The Bond Funds I Use To Protect My Retirement Portfolio (FQF)

How has your money in BND done in the last 5 years: oh, -14.93%, not good. Have your dividends at least covered that loss?

Rob did you end up getting the Robinhood Gold CC that you discussed in reward CCs last April?

Interesting info re Bonds vs Money Market. Seems like younger investors might be ok staying the course. MM might work best for me at 68. Thanks Rob!

That cash + stocks portfolio also will tend to be more volatile than stocks + bonds because of the lack of negative correlation. This should be more true now rates are not at rock bottom.

I have a question, are TIPS and Bonds better than HYSA?

Thank you. Helpful as always!

A lot of talk about bonds on this video. I think it's important to remember that bonds historically move in very long, often slow cycles where interest rates tend to slowly rise or fall. The technical term for this is a secular bull or bear market. The stock market tends to go through bull and bear market cycles much more frequently. In contrast we just emerged from what was effectively a 40 year bull market in bonds that began when yields peaked back in 1981 when the Fed finally jacked interest rates to astronomical levels to break the galloping inflation of that era, and ended when they fell through the floor in 2020 during the COVID panic. There were fluctuations over those years/decades. But the overall trend was one of slow decline. Prior to that we had a near 30 year bear market when bond rates bottomed in the years immediately following the end of World War II and slowly began to rise as inflation crept up, and then exploded in the 1970s. That bear market ended in 1981. Prior to that we had a secular bull market that ran from roughly the end of the First World War where longer dated US bonds were yielding close to 8%. Then the US went back on the gold standard which quickly eradicated the wartime inflation and bond yields declined slowly over the prosperous 1920s, and then more rapidly during the deflationary 1930s (Depression times) and the war years when the government intervened to keep interest rates well below 3% on the long end of of the curve and less than 1 for shorter term securities.

If this trend is holding, and I believe it is, we are likely in the early stages of a secular bear market that may well last for years or even decades. Can I be sure? No. But history and macro economic trends tend to suggest it is more probable than not. Consider the staggering level of debt at every level of society, including the US Government, coupled with the political situation both in the US and abroad, and I am just not comfortable holding a lot of debt that is much more than 2 years out on the yield curve. YMMV

Thanks, Rob! Your help on these questions is appreciated.

I read Big Ern's article on $0 emergency fund and think it's BS as general advice. It *only works if you have a ton of other resources available*: large investment portfolio, healthy paycheck with large discretionary amounts to cover routine hits like repairs, severance pay, disability and life insurance in case of job loss, good medical insurance in case of illness, pre-approved credit lines to tap instead of selling investments in a down market, AND it assumes that you cannot get some interest on holding cash, which is no longer true...we are still getting 4.x% on T-bills, which when laddered are same a cash. Not impressed. I'll still stop back and see what he has to say, but....

I have two pensions. I would much rather have had a Roth 401k throughout my working lifetime. $500/month invested from 25 - 65 at 9% is $2.3mil. I hate my job but can't leave because of I won't get my state pension. What do you think about doing a 70/30 stocks bond ratio?

Here are the bond funds I use to protect my retirement portfolio:
VBIRX $3,000 Short-Term Bonds
VBILX $3,000 Intermediate-Term Bonds
TLTW $6,910 iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bonds Buy/Write
VWINX $3,000 Stock/Bond Income Fund (40% / 60%)
VBIAX $3,000 Stock/Bond Income Fund (60% / 40%)

Planned future bond fund additions:
KTF $3,000 Municipal Bonds
VIPSX $3,000 Inflation-Protected Securities
VTABX $3,000 Total International Bond Index Fund

Bonds have been hammered over the last 5 years. Why not a dividend fund like schd and actually make a little bit of money and have a yield?

Hopefully I'll be able to watch the live with Big ERN.

I just have to say, it never ceases to amaze me every time you talk about BND. I am struck with what a bad investment it is. Over the long haul, it hasn't even kept up with inflation. Over the last 11 years, it has a total return of 1.9%. You say, yeah, but it had a bad year. I say Yeah, It Had A Bad Year! And what a bad year it was. 2024 was 1.4%, are you really happy about 1.4% when inflation is running at 3%. I seek out advice channels like yours, and yours is excellent, but this fixation on BND, I just don't get it!

Bond "funds" and "portfolio-protection"? Talk about an OXYMORON. Individual bonds..bought at auction, and held to maturity..now we're talking.

I am about 10 years away from retirement, and plan to have about 2 years of cash in a money market fund. I will use it for large purchases, or to minimize sequence of return risks.

What about short-term bond index funds like VBITX? Don't you feel the need to protect against interest rate hikes?

Before investing, learn the basics: understand asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate) and their risks. Define your goals—retirement, buying a home, or an emergency fund—to guide your strategy.

Rob, great video as always. Thank you sir!!

Great video! I am unable to access the Investment Tracking spreadsheet. It links to a Net Worth spreadsheet. Am I using the wrong link?

75 to 80 percentage dtovk index etf, 20 to 25 percent vgsh.

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I’ve been crushing it in under the money market funds recently, Been debt free for two years thanks to Adriana Genovefa . So sad to see my friends in their 40s with car loans, mortgages and credit card debt.

This thread has been enlightening so far, some piece of Info I could use

Adriana Genovefa has really set the standard for others to follow, we love her here in Canada 🇨🇦 as she has been really helpful and changed lots of life's

Been following Rob for some time. I don't recall him ever sharing $FIPDX or $SGOV. I moved Tips and short term money to these ($VTIP instead of $FIPDX) and found lower expense ratios, similar returns. Excellent work Rob. He knows the low-cost good return products. WINNER WINNER

My social security has been suspended and no one has been able to figure out why. This has happened at a time that the federal work force is bleeding workers. I've been told by my representatives office that it usually takes a month to figure out and resolve the problem. With less workers, it could take much longer. Having an ample emergency fund has helped me to sleep at night - at least for the near term.

I found your discussion on what funds you use in the fixed income portion of your portfolio, and the reasons why to be outstanding. Subscribed.
Great job!

Retirees need to take into account of the money printing by Federal Reserve. Buying bonds can hardly break even with inflation caused by the money printing. As the nation debt increases, Feral Reserve needs to print more and more in the future.

I get if CD rates and high yield savings interest rates go down then probably best to have that $ in a bond fund or equities, but given rates over the last few years, why not use those types of accounts (with all gains remaining in them) in the short-term to diversify too? A steady 3.5-5.5% interest on cash is nothing to sneeze at.

Do the T-bond ETFs provide State Income tax free benefit as the actual treasuries?

The issue is, if you buy into a bond fund and rates rise. Use a bond ladder instead. Its easy now, google black rock ladder bond etfs. Ibtp is 2034, I believe.

Your money in bonds is being stolen by the rate of decline in the dollar’s purchasing power vs the return in the bond fund. The dollar has lost 50% of its purchasing power since 2016. Do you ever take this into account in your analysis?

should you cover TLT in a lowering interest rate environment?

I honestly love your vids Rob, however I think you're fairly wrong about the inflation protected bonds, in 2022 and beyond, you gained no protection and inflation was rampant

10 year return on the Vanguard Bond fund 7.9%. TIPS get hammered when interest rates rise due to inflation. Your better off in a money market fund or high interest savings account.

BND is down 2.72% since 2007. The money has been tied up for 18 years and has lost money. If you include inflation, yikes. Inflation since 2007 is 50%. This is according to google finance.

Investing in a bond fund is a terrible idea. It’s garbage. It is not a safe investment. You can loose money. Investing in treasuries, CD or a muni bond ladder is far better. Ie purchase actual bonds.

Your bond funds are garbage.

Why not individual bonds, so at least you're getting your principal back with investment grade bonds?

Informative as always.

Thanks for indexing, love this format

I Hit $32,590 today. Thank you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last week. i started with 5k in last week 2025... now i just hit $32,590

Does VBIL get the same tax treatment as individual treasury bonds?

In one of your videos you recommend holding Real Estate (VNQ for example) in a tax deferred account due to the payout requirements. Do bonds and other higher yielding securities follow this same recommendation or are REITs a special exception?

Just curious, why buy bond ETFs when buying T-Bills is no state tax on interest (depending on state)?

Great info! What is the best short-term bond to park emergency funds right now?

Bond funds can be a great hedge against stock market volatility, but with interest rates still unpredictable, how are others adjusting their allocations? I’ve been leaning into short-duration bonds lately

Can we trust the Trump administration (or any administration) to be truthful about inflation rates? They are talking about redefining GDP to exclude government expenditures to hide the effect of cutting spending. They are saying to ignore gold imports for the purpose of GDP. Why wouldn't he lie about inflation to hide the effect of tariffs? They are also bragging about taking short term pain (recession) to get interest rates down. Seems like you should get the highest rates you can with reasonable risk before rates go down. TLT (10 year treasuries) could be a big winner if Bessent is successful at bringing down the 10 year rate. Risking recession (bad for stocks) in order to refinance America's debt (good for bonds) seems to be their plan. For investors, it usually pays to not fight the government. I'll go with regular Treasuries over TIPS in this environment.