@sma3, that rule of thumb, 5% return for a 1% drop in rates, may be the case for a 5yr T-bond, but not necessarily for a bond "mutual fund" which includes total return, (yield + perceived value), right? I mean, even with no drop in rates to date, a lot of mutual funds already have returned 10% or more over the past year, just in anticipation of rate drops. Bond mutual funds have in general well surpassed CDs or treasuries in 1 year. Hindsight of course. Even the very conservative RPHYX (cash-like) is up over 6%.
Just saying, it is very difficult to predict the future return of bond funds. I believe they have a pretty good near term future and room to advance more, but if rate drop anticipation has already driven them up, it's anyone's guess when that trend will end or what it will look like in the future. Just my 2cents.

I will share my bond portion as of today. My target is 25% of portfolio. RPHYX (9%),Cash(6%),SNGVX (2%),STIP (2%),TPHAX(3%). I may add to exisiting funds or add Crash's favorite of old PTIAX.

Adding to Pressup's comment: The adulation for CDs is turning into lost opportunity cost in hindsight. Not the once in a lifetime proclaimed by some. Take a MFO favorite RSIVX bond fund for example: up +9.3% the past year. 3.4% in the past 3 months. Even the very conservative RPHYX (discussed as a cash alternative) is up 5.7% 1y and 1.6% 3mo.

@MikeM, seems to me that depends on how comfortable you are with where you want to be. Some folks might feel the need to accumulate more. Some folks might be fine with where they are. Everyone has their own mode of travel.
Everyone should check their arithmetic periodically.

Adding to Pressup's comment: The adulation for CDs is turning into lost opportunity cost in hindsight. Not the once in a lifetime proclaimed by some. Take a MFO favorite RSIVX bond fund for example: up +9.3% the past year. 3.4% in the past 3 months. Even the very conservative RPHYX (discussed as a cash alternative) is up 5.7% 1y and 1.6% 3mo.

FWIW....No advice from here for short term traders...but here are my three high yield bond fund holdings. They are distinct and have each treated me well: RPHIX (and RPHYX), CBLDX, and BGHIX.

VRIG and TFLO in the IRA. They were also the only funds in the green in my bond watch list. A handful more, including local favorite RPHYX, held steady, as did FFRHX.
I take full responsibility for breaking the bond market when I ventured into FCFAX, THOPX, and FATRX earlier this month.

@stillers
I know very little about this fund, but I think it’s more of a long-short or tactical allocation fund (or one that’s willing to go to cash), that just happens to be holding a LCG allocation at this time. Also, category rankings might give false information, similar to RPHYX compared to other HY funds (when maybe it should be compared to short/ultrashort bonds ).
Again this is just reading the threads about it and doing a deep dive into the fund.
But I don’t think VWUAX, FCNTX, or even FBGRX is a fair comparison. Maybe it’s a growthier PVCMX?
(Again, this all just off the top of my head…..an “anti-msf post” hahaha—his posts are so thoroughly researched I’m almost embarrassed to post in the same forum as him!! Haha)

Shostakovich said , "and also looked at the downturn RPHYX had at some point last year."
Not the first time & probably not the last !

@msf - great comments; thanks. I checked my RPHYX statement last night, and it confirms what you've stated.
I made a simple calculation when I sold some RPHYX and went to T-Bills; I looked at the average return of RPHYX over the past several years (for sake of argument, let's call it 2.4%) and also looked at the downturn RPHYX had at some point last year (don't recall when exactly, but I think it approached 2%), and decided to sell most of my RPHYX and buy 3-month treasures at my broker.
Another consideration was the need for liquidity (I am expecting needing cash within the next 6 months, didn't want to have to sell any RPHYX at a 2% loss, for example), and the ability to readily flex from 3-months to other investments if I wanted to.

As I wrote above, even taking state income taxes into account, T-bills purchased a year ago didn't beat RPHYX, let alone RPHIX, after taxes. Though the numbers do work out differently if you're in the 32% or higher federal bracket.
There is another tax factor to consider: when are taxes due? Interest from 52 week T-bills purchased at the beginning of January 2023 is not taxed until April 2025. That is, all the income is taxed as 2024 income. RPHIX pays periodic dividends, so divs from Jan 2023, Feb 2023, ..., Dec 2023 are all taxed in April 2024.
That's a point in favor of T-bills assuming you purchased T-bills in 2023 that still haven't matured.
Delving even deeper into tax differences, for 2023 RPHIX had a twelve month distribution yield of 5.08% and a total return of 5.87%. That means that only 5.08% is subject to taxes now. The rest of the return is unrealized appreciation. That isn't taxed this coming April, and might not be taxed for years. And when it is, it will be taxed on the federal level at a cap gains rate.
That's a point in favor of RPHIX.
People had lots of reasons to choose T-bills over RPHYX / RPHIX: I wanted more certainty, I wouldn't make that much less with T-bills because of tax issues, I would have to hold the shares for 60+ days to avoid a short term fee, I wanted to diversify/split my bets, etc. Add to that: I couldn't buy shares because the fund was not open a year ago.
Hindsight tells us what we could have done. What matters is what we can do now. RPHYX / RPHIX has reopened to new investors. So there are even more people facing this conundrum now. :-)

"I'm guessing many folks left RPHYX (I am also currently a shareholder) because one could do better in treasuries over the past year or so. I was disappointed in the degree of downturn in this fund of late."
Do you mean the loss of AUM or total return of RPHYX?

I'm guessing many folks left RPHYX (I am also currently a shareholder) because one could do better in treasuries over the past year or so.

Ah, there was a lot of talk about that, but it didn't happen. I believe RPHYX outperformed treasuries - again in 2023. I'm also a share holder in RPHYX, but I did 'blink' earlier in the year and cut my holding in half to include 1 year treasuries as they were increasing.

Yup.
At the end of 2022 (Dec. 29, 2022 issue date), one could get at auction a 52 week T-bill yielding 4.783% (price = 95.434833) over 364 days, or a 26 week T-bill, yielding 2.380% over 182 days (price = 97.674444) which comes out to 4.819% over 364 days with assumed constant rate compounding.
Data from Treasury Direct: https://www.treasurydirect.gov/auctions/auction-query/
In comparison, RPHYX returned 5.5628% between 12/29/22 and 12/28/23 (per M* chart). Even after accounting for state income taxes, this is still over 5%, measurably better than T-bills. RPHIX did even better.
There was the risk with RPHYX that rates might go down and an investor would wind up with less than with T-bills. There was also the risk that rates might go up or even remain stable and an investor might wind up with more.
Evaluating these risks and looking at expected return (expectation value), RPHYX looked like the better choice at the time. Though for those who wanted certainty and were willing to pay a relatively small cost for that, T-bills might have been attractive.

I've been buying 3-month treasuries for a year or so and have been was getting 4% at the start of the interval (took money out of RPHYX, in fact) and 5% more recently.
I'll stay with that strategy for a while.

I'm guessing many folks left RPHYX (I am also currently a shareholder) because one could do better in treasuries over the past year or so.

Ah, there was a lot of talk about that, but it didn't happen. I believe RPHYX outperformed treasuries - again in 2023. I'm also a share holder in RPHYX, but I did 'blink' earlier in the year and cut my holding in half to include 1 year treasuries as they were increasing.

Thanks, Both. I recall the Rubin interview (Barrons, I think it was) when he commented that "most people don't use shorting correctly" or "most people don't short enough", or something similar. I am a shareholder in the fund, and that rakish, overconfident tone of the interview should have been a warning to me.
I'm guessing many folks left RPHYX (I am also currently a shareholder) because one could do better in treasuries over the past year or so. I was disappointed in the degree of downturn in this fund of late.

Nov 01, 2010 9.98 10.01 9.95 9.95 7.11 RPHYX
Can anyone explain why the adj. close was 7.11 at this point in time ?
**Adjusted close price adjusted for splits and dividend and/or capital gain distributions.
Info from Yahoo Finance .

Thank you @davidsherman. I've been a happy customer of RPHYX for quite a few years, and SPC since it's launch. I've been very impressed and kind of amazed with the steady trend line SPC has had over the past year. It's nice to see that both of these funds surpassed treasuries and CDs for 1 year return, though that may be a bit more difficult moving forward if CD's and T's are now in the upper 5% range going forward. But, still betting on you.

AUM history for RPHYX + RPHIX (from Fidelity)
2021 $1,063.60 million (peak)
2022 $931.54 million
9/30/23 $779.55 million

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1494928/000139834423019124/fp0085616-2_497.htm
497 1 fp0085616-2_497.htm
RiverPark Funds Trust
RiverPark Short Term High Yield Fund
Institutional Class (RPHIX)
Retail Class (RPHYX)
Supplement dated October 10, 2023 to the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") dated January 26, 2023.
This supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and SAI and should be read in conjunction with the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and SAI.
IMPORTANT NOTICE ON PURCHASE OF FUND SHARES
Effective as of 9 a.m. on October 11, 2023 (the "Opening Date"), Retail and Institutional Class Shares of the RiverPark Short Term High Yield Fund (the "Fund") are open to purchase by all investors without restriction.
The Fund reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to reject any purchase order. Sales of Retail Class Shares and Institutional Class Shares of the Fund may be restricted or reopened in the future.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

Several people have commented in other posts about cumulative performance figures being distorted by a recent year's hot performance ("what have you done for me lately"), including Prof. Snowball, me, and others.
In Prof. Snowball's piece (linked to above, and here), he praises BRUFX by looking at "three metrics across more meaningful stretches: multiple decades, full market cycles and the last two market crashes." BRSVX hasn't been around nearly as long as BRUFX; it started in Oct 2003. With this limitation in mind, here are the data for AVALX, PVFIX, BRSVX. I included IJS (S&P 600 value ETF) as a benchmark in the Portfolio Visualizer link for each period but did not transcribe its figures below.

Period		CAGR				Std Dev			    Sharpe Ratio
AVALX	PVFIX	BRSVX		AVALX	PVFIX	BRSVX		AVALX	PVFIX	BRSVX
15 yr	11.02%	5.54%	9.51%		28.77%	10.78%	22.81%		0.75	0.69	0.72
Full Cycle 2007-2020
6.81%	4.59%	5.24%		28.18%	10.20%	21.97%		0.35	0.41	0.30
Down Cycle 2007-2009
-5.09%	2.65%	-9.59%		36.83%	11.35%	28.03%		-0.01	0.11	-0.37

Looking at these broader picture numbers, it seems not so much that BRSVX benefited from one hot year, but rather that it doesn't do quite so well in down years. Comparing the BRSVX with AVALX not by a calendar year (i.e. 2020), but trough to peak (roughly 3/19/20 - 6/4/21), one sees similar performance though following different paths.
http://stockcharts.com/h-perf/ui?s=BRSVX&compare=AVALX&id=p85687049134
It's in the latter half of 2021, when the market turned and AVALX's greater volatility worked to its detriment that the funds diverged radically.
https://stockcharts.com/h-perf/ui?s=BRSVX&compare=AVALX,IJS&id=p37670197904
PVFIX is certainly a steady performer. But at a cost of way underperforming in good years. From its chart (see the 15 year performance link above), it almost looks like a SCV cousin of RPHYX - ridiculously steady relative to peers. Something I value in a "near cash" fund. But in an equity fund, my personal risk tolerance is a bit higher than that.
If you like AVALX, did you look into DFFVX? A clone of it is available in variable annuities, e.g. TIAA. So unlike the Fidelity fund that is used only internally by Fidelity, some investors could access this fund (sort of).