Older Investors Should Examine the Risks in Bonds

Older Investors Should Examine the Risks in Bonds
For people in or near retirement, bonds were supposed to provide a sense of security.But for some investors, they did precisely the opposite. Bonds of all stripes have taken sizable hits this year. The losses have not been as agonizing as the 40 percent decline in the stock market, of course, but any loss is particularly painful for people who count on these investments as a safety net.
“There haven’t been any safe places to hide, with the exception of Treasuries,” said Miriam Sjoblom, a mutual fund analyst at Morningstar. “That has been a surprise to some investors.”
Several diversified bond funds have held their own — largely because they contained a healthy helping of Treasuries — which underscores the importance of diversification.
But for some older Americans, even that relative safety is not enough to allay their concerns. Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual were top-rated bonds — until they were not. Even some money-market funds have run into trouble.
“Fixed income should be ultrasafe,” said Steve Podnos, a financial planner in Merritt Island, Fla. “The return of principal is more important than the return on principal.”
That is a popular mantra, especially now. Ultrasafe comes at a cost, however, and there are not many bulletproof investments that yield more than 2 or 3 percent, experts said. For the risk-averse, that might be plenty when you just do not know what might lurk around the corner.
And because conditions may worsen before they improve, older investors should check that their bond investments are indeed what they thought they were — and that they fit their tolerance for risk. “We are in a 2 to 3 percent world, and if they want to earn more than that they need to proceed cautiously,” said Gary Cloud, a bond manager at Financial Counselors in Kansas City, Mo.
Several advisers and bond experts recommended that investors maintain higher cash reserves than they might in more normal times. Keeping two to three of years of living expenses in extremely safe investments, like a certificate of deposit or a money market account at a large financial institution, can provide some breathing room. That way, investors will not be forced to sell investments at an inopportune time.
Investors also need to remember that bond funds and individual bonds work a bit differently. With an individual bond, investors are guaranteed to receive their original investment back after it matures, as long as the company does not implode. With bond funds, there is no such guarantee because the value of the bonds inside will fluctuate with market conditions. That means the value of the investment will vary, too.
Of course, a sizable pile of money is needed to build a portfolio of individual bonds as opposed to simply purchasing a bond fund. Opinions vary widely — from $50,000 to $500,000 — on the amount needed to be properly diversified, though several experts agree it can be done with about $100,000 to $200,000. It is probably best to sit down with an adviser, preferably a fee-only adviser or one that charges by the hour, to go through the pros, cons and costs of each.
Some advisers have strong feelings about both instruments. Some refuse to use bond funds because they say they do not know what they own, though that problem can be addressed by using index funds, whose investments remain relatively static. Other advisers say they cannot attain the level of diversification with individual issues. Whatever you decide, knowing what you own and understanding the risks involved are what really matters. And if a bond investment promises high returns, a little mental bell should go off as a warning signal.“We see a lot of retirees come in and they have a lot of their fixed-income investments in aggressive funds,” said Richard Rosso, a financial planner with Charles Schwab in Houston. “They have gotten seduced by the yield of the fund and didn’t look at how that yield was being derived.”
Instead, investors should anchor their portfolios with a fund, or combination of funds, that hold wide swaths of high-quality government-backed, corporate and mortgage-backed bonds — with short- to intermediate-term maturities, experts said. (Shorter-term securities are less sensitive to changes in interest rates; when rates rise, bond prices fall). Low expenses are extremely important because bond funds do not yield much to begin with. The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index fund fits that bill. It is up nearly 5 percent this year and charges a rock-bottom 0.07 percent of assets. Two actively managed options, Harbor Bond, managed by Bill Gross of Pimco, and FPA New Income — up 2.2 percent and 4.03 percent, respectively — are considered strong choices where capital preservation is a top priority, Ms. Sjoblom of Morningstar said. But, of course, they are more expensive.