Avoiding bonds
Avoiding bonds
Darrow Kirkpatrick, 51
Chattanooga, Tenn.

I was a very conservative investor over the last decade, and thankfully, I was able to retire early at age 50.

How did I do it? I owned a lot of bonds and they did relatively well. Unfortunately, that probably won't be the case for others in the near future.

Typically you play it very safe in retirement. In more normal times, I would probably be going further into fixed income assets and even building bond ladders, but I just don't think that's appropriate in this world.

To discuss these issues and help others retire early, I started a blog, CanIRetireYet.com. Readers have written in, asking what to do for income when interest rates are at historic lows.

The Fed's policy is really pushing people into the stock market to get better returns, and that's probably the game you need to play right now as a retiree.

Otherwise, with interest rates this low, you'll lose out to inflation.



As told to Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney - Last updated March 23 2012: 1:49 PM ET
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