Your Retirement Savings Might Not Go as Far

With bond yields low and stock valuations high, future returns may be smaller than you think.
Photographer: Getty Images
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How low can you go?

That’s the question for investors as the era of near-zero short-term interest rates stretches into its eighth year, throwing into doubt long-held assumptions about the returns they can expect from their savings. In the U.S., 10-year Treasuries—a mainstay for those looking for a safe yield—pay just 1.75 percent a year. Elsewhere in the developed world, about $7.9 trillion in government bonds will effectively pay a negative yield if they’re held to maturity.