When Bond Prices Fall, What Should Investors Do? (10/10/2026)

You know, it's the, the, that opening line is, you know, really our objective is, is that.

Let's make, let's make confusing topics simple, because when it comes to money, our industry does a good job of making things complicated, and it's not necessarily the case.

It's a lot of times there are some moving parts or there's certain language or there's, you know, multi-steps to some, to some things.

But overall, once you have the education, you have that understanding, then you can look at, "Okay, what does this actually mean to me?" 'Cause that's really what we have to distill it down to when it comes to your money.

It is your money, so how do these, how do these news headlines affect your retirement? How does it affect your financial peace of mind? We gotta-- Sometimes you gotta, you gotta parse through the noise and see actually what makes sense and what doesn't.

Maybe something that should, that should capture your attention, and other things, hey, let's just, let's, let's observe it and, and keep it moving.

And one of those things that's certainly been popping up in the headlines over the past few weeks or so, I mean, I, I mean, let's be honest, it's really been the case for the entire year is what we've been seeing with bonds, with fixed income, with interest rates, with the Federal Reserve and how that, how that is affecting dynamics within the stock market, if you will, amongst other things, that has been driving some volatility.

And if-- And I, I will, I'll be the first one to say this as well, that volatility, meaning prices going up and prices going down within the market, whether it's the stock market, the bond market, that is a feature of the markets, not a bug.

It is how patient, disciplined, strategic investors get rewarded.

It's how you build wealth.

It's how you accumulate wealth, and it's how you maintain wealth.

But we also know that there's risks involved with that, so what do we do? Does that mean we [laughs] we completely let the, let the fear side take over and take a conservative stance? No, because that just means that you're leaving opportunities on the table.

You're kinda turning a blind eye, and you're letting that emotional side really get in the way of following a strategy, and that's gonna determine the decisions that you make.

And generally speaking, decisions made in a hi- in a heightened emotional state generally does not work out well.

So how do we remove the emotions from it? Actua- How do we maintain discipline? How do we maintain the strategy? Well, first we gotta understand what, what are the resources that you have, right? I mean, let's just, let's just paint an example where you're approaching retirement, or maybe you're in the beginning of your retirement, and you've saved money.

You've done the delayed gratification.

You worked your butt, you worked your tail off, raised your family.

Kids are grown.

You got maybe some grandkids in the mix.

House is paid off or close to paid off.

Maybe you got a couple rental properties.

You know, Social Security's coming down the line.

You gotta get ready for Medicare, all that good stuff.

But when we really just distill it down, it's, "Hey, have I done enough, and how can, can I maintain my lifestyle with the financial resources that I have?" Well, first we gotta determine what your lifestyle is, meaning what is your burn rate? What do you, what do you need to spend? What do you want to spend? And what do you, what are the things that you wish you could spend? Like, let's, let's categorize these so we can understand, okay, we know what this, what this is gonna cost on an annualized basis, what these future costs will be in the years that we expect these expenses to take place.

And also, we gotta put in the fact that, hey, these, you know, just standard costs of living will increase over time.

You know, it's the, the, that opening line is, you know, really our objective is, is that.

Let's make, let's make confusing topics simple, because when it comes to money, our industry does a good job of making things complicated, and it's not necessarily the case.

It's a lot of times there are some moving parts or there's certain language or there's, you know, multi-steps to some, to some things.

But overall, once you have the education, you have that understanding, then you can look at, "Okay, what does this actually mean to me?" 'Cause that's really what we have to distill it down to when it comes to your money.

It is your money, so how do these, how do these news headlines affect your retirement? How does it affect your financial peace of mind? We gotta-- Sometimes you gotta, you gotta parse through the noise and see actually what makes sense and what doesn't.

Maybe something that should, that should capture your attention, and other things, hey, let's just, let's, let's observe it and, and keep it moving.

And one of those things that's certainly been popping up in the headlines over the past few weeks or so, I mean, I, I mean, let's be honest, it's really been the case for the entire year is what we've been seeing with bonds, with fixed income, with interest rates, with the Federal Reserve and how that, how that is affecting dynamics within the stock market, if you will, amongst other things, that has been driving some volatility.

And if-- And I, I will, I'll be the first one to say this as well, that volatility, meaning prices going up and prices going down within the market, whether it's the stock market, the bond market, that is a feature of the markets, not a bug.

It is how patient, disciplined, strategic investors get rewarded.

It's how you build wealth.

It's how you accumulate wealth, and it's how you maintain wealth.

But we also know that there's risks involved with that, so what do we do? Does that mean we [laughs] we completely let the, let the fear side take over and take a conservative stance? No, because that just means that you're leaving opportunities on the table.

You're kinda turning a blind eye, and you're letting that emotional side really get in the way of following a strategy, and that's gonna determine the decisions that you make.

And generally speaking, decisions made in a hi- in a heightened emotional state generally does not work out well.

So how do we remove the emotions from it? Actua- How do we maintain discipline? How do we maintain the strategy? Well, first we gotta understand what, what are the resources that you have, right? I mean, let's just, let's just paint an example where you're approaching retirement, or maybe you're in the beginning of your retirement, and you've saved money.

You've done the delayed gratification.

You worked your butt, you worked your tail off, raised your family.

Kids are grown.

You got maybe some grandkids in the mix.

House is paid off or close to paid off.

Maybe you got a couple rental properties.

You know, Social Security's coming down the line.

You gotta get ready for Medicare, all that good stuff.

But when we really just distill it down, it's, "Hey, have I done enough, and how can, can I maintain my lifestyle with the financial resources that I have?" Well, first we gotta determine what your lifestyle is, meaning what is your burn rate? What do you, what do you need to spend? What do you want to spend? And what do you, what are the things that you wish you could spend? Like, let's, let's categorize these so we can understand, okay, we know what this, what this is gonna cost on an annualized basis, what these future costs will be in the years that we expect these expenses to take place.

And also, we gotta put in the fact that, hey, these, you know, just standard costs of living will increase over time.