Displaying items by tag: income

U.S. equity markets have become unusually top heavy, with a small group of mega-cap growth stocks dominating both major indexes and the strategies that track them. While this concentration has powered strong returns, history suggests that crowded leadership often disperses, making diversification more valuable over time. 

A narrow focus on today’s winners may not capture the wide range of long-term outcomes that typically emerge during major innovation cycles such as artificial intelligence. 

Dividend growers have historically delivered resilient performance across market environments, helping cushion downturns while still participating meaningfully in upside. Because dividends and their reinvestment have been a major contributor to long-term equity returns, companies with the ability to grow payouts can compound value more consistently. 

Finsum: In a highly concentrated market, a dividend growth strategy offers a more balanced way to access diverse growth opportunities.

Stable value funds, bond portfolios wrapped with insurance guarantees to reduce volatility, are emerging as a prominent contender thanks to their steady crediting rates, principal protection, and daily liquidity. A recent white paper highlights that stable value funds can also serve as a predictable income source for systematic withdrawals. 

Although short-term returns have lagged money markets and traditional bonds amid elevated interest rates, stable value’s exceptionally low volatility has supported stronger relative performance over longer horizons. 

The strategy also benefits from being easy to integrate into existing plan infrastructure, avoiding the operational and fiduciary complexities of annuities. With applications ranging from smoothing target-date fund glide paths to serving as a retirement “income floor,” stable value offers flexibility for diverse participant needs. 

Finsum: As demand for retirement income solutions accelerates, its combination of familiarity, stability, and adaptability positions stable value as a central component of income-focused investment design.

With market swings driven by lofty AI valuations and shifting expectations around future rate cuts, many investors are turning to dividend-paying stocks for steadier income and ballast. 

MPLX offers one of the most attractive income profiles in the large-cap MLP universe, supported by an 8%+ yield and continued EBITDA growth driven by major midstream expansion projects and Gulf Coast assets. 

ConocoPhillips delivers a blend of rising dividends, deep global resource optionality, and strong free cash flow growth powered by cost cuts, LNG expansion, and decades of high-quality drilling inventory.

 IBM rounds out the list with a long history of shareholder returns, consistent free cash flow, and renewed momentum from its transformation into a software- and consulting-led enterprise with emerging tailwinds from AI and quantum computing. 

Finsum: Resilient balance sheets, visible cash-flow pathways, and multi-year catalysts are good ways to select dividend players potential anchors for income-oriented portfolios.

U.S. equities have continued to grind higher, supported by resilient earnings and a steady economic backdrop, prompting increased speculation that markets may be shifting into a more selective, late-cycle environment. Technology names remain a key driver of sentiment, fueled by expectations that AI-related capital spending will shape corporate investment.

In fixed income, lingering inflation pressures and uncertainty around future monetary policy have kept interest-rate expectations volatile, making duration risk harder to navigate. Against this backdrop, investors are showing a growing preference for multi-asset income strategies that can blend dividends, high-yield credit, and alternative income sources to support total return through shifting cycles. 

High-yield credit’s relative resilience has only strengthened the view that diversified, multi-asset income portfolios may be better positioned to withstand volatility as markets adjust to evolving macro conditions.

Finsum: Diversifying when the landscape is uncertain is good for gains as well as risk. 

Derivative income ETFs are gaining momentum with financial advisors as firms broaden their income-generation strategies amid ongoing market volatility and shifting client expectations. Cerulli Associates reports that 15.2% of advisors used derivative income strategies in 2024, with another 7% planning to adopt them, led by strong uptake in wirehouses and increasing interest across independent and regional broker-dealers.

Defined as liquid alternatives that generate income through option-selling, these ETFs drew $26 billion in net inflows in 2023 and $29 billion in 2024, with advisor demand expected to continue rising.

Cerulli notes that inflation-beating returns and expanding issuer participation are driving growth, as the ETF structure reshapes how income-oriented solutions are designed and delivered.

Finsum: Defined outcome ETFs are also expanding, as investor demand for downside protection and predictable outcomes continues to strengthen.