In past videos, I’ve been covering the benefits of using passively managed index funds for your stock/equity investing. But what about bonds/fixed income? Since interest rates essentially have nowhere to go but up, could an active manager protect you from eventually falling prices?
Here’s the short answer: For stocks and bonds alike, we recommend a low-cost index approach over active attempts to react to an unknowable future. As a Common Sense Investing fan, though, you might want to know more about why this is so.
Think of it this way: If the markets were a three-ring circus (which they sometimes are!), stocks are your high wire acts of daring. Bonds are more like your wise old elephants. When you hear scare-stories about rising rates leading to plummeting yields, first, remember, a sturdy bond portfolio shouldn’t have that far to move to begin with. Second, despite the label “passive,” bond index funds don’t just sit there when rates change. They’ve got a balancing act of their own, but it’s based on patient persistence instead of a bunch of clowning around.
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Original post at pwlcapital.com.