Hi @VintageFreak
A quick look at the portfolio of the fund ( RSIVX ) you mentioned indicate why the recent price drops.
First, a quick look at S&P's bond rating guide:
"AAA" and "AA" (high credit quality) and "A" and "BBB" (medium credit quality) are considered investment grade. Credit ratings for bonds below these designations ("BB," "B," "CCC," etc.) are considered low credit quality, and are commonly referred to as "junk bonds".
RSIVX , per M* has an overall rating of "B" rating. Also, as a compare; an excellent high yield/junk bond fund ARTFX has a SEC yield of 6.25%, while RSIVX has a SEC yield of 5.53%. For me, this also indicates that RSIVX is closer to "junk" status for its holdings.
Corporate bonds in particular, have not fared well during this melt period.
There remains a lot of stress going forward in the ability of companies to be able to service their debt properly.
RSIVX bond grade holdings:
Grade / Fund %
AAA/ 0.00
AA/ 0.00
A/ 0.64%
BBB/ 23.72%
BB/ 30.51%
B/ 38.18%
Below B/ 6.95%
Not Rated/ 0.00
Lastly, regardless of the "name type" (strategic, total, etc.) of a fund, one needs to know what is under the hood, yes?
My 2 cents worth.
Take care,
Catch

I want some answers on RSIVX not RPHYX.

Maybe I should try another site ? So much for Yahoo finance !! Schwab shows rsivx -7.49 % YTD.
Derf

Should have acted on Mr. Snowball's musings. What are the chances RSIVX will recover its YTD losses by EOY?

There is a reason majority of my cash is in VMMXX...the only thing safer would be a bank money market fund. I do have a smattering of RPHYX and RSIVX.

While I agree that a bank money market account, so long as it were within FDIC insurance limits, would be safer than VMMXX, I consider VUSXX to be safer still.
VMMXX holds corporate debt and can break a buck. While it is the "sense of Congress" that the FDIC is backed by the Treasury, there is no statute providing that level of backing. In contrast, the treasuries held by VUSXX are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.
Dancing on the head of a pin, perhaps.
As of 1/14/20, M* reports identical 1 year returns for VMMXX and RPHYX of 2.20%, which means that RPHIX has returned about a quarter percent more than the MMF (no 12b-1 fee).

@RisklessInSeattle There is a reason majority of my cash is in VMMXX...the only thing safer would be a bank money market fund. I do have a smattering of RPHYX and RSIVX.

I am looking for some punch over my MM funds with minimum risk. I am not too happy with RPHYX and RSIVX.

You might look at the other fund in the Semper stable too: SEMRX/SEMIX. Mostly mortgages, very short duration (0.4), mostly investment grade, current distribution yield ~ 3%, avg. price a shade over par, 5* in M*'s ultrashort bond category.
NAV risk is pretty well contained in the current environment: NAV's varied in a very narrow range (9.88-9.90) since April 15, per Yahoo historic price tables.
Again, it's mostly floating rate, 74% per the current fact sheet.
Good luck out there -- AJ
P.S. I've been thinking of dumping one of the rate-sensitive funds I own now and partially replacing it with SEMRX next time there's a dip in T rates. I don't think holding a slug of intermediate and long duration is going to be the winner it was for a while there, and if another big rate dive does materialize, it's easy enough to rent exposure thru TLT or IEF.

confused. please tell me fund that has lowest risk. I thought MBS had much higher risk than another SD fund with same characteristics. Or is my judgement being clouded by the financial crisis?
I am looking for some punch over my MM funds with minimum risk. I am not too happy with RPHYX and RSIVX.

how the heck are these funds doing this? I know if I buy they will start tanking.
All who own this funds please thank me.
I have RPHYX, RSIVX, and FPNIX

Agree with jojo. I think Ted laid it out pretty well for a general overview of investments.

Sorry, but exactly "how aggressive" someone is investing in retirement NEEDs information regarding how much cash that individual holds.
If I have 90% cash and 5% in PONCX and 5% in ETFs, is not aggressive. That's like saying if you take a photo of me at exactly certain latitude and longitude, at a certain distance, in a certain light, and wearing glasses that cloud vision, I look like Brad Pitt.
I think people know I don't do bonds except for RPHYX and RSIVX, but they are a smattering of my total investments. If I simply total up whatever I've invested and not in VMMXX, then I will also be an aggressive investor. Fact is I am a wimp.
Bottom line, if subject line says "here's my asset allocation", then it should say something like
40% Cash (i.e. FDIC insured)
20% Money Markets (e.g. VMMXX, etc. etc.)
20% Domestic (e.g. VTMSX)
10% International (e.g. VTPSX)
10% Fixed Income (e.g. PONCX)
Then there is also no need to say "its' aggressive" or "its not aggressive", yeah?
A post such as above would not need so many more posts following it to ask questions. But I do understand we are all bored and this is so much better than Effbooking eh?

HOBEX yield is 3%. RPHYX is 2.3%. RSIVX is 5%. And VMMXX is a "risk free" 2.0%.
I am all bonded out. So not buying HOBEX or ZEOIX for that matter. If interest rates keep rising VMMXX will keep up with it. Just does not make sense to me to go further out to make an extra % and risk a break. Wish such funds were available 3 years back.

The only TRUE bond funds I own are RPHYX and RSIVX.
If I feel "secure" and if interest rates hit 4% I might consider buying treasuries directly and holding for dear life.

If what one wants is two year treasuries, why not just buy them directly? Virtually zero credit risk, zero cost to buy, zero cost to own.
Just missed this month's auction:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/press_secannpr.htm

Only because I'm no James Bond and would think buying MF would be easier. There's a reason I don't invest in individual bonds. I really don't get them. Even bond funds I don't beyond "money market". RPHYX and RSIVX are my only bond funds.

Hi Guys,
I loved the RPHYX pick a few years ago as it was a very low risk to get upper 2% yield in a zero interest world.
However, took the position down 90% about 2 yrs ago as interest rates have steadily risen. NAV has been low mids 9.7s forever (since oct 15)
We saw that Cohanzick is an average junk bond manager when junk fell a couple of yrs ago (RSIVX which was supposedly to be slightly more risk was shown to actually be really an average junk bond fund).
When 1 yr Treasury is over 2% and a 2 yr CD is 2.8......this fund should be doing 4-5% to have a raison detre...........they "promised" 250-300 over treasuries which they aint doing.
I understood their biz model when they were doing purchases of shortterm junk that was about to be refinanced........but that time is ovah.
Do you guys think there is any point to having any money in RPHYX now?

I have parked myself outside the river except for RPHYX and RSIVX.

I've never invested outright in any bond fund except for RPHYX and RSIVX. That's why I go balanced funds so I own bonds.
I don't get "investing" in bonds. Feels completely counterintuitive.

How about the fund David highlighted in this months commentary, CBLDX? The selling point, I think, is in the statement below from the commentary. If you want low risk, this might be a consideration.

CrossingBridge is an affiliate Cohanzick Management, sub-adviser to two exceptionally excellent and distinctive fixed-income funds. They are RiverPark Short Term High Yield (RPHYX/RPHIX) and RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX/RSIIX). RPHYX, in particular, has posted an exceptional risk-return profile: it has the highest Sharpe ratio of any mutual fund (as in: #1 out of 7000+) over the past five years and 14th over the past three.

Quick responses:
RSIVX - this will undoubtedly sound like 20/20 hindsight, since I'm not on the record with my impressions when the fund was announced. Nevertheless, I was skeptical because it sounded like it was being promoted as an extension (in bond maturity) of the RPHYX strategy. That didn't (and doesn't) make too much sense to me.
RPHYX buys bonds that are somewhat like pre-refunded bonds - the money is there and all you're waiting for is for the clock to run out. With RSIVX you're saying that the bonds are "money good" because the company is worth enough (book value?) to cover the bonds. But with a longer time frame, stuff happens. The type of research would seem to be different. For RPHYX the difficulty is in finding and acquiring lots of little pieces. For RSIVX you have to dig more deeply into the companies.
Either I misunderstood (and continue to misunderstand) the fund, or the marketing was based on reputation. Either way, I wasn't inclined to look more closely at this fund, especially since it wasn't a good match for the type of fund I was most interested in. Doesn't mean it isn't good, just means I haven't looked enough.
WCPNX - I listed it because it had shown up in some recent screening, though I couldn't tell you exactly what parameters I used. The cursory check I did you already read - management that I recognized, cost, performance. I may have been going by the name. I agree that those low numbers are not suggestive of a core plus bond fund. But I'd like to look more closely at its portfolio history before saying more one way or the other.

@msf Thanks for these careful thoughts and list, very much appreciated. FWIW, right now I look to bonds for ballast, so I'm only in RPHYX and SUBFX. In the past I invested is LSBDX and did okay, but since it was in a taxable account, it felt more sensible to have that money in equities for that kind of risk/reward curve.
If you like RPHYX, what do you think of RSIVX? It hasn't gotten a lot of love on this board since David's initial write-up, but it seems to be doing what it promised: providing a little less return than standard high yield bond fund with quite a bit less risk.
I'm tempted to put some money in it that I expect to need for a down payment in 2 years or so.

And let's not forget about the promised returns of 7% to 8% in the sister fund of RPHYX - RSIVX