To: ild who wrote (89179 ) 2/3/2001 4:29:38 PM From: Knighty Tin Read Replies (1) | Respond to ild, In general, I don't think that bonds are very important for someone who has at least 10 years left of peak earnings years and a portfolio of less than $100,000. Bonds can be used as capital appreciation investments, but that is not their strong suit. The investor with the smaller portfolio needs to find someway to grow it faster than they can most of the time with bonds. Most folks you hear on tv will tell you that that way is long stocks. Agreed, long stocks are wonderful if they are selling at less than fair value. But when they are pricey, I don't think they are great growth vehicles and the last thing a small portfolio needs is losses. That is when I would try some of the hedging plays that have more upside than bonds, but much less downside than stocks: 90/10 option buying, spread conversions with stocks, conservative cross hedging. These would not be the same as similar strategies in Maximum Income as they would employ racier names and a bit more risk. But not nearly as much risk as long stocks. If stocks crash, then you want to have money available to buy them.
