Why This Retired Physician Owns No Bonds

The ballast of a robust, stable portfolio. The dramamine for those sick from the market’s ocean waves, up and down.

Most financial experts recommend at least some allocation to bonds, on the logic that only a select cohort of people have the risk tolerance and stamina to sustain full 100% exposure to equities.

But are bonds really for everybody? Especially in retirement?

Why This Retired Physician Owns No Bonds

Arrow

My wife and I were married in October of my internship year and we each made our first investment in the stock market in January of 1989 when we opened our IRA accounts. I was 26 years old.

IRA Accounts

After I had worked as a resident for one year, June 1989, I qualified to participate in the hospital’s 457 deferred compensation retirement plan. I began to max out this retirement plan as well ($7,500 a year).

Deferred Compensation Account

When I retired from medicine in 2017, I had my money from the company 401(k) plan transferred to a rollover IRA account at TD Ameritrade (the same brokerage that was then managing the company retirement account).

401(k) Account

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