Easy Income Portfolio: October 2025 Update

Author: Tim Melvin | October 13, 2025 02:45pm

The macro tape continues to reward patience. Growth is slowing from the summer pace while inflation progress remains uneven. The term premium drifted higher again during late September which kept longer yields sticky even as the market penciled in additional cuts for 2026. That cocktail kept duration a headwind and made spread income do most of the lifting. 

Credit remains broadly resilient, but leadership has narrowed. Lenders are tightening. Refi risk is the tell in real estate and in pockets of private credit that were priced for perfection. This is the kind of environment where our mandate shines. We do not need blue-sky narratives. We need durable coupons from businesses with real assets, senior claims, and managements that understand capital.

Fixed income is still a game of structure over story. Treasury volatility eased from the summer peaks but remains elevated enough to punish sloppy duration. I continue to favor cash-flowing credit over long nominal duration and to pick our spots in structured products and preferreds where spreads compensate us for extension risk. Agency MBS is finally paying a spread worth underwriting again, but you must size it with respect for the refinance optionality that will appear once rate-cut momentum becomes obvious. 

Senior loans remain the steady plow horse. Floating coupons and high recovery characteristics still look attractive so long as default cycles remain idiosyncratic rather than macro. Select Asia-Pac sovereign and quasi-sovereign income remains a diversifier, though currency contributes as much to the ride as the coupons.

Alternatives remain the bridge between equity volatility and bond math. Closed-end fund discounts widened into quarter-end as retail de-risked, creating the kind of dollar-for-eighty-five-cents opportunities we like to harvest patiently. 

Preferreds still offer equity-like coupons from franchises that can access capital across cycles. Specialty finance continues to separate winners that price risk and losers that chase it. Our lens is unchanged. 

We buy the cash flow, we avoid the hobbyists, and we let discounts and buybacks do the compounding.

Energy and midstream are the income engine I want to keep feeding. The secular demand case did not change. Power load growth, LNG buildout, petrochemical expansions, and the ongoing need to move molecules from basin to burner tip continue to firm volumes and underpin distributions. Balance sheets across the sector are stronger than they have been in a decade. Leverage is lower, cost of capital is manageable, and boards are behaving like owners. 

We are paid to wait while projects come online and while the market intermittently forgets that pipelines and gathering systems do not care about daily headline anxiety.

Now to the book.

ArrowMark Financial (NASDAQ:BANX) remains a niche credit vehicle we hold for its ability to source bank-related and structured credit with strong collateral and covenants. The team has kept leverage measured and has been disciplined with repurchases when the shares trade at a discount. The cash flow is sturdy and the portfolio tilt toward senior and asset-backed risk fits our credit-first bias.

Nuveen Real Asset I&G (NYSE:JRI) is our real-asset income and growth sleeve. It mixes listed infrastructure, utilities, pipelines, and real-asset credit, then layers the benefit of a closed-end structure. In a market that is reluctant to pay full value for rate-sensitive assets, we are still collecting a healthy distribution and waiting for the inevitable mean reversion in the discount as the rate path clarifies.

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF (BATS:REM) is the plain-spoken way to harvest mortgage REIT cash flows without taking single-name blowup risk. Agency-heavy shops benefit as the basis normalizes and book values stabilize, while credit-sensitive REITs ride the same lending and housing currents we already track. This remains a cyclical sleeve sized modestly because funding costs can still surprise.

Virtus InfraCap U.S. Preferred Stock ETF (NYSE:PFFA) gives us a diversified preferred stock paycheck with active management. Spreads in preferreds are compensating us again, and call dynamics have shifted in our favor. I continue to like our positioning in higher-quality issuers, banks with strong capital, and utilities with transparent rate cases. The fund's active tools help navigate calls, resets, and busted issues.

Special Opportunities Fund (NYSE:SPE) is our opportunistic closed-end compounder. It is a manager's fund that buys discounts, agitates for value, and is not afraid to hold cash or hedges when discounts are thin. In a world where many CEF buyers are price-insensitive, having a skilled allocator in the seat is an advantage we want.

We own Infrastructure Capital Bond Income ETF (NYSE:BNDS) because it targets the sweet spot of cash-pay credit backed by tangible assets and essential services. The portfolio holds a mix of corporate and structured bonds with an infrastructure tilt, which gives us diversified spread income without stretching on credit quality.

Angel Oak FInancial (NYSE:FINS) provides a term-dated, income-focused portfolio built around financials and structured credit that the Angel Oak team understands cold. As banks repair balance sheets and structured spreads remain rational, this vehicle continues to throw off reliable income with a clear end date that disciplines leverage and distribution policy.

Dorchester Minerals LP (NASDAQ:DMLP) is our royalty check that does not need capex. It is an income stream linked to commodity volumes and realized prices without the balance sheet baggage of operators. Management keeps it simple, keeps it clean, and passes through cash. In a world where many yield stories get cute, this one stays old-fashioned and that is why we own it.

Aberdeen Asia-Pacific (AMEX:FAX) remains our Asia-Pacific income diversifier. The coupons are real, the portfolio is broad, and the return stream does not dance perfectly with U.S. rates or spreads. Currency can add noise over months, but over years the diversification and income do their job.

We use Simplify MBS ETF (NYSE:MTBA) to access agency mortgage cash flows with a thoughtful approach to convexity and risk management. As spreads compensate us for extension risk and prepay optionality, we will keep this as a measured sleeve that earns carry while we watch the rate path.

WisdomTree Private Credit (BATS:HYIN) is our alternative income toolkit. It reaches into parts of the market that are not well represented in core bond indexes and does so with a rules-based discipline. The exposures complement our core credit by adding differentiated sources of coupon without doubling our bet on any one factor.

We own Saba Closed-End Fund (BATS:CEFS) because buying funds at discounts, then letting catalysts and activism narrow those discounts, is a repeatable source of excess return in income markets. It is a metastrategy we like. In periods of risk-off, discounts widen and we add. In periods of calm, discounts close and we clip gains while still collecting distributions.

SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF (NYSE:SRLN) is our senior-loan workhorse. Floating rate coupons, senior secured status, and broad issuer diversification have continued to provide steady income with manageable volatility. Default activity remains selective and recoveries have been consistent with the asset class history. This stays as a core credit position.

Tortoise Energy Infrastructure (NYSE:TYG) is our midstream CEF. It owns the pipes, plants, and storage that move the energy economy. Leverage is conservative, distribution coverage is strong, and the portfolio skews to better balance sheets in the sector. As investors continue to re-rate midstream for balance sheet quality and capital discipline, we collect the checks and let the discount work for us.

VanEck BDC Income ETF (NYSE:BIZD) is our diversified BDC sleeve. It is the simplest way to harness senior secured lending to the middle market with careful position sizing. We like the sector's shift toward senior first-lien exposures, improved underwriting, and stronger non-accrual management versus the last cycle. We continue to demand sensible valuation and avoid names that chase yield. The ETF structure gives us that diversification without the single-name heartburn.

Positioning for the next few months is straightforward. We keep duration contained and let spread income do the work. We continue to prefer senior loans, seasoned MBS, and well-underwritten preferreds over long nominal duration. We lean into closed-end fund discounts selectively and keep dry powder for secondary offerings and year-end tax-loss dislocations. In energy we stay overweight midstream, and we will add on weakness tied to rate headlines or commodity wobbles because the cash flows do not change with the tweets.

Risk management remains the core of the process. We are not trying to forecast the precise path of the next four CPI prints or how the futures curve slides around those dates. We are underwriting cash flows, balance sheets, and the ability to defend distributions through a slower economy and a still-uncertain rate regime. The portfolio today is built to harvest high single-digit to low double-digit cash yields from businesses and structures that can take a punch.

That is the update. We are doing exactly what we set out to do. We are buying sturdy income streams, insisting on a margin of safety, and letting time and discipline do the compounding.

Posted In: BANX BIZD BNDS CEFS DMLP FAX FINS HYIN JRI MTBA PFFA REM SPE SRLN TYG