I am 42 yo and plan to work 25 more years, what percentage of my retirement portfolio should be in bonds?

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Charles J. Stevens, Principal, evergreen financial, LLC

@CharlesStevens • 08/23/15 This answer was first published on 08/23/15. For the most current information about a financial product, you should always check and confirm accuracy with the offering financial institution. Editorial and user-generated content is not provided, reviewed or endorsed by any company.

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Waiting on a rate increase from the Federal Reserve, that's really a tough answer to furnish. I don't like rule's of thumb in this business. Such thumbs frequently get hammered. But one rule says "your age in bonds as a percentage". But it doesn't tell you what bond maturity to use. Add to that the fact that bonds are a poor total return investment with long bond rates at less than 3% and you may see my hesitation to own interest rate sensitive investments currently. I keep a daily screen of seven Exchange Traded Funds denominated in fixed income to own in a rising interest rate environment. Only two of them are currently showing any signs of strength. Even the hedged portfolios are currently unattractive.

So if were my money, I wouldn't own very much fixed income at this juncture.

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