However, if rates do indeed hold near record-low levels, investors in search of yield in the fixed-income market might benefit from taking a look at nontraditional credits as Holtz suggests.
Some of their proposed design changes strayed far from the original CLASS design, which would have made it possible for nearly everyone who worked to enroll, included a premium subsidy for students and others with low incomes, charged a fixed premium, and paid a lifetime benefit for those who were unable to care for theselves.
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In the euro area, it is much harder to turn capital gains into cash by borrowing more as home prices rise or to benefit from falling interest rates by refinancing fixed-rate mortgages, both of which have given a big boost to American household spending.
In this scenario, fixed income assets tend to suffer while inflation-hedging assets benefit from the currency devaluation.
Those who lose their jobs could withdraw up to a fixed amount per month, with the government providing some basic benefit if the account is exhausted.
Under the 2005 collective bargaining agreement, the referees maintained their defined benefit retirement plans, which granted retired referees a fixed amount of income based upon years of employment.
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Patent law gives inventors the exclusive rights to use or license their inventions, for a fixed period of time, to encourage disclosure and allow them to benefit from and recoup the cost of their invention.
The benefit is that the starter rates are lower for ARMs than for traditional, fixed-rate mortgages.
In future, councils may have to work within a fixed budget, set by the Department for Communities and Local Government, for council tax benefit.
But many are also in a very low tax bracket, nullifying the supposed benefit of the tax-free status of muni bonds or the tax-deferral of fixed annuities.
Earlier this month, President George W. Bush signed a rewrite of the nation's pension laws that will likely hasten the disappearance of traditional defined-benefit pension plans--the kind that are funded entirely by the company and promise retirees a fixed stipend each month for life.
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