Mailbag, incl: Do bonds belong in my portfolio? October 18, 2026

Scott Phillips (0:04)

Welcome to Motley Fool Money, yes, it's Sunday. Yes, it's special, it's stupendous, it's sensational. It's strikingly superior. It's also silly and sometimes downright stupid. I'm Scott Phillips from the Motley Fool, I'm the stupid one. Here's the stupendous one, because here's Andrew Ram Page from another S, strawman.com Australia's premier online investment club, which I can't do with S's, because some trademarks are simply too important to mess with.

It's the Page. Good morning.

Andrew Page (0:33)

Good morning. Nice alliteration. Is that the tone we're looking for?

Scott Phillips (0:36)

Always, always alliterate, as they say.

Andrew Page (0:39)

Yes, indeed.

Scott Phillips (0:42)

Or never ever ever generalise. Told you a million times not to exaggerate. Oh dear, it all comes back. It all comes back.

SPEAKER_4 (0:50)

Welcome, kids, to Dad Joe Central.

SPEAKER_2 (0:51)

And they set the tone for the rest of our time together.

Scott Phillips (0:55)

To be fair, so have the last 10 years where the podcast set the tone for this. So that's, you know, we have nothing not true to type.

We're never going to have someone go to us. Oh, that was surprising.

SPEAKER_2 (1:05)

No.

Scott Phillips (1:06)

That never happened. Never going to happen. I think the dyers cast.

Kids look up dyers and casting, and the computer keyboard doesn't quite do the same thing. Anyway, anyway, we are old. Let's get on with our listeners' questions rather than dwell in more silliness. What do you reckon?

SPEAKER_2 (1:21)

You were old, but we're not so old as we heard. Was it Aurelius? I don't know those words.

Scott Phillips (1:27)

You know, not that old. At some point, we're closer to that than today.

SPEAKER_2 (1:32)

It's true.

Scott Phillips (1:32)

One of those things you go, hang on. That's not something we know anymore.

Yes, 50 is the new 23, as I like to say.

SPEAKER_2 (1:39)

I like it. I like it.

Scott Phillips (1:40)

And no one at all believes me. Hey, I think I've missed that question to kick us off, which I always love from Kaz. I'll get to Kaz's sign off in a second. Dear Scott and Andrew, says Kaz, although I've been a long term listener over the years, I admit I'm not quite as regular these days. In which case we'll move on. Thanks, Kaz.

Okay, Kaz, here's the deal. I'm going to hold you to a promise. You haven't made the promise, you're not here to answer the promise, but I'm just going to say, if we do the honor of answering your question, will you do us the honor of listening a bit more regularly? I think we can ask that. I think it's a reasonable trade-off, isn't it, Ray?

Andrew Page (2:17)

I wouldn't, I would put it more as a demand than a request, but semantics at a certain point, you know.

Scott Phillips (2:23)

See, there's requests and there's a request. When the mafia makes a request, it's not a request.

SPEAKER_2 (2:26)

That's true, that's true.

Scott Phillips (2:28)

Just treat our request the same way, Kaz.

SPEAKER_2 (2:30)

Yes.

Scott Phillips (2:31)

All right, Kaz says, I'm moving into the retirement phase of life. So my focus has shifted somewhat from investments to financial security, protecting what I've spent a lifetime working for. Fair enough. That said, I still really enjoy your conversations about the economy and your broader social perspectives. Enjoy might be too strong a word, Kaz, but you used it, so I'll run with it. I was listening to your recent podcast discussion about giving the RBA another lever. And it got me thinking, as a retiring homeowner, who has been self-employed for most of my working life, including plenty of long unpaid hours that seem to come with the job, I'd obviously prefer to see my hard earned savings left well away from the RBA's toolbox. But I also have enormous sympathy for families working two jobs just to keep a roof over their heads. It does seem to me there must be a fairer way of distributing the burden. Interest rates after all, don't necessarily curb the spending of those who are in the strongest financial position to absorb higher rates. For many households, however, they can have a very significant impact on everyday life.

This brings me, says Kaz, to a deeper concern that I haven't heard discussed much in the media, lenders' mortgage insurance.

This has always struck me as a potentially uncomfortable part of the housing system, particularly for borrowers who are already financially vulnerable. When we took out our first mortgage in the late 1980s, getting a home loan was a very different experience. You practically had to provide your family tree, financial history, and firstborn child, while producing a decent deposit and respectfully approaching the local bank manager, who was then one of the most respected people in town.