Since interest rates are at all-time lows, does that mean we should sell the bonds in our portfolio? What’s the advantage of holding bonds in a low interest rate environment? Joe answers this viewer’s question in 60 seconds.
Important Points
0:09 “We certainly believe in the asset allocations; we have approximately 40%-50% in bonds. With bonds doing so well over the past thirty years, I’m concerned with the direction of the bonds and [wondering] if perhaps we should put more into other equities”
0:32 “We’re in a huge bond bull market because when interest rates go down, bond prices go up. So interest rates are basically at all-time lows”
0:47 “You have to look at bonds a little bit differently; you want to look at bonds to damper the overall volatility of the overall portfolio”
0:55 “Depending on what your time frames, your goals and everything else is, you don’t want to look at bonds as an income stream potentially…you want to look at a total return portfolio”
1:09 “You absolutely want to make sure that you have some safety in your overall portfolio. 40% in bonds sounds reasonable; the other 60% in equities you want to make sure that it’s globally diversified – when equities go up your bond prices are going to stay straight. When equities go down, your bonds are going to save you”
1:24 “You definitely want to keep bonds in your portfolio even in a low-interest environment”
1:37 “The key I would say is look at a total return, don’t look at each individual asset class”
