How to protect wealth, maintain income, and sleep at night when markets start acting strange Introduction: When the Music Starts to Slow Markets don’t ring bells at the top. They don’t send a calendar invite saying, “Congratulations, the easy money phase is over.” Instead, they change personality quietly. Momentum weakens. Headlines get louder. Valuations look stretched. Investors argue about whether the next move is a soft landing or something harder. That’s what late-cycle markets feel like. Late-cycle environments typically arrive after long expansions, strong equity runs, and tightening financial conditions. Interest rates may be elevated or volatile, corporate margins start getting pressure, and investor optimism hangs on but feels increasingly forced. Price swings increase. Leadership rotates. Narratives change every quarter. For income-focused investors — especially those thinking long term — this phase raises a difficult challenge: How do you keep generating income with...
Income investing has always carried a simple promise: own assets that pay you regularly, let time do the heavy lifting, and enjoy the steady rhythm of cash flow. That promise sounds clean and reassuring—until markets remind everyone that yield alone doesn’t equal safety. The uncomfortable reality is that many investors chase income the same way moths chase light: intensely, repeatedly, and occasionally to their own destruction. High yields lure attention, headlines celebrate double-digit payouts, and portfolios quietly accumulate risk that only becomes visible when volatility arrives. The smarter game isn’t maximizing yield. It’s optimizing yield per unit of volatility. In other words: how much income are you earning for every ounce of risk your portfolio absorbs? This is the difference between income investing as a disciplined strategy and income investing as a thrill ride disguised as prudence. Let’s unpack what risk-adjusted income actually means—and why it separates durable we...