Question

Suppose you owned a portfolio consisting of $250,000 of long-term U.S. government bonds. Would your portfolio be riskless? Explain. Now suppose the portfolio consists of $250,000 of 30-day Treasury bills. Every 30 days your bills mature, and you will reinvest the principal ($250,000) in a new batch of bills. You plan to live on the investment income from your portfolio, and you want to maintain a constant standard of living. Is the T-bill portfolio truly riskless? Explain. What is the least risky security you can think of? Explain.

Answer 1

Answer and Explanation:

An investment when it would be risk free in that case both the principal and the interest amount are to be paid within the prescribed time. Also when the U.S government bonds i.e. long term would be issued by the government have a lesser interest rate as compared with the other riskier securities available at the market place this is because as the government would default next to zero in case of the short term it would make the default when there are extreme situations arise.

Therefore in the short term it would be risk free

But in the long run, the person is based on the treasury bills returns so that he or she could equate the similar standard of living also it would not suffice when the inflation rises

Therefore the less risky investment would be of Government bonds