From The Big Picture:

One of the factors that caused the great credit crisis to spread far and wide was the “reach for yield.” This is one of the most expensive ways a fixed income investor can obtain a higher potential return on their bond investments.

Note that I used the term “higher,” not “better,” and the word “potential,” not “actual.” As we have seen, high yielding junk paper often goes bust, making the yield grab an exercise in foolish futility. Thank goodness bond investors learned their lesson in the credit collapse of 2008-09.

Only not so much...

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