The term fixed income or (“fixed income”, in English) refers to all financial instruments where the interest rates are fixed during the subscription and remain so for the entire duration of the security.
A fixed income security identifies that debt instrument that gives the owner the right to receive a predetermined flow of future payments. These flows can be given by coupons, the normal periodic interests, and by the repayment of the nominal capital at the maturity of the security. Usually fixed income securities are government bonds or other fixed rate bonds. The fixed rate makes them less risky and differentiates them from shares that instead deliver a return dependent on the different price trends in which they are listed. The yields of these securities are summarized in the term structure of interest rates and are represented graphically on a Cartesian plane with a yield curve given by the yields (x-axis) and the maturity of the security (y-axis).
For further information: “Investing in bonds: how to face the dark side of the “financial moon”
