Everything you mention is correct, I just wanted to add that holding bonds directly makes sense in the case when you have a date in mind for when you will need

Everything you mention is correct, I just wanted to add that holding bonds directly makes sense in the case when you have a date in mind for when you will need the invested money. So for instance if you plan to buy a car in 2 years buying bonds that mature in 2 years has the nice property of being worth a guaranteed amount of money exactly at the point you need those savings. There are etf equivalents known as “bullet shares” but these have an expense ratio that isn’t incurred with owning bonds directly.