Reply to @AndyJ: Thanks, AndyJ. I think I'll go with RPHYX, ADBLX or WEFIX (or a combination with PONDX) - and let the managers far more knowledgeable than I decide what moves to make.

Reply to @fundalarm: Thanks, fundalarm. I have nice size investment in RPHYX in other account (made investment Jan 2012 due to MFO's review)... and from what I have read, this fund is the type I am looking for in this account... I just wish it had a longer track record so I could see how it performs during down times, but their philosophy makes me much more comfortable going with this fund.

if you would like to double your cash rate from 2 to 4% and have almost a cash like volatility, why not use RPHYX profiled so extensively on this site. There is a very educational recent manager interview recording as well. despite the scary name (hi yield), it is as close to cash as it gets, double of the return and much better liquidity than the proposed 7 year CD.

Reply to @claimui: Thanks for your feedback, claimui. I have, and also like, RPHYX in my other portfolios, along with several other "lower risk" investments there I am happy with. But my problem is that so many of my MF's/ETFs are new that don't have track records during sustained downturns that I can check as they haven't been opened that long (i.e., adblx, bond, pgdix, dltnx, dlfnx, adblx, rnsix, aqrnx, ariva, pgbdx) - and even if they had been around during 2008, I don't understand enough about the differences this next extended market downturn would be compared to 2008.
Very interesting that both you and Scott mentioned PAUDX, which I like (and one I've been following) that also doesn't have a 2008 track record (also DIBCX in world bond category that has done extremely well).
If we went to the 7-year cd for the Roth, there would be a withdrawal penalty. We do have another option of just transferring currently expired temporarily to Roth savings account for 6 months or so with the chance that we will know more about whether this economy will tumble or not - and, if already crashed, would be a good time to add then.

Interesting - but may be misleading. Please correct if wrong, but appears ALL categories of bond funds - including domestic, international, high yield, & hybrids - are included in the total. If so than:
(1) EM bond funds have been hot and profitable for several years - with returns eclipsing some equity funds. Risk-reward here is closer to that of equities than to bonds.
(2) High yield bond funds have been quite profitable. Again, these appear more "equity-like" than "bond-like" as measured by risk-reward characteristics.
(3) International bonds differ from domestics in that they may be considered a hedge against substantial Dollar weakness. (U.S. Treasuries, to the contrary, would seem a poor investment should the Dollar weaken substantially.)
(4) The reported inflows probably include short & ultra-short funds , along with hybrids like RPSIX, HSTRX & RPHYX. No doubt these have become substitutes for cash for a growing number of investors. While technically bond funds, "income fund" might more accurately describe this segment. They certainly don't carry the same degree of rate sensitivity (risk) as more traditional bond funds.
(5) Most importantly - With the equity bull well into its fourth year, some of these bond fund inflows may reflect substantial profits being taken from equities. As long as it's going into the short-term & hybrid segments, I'm not sure that's a bad idea. FWIW

Re: 4% yield that is "very low risk", at the risk of talking this fund to death, RPHYX has been and still is yielding ~3.7%. It's risk is somewhat hard to characterize, with 2011 the only example of a "downturn" during the life of the fund. My takeaways from the recent conference call were 1) the NAV pricing is more art than science, 2) the manager believes that NAV fluctuations (particularly to the downside) are illusory and will quickly self-correct and 3) the manager has talked to the NAV pricing firm (an outside firm) about making pricing more "realistic" (i.e. less volatile) in the future.
On another note, for a 7-year period, I would rather have my money in PAUIX / PAUDX than a 2.05% CD because of the risk of inflation. Is there an early withdrawal penalty for that CD?

Hi....I thought the RPHYX call was excellent ( my connection kept dropping after 30 minutes, but I listened to the call in its entirety through the posted link). It felt like sitting around with friends and family talking investments. I've been participating in various webinars and calls (M*star, Fido, Index Universe and other fund companies) over the last few months, and this call rated #1. I liked the format, the facts and the personalities. David Snowball seems to have uncovered a gem and 'went for it' to spread the word. David Sherman presented the facts of the fund in the context of its mission and the current financial realities clearly and honestly. I took more notes-the info was pertinent- than probably collectively of the last 5 calls/webinars I attended.... and actually felt like David Sherman takes the highest fiduciary standard towards his client, the investor (seeking the sweet spot between best safe yield and doing no harm). Although I'm not recklessly willing to jettison my distrust and disgust towards Wall Street, my trust towards this fund feels solid. I am currently happy with 3-4% in these market conditions, and am grateful for the reassuring conference call. I hope to discuss RPHYX fund specifics more as the conversation continues. Thanks David, David, Morty and the staff behind this. Gary

Reply to @claimui: I now have 10% of my portfolio in RPHYX. I just wish I could afford institutional shares, which require $1M minimum even through Schwab Institutional.

I am a shareholder in the fund but was not able to participate. Did anyone have reactions - positive or negative - to the the call?

Dear friends,
Here's a link to an mp3 version of Thursday night's conference call. The RiverPark folks guess it will take between 10-30 seconds to load, depending on your connection. No immediate prospect of a transcript.
http://78449.choruscall.com/riverpark/riverpark120913.mp3
When you click on the link, the file will load in your browser and will begin playing after its partially loaded.
For what interest it holds,
David

I would like to thank David Snowball for the effort expended arranging the exclusive MFO conference call with Riverpark. David Sherman provided a compelling insight into the fund that could never be found in a prospectus. I now know where and how I will be using the fund that I would have been oblivious to had it not been identified on MFO and subsequently the interaction with the manager. Great job David and should the situation arise to peek behind the scenes with other little known gems that would also be greatly appreciated I am sure by the membership.

Hi.....a few questions I would like asked if possible for the RPHYX call:
1) How do you foresee rising interest rates affecting the fund?
2) What is your cash balance today and its % of the fund, and if your AUM rises, do you have readily available places to invest so as to not dilute current shareholder profits? Or are you unable to do deals because of a lack of cash?
3) In parallel to question 2, are you the 'go to' fund for these orphaned securities, and who is or will be your competition? What are the limits in the market for this fund?
4) What other strategies are available for you to explore?
I really like this fund and look forward to investing more funds in it. Thanks David, for the good work you have put into this. Gary

Just thought of two more questions:
I've noticed some recent news reports about new bond trading platforms from Goldman, Blackrock, etc. (see here, here and here). What is David's view of these new platforms? Does Cohanzick use (or plan to use) these new platforms and do they affect the strategy or competition at all?
Also, since a primary appeal of RPHYX is its relatively stable NAV, could David walk us through their pricing for the past few days so we can better understand the downside risk and why the NAV fluctuates the way it does. On Aug 31, the NAV dropped two cents per share with the monthly dividend -- this I understand. It increased a cent on Sept 6 -- I understand the NAV will generally increase slowly during the month as the bonds approach their call date or are actually redeemed. However on Sept 7 and 8, the NAV dropped one cent each day -- what does this correspond to? Was there an increased default risk with some of the holdings, or was there a new investment in an undervalued security, or simply just a quirk in trading prices those days? Then on Sept 11, the NAV immediately rebounded back 2 cents to its former level. (I am not necessarily looking for an explanation for these specific days, just some idea as to what typically causes these fluctuations during the course of the month.)
I'd like to hear other folks' questions as well, so please don't feel obliged to raise all of these if there are other questions waiting.

I would like to hear both David and Morty's thoughts on how they view the role of RPHYX in a typical retail investor's portfolio (as previously discussed in this thread). Specifically, in the context of a 60/40 stock/bond portfolio, do they think that RPHYX can satisfy the goals of the bond portion of the portfolio? Why or why not?
I also want to ask about their fees. Due to the stable NAV, it is very easy to see the impact of the fees on my expected yield (maybe this is unfortunate for the manager). I think RPHYX currently has a fee waiver in place to keep expenses at 1.25%. However 1.25% still seems relatively high compared to other bond funds. Are they close to eliminating the need for the fee waiver and/or reducing their fees in the future?
Lastly a technical question: Will a recording and/or transcript be available for those who can't make the call?
Looking forward to the discussion.

Manager David Sherman of Cohanzick Asset Management and RiverPark’s president, Morty Schaja, have generously agreed to participate in a conference call with Observer readers. I’ll moderate the call and David will field questions on the fund’s strategies and prospects. The call is September 13 at 7:00 p.m., Eastern.
You can register for the conference by navigating to http://services.choruscall.com/diamondpass/registration?confirmationNumber=10017662 and following the prompts.
If you’ve got questions, feel free to write me or post a query on the discussion board. I'll be especially grateful for the presence of anyone who actually understands fixed-income securities. I do my best to follow along, but there are times when I feel distinctly out of my depth. I'll moderate the call, which mostly means that I'll start with the two obvious questions: how bad can the downside get and how are changes in the market affecting your ability to continue finding funds?
Feel free to drop by and lurk or, better yet, to follow up on some of the comments in the Dow Jones article or our earlier discussions.
As a side note, David is very bright, very approachable and very excited about bond investing. I think you'll like him and may even be able to learn something interesting and useful.
For what it's worth,
David

I've been shifting out of mostly bond funds and buying moderately/aggressively allocated stock funds. I've sold 20% of RNSIX to buy WBMIX and AQRIX. And, holding significant 30% stake in FAAFX. That said, I hedged slightly and sold another 10% of RNSIX to buy RPHYX. I know you guys will laugh, but experience tells me that the Dow will break the 14000 mark before this reluctant bull recedes. It is extraordinary that the Dow was at 7949 when Obama was inaugrated. As climate remains favorable for US businesses to make profit, earnings will continue to grow and there will be attendant rise in stock price. You can all give me a hard time if things head south.

Dear friends.
This is just a quick heads-up. More details will follow but ...
1. I've set up a conference call with David Sherman of Cohanzick Asset Management, manager of RiverPark Short Term High Yield, and Morty Schaja, RiverPark's president. The call will occur September 13th at 7:00 p.m., Eastern. I'll moderate the call, which mostly means that I'll start with the two obvious questions: how bad can the downside get and how are changes in the market affecting your ability to continue finding funds? Details on registering are in my September essay.
2. there's a major software upgrade coming. Accipiter has been writing furiously and has managed to incorporate a number of cool features (yes, that includes easier hyperlinking) that folks have been asking for while preserving the board's look and feel. Highlights of the new software are contained in a note from chip at the end of the September essay.
We'll keep you informed as things get closer, but I thought you'd like to know.
David

These changes are slowly being rolled out. I have seen reports of it on Bogleheads for a few weeks, but the changes haven't hit my accounts yet. (One of my accounts did get notified that changes are "coming soon.") Anyway, just pointing this out in case other readers get confused.
Btw, I also hold RWGFX and RPHYX. Becoming quite the MFO junkie here...

Reply to @msf: Given current bond yields, if you are willing to forgo the safety of bank/money market accounts, I have a hard time recommending any short-term funds other than RPHYX, which is yielding 3.64% or so, with stable NAV. Even on an after-tax basis, that will still get you a lot higher yield than VMLUX and most other short-term bond funds. It looks like VMLUX holds investment grade munis so perhaps VMLUX is less risky than RPHYX, but I think that's debatable. Even if it were, I think the higher yield of RPHYX provides more than sufficient compensation for the added risk.
(I know you already know this info about RPHYX, so this is not directed at you specifically.)

Reply to @AndyJ: Excerpt from RPHYX complete Prospectus, January 30, 2012
http://quote.morningstar.com/fund-filing/Prospectus/2012/1/30/t.aspx?t=RPHYX&ft=485BPOS&d=f3d5eda2070106c2f697e523b37e757b
(See "Tools to Prevent Frequent Transactions")
"Trading Practices. Currently, the Funds reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to identify trading practices as abusive. The Funds may deem the sale of all or a substantial portion of a shareholder’s purchase of fund shares to be abusive. In addition, the Funds reserve the right to reject purchase and exchange requests by any investor or group of investors for any reason without prior notice, including, in particular, if the Funds or the Adviser reasonably believes that the trading activity would be harmful or disruptive to the Fund(s).
 
The Funds monitor selected trades in an effort to detect excessive short-term trading activities. If, as a result of this monitoring, the Funds believe that a shareholder has engaged in excessive short-term trading, they may, in their discretion, ask the shareholder to stop such activities or refuse to process purchases or exchanges in the shareholder’s accounts other than exchanges into a money market fund. In making such judgments, the Funds seek to act in a manner that they believe is consistent with the best interests of shareholders."
Statutory Prospectus at Riverpark, January 30, 2012 - (same language - see page 40)
http://www.riverparkfunds.com/downloads/Prospectus/RiverPark_Statutory-Prospectus.pdf
FWIW: Funds routinely insert language re frequent trading (as well as disclaimers it won't always be effective). Appears in large measure CYA aimed at avoiding shareholder lawsuits, but also in compliance with SEC mandates that they address issue. Some like T Rowe Price put very specific "trigger points" (days and numbers) on what constitutes frequent trading. Others like Riverpark use this more generalized approach. Many, like T Rowe Price, specifically exempt their money market funds from the language.