10/13/2026
Every time the Fed moves rates, the same question follows: what should we change?
For most families we work with, the answer is very little, and that's by design.
Picture interest rates as the water level on a lake. When the Fed raises rates, as it just did by a quarter point, the water rises. When it cuts, the water falls. A boat that's built well rides up and down with it, and nobody on board needs to scramble.
Fixed income is the anchor. It keeps the boat, meaning your family's actual goals and obligations, from drifting when conditions change. And like any anchor, it has to be the right size.
Much of the industry gets into trouble here. A one-size-fits-all allocation, the classic 60% stocks and 40% bonds, often ties that 40% to the broad bond market. When rates rise, those bond prices largely fall. The piece meant to stabilize the portfolio ends up dragging on it, because it was never matched to what the client needs.
The other trap is prediction. A lot of strategies are built around guessing where the water level goes next. When the guess is wrong and the anchor is too heavy, the boat gets swamped.
We take the opposite approach. Shorter-term fixed income, which is far less sensitive to rate moves. Obligations matched to the dollars that will fund them. Portfolios sized to each family, built to stay protected whether rates rise or fall. Finance has a word for this: immunization. Nothing is guaranteed, but the goal is to make a rate headline matter as little as possible to a 100-year plan.
The Fed will keep reacting to the economy. Your plan shouldn't have to.
🎧 Tune into the latest AWM Insights for more:
https://www.athletefamilyoffice.com/resource/understanding-interest-rate-movements-and-portfolio-impact-awm-insights-273?utm_source=awm-capital&utm_medium=linkedin&utm_campaign=ep-273-interest-rates&utm_content=longform
📱 And text us your investment questions: 626-862-0355
The Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the first time in years, and the headline matters well beyond Wall Street. In this episode of AWM Insights, Justin Dyer and Mena Hanna explain why the Fed hit the brakes, what a quarter-point hike means for anyone borrowing to buy a home, and why th...
