BND is the bond fund I almost never talk about but always hold.

At 31, I keep 10% of my portfolio in BND. The classic advice is to hold 'your age in bonds' but that's outdated guidance from an era when bonds yielded more and people retired in their 60s. For early retirees or aggressive accumulators, 10-20% is a more reasonable starting point.

What BND actually does: it doesn't make your portfolio grow faster. It makes volatility smaller. During the 2022 correction when VTI dropped 30%, I didn't panic sell because the bond portion cushioned the psychological blow. That's the real value — not the yield, but the behavior it enables.