A classic Wall Street riddle is:
 
Q: What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader?
A: The bond matures.
 
The joke was printed in the Chicago (IL) Sun-Times on October 7, 1987.
 
A similar riddle about musicians is:
 
Q: What’s the difference between musicians and government bonds?
A: Government bonds will eventually mature and earn money.
   
     
7 October 1987, Chicago (IL) Sun-Times, “Investors weather sums of glitches” by David Greising, pg. 60:
“What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader?” he asked. The answer: “A bond matures.”
 
29 October 1987, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel, “There’s a run on market humor” by Alex Thien, pt. 3, pg. 1, col. 1:
A burning question on Wall Street these days is what’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? The answer is the bond matures.
   
Google Books
Constructing Market Culture:
Ambiguity and Change on Wall Street
By Mitchel Y. Abolafia
Ithaca, NY: Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
1990
Pg. 14:
What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? A bond matures.
   
Google Books
Indexing for Maximum Investment Results
By Albert S. Neubert
Chicago, IL: GPCo
1998
Pg. 283:
There is an old joke: What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? The answer is that bonds mature.
   
Google Books
Jack’s Business:
Based on a True Story
By Gabriel Fuchs
New Delhi, India: Tata McGraw Hill Education
2012
Pg. 91:
And with this kind of gossip, Pete went on talking, making some more or less funny jokes in between the gossip.
 
“What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? A bond matures! But guys, don’t worry. CFM doesn’t trade in bonds.”
 
Get On The Desk: Getting By On Wall Street
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007
What’s the Difference Between a Bond and a Bond Trader?
Old joke. What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? The bond matures.
     
Google Books
Frontier Markets For Dummies
By Gavin Graham and Al Emid
Hoboken, NJ: For Dummies, a Wiley brand
2014
Pg. 198:
An old market joke goes “What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader?” Answer: “A bond eventually matures.” While we’re not suggesting that the character of bond funds resembles the aggressive bond traders in their colorful jackets screaming at each other on the trading floor of the futures exchanges, they do share one important feature. Unlike an individual bond, bond funds do not mature.
 
InvestorDaily
6 key drivers of outperformance
Mark Mitchell
02 April 2019
(...)
As the old joke goes, “What’s the difference between a bond and a bond trader? A bond eventually matures”.