What percentage Bonds in your asset allocation ?

[Mr Nice]

I'm 53 years old and have 0% of my investments in bonds, just 100% invested in mutual funds, index stock funds and individual dividend stocks that pay 4-8% yield..... whether its my 401K, IRA or regular brokerage account.

What percentage of Bonds in your asset allocation ?

 

[Ramblejam]

53, with retirement at 65? 30%

 

[DirkDiggler]

5% currently. age 44. but I also have an executive pension with a SERP that I consider "bond money". slowly adding a few percent a year, but I want no more than 20% in bonds.

 

[Bluestream]

None, I would rather stick pins in my eye than own bonds

 

[cdeason]

I am 53 as well, about 25% but only in short term corporate bonds, stay away from anything long term,

 

[Bandito440]

Shame on you! The elite Illuminati lizard people are using that money to fund the secret fleet of chemtrail planes!

Oh, I'm sorry. I lost track of reality there for a bit.

About 5% for me. It's my emergency fund that I keep in short-term bonds; Vanguard's VCSH. None of my retirement savings are in bonds yet, but I have a while to go.

 

[RamFan]

I've always understood that the closer to retirement you are, the more you should invest in bonds.

Now, you could invest in a very conservative mutual fund or ETF and achieve the same result, but that's kind of going against the grain of traditional thought.

I'm 24 and a little over 2% of my IRA is in bonds.

 

[gathermewool]

30's, 0% bonds. All moderate-risk funds.

 

[dishdude]

I moved a good percentage (40%) of my stock funds to bonds earlier this year because I suspected a correction was near. So far it hasn't happened.

 

[sciphi]

Check those mutual fund allocations within each fund. There might be more exposure there than what it seems.

 

[JHZR2]

30s but I do some level of market timing with some accounts by manipulating the percdntage of bond or bond equivalent funds. Never more than 20% at a time, and never more than (% on a time weighted average.

 

[Bandito440]

^^^ It's great to see people in their 20s and 30s saving responsibly.

I wish I had started taking advantage of employer-matched funds earlier. I could have when I was 18. That's free money I didn't take. Boo.

Get your kids saving in a 401k or Roth IRA with their first full-time job!

 

[raytseng]

Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Shame on you! The elite Illuminati lizard people are using that money to fund the secret fleet of chemtrail planes!

Oh, I'm sorry. I lost track of reality there for a bit.

About 5% for me. It's my emergency fund that I keep in short-term bonds; Vanguard's VCSH. None of my retirement savings are in bonds yet, but I have a while to go.


I don't understand keeping 5% in bonds.

That percentage of your portfolio basically has no effect on your overall portfolio.

You might as well either just add it to your main investments. The only reason is if it's a built-in sweep and you also use that 5% for account for cash or to cover fees.

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Shame on you! The elite Illuminati lizard people are using that money to fund the secret fleet of chemtrail planes!

Oh, I'm sorry. I lost track of reality there for a bit.

About 5% for me. It's my emergency fund that I keep in short-term bonds; Vanguard's VCSH. None of my retirement savings are in bonds yet, but I have a while to go.


I don't understand keeping 5% in bonds.

That percentage of your portfolio basically has no effect on your overall portfolio.

You might as well either just add it to your main investments. The only reason is if it's a built-in sweep and you also use that 5% for account for cash or to cover fees.

It's emergency money that would otherwise be kept in a savings or money market account, both of which are currently earning essentially zero.

That short term bond ETF has very little volatility, and I'm comfortable keeping my emergency money there. I would not be comfortable keeping it in equities. The 5% isn't for diversification, it's just the amount I decided to keep as an emergency fund in that account. It can be quickly withdrawn for home repairs, medical bills, etc.

 

[bradepb]

This is one reason why I went to a target date fund, I got tired of trying to manage my 401k.
My 2020-2025 Cref fund is currently at 25% bonds, 25% foreign stock, 5% cash and 45% US stock. I am 58 and plan on retirement at 65. The fees are low because of special rates given to my pension fund through the union and admin. fees are paid by them also. Also have an IRA with all retirement grade bonds that would be about 20% of portfolio so my bond exposure is actually pretty high.

 

[Mr Nice]

Target Date Funds are getting more popular as many don't want to manage their money.

Just set it and forget it for a 20-30 year timeframe that will adjust as they get older.

 

[crinkles]

age 34, 0% bonds, 13% cash, rest stocks

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Check those mutual fund allocations within each fund. There might be more exposure there than what it seems.


This.

 

[JTK]

At age 44, I've got about 15% in bonds, 20% stocks and the rest in index and mutual funds.

 

[Al]

One thing is that you can really diversify at less than .1% annual cost by buying Vanguard ETF:

Domestic Bond...BND
International Bonds...BNDX
Domestic Stocks...VTI
International Stocks...VTUS

The ultimate diversification. If you are lazy get VTINX, VTENX, etc which have mixes which tend to be age appropriate. The annual charge is a bit higher. But Admiralty funds lower the costs.

For "me" its the only game in town.