In a portfolio broadly diversified to manage risk, each of the primary asset classes – money markets, bonds, stocks – plays a particular role. For money markets, it is safety of principal with some yield. For stocks, it is growth with some income. The historical role for bonds has been income greater than in money markets with price risk less than in stock markets. Since the Great Recession of 2008-09, bonds have fulfilled their yield objective but at much lower levels. More recently, bonds have generated price risk at a much higher level. A review of bond yield trends and the mechanics of the bond investment itself can provide perspective for investing ahead.