Did you know… In recent years, fixed income ETFs have become increasingly more popular as a simple way to get exposure to the fixed income market without having to pay for the active management fee. But did you know that in bond indexes that are weighted by market capitalizations, the issuer is weighted according to their debt appetite. Investors... Read more »

What’s in the News: According to research published by Morningstar last week, “it is much harder to get good results from portfolios built with passive ETFs in the fixed-income field than it is in equities”. The study replicated actively managed fixed income funds with portfolios comprised of passive ETF funds over five years. As shown below,... Read more »

What’s in the news: It should not come as a shock that retirees are having difficulty planning for retirement. Historically, traditional retirement vehicles like CDs were their bread and butter. However, a one-year CD hasn’t paid more than 1% since 2009, according to Bankrate.com. So what is a retiree to do? In an effort to circumvent an... Read more »

What's in the news: With President Trump in office now for a little over a month, many are waiting anxiously for news relating to his promise of tax reform and what may come of the proposal drafted last summer by House Republicans. The proposal focuses on: Eliminating the tax on foreign income and only taxing US companies on goods imported to the... Read more »

The scenario: The US 10 Year Treasury yield has moved below its one year high. President Trump has been in office now for a few weeks and has written a slew of executive orders intending to put U.S. interests first. The expectation: Less regulation, tax cuts, increased infrastructure spending, changes in trade policy and any other pro-business... Read more »

What's in the news: Over the past few months the U.S. Treasury 10 year yield has risen slightly over 100 basis points from it’s July trough [1]. Still too low in our opinion for income oriented investors. In a recent Wall Street Journal Article, Jeff Brown posed the following question, “What if you could earn 6% or 7% in a security that is safer... Read more »

What's in the news: Market indices are hitting all-time highs in the euphoria of a post-election Trump victory. However, talk of infrastructure spending, tax cuts and other fiscal stimulus plans, like deregulation, have also caused a sell-off in the bond market as concerns over inflation and interest rate hikes have mimicked the same euphoria.... Read more »

What’s in the News… Callan Institute recently published research focusing on how institutional investors can achieve a 7.5% return while minimizing risk. Using an optimizing tool to find this efficient frontier, with the asset mix based on forward-looking capital market projections (which Callan created), the research yielded some interesting... Read more »