FIRE planners cannot choose the right bond allocation
23 posts across 6 communities since Jun 2026; 30% from r/Bogleheads.
“Maybe the answer is obvious, but here goes the question. I’m 50 with zero bond exposure in my portfolio beyond a tiny bit in some 401ks I haven’t rolled over. With 30 year rates over 5%, should I put 20-30% into a US treasury and hold? I’m sure there will be some hate over my…”
“I read every bond post on here but still struggle. I'm 25 years from retirement, so I don't need bonds for income. I have ~15% of my total retirement savings in BND now. My biggest concerns about the future are that no one will solve our national debt problem and high inflation…”
“I much bond etf do folks recommend people start dipping into when they are 5-10 years from retirement?”
Multiple posts revolve around achieving early retirement (FIRE), calculating financial independence, and navigating bond yields. Individuals are actively planning for the future and seeking advice on investment strategies.
SOURCES (23)
“I much bond etf do folks recommend people start dipping into when they are 5-10 years from retirement? submitted by /u/saikyo [link] [comments]”
“what is the optimal asset location for lean fire? what are your targets? I currently have about 2/3 of investments in retirement accounts. I know about the Roth conversion ladder but I think I’m going to shoot for about a 50:50 split between retirement and taxable accounts. submitted by /u/Silver-Passenger-541 [link] [comments]”
“As of now, I am almost all equities with a little % of bonds purchased in target date fund in my trad 457b. I plan to retire in a few years and want a few years’ worth of living expenses of bonds to mitigate SORR. I plan to sell my condo around that time for around this same amount. Could I just dump that all into BND in my taxable brokerage account and call it a day? (I could keep a little outside of BND in a HYSA too, etc.) Thanks :) submitted by /u/Overall-Structure-21 [link]  ”
“Hey everyone, I spend a lot of time reading r/expatfire , r/Fire , and r/FireGermany . Whenever someone asks about fixed income or safe withdrawal buffers, most comments just say bonds are useless or "dead money" right now. People almost always suggest putting money into HYSAs/Tagesgeld or Dividend Aristocrat ETFs instead. Right now I am actually building a bond ladder to cover my fixed expenses for the next few years, but all these posts make me question if I miss something fundamenta”
“That’s the opposite of the advice of SWR rate. Go to 4.7% or even 5.5% when markets are booming and down to 3% when they are not.”
“What percent of your portfolio is in income producing products such as dividend stocks, CEFs and Covered Call funds? Also are you retired or still working? Thanks. submitted by /u/snowflake64 [link] [comments]”
“I'm soon wanting to do my portfolio split to include some more Bonds (getting old) which seem to be the recommendation when getting close to retirement due to stability But how does SGOV fare as an alternative instead? a Quick check on YTD, 3 year and 5 year history it looks like SGOV does better, it also seems to be less volatile, and is cheaper in the fee. This is for my 401k/IRA/HSA So what am I missing? submitted by /u/Money_Maketh_Man [link] [comments]”
“Maybe the answer is obvious, but here goes the question. I’m 50 with zero bond exposure in my portfolio beyond a tiny bit in some 401ks I haven’t rolled over. With 30 year rates over 5%, should I put 20-30% into a US treasury and hold? I’m sure there will be some hate over my stupidity about inflation, etc etc, but if there’s an argument for HAVING bonds (which there certainly is) then why not do this? As opposed to a bond fund, buying shorter term, etc? Interested to hear responses! Thanks. ”
“I think you completely missed my point and maybe NPV isn’t the best analogy. It’s a way of making pension sort of apples to apples with a retirement account. Let’s say in 10 years I will have 1 million in my retirement account. Conventional wisdom says 4-5 percent safe withdrawal rate so that would be 40-50 thousand a year is what I can safely pull from that retirement account. If you agree and follow here, then we can move on. If I quit my pension job today, retire in 10 years from a non pensio”
“Quick and easy question. If you had the upper end of Chubby NW, would you just lock 100% into 5% 30 year bonds now and live off the interest? I know inflation could catch up and overtake 5%, but what else is downside besides the "you could beat 5% in stocks"- which may or may not be true in the crystal ball future. Assuming after tax, you had more than enough to cover your spend with that 5% income. submitted by /u/dead4ever22 [link] [comments]”
“I’m sure there’s an easier way to find out, but FIRE stands for financial independence retire early, fat infers with a lot of money, mostly high net worth. So for rich people who did/want to retire early.”
“220k draw on 3.4m is high as those values need to be the bridge till you can penalty free draw on roth & 401k So you'll eat into capital, will it last long enough is the question”
“5 years ago i barely had 1k: https://www.reddit.com/r/leanfire/comments/mfe1f1/how_do_i_begin_investing/ old post at 250k milestone https://www.reddit.com/r/leanfire/comments/1lterow/crossed_250k_milestone_all_thanks_to_this/ No doubt, currently we are in historical boom market, and that has helped accelerate my portfolio by a lot. However, I still majorly follow 3 fund portfolio bogleheads theory and have some amount in Individual stocks. My investments so far: Fidelity + Schwab: 250k (fxiax, f”
“A frequent topic around here are bond tents, or equity glidepaths, for those who are approaching retirement. There are a lot of posts at the Early Retirement Now website but a commonly cited one is this one by Michael Kitces. That article is long on theory and short on specifics, and I is from October, 2016. As far as I can tell, that is the last time the blog has discussed the topic. The general idea is the investor, starting X years before retirement, gradually adds to a bond position until th”
“I read every bond post on here but still struggle. I'm 25 years from retirement, so I don't need bonds for income. I have ~15% of my total retirement savings in BND now. My biggest concerns about the future are that no one will solve our national debt problem and high inflation will result. My other intention with bonds is to make sure I have some money I can move into stocks if there's a huge crash - I would only move 1/2 of it into stocks in a crash, keeping the other half in case”
“Here is our scenario: M51 F49 5 years from retirement Current portfolio is: Stocks - 65% Real Estate - 20% Cash - 12% Gold - 2% Bitcoin - 1% I am ready to buy "bonds" with most of the Cash TODAY. Which bond ETF or other suggestion should we do? Currently leaning to VTG or VGIT. submitted by /u/YesToWhatsNext [link] [comments]”
“I will be 61 soon and I have quickly gone from “near” retirement (~3 years) to “in” retirement on July 1. What is your planned or actual equity/bonds mix for this stage of your investing life? Follow up question: whatever your % of bonds, is BND enough for all of it? Or do/would you add something else? submitted by /u/Efficient-Bid-7662 [link] [comments]”
“People keep talking about Bonds in this forum. Also, they say a certain percentage of your net worth should be in bonds depending on your age or years from retirement. Why? I have put 3 years of our spending in a Treasury ladder and the rest is 100% invested in VTI / VXUS. How is my strategy sub-optimal? What is so magic about Bonds and having them be a percentge of your portfolio vs just having a safe bucket to weather a downturn and the rest invested? submitted by /u/YesToWhatsNext”
“Basically title. I see headlines that bonds are at "the highest in decades" at 5%, but I don't understand how to buy bonds at 5%? submitted by /u/Standard_Web7962 [link] [comments]”
“Yesterday was my last day of work (45 M). I've known since my teenage years that I wanted to retire early. I had age 50 set as a goal for myself and have aimed towards it my whole life. It wasn't until my 30s though that I started taking it seriously and found resources online to plan and put me on a path towards it. I was on track for 50, but a year ago the stresses of the job were getting to me and I started really crunching the numbers. In my research I discovered LeanFire and started”
What have you been working on this week? Please use this thread to discuss any progress, setbacks, quick questions or just plain old rants to the community. submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]
“Hello all, relatively new to the FIRE world. We are a 40s couple and I'm starting to scrutinize my retirement much more now. My target retirement age would be 57. Does that count for 'early' retirement for this sub? And our target retirement income is 200K a year. Here are my particulars: currently 2.2MM invested across 401K, Roth IRA, and a brokerage. 80% is in the 401K. So a good chunk is not accessible 'early' 3 elementary school kids (important to note since they are expe”