Warren Buffett once described bonds as “dangerous” and said that they "should come with a warning label." What makes bonds so dangerous now is how they work and their relationship with interest rates. Here is what you need to know and what you can do to protect yourself...
How Bonds Work
A bond is a debt security in which the issuer agrees to repay borrowed money with interest at fixed intervals. Bondholders have a creditor stake in the company. Technically, bonds do not pay dividends, but instead they pay interest.Interest rates play an integral part in determining the current value of a bond. Interest rates and the price of a bond are inversely related. The longer until a bond matures, the more susceptible its price is to changes in interest rates.
Consider two bonds, one that has a maturity of 30 years and another with a 7 day maturity. If after both bonds are sold, interest rates go up one percent, the price of both bonds will decline since new investors expect to earn the prevailing interest rate. However, the interest rate decline will affect the price of the 30 year bond more than the 7 day bond, due to the longer period of "lost" earnings. It works the same in the other direction - if interest rates drop the bond holder will sell it at higher price which lowers the yield to the market rate.
Where Will Interest Rates Go From Here?
With very low short-term bond interest rates, its not difficult to determine the direction of the next major move. Although the Fed has shown it can keep rates low for a number of years, at some point they will rise.When the U.S. government issues debt and there there is not enough demand at the price point needed to keep the rates low, the Fed steps in and purchases the excess debt at the appropriate level. In purchasing this debt, the Fed is creating yet another problem.
The Fed has no source of income that will allow it to make the debt purchases in the needed magnitude. One thing the Fed can do that no one else can is to control the U.S. money supply. The Fed distribute new currency for the U.S. Treasury Department, which prints it, and the printing presses have quite busy. Eventually this will lead to higher inflation and in times of inflation, those holding debt are the losers.
Protect Yourself With Dividend Stocks
Earlier this year I sold out off bonds. I will be replacing the debt with quality blue-chip dividend stocks. In my opinion, the Treasury has already printed enough money to cause significant problems in the future. The questions are how big will the problems turn out to be and how long will it take us to recover? Let me be clear, I am not predicting the imminent collapse of bonds. As an investor (not a trader), I am not in the prediction business. However, I believe we have reached a point where there is much more to lose than gain by holding bonds.Full Disclosure: No position in the aforementioned securities.
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