Are bonds the safe bet they seem?

Investors have been ploughing their money into bonds in the belief that their savings are safer. But is that really true? Phil Oakley investigates.

Investment is all about trading off risk and reward. A common view is that shares are risky. They tend to be a lot more volatile they'll deliver more ups and down, and give you more sleepless nights. But over the long haul, in exchange for putting up with this volatility, history suggests that you will make more money from them than from most other asset classes.

The trouble is, most investors don't like risk. The wild ups and downs of the stockmarket over the last decade or so have understandably put many people off investing in shares. Instead, they have been ploughing their money into bonds in the belief that their savings are safer.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.