Bonds Help (Europe)
I am struggling to understand the concept of bonds in investing. I understand that observation dictates that it usually goes up when stocks go down. So the allocation for “safety” would make sense. However looking at some bond ETFs like VAGF, these are \~-10% over the last 5 years. I would be freaking out to have that in my long-term investment plan…
So I basically have a few questions, if I may:
\- Are bond ETFs vs actual bonds really so different. Could this artifact that I mentioned above be due to this being an ETF? Is there a preference of one over the other?
\- How are you guys chilled in having such a big allocation of your money in something that seemingly is not really growing?
\- What are fellow European/German bogleheads using for Bond investment? Would be curious to have some examples/opinions here. Do you go full european bond or global aggregate as VAGF?
Thanks (: