When the main investment objective is to generate highly consistent and safe income, investors have historically turned to bonds (LQD, VCLT, IEF). While this may have worked well in the past and allowed investors to earn a satisfying yield, today's environment is much less favorable to bond investors.
After a multi-decade long decline in interest rates, the yields are today at historically low levels:
Source: 222 Years Of Long-Term Interest Rates, Barry Ritholtz
This creates two major issues to bond investors:
- Not enough income is earned to meet their needs -