Rick Van Ness – Why Bother With Bonds

Why Bother With Bonds

A Practical Guide To Build An All-Weather Portfolio Including CDs, Bonds, and Bond Funds—Even During Low Interest Rates

Learn how to use CDs, bonds, and bond funds to manage risk/reward even during low interest rates. You will learn:

• How to choose your allocation to stocks and bonds
• How to become immune to changing interest rates
• When to use CDs and individual bonds
• How to choose a good bond fund
• How to hedge against unexpected inflation

This program is an alternative to my paperback book at Amazon—which is sufficiently complete if book-learning fits your needs. But if your preference is to have someone quickly tell you what you need to know and then how to build the bond portion of your portfolio, then this course might be for you.

This book is aimed at 99% of investors—ordinary investors—because bonds play a role in every portfolio. Investing is “simple, not easy.” You’ll find it fairly simple to understand how bonds work and the important role that they play. The important goal is the more difficult part: to own the correct allocation of bonds for your situation.

Photo Credit: These all-weather hikers are happily living their dreams. They are prepared for any weather—the perfect metaphor for creating all-weather investment portfolios! Photo by Stocksy.

Related article: Build an all weather portfolio. An in-depth guide to using bucket concept to visualize and increase confidence in your asset allocation.

Your Instructor

Rick Van Ness

Rick Van Ness is a successful private investor and retired executive who provides investor education through online videos, short books, and workshops. Rick has an engineering degree from Cornell University and a MBA in Finance from New York University. His background in engineering and business provides him with the excellent basis for understanding and teaching investments and financial planning.

Rick provides unbiased education. He helps students understand the teachings of the most widely respected economists and financial planners. Students learn that smart investing is simple (not easy) and to take charge of their own finances on their paths to achieving rich and fulfilling lives.

Course Curriculum

Why Bother With Bonds
Getting Started

Overview: course navigation and the super-cool video player

Introduction (Video Promo—in case you missed it) (2:21)

DISCUSSION FORUM: Please ask questions HERE

Your Most Important Investment Decision

Why Bonds? #1 – Stocks are risky. Bonds can be safe investments. (3:21)

Why Bonds? #2 – Treasury Bonds Make Risk Palatable (2:49)

Why Bonds? #3 – Bonds Can Be Safe, Low Risk Investments (3:45)

Why Bonds? #4 – Attractive Investment Diversification (5:23)

Bond Basics

Bond Basics 1: What is a money market fund? (2:54)

Bond Basics 2: Certificate of Deposit: Better Than Bonds? (4:55)

Bond Basics 3: What Are Bonds? (6:12)

Bond Basics 4: What Are Bond Ladders? (3:25)

Bond Basics 5: Individual Bonds? or Bond Funds? (5:04)

How To Reduce Risk From Interest Rate Changes

Duration: The Point of Indifference to Interest Rates

Duration: the Measure of Sensitivity to Interest Rates

How To Reduce Risk From Unexpected Inflation

Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (Review draft released 8/20/2017) (9:17)

Build The Bond Portion Of Your Portfolio

How Much Risk Is Right For You? (6:59)

General Guidance for Selecting Bonds (5:23)

Taxes Matter: So Which Account is Best to Hold Bonds? (3:21)

Example Portfolios (both good and bad)

Common Misconceptions—Important to Correct

Stocks Are Safer In The Long Run

Holding a Bond (or CD) to Maturity Eliminates Risk

Stocks Are Safer Than Bonds

Rising Interest Rates are Bad for Bond Holders

Summary of Key Points in this Course

Key Points From This Course

Comments and Feedback (Student and Instructor Room)

Bonus! Why Bother With Bonds (the book)

Comments and Feedback for the Beta Version of this course

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