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I am looking to invest six figures in a municipal bond mutual fund, closed-end fund or etf. I need monthly income. Looking for a way to invest, collect monthly income and not have to monitor very closely. Individual bonds probably out of question for me. Any information or ideas are appreciated.
The best tax treatment will be when you buy muni funds from your state of residence if you are a high state tax resident. If you are looking for the highest muni income, then you are looking for a High Yield muni fund. List is long for either but needs to be tailored for best suitability.
Perfect timing to check on NHMAX; it reopened Wednesday, according to a note on the fund page at Nuveen. (M* still shows it as limited, i.e., to existing shareholders.)
IMHO, Nuveen's other HY muni oef, NVHAX, is a decent choice too: plenty of credit risk, but fairly low rate risk due to shorter duration.
I've also liked and used OPTAX - relatively long duration and high-ish yield, classified as HY by M*, but it's primarily investment grade. But, if I had to pick one muni fund for a large long term investment, it'd probably be the Vanguard "high yield" (but again, primarily IG) fund VWALX/VWAHX.
In spite of BBB being inv-grade by name, it is considered not so good in the muni universe. So, M* (and others) uses BBB & below + NR for HY evaluation and that is 34.95% for OPTAX; this may include 5.50% in PR.
Isn't it part of the old Oppenheimer-Rochester junky-muni series of funds? After Oppenheimer's purchase, Invesco just cleaned up that old history by shortening its name.
M* hasn't introduced muni core-plus (like for corporates) but I have been using that term informally (in between inv-grade and HY). So, OPTAX is at least core-plus muni or genuinely HY muni.
Yes, the O is for Oppenheimer. It was one of the less risky funds in their lineup. But even if you think BBB in munis is junk, it is still majority investment grade .. but obviously not in the same ballpark as, say, a 90% ig fund.
I've only owned it as a good-times fund; I'd be more likely to own the Vanguard fund long term, as I said. Oddly, though, those two funds' ytd charts are almost identical.
Comments
IMHO, Nuveen's other HY muni oef, NVHAX, is a decent choice too: plenty of credit risk, but fairly low rate risk due to shorter duration.
I've also liked and used OPTAX - relatively long duration and high-ish yield, classified as HY by M*, but it's primarily investment grade. But, if I had to pick one muni fund for a large long term investment, it'd probably be the Vanguard "high yield" (but again, primarily IG) fund VWALX/VWAHX.
Good luck with your choice.
Isn't it part of the old Oppenheimer-Rochester junky-muni series of funds? After Oppenheimer's purchase, Invesco just cleaned up that old history by shortening its name.
M* hasn't introduced muni core-plus (like for corporates) but I have been using that term informally (in between inv-grade and HY). So, OPTAX is at least core-plus muni or genuinely HY muni.
I've only owned it as a good-times fund; I'd be more likely to own the Vanguard fund long term, as I said. Oddly, though, those two funds' ytd charts are almost identical.