JohnW wrote:I had wanted to move far more into bonds but anything fixed income looked overpriced to meWhat concerns me is attaining a certain level of return even in a long term bear market even if this means forgoing long term better outcomesI was targeting not lower than 4.75% from my bonds
Those past tense verbs suggests my thinking aligns with yours. Truth is, the market has decided bond yields are low now making annuities expensive, and there's nothing we can do about it other than cut our spending, earn more personal exertion income, or take more risk (which you've indicated you won't do).
If you're too 'nervy' about your equity values declining, what about using some of your assets to build a non-rolling bond ladder with inflation linked Treasuries which will give you an almost guaranteed cost of living adjusted income for as many years as you want to buy. That'll help you sleep at night. The 'return' on those bonds won't be great, but we've already agreed we have to accept market rates whatever they are. And if bonds seem expensive because of low interest rates, hasn't this pushed up equity prices also?
As useful as cash is at this low inflation time, in the long term even modest inflation damages cash holdings.
Good luck with buying your non-rolling bond ladder in Inflation linked bonds and getting a cost of living adjusted income. That works if you can buy such bonds at par. Index Linked Gilts are trading a long way above par. You might be spending £2 to buy £1 worth of bond. There is no free lunch. Real interest rates are negative all along the curve.