Yeah they are exclusively ok as true crisis insurance. Crisis so bad even gold gets sold off to buy bonds. However when interest rates get jacked again they're cooked. When rates get cut over a longer period like the 2010s the stock market will boom so much bonds are a joke. The play would be hold stocks, sniff out a covid crisis somehow using your crystal ball, switch to bonds, when they hit their peak sell them for variable rate or inflation adjusted bonds right before cpi comes in at 10% and rates are about to get jacked out of inflation fears, when they hit their peak switch to stocks again. Obviously impossible to time. Just hold gold instead of bonds, works well enough as crisis insurance even though in a full sell off crisis it's not safe either. Bonds just make no sense. Even chatgpt is telling me to avoid long dated bonds. Itis recommending ultra short and short duration bonds and maybe tips as a 'cash-like' holding with hopefully better yield than just keeping cash in a savings account, however i can't get myself to ever buy bonds again.

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