It seems everybody is stumbling around in the darkness, trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel.
A friend of mine was lamenting about the poor market performance. He mentioned that he threw some money into a bond ETF, and even that was losing him money.
“Aren’t bonds supposed to go up when stocks go down?” he asked me.
Now, I don’t dabble too much in the bond market, but his comment — and question — intrigued me.
After all, this isn’t a fella who is nearing retirement and thus should be investing in bonds. I have nothing against bonds, but all the financial models (and advisors) would suggest that someone his age should be a little more aggressive with his money (i.e., not the bond market).
It also revealed to me just how desperate he (and I’d assume many others) are to find a “safe” investment that doesn’t lose money. After a little research, it was also telling of just how crazy this market environment is. For everyone.
I found this little factoid from Charlie Bilello, founder of Compound Capital Advisors, regarding the bond market.
“The US Bond market is on pace for its worst year in history with a loss of 15.2%, which is 5x larger than the previous worst year back in 1994 (-2.9%).”
