Charlie, I respect you deeply, but I'm going to have to call you out on one thing.

You said:
The huge advantage bonds have over stocks is that bonds mature and come earlier in the credit line. It's possible, though not always prudent or profitable in specific cases, to be a Buy-and-Hold investor with bonds that way it would scare me silly to do so for stocks. I've been made whole more than once from a Chapter 11 workout, while the equity guys got zilch.

And then:
Because reward is proportional to risk, all other things being equal. If a bond investor takes on the same risks that a stock investor does, then he earns the same rewards. People mistaken think that bonds are the “safer” vehicle. They aren't. Some bonds are truly safe.


But you had just made an argument as to why bonds are safer... higher in the credit chain, etc. All that *does* make bonds less risky.

Now, sure, if you take some of the higher risk bonds compared to some of the safer stocks... overall, you may be able to get similar levels of risk.


By no means do I mean to disparage bond investing, but you just seem to be talking out of both sides of your mouth just a wee bit. Sure, by seeking our riskier opportunities, a bond investor can maybe equal the returns of safest stock invesments, by catching the same risk level. However, that doesn't make bonds safer, as you seemed to be promoting at first.

Meanwhile, for those of us with decades until retirement, there's nothing in the bond universe that can approach the expected returns of moderately risk to the somewhat riskier portions of the stock universe.