The theme this week on the Retirement Quick Tips Podcast is: Nowhere to Hide. It’s been a rough year, with threats of a deepening recession and continued, sticky inflation dominating the minds of most investors. So this week, I’m talking about how you can navigate an economic and investing climate where it seems like there’s nowhere to hide.
Today, I’m talking about keeping your bond portfolio short-term. This is definitely an area I would pay attention to. If you still have long-term bonds, bond funds, or bond index funds in your portfolio, those have been absolutely hammered this year - many down 10-15% or more.
As rates continue moving higher, bond prices for longer-dated bonds will continue their downward spiral, so it’s important to shorten maturities on your bond portfolio. Most of my clients have no more than 3-4 years average maturity in their bond portfolios right now.
The upshot of rising rates is that short term interest rates are the best I’ve seen in my 15 year career as a financial advisor…as I record this podcast, here are some of the short-term rates that are currently out there:
SWVXX – 2.65%
9-month CD – 4%
2-year CD – 4.25%
So if you’re going to make a move, I would move down into shorter rates, where your bond portfolio will be more stable in a rising rate environment, and you’ll be rewarded with higher rates on the short end.
That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the Retirement Quick Tips podcast.
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