The advantages of cash are related to short term factors, and the advantages
of bonds and stocks in portfolios are related to long term factors.
Even though the actual relationship
between bonds and stocks often doesn't fit this simple theory perfectly, it does help to describe the dynamic nature of these investment alternatives.
It influences interest rates around the world and affects everything from
bond and stock prices to currencies to mortgage and car loans.
With bonds and stocks looking expensive, it's not such a bad thing to have some cash set aside for a rainy day.
* Municipal bonds can also help offset the volatility associated with taxable
bond and stock investments in an investor's overall portfolio.
That characteristic wouldn't be enough for a balanced portfolio to close the spread between historical
bond and stock returns.
It influences interest rates around the world and affects everything
from bond and stock prices to currencies to mortgage and car loans.
And beyond the traditional investments
on bonds and stocks, investing in commodity can promise you high returns along with possibly high losses.
Different assets - such
as bonds and stocks - will not react in the same way to adverse events.
For the money you put
into bonds and stocks, find low - cost index mutual funds or exchange - traded funds to do so.
But if you become deeply worried
about bonds and stocks, cash is not the worst place to wait out a shifting market.
If you're a conservative investor and hold
bond and stock mutual funds, the stock funds will outperform the bond funds in the long run.
Even though the actual relationship between
bonds and stocks often doesn't fit this simple theory perfectly, it does help to describe the dynamic nature of these investment alternatives.
Once you've got your allocation, you'll have to do further research to analyze specific
bond and stock options.
Bonds and stocks compete for investment money at a fundamental level, which suggests that a strengthening equity market would attract funds away from bonds.
Bonds and stocks rise and fall differently because bonds are a contract for fixed payments while stocks are only an ownership stake in potential profits.
A portfolio can be constructed of
bonds and stocks so that its volatility is anywhere on the spectrum between pure bonds and pure equities as discussed above.
That characteristic wouldn't be enough for a balanced portfolio to close the spread between
historical bond and stock returns.
Some mutual funds, including money market funds that invest in
municipal bonds and stock or bond funds with limited portfolio turnover, may limit your taxable income.
As a result,
junk bond and stock prices can at times move in the same direction based on the market's perception of the companies strength or weakness.
A defining characteristic of emerging markets is that their capital markets (including banks, brokerages and
bond and stock exchanges) can not be counted on to operate.
A top analyst from a major firm, drawing upon the help of his entire team, developed a regression model
relating bond and stock prices.
The
more bonds and stocks you own, the smaller the impact each one individually can have on your overall portfolio, which lowers your risk.
This will allow you to use the majority of your money (core assets) to invest in the boring
old bonds and stock market index funds.
One whose objective is providing current income on a regular basis, by investing primarily in
bonds and stocks paying high dividends.
First, office property in particular and property in general are competing for investment capital with alternative risky assets such
as bonds and stocks.
Furthermore, as was made clear by the universal weakness in security markets in 2008,
bond and stock markets around the world are highly correlated.
As far as cash,
bond and stock returns go, they averaged very very roughly about 3 %, 6 % and 8 % over the last 20 years.