4-minute Money Ideas

Why Interest Rate Risk is Important By Douglas Goldstein, CFP® Conservative investors who buy bonds to avoid high risk might inadvertently be exposing themselves to a potentially devastating risk: interest rate risk. If you are concerned that you may have interest rate risk or other hidden risks in your investments, call my office at 02-624-2788 to discuss your portfolio. Are bonds safe? When you buy a bond, you lock in a specific interest rate that you'll earn until the bond matures. Assuming the issuer of the bond remains solvent, you’ll receive your interest payments (usually every six months), and on the "maturity date" you’ll get the principal value of the bond. That’s what happens in most cases. But… When interest rates rise, people who have locked in a lower yield discover that their bonds decrease in value. For example, let's say you own a $50,000 bond that pays 3%. After you have bought the bond, if rates for similar issues rise, say to 5%, the principal value of your investment drops. It drops, sinc