有时不明白为什么有人67岁了才考虑到退休钱不够用. 不过这篇文章到是详细的介绍了junk bond. 本来我以为任何时候我都不会去买junk bond的. 不过看了这篇文章, 知道自己要考虑diversity. portfolio里多多少少要有些junk bond.

要注意的几点是junk bond 只能占portfolio的10-20%. 而且junk bond behavior 更象stock而不是bond. 三个不错的junk bond 是 the Vanguard High-Yield Corporate fund, American Funds American High-Income and Payden High Income.

"Remember, though, high-yield funds are not your grandmother's bond funds. Those loftier yields definitely come with higher risks. But as long as you plan to make junk bonds a relatively small portion of your bond holdings and as long as you plan on holding them for the long term -- as opposed to trying to predict their inevitable ups and downs -- I think they can serve a cameo role in any portfolio, including a retiree's. "

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - I'm 67 years old and planning to retire next year. I'm considering investing about $25,000 in a high-yield corporate bond fund to boost my retirement income. Do you think this is a good idea?

-- Bob, Birmingham, Michigan

I've always been a proponent of keeping a portion of one's bond portfolio in high-yield -- or, to use their less euphonious name, junk -- bond funds because they provide a bit more diversity and their higher yields can sometimes offer a bit of a cushion against rising interest rates.

That said, though, I think it's important that you don't overdo it. I consider something along the lines of 10 to 20 percent of the bond portion of one's holdings about right for most investors. So in your case, that means I think investing $25,000 in junk bonds might make sense if you've got a bond portfolio worth $125,000 to $250,000. If your bond stash is smaller than that, I'd scale the junk position back to that it's no higher than 20 percent of your total bond holdings.

Be cautious

The reason I recommend caution on junk bonds is that even though they have a pretty good record of delivering attractive long-term returns, they can be kind of tricky for people who aren't familiar with the ways different types of bonds behave. In fact, high-yield funds often behave more like stocks than bonds.

Take the year 2000, for example. Intermediate-term bond funds -- that is, those that buy bonds with maturities of four to seven years or so -- gained an impressive 9.75 percent, according to fund tracking firm Morningstar. That showing was largely due to money moving into bonds after the stock market began melting down. So investors who owned intermediate-term bonds -- or even long-term bonds for that matter -- at least had positive returns in that part of their portfolio to offset stock losses.

But what if someone had been counting on high-yield bonds to provide a cushion? Well, that person would have been disappointed, as high-yield funds lost 6.7 percent of their value in 2000.

Junk bond performance depends on the economy

That's because the performance of high-yield bonds depends in large part on the outlook for the economy. If investors believe the economy might slow considerably or even head into a downturn -- and that was the thinking back in 2000 since big stock market declines often (though not always) presage recessions -- then high-yield bond prices often take a hit.

The reason is that high-yield bonds are backed by companies that have high levels of debt or are struggling financially. Which means if the economy heads south, these companies might have a difficult time making the payments on those bonds. So those bonds begin trading at lower prices to reflect that increased risk.

And, in fact, if you look at the performance of junk bonds, they typically run into trouble when there's a threat of an economic slowdown. In the three months following the start of the recession in July 1990, for example, junk funds lost 12.3 percent. They ended up down 9.2 percent for the entire year.

As of mid-June, high-yield funds were down about 0.5 percent so far this year, largely because of losses they sustained earlier in the year when market watchers were concerned about sagging economic growth.

Since then the outlook for the economy has improved somewhat, and junk bonds have bounced back strong over the past month. But the point remains: if investors become concerned about the prospects for economic growth and corporate profits, the performance of junk bonds is likely to deteriorate.

So given the rather mixed short-term outlook for junk bond funds these days, however, you may want to build your position month by month rather than taking the plunge all at once

Enjoy a junk bond cameo in your portfolio

As for choosing a high-yield fund for your portfolio, I'd recommend looking for ones with a long history of decent performance and relatively low fees.

On those scores, the Vanguard High-Yield Corporate fund jumps to mind, as do the two junk funds that we included on our MONEY 50 list of recommended funds: American Funds American High-Income and Payden High Income.

Remember, though, high-yield funds are not your grandmother's bond funds. Those loftier yields definitely come with higher risks. But as long as you plan to make junk bonds a relatively small portion of your bond holdings and as long as you plan on holding them for the long term -- as opposed to trying to predict their inevitable ups and downs -- I think they can serve a cameo role in any portfolio, including a retiree's.