2009 June 03 « The Long Run Blog

Long-Term Bond Funds

I was just working on a review of a new client’s 401K and I noticed a holding called “XYZ Long-Term Bond Fund”. Fine. Nothing terribly special about that. However it occurred to me just how misleading such a fund name can be to the uninitiated.

Many people not versed in financial matters might see this choice and think “I’m investing for the long-term, this is for me.” In their mind, retirement is far off, perhaps twenty years or so, and investing in 20 or 30 year bonds might seem like a perfect fit. Unfortunately, things aren’t so simple and the funds named like this can be very misleading. Read more »

June 3, 2009 Posted by Brett | Personal Finance | fund, long-term bond | No Comments Yet

About

Brett Spurr has been on and around Wall Street since the age of 19, nearly half a lifetime ago. He helped make investment decisions for a $15 billion mutual fund complex. While locking horns with CEOs was fun, he now runs a personal financial planning firm helping individuals navigate their financial lives. Brett is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ™ certificant and investment manager by day and a full-time geek who delights in debating all things financial or economic.

Karl Mamer is host of The Conspiracy Skeptic podcast, a 12-part look at conspiracies of today and the not too distant past. Karl is also the world’s greatest living proponent of Franglais. He also likes to bait Nigerian Bank Scammers and hosted his own podcast about teaching English in Seoul, South Korea. Karl lives in Toronto, Canada and works as a senior technical writer to pay the bills.

Julio Guardado is a former tech CEO who after surviving a tech start-up during the dot com bust decided to join the dark side and become an investment banker. While wining and dining CEO’s (we call it “locking horns”) is great, he enjoys getting inside their heads and companies even more. Julio also runs RV Investor, a web site that specializes in the recreational vehicle industry. Julio lives in Silicon Valley.

Jon Blumenfeld has been on and around Wall Street since 1989, as a trader and researcher in interest rates and their associated financial products. Most recently he was an Interest Rate Strategist at Bear Stearns and Co., where he was named to Institutional Investor Magazine’s All-America Fixed Income Research team for Interest Rate Derivatives in 2007. He is looking forward to starting a new career, the details of which are in the final stages of negotiation. Ahem.

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