The Daily Money: Are bonds still a good investment?

Good morning! It’s Daniel de Visé with your Daily Money, investment edition.

Common wisdom dictates that as we steer our savings toward retirement, we should gradually bulk up on bonds.

Bonds are supposed to be safe, predictable, boring: the perfect antidote to mercurial stocks.

Lately, though, bonds have felt anything but safe. Between August 2020 and October 2022, a benchmark Bloomberg bond index plunged 18%. Even now, the index remains roughly 10% below that 2020 high.

The bond bloodbath has prompted some investors to question whether it is time to rewrite the rules of retirement saving.

Here's what the experts say.

When is the time to convert to a Roth IRA?

To convert or not convert traditional retirement savings into a Roth IRA - that’s likely a big question Generation X will have to answer soon as they head into retirement, Medora Lee reports.

Roth accounts offer retirees a lot of benefits that traditional 401(k)s don’t. Roth accounts have tax-free withdrawals, aren’t subject to required minimum distributions (RMD) and aren’t taxable to heirs.

But Roth IRAs didn’t exist until 1997, a decade or more after Gen X (born between 1965 and 1980) started working, which means there’s a good chance most of Gen X savings are in traditional accounts. With retirement closing in, they may be scrutinizing their retirement accounts and wondering if they should convert their savings to a Roth to better manage taxes in retirement.

Here are some expert tips.

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🍔 Today's Menu 🍔

This Friday is a special one because it's Fry Day. National French Fry Day, that is.

The annual event happens each year on the second Friday in July, which makes it July 12 this year, Mike Snider reports.

For years, the made-up holiday was held on July 13. But in 2022, fast-food chains Checkers and Rally's organized an online petition to get the National Day Calendar to move National French Fry Day so that it would always fall on a – wait for it – Friday.

Now, down to business: Here's where to get free fries.

About The Daily Money

Each weekday, The Daily Money delivers the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY, breaking down complex events, providing the TLDR version, and explaining how everything from Fed rate changes to bankruptcies impacts you.

Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today.