What should my bond allocation be




















Long Credit Aa Index thereafter. Treasury Bill Index thereafter. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. The performance of an index is not an exact representation of any particular investment, as you cannot invest directly in an index.

As you get closer to retirement age, your risk tolerance decreases dramatically, and you can't afford any wild swings in the stock market. Save those wild rides for the amusement park. You can increase your wealth and meet your retirement goals by following these five best practices for managing your asset allocation.

When your investment timeline is short, market corrections are especially problematic -- both emotionally and financially. Emotionally, your stress level spikes because you had plans to use that money soon, and now some of it is gone. You might even get spooked and sell. And financially, selling your stocks at the bottom of the market locks in your losses and puts you at risk of missing the stocks' potential recovery. You may have heard of age-based asset allocation guidelines like the Rule of and Rule of The Rule of determines the percentage of stocks you should hold by subtracting your age from The Rule of evolved from the Rule of because people are generally living longer.

It works the same way, but you subtract your age from instead of These rules attempt to determine your ideal asset allocation solely by your age. But your age and how much time remains until you retire aren't the only factors in play. Your innate risk tolerance can be just as important.

Ultimately, diversification across asset classes should provide you with peace of mind, regardless of how old you are. If you're 65 or older, already collecting benefits from Social Security and seasoned enough to stay cool through market cycles, then go ahead and buy more stocks. Market risk can be less of a concern when stocks are going up.

That changed in early March when stocks declined at the fastest rate in bear market history. Consider these five questions as you and your financial professional determine how to achieve your ideal investment mix.

There is no one-size-fits-all asset allocation. One year-old pre-retiree might be more risk-averse than another. A year-old who plans to work another five years may need less cash than a peer who is retiring next month and will soon start taking distributions from their portfolio. But financial planner Adam acknowledges that can be more risk than many investors are prepared to take. If investors have too much exposure to stocks, they may be more likely to sell them at an inopportune time — when shares plunge, she points out.

Source: Stock Allocation Rules. Investopedia, February 9, First, consider your investment time horizon. Second, retirees also can use anticipated cash-flow needs to help develop their asset allocation framework. Savings needed for the middle years of retirement may be invested in high-quality bonds.

And assets required sooner — say five years — could be allocated to safer, short-term bond funds or cash-like investments that are more liquid such as money market accounts. Whatever asset allocation model you choose, you need to decide how to implement it. There are any number of asset allocation portfolios one could create to implement an investment plan.

While they increase in complexity, all are very easy to implement. You can implement an asset allocation model using a single target-date fund.

Most k plans offer target-date retirement funds, which accomplish two important tasks. These funds include both bond and stock investments. They generally include investments in domestic and international stocks and bonds, and in small and large companies. Second, as an investor nears retirement, the target-date retirement fund gradually shifts the asset allocation in favor of fixed-income investments such as bonds.

This reduces the volatility of the portfolio as the investor nears the time he or she will need to start to rely on the portfolio to cover living expenses in retirement.

Target-date funds are generally classified by the year in which the investor plans to retire. This fund invests in both a U. Of course, this allocation will begin to shift in favor of bonds as we get closer to While the target date retirement funds at Vanguard are reasonably priced, some mutual fund companies charge in excess of 50 basis points. Because target-date retirement funds include bonds and other fixed-income investments, they may not be well suited for a taxable investment account.

If you prefer a different asset allocation model, you could find a target-date retirement fund that matches your model of choice, regardless of the year you plan to retire. With just two well-diversified index funds , you can create an excellent investment portfolio. For example, you could put your stock allocation into a total market index fund that covered both U. You could then put the portion allocated to bonds in a total bond index fund. Using Vanguard mutual funds as an example, here are two funds one could use to implement a two-fund portfolio:.

At first glance such a portfolio might not seem to offer enough diversification. Further, these companies are headquartered throughout the world. In short, even this two-fund portfolio is well-diversified. For even more control over your allocation, check out a three-fund portfolio. With this model portfolio, the stock allocation is divided between two mutual funds, one covering U.

This provides additional control over how much of the stock allocation goes to U.



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