I own USBLX, USAA Growth and Tax Strategy. The fund invests primarily in Municipal bonds which are federally tax exempt as well as blue chip stocks. Its equity holdings make up 45% of the fund with the rest in munis. I believe munis bond funds have a good chance of capital appreciation since many cities and states will try and restructure their debt at lower rates over the next few years.
I have witnessed first hand the capital appreciation of my Long Term Treasury bond funds as the federal government has restructured their debt through all kinds of QE. I see a QE on the horizon for states and local agency's long term obligations. Of course, this all will end and reverse itself with a rise in interest rates but, in the mean time this seems to me a logical short term investment idea. Municipal bonds for tax free capital appreciation and stock market downturn protection while at the same time holding blue chip stocks for dividend and growth in market upturns.
USBLX profile:
"The investment seeks a conservative balance for the investor between income, the majority of which is exempt from federal income tax, and the potential for long-term growth of capital to preserve purchasing power. The fund typically invests a majority of assets in tax-exempt bonds and money market instruments and the remainder in blue chip stocks. It is managed with the goal of minimizing the impact of federal income taxes to shareholders."
I hold this fund in a taxable account and I like the performance so far. Yahoo categorizes it as a conservative allocation fund but, I believe its tax efficiency makes it a bit unique when compared with this group of funds. I would like to think it might match up against VWINX but, with a bit more tax efficiency. Here are the two compared over the last three years. VWINX was less volatile during the during the 2009-2009 downturn but USBLX has bounce back nicely. I will keep and eye on both as the muni debt restructuring story unfolds.
Here's one from Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-27/yields-seen-declining-based-on-200-year-history-muni-credit.htmlWondering if anyone is aware of similar type funds that would have a slice of municipal bonds and a slice of equities?
Comments
Thanks andrei,
I like the low ER though it does have a $10K minimum...looks like a good comparison fund.
I have linked below the fact sheet for a stock and muni fund by Federated. Mind you, I have listed the broker sold A shares ... however, Federated does have some funds that are sold without a sales charge. This fund has been around since the fall of 2003. One of its highlights is to provide tax advantaged income and another is to adjust its stock and bond mix based upon market conditions. It has a monthly distribution and classified by Morningstar as a conserative allocation fund.
http://www.federatedinvestors.com/FII/daf/pdf/product_profile_performance/investor_fact_sheet/fluctuating_funds/G28220-29.pdf
Good Investing,
Skeeter
Thanks Skeeter,
I think a manager provides an important decision-making element to a fund, especially a fund of this type.
As bonds appreciate above par and as the stock market gyrates a manager earns his or her pay with correct decisions...thanks!
I charted the two funds (FMUAX) and (USBLX) below using M*. USBLX seems to perform a little better over each time frame:
Thanks for the extended look on performance ... I can see that USBLX does edge out FMUAX on the one, three and five year total return analysis... however, if one were to look at distributions FMUAX edges out USBLX on yield ... 3.77% vs. 2.48% respectively. If money in your pocket is important, one might wish to look at how much the fund also puts in your pocket along with its total return.
Skeeter
You noted: "If money in your pocket is important, one might wish to look at how much the fund also puts in your pocket along with its total return."
Okay, you got me go'in down the road of confusion with this.
Total return is total return, yes? Be it from yield and/or capital appreciation or the combination.
Example: Two equity/income funds have a blend of equity and income holdings, with each having different yields at any given time, over a period of time.
It is possible that both funds could have near identical "total returns" over a period of time. But this doesn't indicate that one fund is better than the other from looking at just the yield.
Regards,
Catch
Ok, let me state this another way.
Because of the higher yield found in the Federated fund, FMUAX, will have a higher payout to your pocket while USBLX will have the higher total return of the two with greater capital appreciation but with less money paid to your pocket over the referenced time frame of one, three and five years. It is true, at some point in time, with USBLX's ability to grow it's principal faster, it's payout while lower will evenutally catch up to that of FMUAX's payout, and even pass it, most likely at some time in the future. But, over the given time frame referenced FMUAX's payout in the form of yield, income generation, will be higher.
Form where I come from ... Yield is defined as the income that is generated from an investment; and, a higher yielding investment will pay out more income than a lower yielding one.
Perhaps this made the mud more clear ... perhaps not.
Have a good evening ...
Skeeter