Brian Dress, CFADirector of Research, Investment Advisor, Left Brain Wealth Management, LLC · Wealth Strategy for Corporate Executives & High-Net-Worth Investors | Concentrated Stock & Equity Compensation Planning | Director of Research | CFA | Left Brain Wealth Management

Stop Letting Cash Sleep: 3 Types of Investors Who Can’t Ignore Income Securities

25 Sept 2025 · 2 min

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1:53

In a brief interview, Nolan outlines three categories of investors who should always include income securities in their portfolios. The first group consists of investors who are nervous about market volatility; income securities provide a stable return that mitigates their fear of market swings. The second group includes busy, high‑earning professionals whose cash sits idle in low‑yield bank accounts; by allocating that cash to income securities (e.g., 5% yield versus 0.5% bank rates), they can capture significant additional income. The third group comprises income‑dependent investors, primarily retirees, who need regular cash flow and can use income securities to replace the paycheck they once received from an employer. Nolan emphasizes that ignoring income securities leaves these investors exposed to unnecessary risk, missed earnings, or insufficient cash flow.

Chapters

So, Nolan, we've got some aggressive growth investors here at Left Brain, but even the most aggressive investors have some sort of income securities in their portfolio for some sort of ballast. There are 3 investor types that we work with that we think really need income investments in their portfolios and never should ignore them. Talk to me about the 3 investor types that should never ignore those income investments.
Investor type number 1: I am nervous about the market. Every time I invest or think of investing, the market immediately goes down. So the I'm nervous about the market people, they should not ignore income investments because they could be a solution to their problem. I need return, I hate volatility. The second type of person is I'm just too busy. I'm earning a living, I'm working, living a life. My cash is piling up at the bank because I don't have time to proactively come up with a plan and sit down and take action on my money. In the meantime, I just let it build up. So those people who are just busy working, successful professionals being busy with life, they should never ignore income securities, because for every million dollars at the bank that they have earning 0.5%, where they could be earning 5%, it's an extra $45,000 a year for every million that those investors are giving up. So that's investor number 2. Investor number 3 who should not ignore income security is the "I need income" investor, and there's a lot of them. The biggest group are retirees. Hey, my company, ABC Company, paid me income in my check on the 1st and 15th for 25 years. Now I've retired. What's showing up on the 1st and 15th? And the answer to that could be income security. Right. So those are the 3 investors that should never ignore income securities.