Meet Tamara Lowin, Senior Credit Analyst

My name is Tamara Lowin and I'm the municipal bond analyst at VanEck. I've been at VanEck for three years.

A household that inspired a love of learning.

I grew up in a home that really encouraged inquiry. My father's background was as an engineer, and then he moved into finance. And my mother was a university professor who was constantly publishing research. It was around the dinner table were the conversations about how things work, how different parts of the world intersect.

That ingrained curiosity is integral to my work. And after college, I decided I wanted to work somewhere in the public sector, which is pretty broad. And as I learned, as I dug more into different ways I could go into that field, I decided to go back for my MBA, where I focused on finance and public policy.

Every bond has its own story.

After graduating, I fell into municipal bonds, and it was very lucky that I did.

I've been a municipal bond analyst for over 20 years. And I worked in several firms in New York. What I really enjoy about working in municipal bonds is that really every bond has its own story. And to understand how it's going to perform, you really need to understand the specifics of it.

So for example, how will a power company be impacted by federal or state legislation? Or will a water facility have enough capacity for the growing population? And if it doesn't right now, how will new construction impact the finances? And then you need to take into account larger economic impacts. How did COVID impact different sectors and different areas? So for example, a toll road, hospitals, airports, these are all sectors that we need to extra time with to really understand how each hospital, each toll road was impacted.

I think that being an analyst isn't about knowing the answers. It's about figuring out what you need to know and how to get those answers so that you can make an informed decision. And it's also about being comfortable changing your opinion as you get more information.

Beyond the Numbers

There's so much beyond the numbers that needs to be taken into account that it's always exciting. There's always something new to think about, whether it's on a state level, a sector level, having all the sectors to look at. You're diving into education, higher ed, community colleges, public schools, private schools, universities, state universities.

And in the same ways you could think of transportation. There's the toll roads, there's the airports, there's highways, there's public transportation. So there's so much nuance that is required. Anticipating how all those numbers are going to change. Understanding what's going to be important, what's going to stand in the way of this specific entity reaching its goals. How confident are we in management? So I think it's the diversity and the constant need to inquire, reassess that really speaks to me.

Something I really appreciate at VanEck, how my role contributes to our larger municipal bond team, how the research I do really helps our portfolio managers to make their decisions and create a holistic investment opportunity. Municipal bonds are known for being some of the safer investments and making sure that there's diversity in the products that we provide and positive opportunity, it's great to be part of a team and knowing that I'm contributing to those products.