Fixed Income - The Basics

We continue our exploration of the four main asset classes, highlighting fixed income. Unless you have taken out a mortgage or are a professional money manager, you may have only interacted with fixed income in the form of a bond ETF. Fixed income is one of the least accessible asset classes for retail, but as investors learned in the Great Financial Crisis, ignoring this market can be one of the greatest mistakes of your investing career. Here, we demystify the different types of fixed income products, explain why fixed income is one of the most important asset classes for global commerce, and give examples of the deep connections between fixed income and the other main asset classes, like equity, that may make up more of your portfolio.