Precious Metals,BRUFX,RSIVX only green arrows today.Helped take a bit of the sting out of small-cap losers.

Consider RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX) - Same manager, slightly more 'adventurous', slightly better return :-) , and from what I've seen so far, not too badly subject bond volatility. The per/share price just goes up (due to Capital Gains?), with the exception of two mid-month penny dips and adjustments for its monthly dividend.
edit: I'd like to note that RSIIX, normally a $1Million minimum, is available at Schwab as a for-fee ($76/buy,$0/sell) fund with a $2,500 minimum ($1000 minimum in an IRA). And no short-term holding fees. The Institutional shares (RSIIX) have an expense ratio 0.25% less than RSIVX, making the one-year break even about $30,400.
For the MFO review, see http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2014/01/riverpark-strategic-income-fund-rsivx-january-2014
And this months commentary ( http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2014/03/march-1-2014 ) It's half-way down... Search (Ctl-F) for 'RSIVX'
For more info on David Snowball's take on it, see: http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/36261/#Comment_36261
[ Long both RPHYX (for my monthly/annual needs) and RSIVX/RSIIX for my near-out years. ]

First, I would like to thank all you guys for your posts. Very much needed and appreciated!
catch22 - The only bond fund that I am using as a substitute for a cash holding, is Pimco Senior Floating Rate symbol PSRIX. While it's held it's own, I'm not certain this has been the best decision. It has fairly hight ER of .80% and the 30-Day SEC Yield is 3.21%.
I do feel more comfortable with credit risk than interest rate risk and I like to stay on the shorter side of duration. I agree with you on the expense ratio on AYBDX and should have mentioned that with a little flipping around (I would be taking from another fund), I can purchase AYBIX with a $25,000 minimum in Vanguard Brokerage and the expense is .62%. I'm not certain that changes your opinion.
Ted - A heart attack I do not need ;-)
Hey AndyJ - One of the attributes that attracted me to AYBDX/AYBIX, is that it's not as volatile and has not lost as much as more credit sensitive funds in credit risk-off times. Also as you said, a step out from OSTIX which I have been comfortable with. But I did notice that it is pricey, which may increase the downside risk more than I am comfortable with.
Junkster - good to hear from you. Maybe, just maybe, I should just add to OSTIX and call it a day. For whatever reason, I have this "diversification" thing in my head. I am happy for you with NHMRX. You surely got that right!
As it turns out, one of the constraints I have, is only using Vanguard Brokerage Services. Some fund families like PIMCO, TCW, BlackRock BHYSX and Allianz work very well and other funds such as OSTIX are not great, but manageable (redemption fee of 2% if held less than 30 days). Then they offer funds such as RSIVX, that have a 1% fee ($50 min, $250 max) for shares held less than 6 months. I have also come to learn that there are many funds that are just not available (can transfer in but not purchase or cannot transfer in and not purchase). A good case in point is NHMRX (can be transferred in but not purchased).
Any other thoughts are most welcome.
Mona

Hi again Mona, I think you've got the right idea with AYBDX if you want a step out from a fund like OSTIX (or RSIVX, which seems to be tracking right along with OSTIX); it's not as volatile and hasn't lost as much as more credit-sensitive funds in credit risk-off times.
One caution: I'd look at price to par closely on HY funds these days, and AYBDX is ~ 108 last I looked. (Dividend yield is around 6.8%, SEC yield around 5.3%.) I own some AYBDX & am thinking about shifting to a less pricey HY fund -- possibly the Artisan fund that's supposed to launch in March, with the former Ivy manager. High yield in general is pretty richly valued ... spread to T's is below 4 now, not a record but usually regarded as in "not exactly a bargain" territory (join the club, HY).

Growth and the phenomenon of compounding combined with the years your loved one has on her side.
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/investment_help/investment_research/mutual_fund_research/mutual_funds.html?path=/Prospect/Research/MutualFunds/Summary.asp?symbol=CPOAX
Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource®
(no-load, no-transaction-fee)
Growth Manager of year with outstanding record in his 10 years as manager. Some International exposure.Lots of names a young person can relate to
Security Name
% of Portfolio
Facebook, Inc. 8.65%
Google, Inc. 7.24%
Amazon.com, Inc. 6.69%
Illumina, Inc. 5.38%
Athenahealth, Inc. 3.74%
Priceline.com, Inc. 3.60%
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. 3.18%
Mastercard, Inc. 3.15%
Visa, Inc. 3.09%
Intuitive Surgical, Inc. 3.08%
Also Starbucks,Apple,Christian Dior,Tesla,Twitter,Salesforce, etc.
http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=CPOAX&region=usa&culture=en-US
No-load @ Schwab with $1000 min/$100 AIP . 1/3 of gift in CPOAX. Balance in RSIVX
with plan to dollar cost average from RSIVX into CPOAX over 2-5 years?
http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?region=USA&t=RSIVX

Reply to @msf: Thanks for that link. I wasn't aware of that discussion.
I am using Riverpark Short Term HY to hold cash for the family's short term reinvestment needs. Works extremely well for that.
To address a point made about OSTIX, I would consider its risk profile more similar to RSIVX, and I know from speaking with him Mr. Sherman does also.
Best,
Mark

Reply to @MikeM: Was concerned not for myself, but for others who missed out on RPHYX, including the poster who was asking about RSIVX as a MM fund substitute (Ack!) Thanks for the nice add here.
Regards,
Mark

Hi, guy!
Welcome.
And no.
That's the official answer, David's and mine. RSIVX has the potential for substantially more NAV volatility than does RPHYX. That's mostly a "mark to market" artifact. As you probably know, a fund's NAV is determined by answering the question, "what could I get for each security in the portfolio if I sold them today at 3:30 Eastern?" That's easy to determine with some securities; called "highly liquid," they're actively traded securities for which there are lots of buyers and lots of sellers and more-or-less reliable prices. It's a bit tougher for others ("illiquid securities," which might be rarely or never traded - imagine an entire apartment building owned by the REOC) and unreliable for still others ("distressed securities" or "special situations," where short term events distort the market for a particular security). Nonetheless, the rules say that a manager (i.e., a service hired by an advisor) must value every security every day.

It's also possible that one of the fund's securities might implode, but that worries me a bit less since David and his team are specialists in valuing this stuff and no individual position controls much of the portfolio.

There may well be periods where David could not sell some of his portfolio securities for - say - a tenth of their actual value. That doesn't bother him (or me) because he doesn't need to sell them (and I don't need to sell shares of the fund). It could, however, be a problem for someone with a very short time horizon; it's not inconceivable that some market gyration could trigger a mark-to-market drop in the fund's NAV, meaning that you might end up selling your shares at a loss.

You might want to listen to the conference call with David. Navigate using the top tabs to The Best, Featured Funds, RiverPark Short Term High Yield then check about two-thirds of the way down the page. David addresses his recommended holding period but I don't have my notes from the call here. He says something like, "if you're willing to wait a year (or some slightly longer period), we're comfortable that you'll be made whole. For shorter periods, there are no guarantees.

That's not highly probable but it's a serious distinction between this fund as RPHYX, much less a money market.
Okay: all of that having been said, my own "cash management" funds are T. Rowe Price Spectrum Income (which posted a drawdown of 15% during the '07-'09 meltdown) and the two RiverPark funds. Why? Because I'm really pretty frugal, I live well below my means and save a lot. My non-retirement portfolio (roughly half cash and bonds, half stocks) could drop by half and I'd still have the ability to cover six months of living expenses and medical bills from it. As a result, I'm more willing to absorb market risk than to book negative real returns.
Hope that doesn't muddy the waters too badly,
David

Hi Charles-
There's a discussion below pinging David asking whether RSIVX can be used as a money market substitute like the now closed RPHYX. Rather than wade into that before David has a chance to answer (poor form I think), I was wanting to know whether you had come across anything that you could fairly characterize as a somewhat viable alternative to RPHYX to suggest in this regard. Frankly, I am at a loss here.
Best,
Mark

I just started investing in RSIVX
Can this be used similar to RPHYX as a money market substitute? Performance seems better and only move .1 percent a day
Thoughts?

rsivx. read about it in one of mfo's recent profiles.

I knew that I had added a comment to that particular discussion and traced back to it through my profile page that includes a history of of my discussions and comments.I don't know how long they are archived there,but it is handy for review.(and to see how insightful my comments are at times, NOT !) Anyways,not much has changed since that discussion and this week's continuation of the actual and expected yield of RSIVX.

when all else fails you can search through google and site specific.
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:mutualfundobserver.com+RSIVX

Hi, there's a current thread on RSIVX, and I wanted to find the November (?) thread on the fund that addressed the question posed in the current thread.
However, search hits on the fund ticker don't go any further back than December. Is there a way to find an older thread?

Reply to @Vert: I see ! thanks Vert.
Regards,
Ted
Gains Distributions RSIVX
Distribution
Total
01/31/2014 10.21 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0423 0.0423
12/30/2013 10.18 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0321 0.0321
12/12/2013 10.18 0.0000 0.0004 0.0000 0.0000 0.0004
11/29/2013 10.15 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0122 0.0122
10/31/2013 10.08 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 0.0230 0.0230

Perhaps someone could tell me if this makes any sense, because I'm hardly expert in such things:
According to Morningstar, RSIVX has an Average Weighted Coupon = 9.91 and an Average Weighted Price = 104.26. The fund also holds 71.82% in bonds and mostly cash for the rest. The fund's expense ratio is 1.25%. So can we get a decent estimate of the yield towards which it's heading with:
9.91/104.26 = 9.5 for the bonds' yield.
9.5% x .7182 = 6.82% as the fund's yield before expenses (assuming 0% yield on the cash)
6.82% - 1.25% = 5.57% for a net yield after expenses.
I suppose that doesn't take into account any trading expenses nor whatever the 'Other' category that it holds might yield, but is that calculation at all reasonable? I know that would be just a snapshot of a dynamic system since the fund keeps on buying new bonds and the old ones eventually mature, but perhaps this is a useful calculation?

I've owned this fund for a few months now and I haven't been able to get an understanding of the yield. It's all over the place. Is there a way to determine what the expected yield might be moving forward? I figured the first few months would be erratic but it should start to settle down soon?

if you get 8% in the stock market (including dividends) and you can find investments that can make you 3-6% with way less risk, with the low risk/cash part of the portfolio it makes a lot of sense.
let's look back @ SPY and RSIVX in 5 yrs.

My favorite discoveries on this board are RPHYX and RSIVX.
If your goal for a certain % of your portfolio was absolute returns with almost zero probability of loss, how would you construct that portfolio? Something like RPHYX will give u 2.5-4% in just about any market not named 2008 or 1929.

Reply to @Charles: You know since we talk offline at times I am not rubbing it in. And if emerging markets ever show any positive momentum I may be all over it and a member in good standing of Groupthinkville. Albeit, I would probably first look to see what emerging markets funds held up the best during the recent downdraft and beyond.
The most recent groupthink fund I am watching is RSIVX. Looks OK so far but I believe it has a stash in junk bonds (?) and I think junk corporates are about as overpriced as ever. Time will tell.
Edit: Then ther's OSTIX. Definitely groupthink but not a dog fund at all, although I think there are much better choices. If I am wrong about this jump all over me, but the manager seems to chase whatever is hot in Bondville. Maybe that's why it's not such a bad fund.