Retirees need to look past bonds

Article Excerpt

Some investors headed to retirement decide they’re just too old to assume any investment risk. As a result, they put most, if not all, of their money in fixed-return investments and government bonds. Regardless of the proportion they make up in your portfolio, bonds are unlikely to perform as well in the next few years as they have in the past, mainly because interest rates will likely hold steady or rise. (Bond prices and interest rates are inversely linked. When interest rates go up, bond prices go down, and vice versa.) That means the bonds would only earn interest income; instead of capital gains. In fact, those bonds could produce capital losses. Meanwhile, taxes weigh heavily on any interest income. A reduced investment return, compared to high-quality dividend-paying stocks, can take an enormous bite out of your capital over a decade or two. two…