AGG
iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
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Beginning Automatic Investing: Need direction
Best bond funds to lock in today's high interest rates?
BTC's Growing Ties with U.S. Equities and Bonds - An August Overview
Recommended Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) allocation - how am I doing? (federal 401k per se)
Selling shares in Bond ETF to build a CD ladder?
Do you think bonds ETF like AGG would out perform the SP500 in 2023?
Bond funds vs. individual bonds for an IRA that will be withdrawn over the next 5 years.
Bond Allocation - Bond Index Fund vs. Treasuries Ladder?
Bayer AG and the German Rise 1.2 point
JEPI (JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF ) 10% yield...seems too good to be true.
Bayer AG update part 2 : Bayer AG is massively undervalued.
BAYER AG is Undervalued, cheapest in a decade
Total Bond Funds have had a historic drop since August 2021
Are you holding on to your BOND FUNDS? Or bailing out before they crash further?
IF you invest some of your money in BOND FUNDS are you getting scared they now go down along with stocks
SPY- The bull run continues... for now
It's way better to buy at market close than at market open, most gains happen overnight for major ETFs
Live on dividends? Have you noticed that the dividend yield of core bond funds is dropping every month?
Is buying AGG Bond ETF a more optimal option than holding cash in the near future 2-3years?
Is selling covered calls for Bond ETFs (i.e. AGG) a viable strategy?
Someone convince me this YOLO play is really fucking stupid.
Someone convince me this YOLO play is really fucking stupid.
NFPs tomorrow and the treasuries market (TLT, GOVT, AGG)
Mentions
Sold off my long EXAS position and bought FDHY and AGG. Will buy crypto with the yield. What’s up!?
Why bonds instead of buffered ETFs, hedged equity, market neutral strategies? The AGG finished down 13% in 2022.
There are other ways to get interest as income. I am in highest income tax state. 51% taxable bond or fixed income. 49% not taxable or AMT exempt. Rather than investment grade bond I buy close end financials paying me 8-11% taxable etfs.63% are from fianciak, 20% from industry, IT bonds and some convertible bonds. My accident owning Tesla a default convertible stock not able to pay interest offered me worthless Tesla common shares paid off. AGG, CALI are only some of the bonds I hold. The above is only a portion of total portfolio consists of stocks. It is used as hedge stocks.
Yeah, I just started a Roth in hood for that 3% match on Oct. 30 and take away the 3% match and the portfolio is down 1.96%. Still have $3200 on the sidelines waiting but I only have until eoy. Playing this like my 401k so ITOT, IXUS, AGG, SPY, QQQ, QQQI, SPYG, WMT and SCHD
70/30 10% international 5%IWM Small Caps 5%IWS Mid Caps 50%SP500 30%AGG Bonds
So you're basically VT and Chill with some debasement trades, those debasement trades at their peak? if you had it setup prior to the BTC and Gold runs that would be amazing. If you are wrong with debasement trades being 60% US equities should help not be flushed hard. Dollar could rip higher, and that would slam international ETFs through currency moves, plus gold if it's topping out like past cycles, big highs usually get flushed hard. That's 35% of your portfolio that could take a hit if the dollar short trade dies (International + Gold + BTC). Not bad to hedge though, it helps people sleep better at night, my hedge is AGG bonds, I don't need that fancy gold, crypto or heavy international to bet against America. Sitting at 50/50 (Total Market US with a sprinkle of International, and AGG Bonds) temporary, some catalysts will make me move allocation to 60/40, 70/30 and I could move to 80/20 max.
Yeah you should always back test, to see how a portfolio performed during a certain event, it will not always react the same way, but it will surely rhyme. In the 70s bonds also had a correction not normally seen in Bonds, and guess what, due to inflation. The only people that were safe in 2022 were those who held short term treasuries so your typical 60/40 didn't since it's common to just hold SP500 and Total Market bonds like AGG. Now, did bonds still hedge in 2022 and the April tariffs, they did, the pain blow was lessened. You could always replace 10% of those AGG bonds into short term treasuries to protect from huge bond fluctuations, but do you really think will get a big spike in inflations in the next few years that could again cause bonds to selloff? no one knows. So can do 60/30/10 (SP500, AGG, and SGOV/BIL or the ETF available in your provider.) Here are some back tests for you: |Scenario|100% SPY|Classic 60/40|60/30/10|60/30/10 Advantage vs 60/40| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Apr 2025 drawdown|−19.05%|−11.30%|−11.36%|\+0.06% (marginal)| |Apr 2025 YTD to low|−15.32%|−8.98%|−8.94%|\+0.04%| |2022 drawdown|−25.40%|−21.53%|−19.94%|**+1.59%**| |2022 full year|−19.49%|−17.70%|−16.19%|**+1.51%**|
I'm really rethinking holding the total bond market. It didn't provide a good hedge in 2022 in a rising rate environment nor in April 2025 during liberation day when everything in the US traded like an emerging market. There's a sizable thread on the Bogleheads forum where people were grumbling about AGG not doing the job when they needed money to fund their kid's college and stuff in 2022. I'd really like to hear about a good way for hedging equities. Gold had good uncorrelation with equities until mid october this year... now it's maybe bonds again.
You want a **short-term** treasury fund. >TIP (iShares TIPS Bond ETF) Crashed hard in 2008 because CPI cratered and Lehman was the largest holder of TIPS at the time and dumped them all to raise cash. Also took a beating in 2022 from the rate hikes because intermediate duration (6 years). Both of these things are visible on TIP's full chart (why do people not look at charts?). A **short-term** TIPS fund like VTIP/STIP will have less volatility. VTIP/STIP returns have been better than BSV (nominal treasuries + investment grade corporates) in recent years because higher inflation. >AGG (iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF) Not short-term. Treasury holdings will keep it stable tho. Longer duration treasury funds have "crisis alpha" -- they *rise* in value during deflationary shocks. See the performance of TLT or EDV during 2008, Covid, or even this past April for an example. But they are not short-term. Only put in money you don't need for a long time.
In my short-term account: I have a rolling ladder of 8-week treasury bills as my emergency fund, rather than a high-yield savings account. Current yields are right around 4%. Alternatively an ETF like SGOV isn't going to be far off that, or even a money market position. I do the bills so that money is "locked up" and spoken for, whereas my money market position is un-invested / discretionary. That is supplemented by a broad bond index (e.g. FXNAX, AGG, BND...), and increasingly municipal bonds both in index form (MUB) and some individual in-state bond holdings. That account is also supplemented by some defensive-sector equity (utilities, consumer staples) and dividend-focused equity ETF's in modest measure. Whether taxable or tax-exempt bonds make more sense for you depends on your tax bracket.
The result was VTI QQQ VBR VXUS AGG And I made sure to ask it that there's little to no overlapping
AGG Bonds down 14% over the last 5 years. Not a hater…seriously wondering if bonds are a good place for safety?
You have 1.5 million, you are ahead of so many of your peer's there is no need to try and go full ham and be aggressive you can literally sit at 50/50 invested, something that the great John boggle did while he was sick and wanted to protect his nest egg. 50% Equities as simple as SP500, or can get fancy and do 5% Small Caps(IWM) and 5% mid caps (IWS), and 5% international (VEU). 50% AGG bonds, and if you are worried about the debasement trade put 5% in gold, and 5% in BTC, with 40% in AGG bonds or equivalent.
You may be able to get your Fidelity rep to get their bond person to create a government or coporate bond ladder that will give you a nice, very low cost, exposure to bonds. Schwab does that if you want. But you can also just buy some etfs like AGG, LQD, treasuries, or such. There are even bond funds that end on a set year, so you can ladder them easily. Just depends on how much exposure you want to bonds, going up to 20-30% over time would be great as you get older or retire, to help protect you during a downturn. Having bonds durinng covid was great, as I sold some at a large gain and moved it into S&P500 when it was down 40%. So while they are not going to do as well as NVDA some good years, they won't likely fall as much in bad years. Good luck.
I would look an ETF of some kind. Someone here recommended a world market one to hedge against volatility in the U.S. or any country. You’ll need to do your homework. Something like this might give you minimal risk - • 50% bonds (core intermediate-term, e.g. BND or AGG) • 10% short-term bonds or CDs (for near-term income stability) • 20% dividend/value stocks (e.g. SCHD or VYM) • 10% total-market or global equities (e.g. VTI or VT) • 5% inflation-protected bonds (TIPS) (e.g. SCHP or VTIP) • 5% cash or money-market fund (for immediate liquidity)
AGG/BND is like the sp500 of bonds.. it tracks the whole bond market. Jack Bogle says to own the market, all of it.. and if you must own international, cap it at 20%... my allocation is bogle approved. Watch this jack bogle interview on asset allocation: https://youtu.be/TrFM7G4KhjU?si=NHWYez4nV6MAOjsw
They split your money into a ton of different funds to confuse you. If you want to hold the entire bond market just buy AGG. Like why would you want USD hedged foreign bonds? That wouldn’t protect you against USD devaluation. I suspect this asset allocation is probably hot garbage. EJ charges high fees- wonder what her fees are.
If you want to earn some regular income through ETFs, you can look at dividend ETFs or bond ETFs. Dividend ETFs invest in companies that pay out dividends regularly, while bond ETFs invest in bonds that give interest payments. Some popular choices are Vanguard’s Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) or iShares’ U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG). Just make sure to check their fees, how they’ve performed in the past, and whether they match your risk level and financial goals before investing.
I replaced my AGG/bonds position with gold. Added to my gold position in February. Looks great and so far has hedged equities declines well.
The truth is in the middle. 70-60% of portfolio in LETHs, 30-40% cash in HYSA or AGG. Buy the dip!
In Spring 2020 I was able to sell some of my bond etfs for a 30% gain, which I then put into the S&P500, which had dropped almost 40% at the time. So not only did I not lose due to Covid, I made a 60%+ increase in part of my savings. So that is why bonds are good to have in case the market does poorly one year. If you have enough money, you could save a smaller amount (5-10% of your assets) in SGOV, LQD, AGG, or such, and likely still have more than enough to weather any market drop. The key is that many people don;t have enough savings to risk losing 40% in one year due to a poor market year (2000, 2008, 2020, etc, rare but it happens.).
If you are 30% bonds, you should compare your return to one made of 30% AGG and 70% SPY or such, which would be about 7-8% over the last 20 years. If you have all equities in the other accounts then they should do much better, closer to 10-12%, but they will have more volatility. A broker has no tmore idea of the best stocks than any other person, their job is to help you find what you need and want, like protection of capital, yield needed, and what level of risk.
Why AGG? the max chart looks horrible 😄
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
New here. If I go to Charles Schwab I’m assuming they’ll offer a similar service? I want to leave them to manage it. Appreciate the tip I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
I should have included this but here is what my portfolio looks like: VOO TCIEX VBTLX AGG SWPPX - someone mentioned something about Charles Schwab and a stock split. I’m new to this not sure what that means FPADX CBFVX
Anyone with a typical core bond fund has exposure to MBS. For example AGG is 24% agency MBS. Those are high quality MBS though, not stuff which yields your alleged 10-15%.
I wouldn’t consider this a capital preservation strategy. Cap pres shouldn’t have that large of a drawdown. Your strategy is broken as it didn’t side step rising interest rates if AGG is a major part of it.
Its a month to month trade for top 11 ETF, AGG for safe haven.its not my main strategy.my main is conintegrated pair trading, but needed a solution for MOM, and tried to do momentum trading strategy, this one come up for capital saving.
These have been good ones, too: VTI, VYM, SHYL, AGG, QQQ, and SCHD. Thoughts?
There is no correct answer. If you’re trying to set it and forget it then you just want something like AGG. The bond market rapidly changes and if you try and buy a sector specific bond fund to hold long term with no management, you’re going to get burned.
It's assumed that it is 50 - 75% stock ETF's and the remainder in bonds ETF's and stays invested. Stock would be S&P index funds or ETF (SPT or VOO). The bonds would be thing like BND or AGG
Yeah, just owning the Russell 3000 could be broken down into 6 subcomponent funds to capture the same exposure as IWV. That + international + bonds could put you into 14-20 ETFs that are identical to the underlying expense of owning 3 ETFs. The difference is that you could use specific tilts depending on your goals (maybe youd prefer more in dividends so you buy more Large Cap Value, or maybe you need a few years of income safety so you own more short term bonds than the AGG would), and that if you are generating income, you could sell a segment of the portfolio thats holding up better than another without selling the whole basket. Selling some Large Cap Growth right now would be much better than just broadly selling the Russell 3000 which includes Small Caps, which are lagging right now relative to Large Caps. It isnt all to add complexity or obfuscate things, and often times its the same expense or even cheaper.
You don't want VT and VTI as they contain many of the same companies. I use ITOT, IXUS, and SGOV/AGG myself.
All noise... BTC is just another gold to hedge cash. Bonds won't fail in our lifetime and continue to do their magic regardless of fear mongering.. for example, in early 2025 20% correction.. bonds gained 1% (AGG/BND) from February to April which did exactly what they are supposed to do.. this time was of massive panic and headlines re-appeared that said (the 60/40 is back) because it hedged so well, people are just so short sighted but the 60/40 has over a century of success, and many generations taking advantage of (boomers, Gen x, millenials). I hope BTC keeps delivering great gains.. but its a lot more risky.
Before or in combination with starting to trade options, you might consider a little portfolio diversification (international stocks: VEA, EFA; bonds: AGG). You're young enough to keep most of your portfolio in risk assets, but a small bond/cash exposure will provide some ballast & "ammunition" for reinvestment in a downturn.
This is a scary situation, that means the 2000s and 2008 crash scared you away from the markets or could have erased a lot of your value and you choose to ride out cash. That is still a respectable amount, most don't have that at that age and will rely solely on social security, so you are still in a good spot. The only way to ride things out safely while growing your cash to beat inflation, is by adding a buffer of bonds that will help to prevent major losses if you fear of that. A traditional 60/40 portfolio may be a good starting point 60% SP500 and 40% bonds like AGG/BND, but even those portfolios have had bad years but much better then someone fully allocated 100% in stocks or SP500. You may choose something better like 50/50 if you are very risk averse 40% SP500, but most don't recommend lower then 40% stock allocation so you have a chance to beat inflation. If the market does what is has done in the next 15 years here is what you can expect. I asked grok4 which I pay $30 a month to simulate 40/60, 50/50 and 60/40 using SP500 and AGG bonds to give you a rough idea of what you could see: Based on historical data from 2004-2024 for a $175k portfolio (S&P 500 for stocks, AGG for bonds), here's a quick projection over the next 15 years assuming annual rebalancing and no adds/withdrawals. Keep in mind, past performance isn't a guarantee of future results—these are just estimates using average returns. # Expected Annual Returns (Historical Averages) |Allocation (Stocks/Bonds)|Expected Return| |:-|:-| |40/60|6.56%| |50/50|7.44%| |60/40|8.31%| # Projected Ending Balance After 15 Years |Allocation (Stocks/Bonds)|Ending Balance| |:-|:-| |40/60|\~$436,000| |50/50|\~$485,000| |60/40|\~$538,000| # Max Drawdowns * Historical worst (calendar year): 40/60: -15.1% (2022), 50/50: -15.6% (2022), 60/40: -19.0% (2008). * In a hypothetical 30% stock crash (bonds flat): 40/60: \~ -12%, 50/50: \~ -15%, 60/40: \~ -18%. Bonds can help buffer crashes but aren't foolproof (e.g., they fell in 2022 too). If you're 52, a more conservative mix like 40/60 might suit if you're risk-averse. Always consult a financial advisor!
do some Google on common investment strategies i gave you a crash course on the terms.. but you gotta put some work in. 60/40 means starting an account let's say on robinhood.. and then putting 60% into sp500 etf (SPY or VOO), and then 40% into a bond etf like AGG or BND.
Q: Should I sell off old index funds that are long term losses? I have a Schwab brokerage with a set of index funds I pulled out of a robotrader over 10 years ago. A couple of them are showing losses (over the entire lifetime of the account) between -8% to -10%, such as **BNDX**, **AGG**, **MUB**. BNDX for example has dropped off at the beginning of 2022 and never recovered.
I don’t keep cash, I put at least into a bond ETF. It takes 24 hours or less to convert to settled cash if I want to buy again. Meanwhile, keeps earning. SGOV and AGG.
What makes investing so hard is that it's \*both\* about having an edge and about managing your own emotions. You cannot need succeed unless you have both of these ingredients. One way to determine whether or not you have edge is to compare your own performance (without using leverage) with a plain-vanilla diversified fund. Consider a portfolio with 50% bonds (AGG), 30% SPY, 20% GLD. It sounds very simple, but it has performed very well over decades of data. The returns are about 7%/year and the maximum loss is -15%. Being a long-term investor in such a portfolio requires no personal edge (the edge comes from time), but requires only psychology. This means being able to sit still and watch it grow slowly over long periods of time. Perhaps start there and then work your way up?
Best to start with a few diversified ETF funds like S&P500, QQQ, AGG, LQD, etc, then as you get more money, you can further diversify into REITS, bonds, commodies, foreighn stock/bonds and such, mostly via ETFs or funds. If you then want to add specific companies to that mix, you might want to, but manypeople limit their individual stocks to only a small bit of their portfolio, like 1-2% per stock, with 70-90% in broad funds.
Hey man, you're spot on – today's numbers were definitely a mixed bag and didn't really light a fire under the market. Like you said, maybe a *slight* hint of weakness pushing the dollar down, but nothing crazy. It's interesting though, if you look a bit deeper, that drop in 'core capital goods orders' (basically, what businesses are ordering, minus defense and planes) falling 1.3% *is* a bit of a heads-up. It suggests companies might be getting a bit cautious with their spending. That often gives a clue about how industrial stocks (like XLI) and smaller companies (like IWM) might do, and both have been a bit sluggish lately, so it kind of fits. This ties into the bigger 'vibe' of the economy right now – feels like we're in a phase of slower growth but also low inflation. If you look back at times like these, usually 'safer' bets like healthcare (XLV), low-volatility stocks (SPLV, USMV), and solid bonds (AGG) tend to hold up better. Just thinking out loud, but it's a pattern worth watching. If you're into this 'big picture' macro stuff and how it can connect to your own investing, we actually break down these economic 'regimes' and share model portfolios based on them over on our site, [**macrolookup.com**](http://macrolookup.com), which you can check out. We try to make institutional-level insights accessible for regular investors. Might be helpful if you're looking for ways to navigate these kinds of markets! Hope this helps add another angle to your thinking.
I swapped out AGG for IAGG in my taxable for this reason. Unfortunately Munis need to be US for the tax benefits.
Just DCAing from a recent stock vest, not panic selling. I’ve been holding AGG and MUB for tests, set and forget. Not looking for professional support for my 3 fund portfolios.
It’s more related to the fed’s response to inflation, which is to raise rates. Actually in this period, stock and bonds were very much so positively correlated because increasing rates caused both stock and bond prices to decrease. Bonds overall did have a lower max drawdown compared to equities though. You can look at stats on AGG vs SPY on portfoliolabs to get that information.
What the fuck kind of bonds were your parents in that were down 10%? The AGG was never even down -1.5% this year. You’re LARPING or clueless.
I have been in the market for about 40 years, via 401K, then adding IRA Roth, and then a brokerage account. I never have used a real broker, mostly just low cost simple investment brokerages, like Fidelity, Schwab (and Scottrade and TD Ameritrade), and I just mostly used funds, now mostly index ETFs to invest my money, only after 20 years of saving did I start buying any single stocks or complex ETFs (REITS, dividend ETFs, etc). If you go 40-60% in VTI or IVV, IMH IJH, then about 10% in REITS, 20% in international, a small but gorwing amount in bonds/fixed income (10-20% and growing with your age, AGG, LQD, SGOV, etc). that will do fine and diversify you some. As you age, you can see if there are areas that you better want to add to, like Gold, Cryto (I mostly avoid it), and other alternatives. So far it was worked well for me, and got me near retirment early. Good luck. I have friends with fancy (expensive) brokers almost all of whom have done worse than I have, and I am not beating the S & P most years, but coming very close with much less volitility.
Which bond funds? Don't forget to include dividends in your return. [AGG is roughly flat](https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?AGG&p=3) in the past 6 months. Bonds, even the highest quality ones, *are not reliably anti-correlated* with the equity market. Historically they average about zero correlation, though that fluctuates over time. For example, during inflation shocks like the 70s and 2022, they tend to correlate with stocks, while during financial crises / recessions like 2008, they tend to anti-correlate. Bond prices are inversely related to their yields (like any financial asset priced by DCF). Yields have not changed much since six months ago, but six months ago was a bit of a local low in yields. Recently, quite a lot has been happening, as you are probably aware. But how that impacts bonds is complex. Tariffs can be inflationary, especially in the short term. Bonds don't do well with rising inflation, so that would be a negative. Tariffs can also hurt economic growth. That would reduce the real neutral rate, which would help bonds. Falling growth can also lead to lower inflation, which would help bonds. Historically, US treasurys have been seen as a highly desirable safe haven and were priced with zero risk premium. However, there are concerns that the current trade war could lead foreign countries to lower their US holdings of treasurys or other actions. That would lead to oversupply and hurt bonds. There's probably other factors as well. With how fast this situation is developing, it's hard to keep track.
If you want part of your portfolio to be fixed income, isn't AGG fairly pointless compared to SGOV? Or is that just a strange exception because of covid interest rates?
Correct. Considering your risk tolerance: 40% AGG/30%VOO/30%VXUS would work well over a 10 yr + time frame. Rebalance quarterly.
My AGG bonds are up another .7% Today is a pretty good day
AGG bonds up .65%. today is a great day Outperformed the SPX by 450 bps 2ez
AGG bonds up .5% that's a pretty good day today
It sounds like you’re in a great position with the $505k and have made smart moves by paying off your debts. With your goal of generating around $3,000/month in passive income while also preserving your capital, it’s important to balance risk and reward. You're already getting some solid returns with your Treasury Bills ($1,661/4 weeks), but they’re not going to get you to your goal of $3,000/month. I think dividend ETFs could definitely be a good route to explore, but like you mentioned, it can be hard to know which ones are actually safe or risky. Here’s a potential strategy that might help you diversify and get closer to your goal: 1. High-Quality Dividend ETFs: Look for well-established dividend ETFs with a track record of stability and consistent payouts. Funds like VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF) or SCHD (Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF) focus on high-quality companies with a history of stable or growing dividends. These can provide solid income with relatively lower risk compared to more volatile options. 2. REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts): While you're cautious about direct property investing right now, REITs could still offer a decent return. They focus on income-generating real estate and tend to pay higher dividends. Look for ETFs like VNQ (Vanguard Real Estate ETF) or SCHH (Schwab U.S. REIT ETF). Just be mindful that REITs can be more volatile, especially in the current market, so it’s about balancing them in the right proportion. 3. Bonds or Bond ETFs: Given that you’re currently getting income from Treasury Bills, you might want to consider broadening your bond exposure with a mix of government and corporate bonds. Funds like BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF) or AGG (iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF) provide diversification and can add stability to your portfolio. 4. International ETFs: To further diversify, you could consider adding some international exposure. There are ETFs like VEA (Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF) that focus on dividend-paying companies outside of the U.S. This can provide a hedge against domestic market volatility. 5. Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP): Another option to boost income without solely relying on interest/dividends is a systematic withdrawal plan. With this, you’d withdraw a set percentage (say 5-6% annually) from your initial capital, allowing you to generate a steady stream of income while also taking advantage of long-term market growth. But this approach does carry more risk to your principal. Since your goal is around $3,000/month, that’s $36,000 annually. With your current $505k, you’re targeting a return of about 7% annually. Depending on how you split your investments across dividend ETFs, REITs, and bonds, you can adjust the mix to balance risk and return. At the end of the day, diversification is key. Keep monitoring your portfolio’s performance, and don't be afraid to tweak things as the market changes.
Many Americans would consider me non-American because of my skin color, so I can reply? 35% SP500 15% VEU (International) 15% Small Caps IWM 15% Mid Caps IWS 20% AGG, Bonds. I could care less what happens, I check every few weeks and If I see anything move away from my allocation I rebalance it. My 10 year average returns is 10.66% If you take the average of all the stock ETFs I mentioned they all pretty much provide 10% returns yearly, and that includes the underperforming small caps and international which still have returned 10% since inception, so if they ever breakout the 10% average since inception would be much better, sure if you go back 10 years they aren't so hot compared to SP500, but who will complain about 10%, not me.
Good on you for trying to get this figured out at your age. Here is some friendly advice that I urge you to consider, but please do your own research as well. With $3,000 monthly to invest, you're in a fantastic position to build wealth, but it's smart to be thoughtful about your approach. If I could start over at your age, here's what I would do: # The Core: Index ETFs (70-80%) I'd make diversified index ETFs the foundation of my portfolio. They give you broad market exposure while minimizing the risk of any single company tanking your investments. * Total US Market ETF (VTI or ITOT): 40-50% of portfolio * International ETF (VXUS or IXUS): 20-25% of portfolio * Bond ETF (BND or AGG): 0-10% depending on your risk tolerance This core approach gives you exposure to thousands of companies across different sectors and geographies, which significantly reduces your risk compared to individual stocks. # Individual Stocks (20-30%) With the foundation set, I'd allocate a portion to individual stocks you believe in. This gives you the opportunity to potentially outperform the market while keeping overall risk in check. Consider companies with: * Strong competitive advantages * Consistent growth in revenue and earnings * Reasonable valuations * Industries you understand or are passionate about Rather than chasing the next Nvidia, focus on quality businesses you'd be comfortable holding for 5+ years. # My Personal Strategy I'd implement a systematic approach: * Automatically invest in my core ETFs every month * Research individual companies thoroughly before investing * Resist checking my portfolio daily (this leads to emotional decisions) * Rebalance once or twice a year * Continue learning about investing through books and reputable sources Remember that consistency is far more important than timing the market. The monthly $3,000 commitment will benefit enormously from compound growth over time.
AGG...ten year return: 1.31% whoo-de-do.
You can also consider paying a flat fee (typically $1-2000) for a one time financial plan, and then implement it yourself, at Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard or such and then \\check on it every few years. I set up a plan for my wifes IRA and it has done great, just buying 5-20% each of a few ETFs, (IVV, small cap, med cap, international stocks etf and bond etf, dividend ETFS, AGG, LQD, REITS, and then added other ETFs as I found them. It has come very close to matching the S& P 500, but with less volatility and higher dividends. You can set that up and then only worry about it once a month or every 6 months. Make sure that your cash is parked in a high yield ETF or MMF, that means that any caash makes 4-5% right now.
I'm done timing this garbage, give me an easy to follow jack bogle influenced account, and I'm happy now. Ride it up or down. 40% SP500 10% IWS (Mid Caps) 10% IWM (Small Caps) 20% VEU (International) 20% AGG (Bonds) Give me 8%-11% returns for the next 20-30 years, that's all I want. I will pump 15% of salary into it, and retire a happy man.
Protect yourself from inflation, buy stocks and add a safety net with bonds. Buy when there is fear in the market, it works on the upside too, everyone has been feeding you a crash is coming since 2022, and here we are in 2025 with none to be seen outside of your standard 10% corrections. Something like below, will let you grow your account and protect against any drawdowns. SP500 - 35% Small Caps - 10% Mid Caps - 10% International -15% AGG - 30%
ride the market with some safety. 85-15 portfolio. Jack boggle was right, stop trying to time the market and just settle with a bond/equity portfolio you are comfortable with and keep investing, and ride the waves. 15% small caps (IWM) 15% international (VEU) 15% mid caps value (IWS) 35% SP500 5% company I work for (medical sp100) 15% Bonds (AGG)
Bogglehead influenced investor checking in, here is my 401k portfolio, I'm in my 30s with 6 figure account. 85/15, stocks to Bonds (I want some protection so I don't panic and sleep well, but don't want 60/40 where I take a massive returns hit, I just don't want to see account 50+% down, so this will help prevent that). Small caps - 15% Mid Caps - 15% SP500 - 35% International - 15% AGG Bonds - 15% SP100 Company I work at - 5%
Thanks! Is this something one can figure out by looking at AGG fund news on a site you recommend or something that requires following general financial news overall and determining the cause/effect of events? What you say makes sense but I wouldn't have pieced it together myself had you not explained it.
The US Treasury announces quarterly refunding regularly about treasury auctions. There was a note this morning that the Treasury said that it didn't expect to increase the size of note and bond auctions for a few quarters. This caused treasury bond yields to fall overnight. This in turn caused investment grade corporate yields to also fall - so bond funds like AGG go up.
I’m going to preface with some baseline assumption 1. your nest egg is enough to maintain your desired standards of living. 2. Your risk tolerance is the let’s say same as average people. Your target goal is to slowly drawdown your nest egg and maintain the purchasing power. - can’t go too safe like all fixed income or fixed annuities or inflation will just eat you alive - can’t take a lot of risk either since regardless of market condition, you still need to take withdrawals and you don’t have the condition to recover well. Inflation: a few things to consider for inflations. - TIPS adjust principal with inflation - equities does hedge somewhat against inflations So how much allocation? I think 70/30 is OK for the few years but 60/40 maybe safer. I think as long as it’s over 50 it should be OK I’ll go with 6/4 - - Bond - 20 AGG broad bond index - 10 TIP just the tips - 10 maybe a corporate bond? Like VCLT? Or just another 10 on TIP - equity: broad base diversification. Diversifying beyond just US equities. Goal is to take only market risk…world market. - 35 VTI - US all cap so more than SP500 - 25 VEU - world ex-US
That's why I buy $DJT and $AGG Bond ETF. I'm playing both sides
Make sure you are actually looking at total return and not just price of the ETF. Also - with MUB - you have to also factor in the post-tax return which will depend on where you live and your tax bracket. Obviously, if you live in New York or California, a fund like MUB can potentially make sense. Both AGG and MUB are bond funds that maintain a constant intermediate duration. So that means that instead of maturing and getting your principal back. It's buying bonds so that the fund duration stays about the same. The duration on those funds are about 5 years. So selling them now while the yield is higher than in the past is kinda like selling at the lows. I personally find it simpler to hold target maturity funds instead.
Technically, you can't have a firm grasp on stock index funds if you don't understand bonds since the DCF for stocks has the same factors that bonds have plus additional factors. But I get what you mean. You don't need to know DCF to just buy and hold a broad index fund long term. Bond funds tend to be more varied. You don't have a net loss of 3-4% over many years. You are looking only at the price change and did not include the income distributions. Here's a total return chart: https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?IAGG,MUB Bonds have two main factors: duration and credit. Short duration, high rated bonds will be close to cash and very low risk. Long duration, high rated bonds will be more volatile, even approaching stock volatility for the longest durations. But not very correlated to stocks. Lower rated bonds will be much more correlated to stocks. IAGG has a portfolio of foreign government and investment grade corporate bonds. It hedges the currencies so it acts like an index of USD bonds. It has medium duration and medium high credit rating. It's interesting that your advisor went with IAGG over a domestic bond index like AGG, though there's not that much difference because currency hedging will tend to equalize the yield and the duration and credit exposure is similar. Maybe they thought the yield curve looked more attractive in other countries at the time. IAGG has outperformed AGG over the past few years, so if so, they were right. MUB holds municipal bonds which are not taxed at the federal level (or the state in which they were issued). Also medium duration and medium high credit rating. These are most suitable if you are in a high tax bracket; less useful if you are in a lower bracket.
For 100.000$ account: Write 15x SPY 500 PUT 19DEC2025 = 1119 \* 20 =16.785$ Invest 116.785$ in 1 year Treasury @ 4.25% => 121.748$. Yearly Return 21,748%. This is an example! Adjust STRIKE and AMOUNT (or DURATION) of options to your risk profile/liking. The investment itself can be adjusted to CORP/AGG bond (ETF) or Index like SPY/QQQ if even more risk appetite.
I would keep a small amount as a minimum. Studies show way less volatility with only a very small lose for 10-30 % bonds. Plus when Covid strikes, you can sell the bonds at a huge game and buy into stocks, which dropped like 30-40%. I did that then, and made up for any lower yield in bond for the rest of my life. Since bonds and stocks can swing wildly, it is helpful to have some of each. Same for REITS and other alternative areas, but all in moderation for most people. Just like owning a few stocks (not just ETFs or mutual funds) can allow way more flexibility in tax loss harvesting and other tricks. So while a 90:10 mix of SPY/AGG is simple, and worked well for many, it does not allow for more complex tricks to lower taxes and such.
VGSH VGIT VGLT (short int long bonds) SPIB SPHY (corporate int and high yield bonds) VMBS (mortgage backed securities) My bond allocation is divided evenly between all six. They all pay every month. Some perform better in certain conditions than others. I like the outlook of all of them and plan to hold them all indefinitely. In my 401k I have just FXNAX (Fidelity MF AGG / BND equivalent) because no other real bond choices.
If you like what it's doing, then just replicate the percentages with cheaper ETFs. For Schwab these would be SCHB (US), SCHF (International) and SCHZ (bonds). Ignore small/medium/large cap splits in your current allocations, that's largely just smoke and mirrors to make it look like your roboadvisor is doing more work. Just invest in SCHB for US and call it a day. Every brokerage has their own versions of all-market index funds, I use iShares, which is ITOT, IXUS, AGG. Track roughly the same indices, charge roughly the same fees.
Easy. I'm going to invest 2% of my fiancée and I'm paychecks like I do every Thursday! Here's my weekly purchase: $ACVF - 40% $AGG - 30% $BTC - 15% $NTSE - 5% $FERG - 5% $DJT - 5%
If you do not mind a little risk, right now corp bonds pay more than 5% with excellent rating. I got a 5.75% DUE 11/29/34 from a top rated major bank not callable. Prior week 7.25% 2036 callable corp bond A+ rating. Even Muni in a high state interst exempt and Fed exampt bought in 2023 would pay 5.3-5.5% effective rate. These have appreciated 5-21% if I chose to unload. They emcompass 2020-2099 maturities. The large cap 500 index is overvalued from recent AI hypes. Like many I am into small growth, midcap growth and index since returns have almost matched S&P lately. Bottom line I haver them spreaded out different type etf, muni, Fed gov agency as well as corporate up to 2040s. The high yield, Sgov, AGG are there to cushion them. My goal is 17.5-20% total portfolio are into fixed income.
I mean if youre scared or whatever you just got VT and some AGG
I have a college Freshman and Junior, both of whom will attend graduate school as well, and here is my take. I have most of the 529 accounts set to 30% S&P 500 and 70% in the most conservative "bank interest" position, basically a money market fund. My older one started college in Sept. 2022 near the bottom of the worst bond market ever. This made it quite clear to me that bond funds - where you cannot isolate the interest/dividend - are just as volatile as stocks. The "conservative" glide paths of these 529 plans can be just as shaky. Even now, the NAV of a basic U.S. bond index fund like AGG is *down* 1.6% YTD, and with 3.8% dividends reinvested (net 2.2%), that still pales in comparison to a simple money market that earned around 5% this year with no price volatility. I am strongly considering moving to 100% cash in these accounts as soon as I can execute a change - there is a limit of 2 per year and I've already exhausted them.
I manage all my own portfolios and investments so adding value through investment tilt based primarily on economic and market data. Creating a portfolio based on overall risk and then allocating that risk to maximize return with limiting risk. Examples would be tilting more towards US Large Growth rather than International Growth for the last 10 years. Say a TDF has 35% in International I may lower that to 15% and reallocate the other 20% somewhere else. Flip side is at some point when economic signs point to out performance for International I can go 45% or higher. Small cap growth has been hit hard since interest rates have gone higher and been an under allocated portion of portfolios. For bonds it’s allocating to tilts like High Yield and Corporate Treasuries the last few years rather than AGG, BND(X), IEF, TLT etc. There are some active bond funds that generally outperform their peer group and Index and are in the top 10 percentile for the last 1/3/5/10 years. Those consistent funds are ones I like because even with a higher ER the overall return to my clients is usually net 2-3% higher. Back at the end of 2021 when the Fed said they were going to start raising interest rates, I took off duration and small cap growth and reallocated to high yield and value equites. Now I’m not perfect and seeing high yield bonds decrease by 8% in 2022 wasn’t good but it was a lot better than AGG (-13%) and TLT (-31%) or IEF (-15%). Most often I like to pair investments within a portfolio for risk balance. If I add risk high yield then add treasuries for risk free return. That combination might have the same risk but slightly different returns.
Sorry about the bad link - I had just added the FAQ entry and there's a markdown rendering bug in Reddit web - this link to the wiki will work - see the explanation from Prof Damodaran from NYU Stern i- [https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq/#wiki\_why\_can\_bond\_yields\_go\_up\_when\_the\_fed\_is\_cutting\_rates.3F](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq/#wiki_why_can_bond_yields_go_up_when_the_fed_is_cutting_rates.3F) You didn't mention the bond fund - but is sounds like AGG since you mentioned iShares. There is also a good discussion on your question from last week here which you may find helpful - [https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/1gfkvdo/by\_how\_much\_do\_interest\_rates\_have\_to\_go\_down\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/1gfkvdo/by_how_much_do_interest_rates_have_to_go_down_to/) See the comments from RIP\_Soulja\_Slim.
I follow the Boglehead strategy using five funds VTI, VXUS and AGG,BNDX and SGOV. I allocate my risk based on a formula (128 - age). [https://www.bogleheads.org/](https://www.bogleheads.org/)
SGOV, BNG, AGG. Pick the one with the highest yield.
Thanks for sharing. To sum up, focusing on any individual sectors is a bad idea (makes a portfolio too "messy?"), and so I should drop the gold, infrastructure, energy, financial, and REIT funds as well as the midcap fund and dividend funds (GPIX & EVT). Then I should do these replacements because they are superior (less risky? likely to perform better?): ** bonds AGG instead of VWAHX ** large cap FNDX instead of VWELX ** small cap IJR instead of AVUV ** global/international IEFA instead of VT ** broad market AOA instead of VTSAX
Government bond ETFs, very liquid. It's where we keep our emergency fund and housing fund. SGOV(0-3 months), VGSH (1-3 years), ISTB (1-5 years), IEF (7-10 years) or even AGG (less sensitive to federal interest rates).
SHY rallied, JNK rallied, even AGG is up a bit IEF, TLT tho? Fucking flat 
General question about Bond ETFs: I'm relatively new to most things investing and am still conducting my own research but can't figure this one out. From what I understand about bond prices is that their movement is inversely related to the movement of interest rates so you're better off buying bonds when interest rates are high and you expect them to lower in the future. As for Bond ETFs, they are funds that hold multiple bonds of varying grades, maturities, types etc. A Bond ETF will have a target average maturity that is maintained by the fund manager as they buy new bonds and sell off old ones. Therefore, my thoughts were that given the current high interest rates and the expectation that the Fed will cut and continue to cut rates over the next year or two, it would make sense to invest in Bond ETFs now. Additionally, it would make sense to invest in funds that have a duration of say 1-4 years which would capture the higher interest rates seen recently and would hold their value over the next few years even though rates are dropping then you could switch to a longer duration fund depending on the timeline of your goals and when rates reach neutral or lower. However, what I'm seeing is ALL Bond ETFs (BND, BNDX, LTL, VTEB, MUB, AGG etc) have dropped after the fed announced their 50 basis point cut, including long and short duration ETFs, corporate, municipal, and government bond ETFs. I know bond ETF prices are determined by the market like any other security that is publicly traded but shouldn't Bond ETFs be a more attractive investment to everyone as the rates drop? What am I missing here?
Just buy AGG if you need the money in a year.
[https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund\_portfolio](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio) boggle heads would say some aggregate bond index BND-vangaurd SCHZ - schwab BNDS - state street AGG - black rock There are MF versions as well
If I had to guess, I would guess that the part of the cut that was a surprise was that is was 50bps and not 25bps, the stock market liked that; the stock market is a lot more volatile; the stock market is more sensitive to rate cuts and what they imply about the economy than something like AGG is.
I agree with some of this...obviously not the the part where I made a "dumb" argument ;-) Sometimes markets do act irrationally. I think it's much more likely in the case of AGG that this cut and expected future cuts are priced in than that the entire bond market is acting irrationally.
Don't buy the business. Don't try to play catch up by putting everything on black. Businesses fail. Open a brokerage account (say, with Charles Schwab or Etrade). Transfer your $125,000 of savings there. * Use 70% to buy Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF (ticker: VTI). About 311 shares. * Use the balance to buy iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (ticker: AGG). About 370 shares. * Every month, put 10% (more if you can) of your take home into the above ETFs in the same proportion. * Do **not** panic in a market downturn. Just keep going. You should be good by the time you retire.
Personally, I took profit last week on AGG TLT 😅
It's been more than 6 to 9 months since it was mentioned everywhere that AGG TLT SCHD are a good opportunity. The Dividends, Investing, etc. groups used to laugh at me about AGG TLT. Now I'm smiling and taking profits.
- https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AGG/options/ - https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/etf/agg/option-chain I'm not burning my morning pretending to be your advisor but there's no bid being reported at that strike on any date on the chain.
It's better not to invest in individual stocks. I would advise anyone starting to invest to split their money between VTI and AGG, rebalance quarterly at most, and invest in individual stocks in smaller, incremental amounts.