You can't eat total return—the income investing playbook is being rewritten | Jillian Delsignore

Income investing has never offered more tools — covered call ETFs, buffer strategies, active fixed income, multi-asset funds — and yet most advisors are still building portfolios the way they did five years ago. So what's actually happening on the ground? In this episode of Insight Is Capital, host Pierre Daillie sits down with Jillian DelSignore, VP and Head of Investor Distribution & Insights at Nasdaq Indexes, who brings something rare to the table: real behavioral data. Her team surveys hundreds of financial advisors every year, runs Nasdaq's global Advisor Council, and sits at the intersection of index innovation, ETF distribution, and the voice of the investor. What the data is showing right now is striking — a fundamental shift from total return thinking toward paycheque replacement investing, accelerating ETF adoption, and a quiet revolution in how options-based income strategies are reshaping portfolio construction. Whether you're an advisor benchmarking your own approach or an investor curious about how your portfolio is being built, this conversation delivers a clear, data-driven picture of where income investing is heading.Chapters00:00 — Introduction: Why income investing is being rebuilt from the ground up02:02 — Jillian's 26-year career arc: Federated, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan ETF, and Nasdaq03:11 — How Nasdaq's global distribution team works with advisors and ETF issuers06:44 — Nasdaq Dorsey Wright: Momentum investing, point & figure charting, and the advisor research portal09:55 — The Advisor Survey: What the data from 2023 to 2025 actually shows10:49 — The big shift: 60% of advisors now allocating 20–40% of portfolios to income — up 52% since 202312:05 — Active and passive fixed income ETF adoption is accelerating — and why active is winning in bonds13:27 — 600 new derivative ETF launches: Covered calls, buffers, and the rise of auto callables14:43 — Defined outcome strategies: The tip of the spear in income innovation15:25 — What drove the shift from total return to paycheck replacement investing18:39 — "I can't eat total return": The behavioral finance case for monthly income20:09 — The hidden benefit of paycheck investing: keeping clients invested through volatility21:59 — Sequence of returns risk and how income strategies reduce the pressure to sell22:48 — Why advisors still under-use these tools — and the education gap holding them back25:34 — The hockey stick: How covered call ETFs are finally going mainstream27:15 — The covered call ETF on-ramp in Canada and the long road to advisor adoption28:55 — Auto callables: The next frontier and why compliance is the last hurdle29:41 — From income-only buckets to core portfolio allocations — the model is changing31:53 — Why compliance departments and advisors both have to get on board — and how it's happening32:35 — What advisors actually want: fewer products, more partners, and turnkey support35:05 — The model portfolio revolution: Advisors want to be relationship managers, not portfolio managers37:50 — How the specialist wholesaling model has fundamentally changed ETF distribution38:37 — The rise of CFAs and CFPs in the field: Fiduciary support is now table stakes40:25 — Closing reflections: Why there has never been a better time to be a financial advisor #IncomeInvesting #CoveredCallETF #BufferETF #ETFInvesting #FinancialAdvisor #PortfolioConstruction #ActiveETF #NasdaqIndex #DefinedOutcome #PaycheckReplacement #RetirementIncome #BehavioralFinance #ETFStrategy #WealthManagement #FixedIncome #DorseyWright #MomentumInvesting #SequenceOfReturns #AdvisorETF #InsightIsCapital #InvestmentPodcast #FinancialPlanning #ETFEducation #RetirementPlanning #IncomePodcast