For people nearing retirement, the recommended percentage of
bonds in a portfolio varies widely, ranging from as little as 15 % to as much as 60 %.
You may have
more bonds in your portfolio than you are comfortable with, or your particular bond holdings may leave you more exposed to interest - rate risk than you might like.
When they get to 2.5 %, they should start selling the
longest bonds in their portfolio (note: I would encourage them to end balance sheet disclosure before they do this, after all, the Fed suffers from too much communication not too little.
The downside risk for the biotech fund particularly short - term ones, could produce significant capital gains or losses — primarily for long - term bond funds with average maturities of
bonds in the portfolio over 10 years.
A bond fund with a longer average maturity will see its net asset value (NAV) react more dramatically to changes in interest rates as the prices of the underlying
bonds in the portfolio increase or decline.
Creating a ladder strategy begins by combining similar or
differing bonds in a portfolio with differing maturities in semi-annual or annual increments.
As individuals normally hold far
fewer bonds in their portfolio than bond mutual funds, the chances that a default will result in a large loss for the investor are generally higher for those investing in individual bonds.
Should the market take a turn for the worse, you don't to find that the mix of stocks
vs. bonds in your portfolio is out of synch with the drop in the value of your portfolio that you can actually tolerate.
Shorter
term bonds in your portfolio that are maturing now can either be reinvested at slightly higher yields or will be reinvested in stocks when / if prices decline.