the federal funds rate, and… Read more »


Before You Buy That High Coupon Bond…

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Confusing Coupon and Yield Could be Costing Your Clients 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 will receive $4 in interest annually…. Read more »