Should i move my investments into bonds

Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Investing Retirement Planning. Table of Contents Expand. Table of Contents. Reasons to Change. Alternative to Bonds by Age. Market Shift Actions. By Wes Moss. Wes Moss, CFP, is the chief investment strategist at Capital Investment Advisors and has been named one of America's top 1, financial advisors by Barron's every year since Learn about our editorial policies.

Updated August 13, Reviewed by Roger Wohlner. Article Reviewed February 28, Roger is a veteran financial advisor with more than 20 years of experience and a personal finance writer. He specializes in writing about a wide range of topics including financial planning, investing, mutual funds, ETFs, k plans, pensions, retirement planning and more.

One of the first decisions to make is choosing how much of your money you want to invest in stocks vs. The right answer depends on many things, including your experience level, age, and the investment philosophy you plan on using.

Most people will benefit from a long-term investing strategy. When adopting a long-term viewpoint, you can use something called strategic asset allocation. This investment strategy determines what percentage of your investments should be in stocks vs. With this approach, you choose your investment mix based on historical measures of the rates of return and levels of volatility of different asset classes.

For example, in the past, stocks have had a higher rate of return than bonds over the long term. But, stocks have had more volatility in the short term. The four allocation samples below are based on a strategic approach. This means that you are looking at the outcome over 15 years or more. When investing, you don't measure success by looking at returns daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.

Instead, you look at the results over periods of many years. But the idea is that it will recover and then some over the long term. It is best to rebalance this mix about once a year. It is best to rebalance about once a year. If you want to avoid any risk, consider sticking with safer bets like money markets, CDs, and bonds. The models above provide a guide for you if you haven't retired yet. They aim to give high returns while minimizing risk. That may not suit you when you shift to retirement.

Then, you will need to take regular withdrawals from your savings and investments. At that phase of life, your goal changes from growing returns to securing steady income. A portfolio built to boost returns may not be as effective at generating consistent income due to its volatility. If you are near retirement, check out other approaches. For example, you might add up the amount you need to withdraw over the next five to 10 years. Treasury-Inflation Protected Securities or TIPS, for example, might sound good in a bear market since they offer some protection against inflationary impacts but they may not perform as well as U.

And shorter-term bonds may fare better than long-term bonds. When a bear market sets in, the worst thing you can do is hit the panic button on your k.

Instead, look at which investments are continuing to perform well, if any. If you can afford to do so, you may also consider increasing your contribution rate. This could allow you to max out your annual contribution limit while purchasing new investments at a discount when the market is down. Rebalance your investments in your k as needed to stay aligned with your financial goals, risk tolerance and timeline for retiring. But doing so could potentially cost you growth in your portfolio over time.

Talking to your k plan administrator or your financial advisor can help you decide the best way to weather a bear market or economic slowdown while preserving retirement assets.