Should We Stop Investing in Bonds? Live Q&A

We start tonight's Live Q&A with a viewer's question about bonds. A viewer named Don asks:

I know you’re getting a lot of questions about “buying “ bond funds recently and I’ve heard you say you haven’t sold your bond funds. But I think the question viewers like me want to know is should bond funds be purchased now with new money? Or wait awhile for rates to normalize then buy into bond funds.

————————————
Timestamps
————————————
0:00 - Welcome to the Financial Freedom Show!
1:25 - Buying into Bond funds
19:43 - What is the point of IBonds
21:26 - Too late for law school?
23:39 - Inflation
25:48 - Is 2022's stock activity normal?
29:04 - VTEAX
33:34 - Too much in an HSA
35:32 - VXUS vs DFAX
39:41 - Holding bonds long term
41:37 - Do I monitor the vix and use it as a buy signal?
42:36 - New Untuck shirts
42:58 - Could the market become overvalued?
43:34 - If bonds paid 12%
45:25 - Are Stable Value Funds Safe - article
46:15 - VBR
49:53 - Safe withdrawal rate during a down year
54:09 - Selling my stocks & investing in oil stocks
56:17 - Treasuries as a non-correlated asset
57:21 - 70/30 the new 60/40
58:02 - Is the basement the dog house?
1:02:04 - When to sell individual stocks in a taxable account when it becomes too large
1:06:13 - Annuities
1:10:50 - Direct-indexing
1:14:49 - Hit the Like button
1:15:07 - RMD's and inherited accounts
1:16:04 - Super aggressive starting at a late age
1:18:40 - Lump sum investing
1:20:02 - Rising rates and bond performance
1:23:19 - RMD's from 401K
1:24:17 - HSA for its triple benefit as "investors"
1:25:20 - My interview on YouTube
1:30:06 - Browsing the questions
1:30:24 - Book club
1:30:47 - Ozark tv show
1:31:16 - Blue Binder/Newsletter
1:31:36 - Financial Freedom
————————————
Investing Tools
————————————

————————————
Credit Cards & Banks
————————————

————————————
Popular Videos
————————————

#investing #retirement #robberger

ABOUT ME

While still working as a trial attorney in the securities field, I started writing about personal finance and investing In 2007. In 2013 I started the Doughroller Money Podcast, which has been downloaded millions of times. Today I'm the Deputy Editor of Forbes Advisor, managing a growing team of editors and writers that produce content to help readers make the most of their money.

LET'S CONNECT

DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial adviser. These videos are for educational purposes only. Investing of any kind involves risk. Your investment and other financial decisions are solely your responsibility. It is imperative that you conduct your own research and seek professional advice as necessary. I am merely sharing my opinions.

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: Some of the links on this channel are affiliate links, meaning at no cost to you I earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase and/or subscribe. However, I only recommend products or services that (1) I believe in and (2) would recommend to my own mom.

[CynthiaNE_]

I love the banter and asides. Makes the show fun to watch. Thank you!

[curiouscat]

Is it a better strategy to invest in commodities that have a better return then bonds? Love your videos. Felix

[jasonhawkins]

Finally someone who has explained bond prices vs yield clearly! thank you

[emadrahim]

Have you done a comparison video of individual bonds vs bond funds in ETFs, pros and cons, performance, and the best options for 3 fund portfolio? That would be very helpful. Thanks

[kathymclaughlin]

Question for taxable account. Sounds like bonds are not good investment in taxable accounts. Does this apply to Index Bond accounts? Does dollar cost averaging apply to Index Bond funds like it does to Index stock funds??

[jasonhobbs]

You briefly mentioned avantis and wisdomtree. Made me smile. I’m 20+ years from retirement and everything that wouldn’t trigger a taxable event I’ve switched to the following:
35%NTSX
20%AVUV
15%AVDV
15%NTSI
15%NTSE

This seems to me an evidenced based route to higher expected returns that doesn’t depend on stock picking or market timing.

If interested John Williamson, Optimized Portfolio, has an outstanding video on NTSX.

[JosephDickson]

Thanks for covering the 4%-6% retirement withdrawal in a down market. I was wondering the same thing.

Fantastic video... Watched straight though the the end.

[georgehayes]

Rob what was that economics book that you had read was it by fed chairman

[iamgoddard]

There's a lot of advice lately to add commodities to one's portfolio as an inflation hedge.

Would love to know your thoughts on how to gain exposure to commodities and position for inflation. Looking into this, it seems commodity ETFs are mostly ETPs, based on futures contracts, not physical holdings. There are issues raised with these products, such as they may significantly fail to track the commodity prices they aim to track. In contrast, ETFs for gold and silver are usually backed by physical holdings.

[wilma]

I don’t understand bonds. So I don’t want to invest when I don’t understand them.
I think interest rates will increase in the next two years so wouldn’t CDs be a better investment than bonds?

[kingming]

When does he do Live Q&A? I keep missing his live streams. I have questions.

[isedagd]

I WOULD LOVE BOOK CLUB. CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS ON LIVE STREAM. YES. YES. YES

[delbertsmith]

Hello Rob. I’m Delbert I really like your videos. I’m 57 And trying to build my 401k as much as I can. How would you do your portfolio? Thanks.

[kevinmendoza]

Rob, I’m looking forward to investing into corporate bonds. Thank you for the new video.

[manuvns]

there are deep value in emerging market debt funds at this moment, most have yields above 7% on high quality debt

[WingChunGungFu]

To answer this video: Yes. Buy Whole Life Insurance as a bond alternative - it offers 5% yearly dividends - structure it for maximum cash value accumulation by a Nelson Nash Certified Infinite Banking Concepts Professional.

[CaptainBenjamins]

Short answer yes, long answer still yes

[wilma]

@rob Berger today would have been a good day for Roth conversions. I have Traditional IRA and a Roth IRA mutual funds at the same brokerage company. Mutual funds use the close price with you transfer from Rollover IRA to Roth IRA, I watch or set alarm triggers when an EFT (like my mutual funds S&P 500 index fund for example) get down to a certain price.

[ph]

LOL, I still don't have bonds/bond funds. They can still go down in value. I have 3 yr MYGA contracts, and although they are mostly locked in for the term, they are steady, and the principle will not decline. They are not FDIC insured, so that's a minor risk, but the state insurance dept has a guarantee usually up to a specified amount. For the shorter-term, I'm looking at a CD ladder arrangement. I know the bond market in the world is more than double that of stocks, I just can't see the good side of them. For me, I know interest rates will go up and I will likely lose to inflation, but this side of the portfolio is about "principle protection", and the equity side is the long-term growth/inflation hedge. It is always interesting though and worth learning and thinking about.

[Rosemary-gcgk]

So I watched a lot of your videos recently and decided to move my investments mostly out of a money market into a 60/40 stock bond split being 68. In about 6 weeks I’ve lost about $40, 000, at least on paper and am kicking myself. Guess I should have dollar cost averaged. Should have gone with my gut and left it alone in these crazy times.