The cost of income: Why it's cheap again

For fixed income investors, income remains central to portfolio construction. It is one half of the total return equation alongside capital appreciation and, for many clients, a dependable source of yield remains a core investment objective. What has changed materially over recent years, however, is the level of risk investors need to take to achieve that income. In the years following the Global Financial Crisis, central banks maintained ultra-low interest rates and pursued quantitative easing (QE) on an unprecedented scale. Bond yields fell steadily from 2008 through to 2020, leavin...