Bond Yield Explorer

A government bond yield is the annual return you get from lending money to a government by buying its bonds. The 10-year yield is the most-watched benchmark — it's roughly the annual interest you'd earn if you bought a 10-year bond today and held it to maturity.

The 10-year government bond yield is the closest thing to a "risk-free rate" for long-term investing. Stocks, real estate, and every other asset are implicitly compared to it — if a 10-year bond pays you 5% with no risk, anything else has to offer more to be worth holding.

US: Yahoo Finance — tickers ^IRX (3M), ^FVX (5Y), ^TNX (10Y), ^TYX (30Y). All other countries: OECD long-term interest rate series (e.g. IRLTLT01DEM156N for Germany). Public data sources.