“Retirement is a time for personal growth, which becomes a path to a greater personal freedom.” Your retirement is often the perfect time to delve into your hobbies and passions that took a sideline since you were engrossed in ensuring that you and your family lead a comfortable life. You would be taking a great risk if you didn’t start planning for your retirement while you are still working, and this retirement planning involves investing in the right places which will yield desirable output at the right time.

So, how does one lead an ideal retirement life? In addition to opting for retirement plans that your employer provides, such as 401(K) plans, it is imperative that you invest in the right, interest-yielding places. When you think interest, you think stocks. However, people harbor this misconception that stocks are foolproof, but the recent stock market crashes have proven that stocks can be perilous as well. In such cases, bonds are what seem like the ideal choice. There are a plethora of reasons why people opt to invest in bonds; bonds provide stability, pay interest regularly, are highly secure, and are a source of tax-free income.

Here are some of the top retirement bond funds you can consider investing in.

Fidelity ® Intermediate Bond Fund
Fidelity Investments offers one of the top retirement bond funds and requires a minimum investment of $2,500. It is the ideal bond fund for those who are looking for the long-term investments in the time of rising interest rates. As the federal reserve is known to hike the rates at least thrice a year, it can exert pressure on long-dated bonds, and make shorter and intermediate-term fare more appealing. One can say that Fidelity ® Intermediate Bond Fund would be a safer investment for you if you have risker funds in your portfolio as this bond fund would act as a core anchor.

Vanguard Target Retirement 2025 Fund
It is one of the top retirement bond investment funds as it requires only $1,000 as a minimum investment. Also, it is best-suited for those investors who have five to seven years to retirement as this fund expires in the year 2025. This retirement bond fund has the ability to withstand risks which arise from volatile stock and bond markets. This retirement bond fund invests in four of Vanguard’s index funds and holds approximately 65% of the assets in stocks and 35% in bonds. Also, this fund allocates 25.7% of its fixed income weight to the US bonds with 11% devoted to international debt.

Buffalo Discovery Fund
You are often advised against investing in companies that are still growing in a bid to steer clear off incurring any kind of losses. However, what most of us don’t realize that as long such a retirement bond is a moderate part of your portfolio, you won’t be coming in harm’s way. A growth fund from Buffalo Discovery Fund makes for a meaningful investment in small and mid-size operators. Moreover, your portfolio will be managed by efficient portfolio managers who engage in a disciplined approach to find opportunities that were overlooked, and unlike other retirement bond fund firms, with Buffalo Discovery Fund, it is not simply about tech and healthcare; they invest in other industries as well.

VanEck Vectors ^®  High-Yield Municipal Index ETF
This is one of the top retirement bond funds, and it is a municipal bond. These function on the lines of the Treasurys as these are also in government debts but are issued by the state, countries, cities, and other municipalities. Investing in this retirement bond fund is quite sensible, even if these municipal bonds aren’t as secure as the Treasurys, they yield more than their other counterparts. Also, another sensible reason to invest in this retirement bond funds is that it offers more income than their headline yield indicates as they are exempted from federal taxes, and at times from the state and city taxes as well.

If you invest in the right retirement bond fund, which yields the required results, you can live securely in your twilight years.