Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
This post is about Government Bond OEFs. Historically, this has been a very popular choice for safe haven, ballast, and alternative to cash roles. These are dominated by AAA and AA investment grade bonds, so they are excellent for avoiding credit …
Hey Gary, best wishes on your investment decisions. Everyone has to make their own personal decision, for how much risk they are willing to take, and what level of risk fits their investment objectives. Hope it works out well for you!
I thought I would mention one other fund that was barely above my risk criteria--SNTIX. This fund had a standard deviation of 2.07, credit quality of BBB, duration of 5.10, and at total return of 1yr/3yr of 8.17/5.53. It is another investment grad…
"Crash">Weird, small, mid-month dividend. Nothing, as expected and per usual, toward the end of Jan. How come?
Crash, I have held PTIAX off and on over the years, and part of its performance pattern is a level of surprises that are difficult to…
"carew388">@dtconroe Is VMPAX comparable to BTMIX? Thanks for your contributions to this website !
carew, VMPAX is in the same category as BTMIX, is a little more risky than BTMIX with lower credit rating of bond holdings being in the BBB inve…
"BigTom">Baird has an excellent, super safe, Intermediate Muni Bond fund (BMBIX) which is filled with pre-refunded bonds (super safe)
BigTom, interesting fund. I looked it up to see why it did not make my list, and it was because its SD was jus…
"Gary1952">I opted for NVHAX over BTMIX when I bought on 1-2-2020. The allocation to NVHAX was in my taxable account with money for future (most likely 2 years down the road) monthly expenses. I like the stronger performance over BTMIX. The short…
This post is about some of the more conservative Muni bond oefs. Interest rate and credit risk can impact the various categories, but if you are interested in Munis, here are a few funds for you to consider, with standard deviation below 2 and dura…
Just a note that I do not "analyze" funds mentioned in this thread based on a single day's performance, or one month's performance, or 3 month's performance. When I provide information about funds, I try to provide 1 year and 3 year total return an…
"Old_Skeet">@dtconroe,
I have enjoyed reading and following your thread on open end bond funds (oef).
One of the things that I picked up on in reading this thread is that you are a momentum type investor and move among one fund, or funds, to an…
"Crash">Yer talking a lotta sense. It clicks for me, though I don't own those particular fundsh
Crash, please be clear that I am not recommending anything. It is just a popular bond oef category, that many investors use as a primary/core holdin…
I would note that Intermediate Core-Plus bond oefs, have a fair degree of diversity "between" different funds. If you want a very high grade of investment holdings, then fund like BCOIX and DODIX are appealing. If you want lower standard deviation…
"Gary1952">I do not or never have owned a "core" bond fund. I am not really sure what the benefits are. When comparing them to some non-traditional funds they are much more volatile. I will assume the higher credit rating in these funds are the a…
stillers, interesting comment about IICIX--I am a fan of Voya, and IICIX is offered at Schwab as an institutional fund with a very low entry amount. I agree that the Western Asset Funds are very good--highly rated by M*. I did not mention those fu…
This post is about Intermediate Core-Plus bond oefs. In general, this is one of the more popular bond oef categories, with an emphasis on Investment Grade Bonds, typically with much diversification in its holdings. Some refer to this category as M…
"Soupkitchen">I have a full position in PIMIX and am debatting whether or not to invest more money in PIMIX or start a new position in JGIAX for diversification. I'm near retirement so I want to build my income stream. It seems like PIMIX is the…
Derf, in reading your post and question again, I gather you wanted more specifics about the specific bond oefs, where we reinvested my wife's IRA RMD. The more specific and detailed answer, is that we have 6 bond oefs in our taxable account--one HY…
"Derf">@dtconroe: Thanks for your reply. I wasn't interested in the amount in her IRA, as that isn't any of my business. More to my question is, did she take a RMD & if so did total distribution all go into a taxable bond fund ? Thank you ag…
It appears that the Kiplinger article focuses only on "returns" over periods of time, with little consideration of "risk" in generating those returns. Over time, I have had to continually assess the amount of "risk" I am willing to take, to generat…
This post is about the use of Non-traditional bond oefs, as low risk alternatives in a conservative portfolio, compared to short term bond oefs. Typically short term bond oefs, are low risk options, because of their short duration, and their use of…
hank, I have nevered authored a thread on "closed end bonds". I have only started ONE thread at MFO, and that was on "open end bond funds". I don't invest in, or follow, closed end bonds. I only mentioned John, as an example, of how existing thre…
hank, thanks for the information you have provided. The thread I started, is my effort at becoming familiar with how the MFO Discussion Forum works. I don't have any intentions at starting any new threads, at least not anytime soon. My impression…
"RisklessInSeattle">@dtconroe - Very interesting thread, thanks for keeping it up.
You mentioned ZEOIX; have you considered SSTHX as an alternative? I own SSTHX because it is NTF at Vanguard and there is no Short Term Redemption fee. The fund …
Mark and WABAC, thanks for your comments and suggestions. I have looked at the "categories" that MFO offers, and they are still very general and encompass a large number of varying kinds of posts, in each "category". You are correct in that the c…
WABAC: "They're not hard to set up. You can run one on opensource software. Hosting would be a trivial expense for a forum on investing in bonds. Administration can take some time until people get what's going on.
Anyway, best of luck finding your …
Mark: "I'm not trying to be snarky (I know, I'm shocked along with everyone else here who knows me) but you responded like a politician. I asked specifically about your 'discussion board' comment which you mostly if not entirely dodged around. I'll …
WABAC: "The useful features at M* are free. I have found the data here worth paying for.
And you can create portfolios and watch lists here that are useful compliments to the ones at M*. The risk information that is easily filtered on, and displayed…
I have not completely left M*. I greatly value its Portfolio section, where I have numerous watch lists of funds, in which I can set up a large array of fund components,that I monitor on an ongoing basis. The Portfolio section provides easy access…
"perrywinkle">@dtconroe
Regarding Tax Cost Ratio (TCR), I don't recall what tax rate / bracket M* uses to calculate the value. The definition M* provides is silent on the topic. For munis, with a TCR of 0% the issue is moot. Perhaps I don't un…
WABAC, I am a recent poster on MFO (Mutual Fund Observer), and was previously very active on M* (Morningstar). At M* I started many threads, commented on many other threads, and at M*, it became common practice to use abbreviations and symbols. So…
Yep, Tax Cost Information is a bit inconsistent between various sites. At M*, on their front page, I just type in the fund symbol in their search and quote box, get the Fund specific information to come up, click on the Price icon under the specifi…
It seems that there has been a lot of interest Muni bond options for taxable accounts recently. It is hard to generalize about whether it is best to purchase a Muni bond fund, or if a taxable bond fund might be a better, or at least an acceptable c…
Both M* and Schwab uses the following information in describing assets, based on information provided by the fund company.
M* definition of "cash equivalent":
Cash Equivalent
Assets that can be quickly converted to cash. These include receivables…
There are a lot of factors that go into deciding if you want to own a Muni fund. I know some investors, who actually use Muni funds in tax exempt accounts, not for tax issues, but simply because they like the risk/return attributes they provide. I…
msf: "When giving secondary source figures, it helps to cite the source. I'll guess that you're looking at M* (47% cash as of Dec 31). M* has its own definition for cash that distorts figures for funds like RPHYX."
Yes, the 47% figure came from M*,…
"wxman123">What would be the argument to choose this fund over Zeoix (better performance) or BBBMX (better and even safer)?
When I compare the 2 funds, RPHYX is less risky compared to ZEOIX. RPHYX has a portfolio credit rating of using BB rated…
I know of some investors who have held RPHIX/RPHYX as a cash alternative fund, during its closure period. Now that it is open again, I expect it will garner quite a bit of interest from new investors. Riverpark has a good history of managing HY bo…
Gary1952">Who is buying ZEOIX and where? Schwab has a $49.95 transaction fee plus a 1% redemption fee. Seems restrictive for a $1500 min. purchase amount.
I looked at ZEOIX closely at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020, as a possible landing spot…
Mike, A lot of risk measures are related to the category, and it is sometimes difficult to compare between categories. The 4 funds above are more risky in the non-traditional bond oef category, approaching lower risk multisector bond oefs. For me p…
