Dear ladyjane,
I'm not sure that I would advise the average worker in his 20s to buy any bonds. Then again, I guess is depends on an individual's capacity to deal with volatility, what my broker calls their "risk profile."
sitetest
Dear sitetest -
Good news. I didn't listen to them. They wanted us to put all our pension funds into bonds. I put the maximum they would allow - 75% - into equity funds. They got very upset. They knew very little about investing.
The worker in his 50's shouldn't buy bonds unless he's going to retire in five years. That's my investment philosophy, anyway.