Alternative investments offer opportunities to diversify portfolios in times of market uncertainty. But among a range of options, investors must first understand the risks and benefits.

Credit provides a rich opportunity set for investors.

During periods of market uncertainty, many investors need options – and opportunities.

Stories can drive the economy by influencing our decisions about how and where to invest.

As investors, we believe ESG fixed income – or bonds – could soon rise to a place of leadership in sustainable investing.

Behavioral science tells us that when it comes to making decisions, humans are much less rational than we think.

A liquidity tiering strategy may help investors gauge how much cash they may actually need in their portfolios

Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) are tax-advantaged and yield-oriented publicly traded U.S. infrastructure assets that operate primarily in the oil and gas midstream industry.

We’re far less rational than we think we are.

Learn about “tail risk” and how portfolios can be managed to minimize losses without curtailing growth.

Traditional preferred securities (“preferreds”) are fixed-income investments with equity-like features mainly issued by large banks and insurance companies.

A glossary of terms to help guide investors through the key terms used in the private alternatives space.

Traditional portfolio construction approaches, which focus on asset class diversification, may fall short of investors’ goals. A more efficient diversification strategy may be to allocate across the underlying “risk factors.”

We all have biases that influence the decisions we make.

We’re being nudged all day, sometimes toward good decisions, sometimes toward bad ones.

As investors seek to build diversified equity allocations with the objective of higher returns, they may consider multi-factor smart beta strategies, which offer the potential for attractive performance and increased diversification with lower fees than traditional active equity solutions.

Momentum, trend-following, managed futures - are terms that can seem intimidating and opaque for many investors. But, while these types of investment strategies may be less familiar than traditional strategies, they can be quite intuitive and offer attractive diversification and return potential that is worth getting to know.

Interest rate swaps have become an integral part of the fixed income market. These derivative contracts, which typically exchange – or swap – fixed-rate interest payments for floating-rate interest payments, are an essential tool for investors who use them in an effort to hedge, speculate, and manage risk.

Inflation-linked bonds, or ILBs, are securities designed to help protect investors from inflation. Primarily issued by sovereign governments, such as the U.S. and the UK, ILBs are indexed to inflation so that the principal and interest payments rise and fall with the rate of inflation. Inflation can significantly erode investors’ purchasing power, and ILBs can potentially provide protection from inflation’s effects. ILBs may also offer additional benefits in a broader portfolio context.

Inflation affects all aspects of the economy, from consumer spending, business investment and employment rates to government programs, tax policies, and interest rates. Understanding inflation is crucial to investing because inflation can reduce the value of investment returns.

Understanding how we think can help us become better decision makers and better investors.

High yield bonds – defined as corporate bonds rated below BBB− or Baa3 by established credit rating agencies – can play an important role in many portfolios. They typically offer higher coupons than government bonds or high grade corporate bonds (or, corporates) and have the potential for price appreciation in the event of an improvement in the economy, or performance of the issuing company (of course, if these conditions worsen, then prices can also go down). Because the high yield sector generally has a low correlation to other sectors of the fixed income market along with less sensitivity to interest rate risk, an allocation to high yield bonds may provide portfolio diversification benefits. In addition, high yield bond investments have historically offered similar returns to equity markets, but with lower volatility.

A look at specific strategies, and their trade-offs, for diversifying equity risk.

Most bond investors know that interest rate changes can affect the value of their fixed income holdings. How a bond or bond portfolio’s value is likely to be impacted by rising or falling rates is best measured by duration.