Repeat After Me…
I’ve worked hard.
I’ve built my nest egg.
I just want a reliable, predictable return for the next 15-30 years or so.
So I have one less thing to deal with.
Wait, long-term bonds are now yielding how much?!
Is 5% Return Enough? Why It Might Be.
For much of my investing career, my biggest flaw as obvious to most who knew my: I made investing more complicated than it needs to be. I’ve come to realize, I have a lot of company in that regard!
So in my early 60s, with plenty of great feedback from subscribers and colleagues, I started to rethink how to approach what really is the priority for most Baby Boomers and Gen-X types too:
How much do I need to make in retirement, and for how long?
If you have accumulated enough wealth, your goal isn’t to beat an arbitrary stock market index. Your goal is to map your existing capital against your real-world income needs over a specific timeframe.
And, if you are comfortable allowing a portion of your principal to gradually spend down over your target horizon, securing a 5% baseline floor might get you most of the way there. Just look at how much the entire US Treasury Yield Curve lifted during the first nine months of 2026.
At the end of 2025, the entire curve was below 5%. Less than a year later, bonds from 5 years and longer, out to 30 years, were above that level.
Some would say that’s a problem. I say its a gift!
At least when you consider the long-term history of rates discussed earlier in this E-book. Because barring abnormally high AND persistent inflation for many years to come, 5% “fixed income” return is VERY competitive. And a high enough return to provide tremendous longevity to a retirement cash flow strategy.
I created the Hedged Bond approach, and this E-book, based in large part of that simple premise. I am convinced that this is an opportunity that many must consider.
So I’m leading by example. Everything in this E-book is based on my own investment portfolio.
Why Reading This E-Book might help you.
If you were highly confident you could build a long-term retirement portfolio around a 5% target floor—regardless of what happens with the stock market, interest rates, inflation, or major lifestyle changes—how much of your portfolio would you invest at that 5% target right now?
Take a second and give that an actual number. 20%? 40%? Half your net worth?
This isn’t a trick question, nor is it a guarantee of market returns. It is a fundamental question about how you structure your wealth in an uncertain world.
If your answer is more than zero, keep reading. Because I’m about to break down is the single most overlooked, mismanaged, and misunderstood opportunity in modern investing: the bond side of your ledger.