IEA Fixed Ladder

Our fixed income ladder strategy is suited for those situations where safety of principal is a top priority. We often
use this strategy for cash flow needs where the maturities are targeted to mature in the years the income is needed.
The strategy offers several benefits to the client:

Safety of Principal

We keep our approach simple and primarily invest only into guaranteed securities such as U.S. Government Bonds
and federally insured CD's.

Liquidity

A laddered portfolio provides for the liquidity that is often lacking in fixed income portfolios. For example,
purchasing five CD's that have maturity dates 6 months apart, assures that in the future every six months a CD will
mature.

Interest Rate Risk

A laddered portfolio may help reduce interest rate risks. As rates rise, your maturing CD's or bonds will be
reinvested at the higher rates. As rates fall, your maturing CD's or bonds will be reinvested at lower rates, however
the older CD's or bonds in the portfolio will still be paying the higher rates.

Inflation Hedge

Typically, inflation and interest rates rise or fall in tandem. Rising inflation often equals rising interest rates. As
mentioned above, a laddered portfolio can help mitigate the effects of rising or falling interest rates.

Professional Management

Although the task of initially building a CD ladder for yourself may be easy, managing the CD ladder is often difficult.
For example, as CD's mature we have found that many folks tend to purchase the CD special their local bank is
offering that month, instead of purchasing the maturity that fits into their laddered strategy. Or, a CD may mature and
the bank auto renews it into a maturity that doesn't fit your laddered strategy.

Yes, the fear and greed emotions are often prevalent when purchasing CD's. Many folks are hesitant to lock their
money up too long in fear of rates going higher, or would this be a greed emotion? Either way, having your fixed
income ladder professionally managed takes the emotion out of such decisions.