Comparison of market performance of the
Total Returns of a few Stocks and Funds

Current bond fund performance examples:

The current SEC Yield reported is the previous 30 day interest result annualized to be a hypothetical 12 month rate, which is a standard way to compare the current earning rate of varying gains, but it is not necessarily the years actual result (it changes). It is the previous seven days for Money Market funds.

Definition of bond "Duration":   Bonds pay a fixed interest rate, of dollars based on their face value. However, bond resell value varies with current interest rates, which resell price computes the new effective interest rate. If interest rates increase, existing bonds paying lower interest can only sell at a lower price to attract any interest in them (and also vice versa, price going higher when interest rates decrease). This fact is Extremely Important, especially with interest rates currently increasing from a rock bottom low. See the 1 Year Return in the chart just above. The value decrease and also inflation is much greater than the bond interest, IMO.

The term Duration computes that for Each 1% change in current interest rates, the resell value of existing bonds is expected to change in the opposite direction by their "Duration" percent. Bonds can be volatile when interest rates change. If interest rate doubles (like 1% to 2%), existing bond prices can drop to half (so that then buying two existing bonds effectively pays the higher interest income of one new bond). However since bonds are still redeemed at face value, short term bonds, and bonds nearing maturity date, will have low durations. Long term bonds have high duration. See a description about investing in bonds.

As individual bonds approach their maturity date, their duration drops towards zero, because bonds do repay full face value when redeemed at maturity or recall. So if you buy bonds directly yourself, and hold until redeemed at maturity, the return then will be as expected. However bond funds must buy and sell bonds continually as investors buy and sell shares, and values are computed daily, not necessarily held until redeemed.

Interest rates dropped in 2019 and 2020, increasing existing bond resell values, so bond funds showed good results then. It is important to realize why, and since then, existing bonds lost resell value when interest rates on new bonds increased, and then bond return went negative. With interest rates near zero, there is only one direction they can move. The U.S. Fed has announced several interest rate increases are expected in 2022 due to inflation.

So IMO, it's difficult to think the time to buy bonds is now. With rising inflation and interest rates, that can only be bad. If bonds are a goal, I'd wait to buy for the peak of high interest rates, because then instead of value continuing to drop, existing bond prices (i.e., in bond funds) will turn around and will increase as interest rate falls again (as in the text above). For that to happen will require reducing inflation first, but then as interest rates fall, the increasing bond value will outperform than the bond interest paid. Bonds can be volatile.