I doubt you were serious about selling everything on March 11

No, @Hank, that was my humor :)
I'm perfectly fine with my investing style, 1/2 in a robo, 1/2 self managed. Don't feel I've missed out. Risk and reward is comfortable. PRWCX is the largest holding in my self managed portfolio which right now sits at about 29% cash. I'm perfectly happy to hold cash with a good portion of it ending up in a CD ladder and MM. I've increased cash over the last few months by taking profits on a few individual stocks that did really well, BABA Alibaba, V Visa, VLO Valero, and selling off bond funds, a big chuck of my PONAX and selling out of PFIAX and PRSNX (though I did reinvest some of that bond money in MAINX to stay in Asia bond market).
Now, just sitting back and watching the circus.

Slowly reducing my cash position and investing in SIGIX and MAINX.
MAINX = a helluva good choice.

Slowly reducing my cash position and investing in SIGIX and MAINX.

Matthews is shining these days, and MAINX has been in a sweet spot for a while. It's been doing great on dollar-down days, and pretty much holding its own when the buck's flat or up.
In Asia equity, I've been ~ 50-50 in MASGX (growth) and MAVRX (value) for the past year; seems like when one has a bit of a struggle, the other one steps up. Holding, not adding, for now ... the S. Korea holdings in the latter are dragging right now, with trade and tariffs in focus.

Slowly reducing my cash position and investing in SIGIX and MAINX.

I think a global fund makes sense just because I think domestic bonds may be at the starting stage of a bear bond market right now. And given that, I do not plan to hold to much in bond specific mutual funds going forward. I'm holding onto MAINX and debating what to do with my holdings in IOFIX and PONDX. I'd rather put the ballast or safe money into CD's (cash) which has no place to go but up. I do have a couple balanced funds and I intend to use a TRP retirement fund as a core holding. They all have bonds of course.
Income from bonds? Most all my money is in a 401k and IRA, so this idea of income/dividends means nothing to me. Plan to retire this year.
But more to your question, yes I think a global bond fund does make sense since domestic alone has little upside IMHO.

Well, I'm doing it. Unless I'm behind the news, my understanding is that Europe is not pulling back, or pulling back as much as the USA, in terms of greasing the economy in the EU. So in terms of bonds, it's still rather liquid across the pond. My PRSNX is holding up rather well. It's not offering the kind of divs. you can get via the likes of PTIAX or IOFIX. But those two are loaded up with mostly just one "flavor" of bonds. PRSNX is mostly sovereigns and corporates, but with a smattering of other stuff, too. So, it is a genuine mix--- including a slug of US stuff: floating-rate, near-cash or "cash equivalents." I'm still getting over .03 cents per share per month, even in these rocky times. ...And, like you, I've got US bond exposure through my two balanced funds. I'm also still riding PREMX: (EM bonds.) It's not hurting me enough yet to want to pull the plug. I'm quite interested to see what the March monthly div. will be, after the market closes on Thursday. M* puts PRSNX is a "world bond" category. It seems to me that it's too generic a category to be meaningful. MAINX is in there, too--- and doing VERY well lately. But MAINX is restricted to Asia.

More and more I'm "pondering" why I should be in bond funds at all. Why hold a category that most likely going forward, it's best benefit is to lose less than equities? Especially as "cash" investments like CD's and even money market accounts are quickly increasing into the 2-4% interest rate range. These thoughts are based on the portfolio being in tax deferred accounts though I'm not sure it would matter if in taxed.
This week I sold a good chuck of my PONDX to bring it down to about 4% of portfolio. Still own IOFAX at about the same amount. I do plan to hold my stake in MAINX. Those are the only bond funds I own.
Anyone else having these same pondering thoughts or am I making a mistake reducing or getting out of bonds for the most part and switching that safe ballast money to CDs. Can't change what my balanced funds do so won't be out altogether.

I track MAINX and own PRSNX. MAINX is actually UP for the ytd. Not many are. RISK at M* is a bit higher than PRSNX, but you're getting paid for it. PRSNX --- along with MAINX--- BOTH rate "high" return status at M*. (PRSNX is 9.05% of my stuff.) PRSNX pays MONTHLY, at 3.42% TTM yield. MAINX pays quarterly, at 3.77%. David Snowball once inquired on my behalf, and reported that when the trade makes sense, Teresa Kong at MAINX plays with US Treasuries. And MAINX is limited to Asia, don't forget.

@MikeM, Seems World Bond category is holding up (of which your MAINX is one).
Anothers I screened (performance YTD & good risk profile):
PRSNX - TRPrice Multisector International (Tracks MAINX with a longer history),

Bond funds are tough to judge - for me. I have 3, IOFAX, PONDX and MAINX. MAINX has done the best YTD by a lot and I believe in it long term. . I'm thinking (pondering) I should cut ties with PONDX. Great history, but history isn't making money now. Thanks @Junkster for your insight.

I am close to retirement so my first objective is not to loose much money, given how overvalued most of everything is.
I try to group bond funds by duration, relying on M* stats ( although they are somewhat dated and unreliable)
In order of increasing duration my positive funds seem to be
ZEOIX VUSFX FLRN VWSUX VMLUX ( all less than 1- 2 years duration)
FPINX
BAIIX PFIUX IOFAX
Then specialty funds
Inflation WIW
International MAINX
Worth noting PFIUX outperforming PONDX
FPINX is a very slow mover but may be worth keeping for times like this, although I am concerned their heavy use of asset backed loan might hurt if auto loan defaults go up
Traditional TIPs fund underwater, assuming because inflation lower than interest rate rise
I too am buying CDs but under a year so I can have cash for market correction or to live on.

MAINX, SPFPX, SEMPX, LFRAX, PZTRX, NEFZX, BASIX, IOFAX, DBSCX, HYSAX, DFLEX, BMSAX, THOPX, EALDX, TRBUX, BBBMX

MAINX is up YTD +1.73%. Morningstar "World Bond" category, but we all know Matthews is an all-Asia shop. (07 March, 2018 early in the day before US Market opens.) The best I can produce from among my own holdings right now as to fixed income is PRSNX, down by -0.35% YTD. Morningstar also puts it in "World Bond" category. Not exactly apples-to-apples comparison, though. My EM PREMX YTD is down by -1.39%. Venezuelan bonds the reason? Probably to some extent. The monthly div. has been shrinking, too. I like to compare PREMX with Fidelity's FNMIX. YTD, FNMIX is down by -1.4%.

@AndyJ T. Kong's comment corresponds to my sense that MCRDX is intended to be primarily a high yield bond fund. Your comment about MAINX prompted me to take another look at both prospectuses. (I had an investment in MAINX before investing in MCRDX.) The MCRDX prospectus specifically states that "A substantial portion of the Fund’s portfolio will be rated below investment grade or, if unrated, may be deemed by the Fund’s portfolio managers to be of comparable quality". The MAINX prospectus states more generally that "The Fund is permitted to invest in debt securities of any quality, including high yield debt securities rated below investment grade (commonly referred to as “junk bonds”) and unrated debt securities". True to their prospectuses, the quality of MAINX's investments are more diversified than those of MCRDX. Also, the managers have included a currency component in MAINX's investment mix. So far the returns for the two funds have been similar. I am watching to see if they diverge more as time passes.

@davfor, you're right on the money about MCRDX. The only investment grade FI in the portfolio is that sliver in BBB-, the lowest IG rating. Everything else is below IG, not rated, or cash (12%).
T. Kong's rollout communication emphasized U.S. dollar-denominated non-IG Asian issues, and that's been the main emphasis ever since. Currency weighting reported on the current fact sheet is 79% U.S.$ and 9% Chi renminbi (12% cash).
I own her other fund, MAINX, but check in on MCRDX every so often too. She's a good manager.

I don't do anything fancy with bond fund choices and I'm not smart enough to move to the trending bond types, so I stick with 2 funds MAINX and PONDX, close my eyes and hope for the best.

Ok. I'll post my self managed portfolio.
But FWIW, I have 1/2 my retirement savings in a Schwab robo-portfolio, which is about 62% equity, 28% bonds and 10% cash. As of 11/24, the robo has returned 13.3% YTD. The percentage is based on $ amounts from 1/1 to 11/24. Up to others to judge if that is good or bad, but I'm happy with the the robo so far. I tend to be too conservative some times and the robo helps not over-think everything.
The self managed portfolio is less aggressive. Most of it has been pretty steady, fund/percentage wise, but I like to play with stocks with a small part of the total and my stocks have changed over the year. I also have adjusted and re-adjusted the bond funds a couple of times. Not sure why I don't just put all the bond allocation in PONDX and be done with it. But what fun is that?
M* instant xray shows the self managed portfolio percentages to be:
CASH 17
U.S. STOCK 21
FOREIGN STOCK 22
BONDS 34
OTHER 7
The self managed, which has consistently been conservative at about 40-45% equity, has returned 12.1% YTD. I think that is pretty good. Again, that's based on real dollars, not M* calculated.
the self managed portfolio consists of:
EQUITY and BALANCED FUNDS:
PRWCX Allocation--50% to 70% Lcap
ICMBX Allocation--50% to 70% Scap
DSENX LV- unfavored S&P500 sectors
GTLOX Lcap Blend
GPGOX World Stock
SGENX World Allocation
FMIJX Foreign LC Blend
SFGIX Diversified Emerging Mkts
BOND FUNDS:
MAINX Asia Centrix Bond Fund
PGMSX TRP Global Multi-Sector
PFIDX Low Duration floating Income
PONDX Multisector Bond
Individual Stocks:
V Visa
VLO Valero Energy
BABA Alibaba
QCP Quality Care Properties
I do think I own to many bond funds. I'll likely cut back. I also plan to move some money from DSENX to DLEUX. I think Europe may have better value and that is what these 2 funds are all about.
For the record, I will be 64 in 2018 and plan to retire from full time work. I'll likely work part time because I get bored easy. I have been doing a lot of thinking, setting up spreadsheets and reading about setting myself up for withdrawals. Looking forward to more discussions on that theme.

I do notice that FNMIX (EM bonds, the favored one by some folks here at MFO) is behaving the same way as PREMX. I have not looked further than that. Those two seem to run neck-and-neck, every time I bother to compare them. You own MAINX. Good choice! I'm babysitting some money for someone else, and a small portion of their stuff is in MAINX. I'm 13.6% of portf. in PREMX, and 10.6% in PRSNX. The combined monthly divs. from the two of them is delicious. Still re-investing it all.

Hi Crash. I don't follow PREMX or many EM bond funds so I haven't noticed tanking. Is PREMX acting like the rest of the EM sector or is the fund unique? I own MAINX and like you, PRSNX, and no tanking going on with either. Not apples to apples though.

Like everyone else, only the bond funds held up with flat to <0.1% loss; PONDX, PFIDX, MAINX, PRSNX. Don't own any alt funds. Not my cup of tea, but they would be the interesting ones to watch.
But in reality a pull back now, whatever the catalyst, isn't a bad thing. If it wasn't the Korean conflict it would be something else.