what is laddering 
in finance the term laddering is used in a variety of ways depending on the industry its two most common usages relate to retirement planning and the underwriting of new securities issues generally laddering is used to describe different investing strategies that aim to produce steady cash flow by deliberately planning investments creating an influx of liquidity at a predetermined time and or matching a desired risk profile although these strategies can vary substantially in their execution what they have in common is the practice of carefully combining a series of investments to produce a desired outcome for fixed income investors laddering can help manage interest rate risk and reinvestment risk 