ForecastingStocks

Fixed income is the family of investments where you lend money and, in return, are promised interest under rules defined up front. Instead of owning a slice of a company (as you do with a stock), you are a creditor — the issuer owes you the principal back plus a return.

The name comes from the fact that the rule for how you are paid is fixed at the moment you invest. That does not always mean the exact dollar amount is known in advance — it means the formula is.

The three ways a fixed-income return is defined

Prefixed (taxa prefixada) — the rate is a fixed number, e.g. 11% per year. You know the exact amount you will receive at maturity on day one.
Floating (pós-fixada) — the return tracks a reference rate, most often the Selic (Brazil’s policy interest rate) or the CDI (an interbank rate that sits just below Selic). You will earn "100% of CDI" or "Selic + 0.1%", but the final amount depends on where rates go.
Inflation-linked (híbrida) — a fixed slice plus an inflation index, typically IPCA (Brazil’s official inflation measure). "IPCA + 6%" protects your purchasing power and adds a real return on top.

Why it matters

Fixed income is where most Brazilian investors begin, and for good reason: the rules are transparent, many instruments carry strong protections, and the range runs from ultra-safe government bonds to higher-yielding corporate credit. The rest of this track unpacks each piece so you can tell them apart and choose deliberately.

International readers: the structure here mirrors bonds and certificates of deposit worldwide. What is specific to Brazil is the vocabulary (Selic, CDI, IPCA) and the products (Tesouro Direto, CDB, LCI/LCA), which we define as we go.