Jeffrey Sherman, Deputy CIO of Los Angeles-based DoubleLine Capital, which manages $137-billion in AUM joined us for an hour-long chat last week.

He is DoubleLine’s lead portfolio manager for multi-sector and derivative-based. He also oversees all of DoubleLine’s investment teams and strategies. Sherman was named by Money Management Executive as one of the “Ten Fund Managers to Watch” in 2018. He began his career at TCW where he focused on fixed income and real asset portfolios.

We discuss his career, his beliefs, as well as diving into his macroeconomic and market outlook, his outlook for fixed income, and how investors looking for better yield and ballast can position in this market where traditional government bond yields are at historic lows, and bond and equity valuations are at all time highs.

“We are in bizarro world,” says Sherman. “You have this idea that you have some of the highest inflation prints we’ve seen. And if you strip out the commodity prices and look at core inflation measures, in some instances, it’s, you know, the, the highest prints we’ve seen at 40 years.

“Coinciding with that, you talked about the bond rally over 40 years. We’re talking about inflation levels we haven’t seen in 40 years. So why are rates where they are? Well, that’s the 10 or $20 trillion question when it comes to the treasury.”

Sherman shares his strategic thinking on duration, interest rates, and credit risk and how investors could approach the fixed income market, and position their fixed income sleeve not only for yield, but with a view to keeping risk in check. In our conversation Sherman talks about several good alternatives to bonds that investors can consider.