I see your points... but textbooks and even professionals still argue that bonds have a place in a portfolio. Especially as one gets older. Even the Trinity Study recommends 40 to 50% in bonds. (self confession... i hold zero bonds currently. i used t-bills previously just to optimize my spare cash)

So I sometimes wonder.I s there a blind spot I’m missing here, one that only becomes obvious with age? For example, when you’re 75, should a bulk of assets really be in bonds for stability?

Or is it simply that bonds are less exciting to discuss compared to stocks, gold, or options?

(Maybe it’s also an age factor — at a younger stage, the need for bonds just isn’t as apparent.)

Different asset classes have different uses.

I have been buying up lots of bonds for the last 2 years. Bonds are now 45% of my DIY retirement portfolio.

I prefer bond funds due to their liquidity as I prefer total returns (price and yield). Most of my bond exposure are not for holding to maturity.

This year, these bond investments are starting to bear fruit as interest rates have started to fall everywhere. My bonds are giving me pretty decent returns with low volatility. Im estimating about 7% total returns (in MYR) this year for my bond portfolio.

Considering this is "defensive" part of my portfolio, not too bad return. Bond prices have an inverse relationship with interest rates. It will be even better if a recession is to happen and equities market crash.

your returns might look like a rocket
untill you subtract the 'fuel' costs.

you go shoot for the stars ,
we will stay grounded with KWSP's gravity
keeping our wealth in orbit.


Bonds dont need bragging rights.......they just keep paying quietly..

Wow... 45%! If we include EPF, would it be fair to guess that more than 60% of your retirement pot is in some form of fixed income?

Did you purposely structure it this way? May I ask, is it because you expect rates to come down, or a recession ahead, or mainly to secure a steady income stream from bonds?

7% YTD is impressive... that's almost 10% annualised!

So your point is bonds is a boring asset class and hence hardly anyone talking about it?

1. Epf is fixed price, bonds are not fixed price (unless held to maturity). Interest rates go up, bond prices fell. Interest rates go down, bond prices up. If there is a recession, interest rate will go down a lot. And bond prices should go up much more. Then switch to buy equities cheap. That the theory. If no recession and rates are stable, just enjoy the yield. The risk is inflation spiking up and interest rates going up but I dont expect this in the near term.

2. A mix of all those reasons. Im abt 3 years close to my retirement age target, so Im more defensive. I dont want any big drawdowns till that date esp since markets are so high.. If there is a big drawdown, then I might feel the need to delay my retirement. Dont want that. Better be slow and steady.

Also, yields were very attracfive since last 2-3 year. Bonds allow u to lock the rate. Unlike cash. Now yield are somewhat less attractive, but still not bad.

Finally it also aligns with my macro view that yields are coming down.

3. 7% is my estimate for the year, not YTD. It could be higher if there is a recession. Also my bonds are mostly non-MYR. Part of it has currency hedge, but not all. So big FX swings could also change this.

It's ok. Like I said you don't need to follow text books. Those who I follow who FIRE except ASSI, they all got no bonds.

Bro sure you want to argue about the cost with me?
Do know how much is a S&P500 etf fee cost? The cheapest at 0.03%p.a assuming EPF uses unit trust and their fees is 1.5%p.a that is a huge difference in fees.

1.5-0.03/0.03 x 100 = 4900% increase in fees.

Now I am using the normal unit trust fees you see in Malaysia and Singapore. If we use assets management fees it might be different and way more that that.

So if you saying cost, er I will look again.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Sep 27 2025, 04:03 PM

Technically speaking, EPF doesnt charge management fees. Hence its fee is 0.

They don't charge but sure kena charge by the fund manager. Hence indirectly we pay for it. Sure got fees. That is why fund management exist to take a bite of the AUM. Just don't know how much are the fees EPF paid.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Sep 27 2025, 05:48 PM

Look at the performance that suits your risk appetite, risk capabilities and your time & effort spend.
Performance are net of fees.

tq for sharing the rationale... I understand better now why you’re holding such a large % in bonds.

When you mentioned "Part of it has currency hedge", do you mean some of the bond funds you hold are already MYR-hedged? Or you do your own hedging separately? If the latter, curious how you go about it.

This has been one of my small frustrations this year: our ringgit strengthening from 4.5x to 4.2x (~6% appreciation) has eaten into the returns of my overseas portfolio when viewed from MYR.

Take a long term view. I have been changing RM to overseas currency since SGD was around 2.7

Curious if your investment in bonds are through single name bonds given your yield play? Otherwise, difficult to do that with a basket or an actively managed bond fund as the manager would be actively trading. If it is single name, then isn't the entry cost very high? I thought it's a minimum of MYR100k

Trading platform like fsm have much smaller entry or min purchase value.

100k onward usually are via bank.

Pinning hopes on the Taco man is like waiting for the wind to change instead of adjusting your sails......

Sorry bro..the funds itself are currency hedged.

Funds. And its not yield play for me, its total returns. Can look at fsm, got a few fixed income funds doing well this year.

And not just funds, some bond etf also not bad this year. Like this one.

https://www.fsmone.com.my/etfs/tools/etfs-f...e=SGX&stock=A35

The yield is just around 2%. But check its ytd and 1 year returns.

I don't need tacoman and my investment are not revolved around him. Come low or high interest rate, my investment will be making money. The true all weather portfolio. Can't deny that tacoman is helpful by giving discount every now and then especially during April sell off. Took full advantage of it.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Sep 28 2025, 01:47 PM

I must say thank you to tacoman too…. Filled-up the truck on April 2nd for the next few days this year right after Lib Day…. Now I’m mostly in the green….

That's why I say buy the dip and got flak for buying the dip. Lol. Market will always give you chance to buy especially US market.

This post has been edited by Ramjade: Sep 28 2025, 08:17 PM

You are being too sensitive…