Term Deposits or Bonds - Which is best for your portfolio?
With term deposit rates up around 4.5% or higher, it’s reasonable that investors may question the role of a bond fund in their portfolio. Given that bond funds had their worst return on record in 2022, and term deposits are effectively a risk free investment paying a guaranteed return, why wouldn’t investors use term deposits as the defensive allocation in their portfolio? Term deposits offer short term peace of mind - but a global bond fund gives superior long term returns, better liquidity, greater diversification benefits and are a much better defence against a volatile equity market.