fixed income portfolio management
Educational articles in this subcategory.
Rebalancing Rules for Bond Allocations
# Rebalancing Rules for Bond Allocations Bond allocations drift. Duration changes as bonds age, credit quality shifts with issuer fundamentals, and m...
Managing Liquidity Buckets
# Managing Liquidity Buckets Liquidity looks free until you need it. **Fixed income funds suffered 12% outflows in a single month during March 2020**...
Incorporating Inflation-Protected Securities
# Incorporating Inflation-Protected Securities TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) solve a problem most bond investors ignore until it cos...
Glossary: Portfolio Management Terms
Fixed income portfolio management uses specialized terminology that practitioners take for granted. This glossary defines the essential terms, organiz...
Reporting Standards for Fixed Income Clients
The point is simple: **performance numbers without context are meaningless, and context without standards is marketing.** This is why the Global Inves...
Integrating ESG Screens into Bond Portfolios
ESG screening in fixed income excludes or underweights bonds from issuers that fail environmental, social, or governance criteria. The Bloomberg MSCI ...
Global Diversification for US Investors
Global bond diversification adds exposure beyond US Treasuries and corporates—but the currency decision often matters more than the bond selection. Du...
Performance Attribution Frameworks
Performance attribution in fixed income separates luck from skill by decomposing excess returns into **duration positioning**, **sector allocation**, ...
Operational Considerations for SMA vs. Fund
The point is not that one structure is universally better. The point is that **SMA vs. fund is an operational question with tax consequences, not a ph...
Measuring Tracking Error for Bond Managers
Tracking error is the metric that separates skilled active management from accidental deviation. A bond manager running **75 bps tracking error** agai...
Credit vs. Rate Risk Budgeting
Every fixed income portfolio carries two distinct risks that can either diversify or compound. **Rate risk** (duration exposure to Treasury yield chan...
Using Interest Rate Swaps in Bond Portfolios
Interest rate swaps are the workhorse derivative for institutional bond managers. A pension fund that needs **15-year duration** to match liabilities ...
Monitoring Counterparty Risk in Derivatives
The point is straightforward: **your swap can work perfectly and still blow up your portfolio** if the counterparty defaults. This is not abstract ris...
Hedging Duration with Treasury Futures
The point is efficiency: Treasury futures let you adjust portfolio duration without selling bonds. Need to reduce rate exposure before an FOMC meeting...
Cash Flow Matching for Institutional Needs
# Cash Flow Matching for Institutional Needs Cash flow matching—also called **dedication**—constructs a bond portfolio where the coupons and principa...
Core vs. Core-Plus Strategy Design
The point is structural: core strategies prioritize stability and benchmark tracking; core-plus strategies accept higher tracking error in exchange fo...
Overlay Strategies with Futures and Options
# Overlay Strategies with Futures and Options An overlay strategy adds a derivative position **on top of** an existing portfolio to modify its risk c...
Liability-Driven Investing Basics
The point is simple: if you owe money in the future (pension benefits, insurance claims, annuity payments), your investment strategy should focus on m...
Portable Alpha Concepts in Fixed Income
# Portable Alpha Concepts in Fixed Income Portable alpha—the technique of separating **beta exposure** (market returns) from **alpha generation** (ex...
Barbell vs. Bullet vs. Ladder Approaches
The point is straightforward: how you distribute maturities across a bond portfolio determines your exposure to rate moves, liquidity constraints, and...