Wealth Management
Advisors navigating today’s complex markets don’t have to go it alone, active ETFs provide institutional expertise and dynamic portfolio management to help address clients’ fixed income needs. In 2025, active bond ETFs have surged in popularity, with fixed income ETF inflows surpassing $325 billion by mid-October despite ongoing uncertainty around rates, tariffs, and geopolitics.
Vanguard’s Fixed Income Group actively manages portfolios across sectors and durations, offering flexibility for goals like yield enhancement, core exposure, or risk management. The firm’s lineup now includes nine active fixed income ETFs, such as the Core Bond ETF (VCRB), Core-Plus Bond ETF (VPLS), and municipal options like the Core Tax-Exempt Bond ETF (VCRM) and Short Duration Tax-Exempt Bond ETF (VSDM).
New additions, including the Multi-Sector Income Bond ETF (VGMS) and High-Yield Active ETF (VGHY), expand opportunities for investors seeking income and diversification.
Finsum: Look for expert management and low expense ratios to help advisors meet clients’ evolving bond-market challenges.
Emerging market (EM) bonds are increasingly attractive as EM governments have shifted from deficits to surpluses, while developed markets (DM) have accumulated debt and fiscal imbalances. EMs maintain stronger fundamentals, including lower government and private debt, greater central bank independence, and higher real policy rates, factors that enhance stability and yield potential.
Unlike DMs, EM policymakers have generally resisted moral hazard, allowing inefficient firms to fail rather than absorbing private risk, preserving long-term financial health. Over the past three decades, EMs have achieved persistent current account surpluses through fiscal discipline, contrasting with DMs’ crisis-prone fiscal dominance and policy coordination.
Actively managed EM strategies, such as VanEck’s, have demonstrated resilience through global shocks, reinforcing the case for a strategic EM debt allocation in modern portfolios.
Finsum: With DMs constrained by debt and low yields, EM debt offers compelling diversification benefits, higher returns, and sounder fundamentals.
Gold and silver prices fell following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest policy announcement, as Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments sparked uncertainty over future rate cuts. Analysts say gold remains the traditional safe-haven asset, performing well during inflation and economic instability, with strong support from central bank and investor demand.
In contrast, silver’s dual role as an industrial and investment metal makes it more volatile, closely tied to sectors like solar energy and electronics. Experts suggest gold’s stability makes it ideal for conservative, long-term investors, while silver offers higher risk and potential reward during industrial recoveries.
They advise balancing both metals based on market conditions, gold for protection, silver for growth.
Finsum: Ultimately, portfolio weighting, not outright preference, should guide investors in the post-Fed environment.
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The first half of the 2025 NFL season has been defined by competitive balance, with 13 teams holding at least five wins and nearly two-thirds of games decided by one score or less. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye has elevated the Patriots back into AFC East contention, though executives still view Buffalo as the slight favorite thanks to its offensive consistency and team defense.
Out west, Seattle has emerged as a legitimate NFC force under Mike Macdonald’s defensive leadership and Sam Darnold’s efficient play, with analysts predicting the Seahawks’ first division title since 2020.
The AFC West remains dominated by Kansas City, but the Broncos and Chargers are both seen as credible threats capable of challenging the Chiefs’ dynasty. In the NFC North, Detroit’s physical offense and improved defense give them a narrow edge over Green Bay’s young, high-upside roster led by Jordan Love.
Finsum: Don’t write off the Ravens or Texans just yet, both possess the talent and leadership to rebound and make playoff pushes in the second half.
Despite their volatility, natural resources remain an essential part of a diversified portfolio, both for their growth potential amid the energy transition and their inflation-hedging qualities.
The Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index, which tracks companies tied to energy, metals, agriculture, timber, and water, shows that while commodities can be unpredictable, they tend to outperform when traditional assets falter. In 2022, for example, as stocks and bonds plunged together, the index gained more than 15% thanks to surging prices in oil, metals, and timber driven by inflation and supply disruptions.
Recent years have favored technology-driven markets and left resource exposure underrepresented, inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions, and the green energy shift may revive their relevance.
Finsum: Ultimately, natural resources offer diversification and resilience, qualities that matter most when the rest of the market is under stress.
Sales of fee-based annuities are growing rapidly, reaching about $8 billion this year, though they still represent a small fraction of the $430 billion total annuity market. LIMRA projects $6.9 billion in fee-based variable annuities and $1.1 billion in fee-based fixed-indexed annuities for 2025, nearly doubling since 2022.
Industry experts noted that while most sales still come from traditional 1035 exchanges, a rising share now involves new money, signaling growing advisor engagement. Insurers like Jackson National are developing fee-friendly products such as Jackson Income Assurance, which allows advisors to draw fees directly from contracts without reducing client benefits.
Prudential Financial is also expanding in this space with ActiveIncome, an insurance overlay built for RIAs that preserves asset control while providing lifetime income.
Finusm: These innovations aim to reduce friction between insurers and advisors, marking a structural shift toward fee-based, client-aligned annuity solutions.