[snikeris]

From the article:

> Bond prices fall as interest rates rise. You can avoid this by buying individual bonds and holding them until they mature (pay out their full value).

You can avoid selling the bond at a loss; however, you are still holding a bond that earns less interest than current bonds are earning. As far as I know, holding to maturity doesn't improve your returns in the face of rising interest rates despite what the author seems to be implying.

[jterenzio]

What holding does is lock your returns and sets a floor. When you buy a bond and hold it you will be guaranteed to receive the return. Sure if rates rise afterwards you have opportunity cost because you can't invest that money at a higher rate, but that's what ladders help you do. You get the current rate when you add new bonds to the end. What alternatives exist? You can buy a bond fund which might decline in value if rates rise or just sit on cash but those don't seem optimal.

[Retric]

Don’t forget transaction fees. If you sell bond X that pays out 100$ in 1 year for bond Y which pays out 100$ in one year you gained nothing.

[cirgue]

Yeah, the idea is that at any give price, holding any bond or selling it and using the proceeds to purchase bonds at the current rate are equivalent from a return perspective.