Brian Lockwood, CIO of Piton Investment Management joins us to give his expert take on the fixed income landscape in 2025 and walks us through the two strategies he manages: the Tactical Ultra-Short Duration Strategy and the Taxable Intermediate Duration Strategy. 

With rates and volatility in flux, Brian shares how these actively managed SMAs can provide both liquidity and conservative return potential across a range of client needs—from institutional cash management to core portfolio allocations.

What’s Ahead:

• The benefits of ultra-short duration strategies for cash management
• How Piton customizes portfolios for high-net-worth and institutional clients
• What makes the taxable intermediate strategy a stable, yield-focused core holding
• The importance of active management in today’s tight credit spread environment
• How Piton supports advisors with scalable, hands-on solutions—regardless of client size

Read the full episode transcript below:

David Townsend:
I’m joined today by Brian Lockwood, Piton Investment Management’s Chief Investment Officer. Hey, Brian. Thanks for joining us.

Brian Lockwood:
Thank you. Appreciate it.

David Townsend:
So you manage two strategies for Piton. We’ll dive into those in a moment, but first I want to get your bigger-picture take. Give us a little bit about your background—and with all the talk about the Fed meeting again, are they raising, are they lowering rates this year? There’s been a lot of speculation.
As a preview for our audience, you manage two different strategies: one being an ultra-short duration, and the other a taxable intermediate. We’ll break those down shortly.
Relative to those fixed income strategies, you guys have strong expertise and solutions.
What are you seeing on the street? What are you hearing? What are clients asking about?

Brian Lockwood:
Sure.
Let’s take it from a longer-term perspective. When you look at the bond market, over the last few years, it hasn’t really done what it’s supposed to do. We had a long period of really low rates, followed by a sharp correction in 2022. Correlations were high between risk markets and bond markets—and that wasn’t a great setup for fixed income.
But coming into this year, fixed income markets are poised to perform really well. And in the thirty years I’ve been a bond manager, this is probably one of the best starts to a year we’ve seen in fixed income.

David Townsend:
You’ve gotta be excited about that. So let’s dive into the strategies specifically. First up is the ultra-short duration strategy, which serves as a substitute for cash equivalents.
Why this product?

Brian Lockwood:
Great question. The product set for all of our SMA strategies is designed to be customized for the client. This particular strategy mirrors how a corporation would manage cash on its balance sheet. So whether you’re Microsoft or a company with billions of dollars in cash,
You want a customized approach to managing that cash—based on liquidity needs and institutional pricing in the marketplace.
This is simply an alternative way of owning bonds, rather than using a commingled vehicle. It works really well for core cash allocations and liquidity needs. It’s ideal when you’ve had a liquidity event or have a large portion of cash earmarked for something—or even just want to keep it as an asset class.

David Townsend:
Yeah. Okay. And then, in terms of the taxable intermediate strategy, what are the key talking points there?

Brian Lockwood:
The taxable intermediate strategy is the preferred habitat for high-net-worth clients, corporate treasury cash, and institutional portfolios.
This portfolio targets bonds with maturities from zero to ten years.
It has an intermediate duration and avoids the long-end volatility you’d get with aggregate bond funds that include the 30-year segment.
So you still get upside participation, but it’s a more conservative, stable way to invest in fixed income. For high-net-worth clients, I think it’s a perfect cornerstone investment.

David Townsend:
Nice. Okay, I’m gonna put you on the spot—I told you I wouldn’t, but I like to throw in a curveball.
What’s one thing people aren’t talking about right now, but they should be?

Brian Lockwood:
The beauty of active management. Whether it’s SMAs, ETFs, or other customized strategies, people don’t always realize that while absolute yields have risen and are attractive right now, corporate spreads remain really tight.
Even with recent equity market volatility, spreads haven’t widened much.
So, as active managers, we can underweight certain sectors and rotate into government or taxable municipal bonds. We can reposition portfolios to take a longer-term, strategic approach to fixed income.

David Townsend:
Yeah. I like that. Alright—if someone’s interested, how do they get in touch with you?

Brian Lockwood:
Through Halo, we offer complementary products that we utilize together.
You can also visit our website—we’ve got a data room there with more information.

David Townsend:
And you’re available for one-on-one meetings if needed?

Brian Lockwood:
Absolutely. One of the best things about our approach is that you speak directly with the decision-maker at Piton. We love that about our SMAs.
For advisors out there—you can use us to help with proposals, portfolio reviews, or just walk through positioning together.

David Townsend:
Yeah, and just one quick plug off-script—you guys have always been great. Whether it’s a million-dollar client or a hundred-million-dollar client, you’re always eager to help.
It’s never been about size with you, it’s always about finding the right solution. So as always, we appreciate your partnership.

Brian Lockwood:
I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

David Townsend:
Alright, Brian. Thanks again—and we’ll look forward to talking to you again soon.

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