Lots of stuff today to cover
Multi- PTIAX at 0% was fantastic. VCFAX at -0.3% and IOFIX at -0.4 was not bad when SEMMX was down -0.46. JMUTX+JMSIX -1.3% was another proof why securitized is the best. Second-tier PUCZX at -2.9% and PIMIX is still missing, I guess they are afraid to show the results. PDIIX lost -2.4%. The Pimco guys are not doing well at all.
HY Muni lost about -0.5 to -0.7 but OPTAX just at -0.37
Bank loans - fell sharply. EIFAX -3.1 and SPFLX -2.35
HY lost even more at least at -3% to -4%
"Cash sub" - DHEAX confirmed itself as a great choice for performance and stability with just -0.1
Cose plus - PINCX -0.13...BCOIX -0.4....DODIX -1%(as expected)...USIBX -0.45...BND -0.2...FIJEX -0.95
==========
Rates were down dramatically but higher rated bonds(even the index BND) didn't go up. I see it as a problem. The markets are crazy, volatile and without a direction. I did nicely YTD and will start buying when markets tell me what to do.
I sold my 3 funds (huge % in PINCX, smaller % in BCOIX and a small % in IOFIX...I bought PINCX+BCOIX earlier last week) and now at 99% cash. I lost today -0.22% which was a surprise because I thought I will make money.

Last week was a good test for your bond funds.
Multi-SEMMX,IOFIX,EIXIX,VCFAX,PTIAX,JMUTX,JMSIX. PTIAX(1.1%) continues its momentum which tells me they own higher rates bonds than the rest. JMSIX(0.5%) had a nice week too. IOFIX (0.40%) continues to be the best securitized.
"Cash sub"- DHEAX (0.2%) proved why high IG bonds is important. SEMMX surprisingly lost -0.1.
Bank loans - lost too much and the category is at -2.1% for YTD and similar to HY performance which has a much higher duration.
HY Muni-all the ones I follow lost but GHYAX -1%(bigger loss)...OPTAX only -0.3 and even ST duration NVHAX -0.5%.
For core plus: PINCX 1.8%...BCOIX 1.5%....DODIX only 0.8%...UBISX 1.15%...PTTRX 1.6%
But we also learned last week that funds with low SD for 3 years didn't perform that well exactly when you needed them...IISIX -0.2%...JMUTX -0.2%...PIMIX -0.3%...SSTHX -0.3% While much "riskier" IOFIX with SD = 2.7 performed extremely well YTD=3.2% and one week=0.4%

dt, thanks for your post.
I, like yourself, work through Schwab (I also am with Vanguard). I have had this discussion with my Schwab Pinnacle Representative in Indianapolis. Besides the short term redemption fee that the fund may impose, based on how Schwab processes orders with a fund family, he does not know how the fund would know that it is "you". I gather that if the fund is "small" and it receives a huge order from Schwab, it might trigger something.
I guess an analogy would be purchasing x dollars in a fund to qualify for institutional shares and then turning around and selling a bunch of shares. I have done this countless times with Schwab and Vanguard Brokerage and never heard a peep from either. This seems to support that the fund family did not know. If my representative at Schwab is correct, I wonder how American Beacon knew it was you.
On the related, what I also do not understand is that if for example American Beacon has a short term redemption fee and you are willing to pay it, what is the problem. If they do not have a short term redemption fee, then what is the problem. When I purchase and then sell a Vanguard fund, the trading policies are transparent.
Mona
Mona, I have not experienced the trading warning at Schwab, but I have not traded very often at Schwab. The personal experience I incurred was when I was at Fidelity, and it was Fidelity who contacted me, on behalf of American Beacon, with the warning about frequent trading from American Beacon. I had recently upgraded SPFPX to SPFLX, and I then had made a sell out SPFLX shortly thereafer, and that apparently triggered the warning.
Regarding DHEIX/DHEAX, I have not experienced that personally at Schwab, but I have only owned DHEAX a few months. However, I do recall another poster stating the "Diamond Hill Boys" frowned on his trading frequently in and out of the fund.
I don't understand the dynamics of the interaction between the fund companies and the brokerage companies, but I was clearly left with the message that it was American Beacon who had flagged my trade actions while I was using the Fidelity Brokerage

I noticed that the Sharpe Ratio for RPHYX is much lower than it used to be 3 yr 0.75 and 5 yr 1.41, according to Morning Star. Is this cause for concern? I currently own DHEAX as a lower risk bond fund. I was thinking of adding more cash to it or starting a position in RPHYX now that it is open. Thank you for your thoughts.

Hello,
I’m looking for some help on these two bond funds, PIMIX and PUCZX. For my bond side I currently have DHEAX and PIMIX. I’ve been thinking about moving from PIMIX to.PUCZX. It looks like PIMIX and PUCZX have some similarities and I have heard PIMCO raised their fees quite a bit on PIMIX. Does anyone see an obvious reason to make or not make this change? Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

For cash, I would look at SEMMX or DHEAX/DHEIX. SEMMX has lower rating bonds and better performance than DHEAX (Investment grade > 80%). I call these funds "cash sub" for investors who are willing to take a calculated risk.
See PorVis(link)
I hardly ever hold cash/MM/CD but that's what I do and what suites my goals.

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

Why so testy? I was only commenting. I have been considering DHEAX for much longer than a couple of months. One will never know how long it was discussed on M* because the forum changed less than a year ago. Cheers.

Regarding DHEIX/DHEAX, I am not sure when it became a frequently discussed fund at M* or MFO. I first heard about it in 2018 from FD, who was talking about a couple of short term bond oefs, that could be a safe harbor in that turbulent market period. FD had mentioned both DHEAX and SEMIX as short term bond oefs, that were available to him at Schwab. When I moved my brokerage account from Fidelity to Schwab in early 2019, I took a close look at both DHEAX and SEMIX, but did not choose to invest in them at that time. Toward the end of 2019, when I was doing some end of year portfolio adjustments, I decided to put some money into DHEAX. I have been pleased with it so far, but I think there are a number of short term bond oefs in addition to DHEAX, that would be good choices for a conservative bond oef investor.

"Gary1952">SDMZX appears somewhat unique. It is named a multi-purpose fund with low duration. I would say DBLSX and SDMZX are not directly comparable. DBLSX focus is on low duration.
Gary, as I said in my comments above about these 2 Schwab recommendations, I consider PSHYX similar to DBLSX, but SDMZX is a longer duration bond oef. I would put SDMZX in a category more similar to FIJEX--more aggressive short term bond oefs. I have read a number of posts, in which SDMZX and FIJEX have similarities to some multisector bond oefs with their diversification in their holdings. If you want to pair a couple of short term bond oefs, that are different from each other, I would think a fund like SDMZX would be a good complement to a less risky fund like DHEAX and DBLSX.

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

Correction (as long as the above analysis is correct) : DHEAX WAS the better fund.
The daily obsession with some posters (especially one) looking back at prior performance and deeming a given fund as the better/best is mind-numbing.
Had a poster, THREE YEARS AGO, stated that DHEAX will perform better than another similar fund over the next three years, and it did, now that would be something.
But truth be told, the first post about DHEIX/DHEAX that I EVER SAW on on ANY board by posters who now hail it as the better/best over the last three years was made within the last TWO months.
The last TWO months.
----------------------------------
To wit...
This MFO search history for DHEAX shows for that VintageFreak and willmatt72 posted about it in April-June 2019.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheax
This MFO search history for DHEIX shows for that willmatt72 posted about it in Feb 2018.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheix

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.

@Gary1952, I believe Diamond Hill funds have a transfer fee at Schwab. One reason I don't consider them.

DHEAX is NTF $2500 min, with short term redemption fee and it appears that DHEIX is not sold by SCHWAB. But I would guess it would have the $49.95 fee attached if it was sold.

Correction (as long as the above analysis is correct) : DHEAX WAS the better fund.
The daily obsession with some posters (especially one) looking back at prior performance and deeming a given fund as the better/best is mind-numbing.
Had a poster, THREE YEARS AGO, stated that DHEAX will perform better than another similar fund over the next three years, and it did, now that would be something.
But truth be told, the first post about DHEIX/DHEAX that I EVER SAW on on ANY board by posters who now hail it as the better/best over the last three years was made within the last TWO months.
The last TWO months.
----------------------------------
To wit...
This MFO search history for DHEAX shows for that VintageFreak and willmatt72 posted about it in April-June 2019.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheax
This MFO search history for DHEIX shows for that willmatt72 posted about it in Feb 2018.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheix

DHEAX beats DBLSX for 1 month and all the way to 3 years (chart).
DHEAX has also better Sharpe + Sortino (PortVis)
Both funds invest at high % in securitized/MBS, both have mostly IG(investment grade) bond rating.
Just my opinion: DHEAX is a better fund

Schwab recommendations for Short Term Bond oefs are interesting. We are familiar with frequently discussed short term bond oefs like DBLSX and DHEIX, but neither of those funds made the Schwab recommendation list. The 2 short term bond oefs that Schwab recommends is:
1. SDMZX, a short term bond oef from PGIM. This fund has a BBB portfolio rating, has a M* risk of above average, has a standard deviation of 1.15, a duration of 3.5 and expense ratio of .39%. Its portfolio has 36.4% in securitized holdings, 20.25% in corporate holdings, 19.4% in government holdings, and about 14.5% in derivatives, and about 9% in cash and equivalents. Its 1and 3 year total return of 6.47%/3.85%.
2. PSHYX, a short term bond oef from Pioneer. This fund has a BBB portfolio, has a M* risk of low, has a standard deviation of .79, and a duration of 1.76, and an expense ratio of .46%. Its portfolio has 62% in securitized holdings, 29% in corporate holdings, 6% in government holdings, and 3% in cash and equivalents. Its 1and 3 year total return of 4.87/2.81.
Comments: It appears PSHYX is very low risk and has some similarities to DBLSX. SDMZX is a higher risk short term bond oef, but is well diversified with a low standard deviation, but its total return appears to be related to its longer duration holdings of 3.5, which is much longer than most funds in this category. SDMZX has a higher than average yield distribution, which makes it more attractive for dividend harvesters. For me personally, SDMZX is a very interesting option in this category. I sold DBLSX at the end of 2019 because I wanted a little better total return, and so I replaced it with DHEAX. I do think SDMZX provides that better total return and looks like a nice complement to DHEAX.

@FD1000

DHEIX is the only one with 80+% in investment-grade rating. I can't buy DHEIX at Schwab but I can buy DHEAX with no fees.

I'm pleased that someone mentioned DHEIX at this point in this discussion and its performance. It has outperformed RPHIX lifetime, 3yr., 2yr., and 1yr. (Also, I note that it has a negative correlation, although a small one, to RPHIX.) I do own DHHIX, the HY offering, and have been considering DHEIX for purchase. Both funds are $20/TF at Vanguard.

I put more emphasis on the last 3 years. When I compare RPHIX,ZEOIX,SEMMX,DHEIX(link)
RPHIX has inferior numbers to the other 3.
DHEIX is the only one with 80+% in investment-grade rating. I can't buy DHEIX at Schwab but I can buy DHEAX with no fees.

It seems that there has been a lot of interest Muni bond options for taxable accounts recently. It is hard to generalize about whether it is best to purchase a Muni bond fund, or if a taxable bond fund might be a better, or at least an acceptable choice. For some years, I have used Tax Cost Ratios of each fund to help decide if I want to seriously consider it. In case you are not familiar with Tax Cost Ratios, here is its definition from the M* Glossary.
"Tax Cost Ratio
The Morningstar Tax Cost Ratio measures how much a fund's annualized return is reduced by the taxes investors pay on distributions. Mutual funds regularly distribute stock dividends, bond dividends and capital gains to their shareholders. Investors then must pay taxes on those distributions during the year they were received.
Like an expense ratio, the tax cost ratio is a measure of how one factor can negatively impact performance. Also like an expense ratio, it is usually concentrated in the range of 0-5%. 0% indicates that the fund had no taxable distributions and 5% indicates that the fund was less tax efficient.
For example, if a fund had a 2% tax cost ratio for the three-year time period, it means that on average each year, investors in that fund lost 2% of their assets to taxes. If the fund had a three-year annualized pre-tax return of 10%, an investor in the fund took home about 8% on an after-tax basis. (Because the returns are compounded, the after-tax return is actually 7.8%.)"
You can find what the average Tax Cost Ratio is by category, with Munis being 0, short term bonds being .88 Nontraditional bond oef being 1.38, HY bond oefs being 2.06 etc. but you have to go to each fund to find out the Tax Cost Ratio specifics for it. Here are a few examples of TCR for some funds in various categories:
HY Munis: NVHAX and SDHAX (0)
NonTraditional Bond OEFs: MWCRX (1.36), SEMPX (2.13)
Short Term Bond OEFs: DHEAX (1.38), DBLSX (1.13)
HY Bond oefs: ZEOIX (1.20), RPHYX (1.01)
The above TCRs are for 3 years, but at Schwab you can also get them for the last year.

"fundly">@dtconroe.
I have thoroughly, again thoroughly, enjoyed your post and was able to evaluate some of your named funds to add to those I currently keep in my portfolio. Each post I believe has value to someone and some repetition is no problem at all, as in the end,the next post usually has some newly added value or information. Do not be offended by any ones opinion about your methodology, as it is only an opinion. The only true arbiter of this forum is Dr. Snowball and his minions. If it has to do with investing keep it coming!! Dr. Snowball only rarely gets involved and typically only with character assault issues.
I am retired also, and keep a 30% equity, 50% bond 20% cash portfolio and use a barbel type philosophy with the portfolio, with aggressive funds balanced by conservative ones both OEF's and etf's. One of my favorite HY Muni funds is VWALX. On my Wells Fargo platform this Admiral fund has a minimum purchase of $0. Yup. $0 instead of the 50K at Vanguard.This could be available similarly at certain other brokerages. If not VWAHX is available with a $3000 minimum and an ER of .17% This is a HY classified Muni fund but in actuality is mostly investment grade with an average BBB bond portfolio and with great metrics for what it is. Highly rated by M*.
I liked what I saw with DHEIX and at Vanguard it is available with only a $2500 minimum. Even with the $20 purchase fee, with a reasonably sized purchase it is far cheaper to keep for a year than DHEAX which is ntf. I made the purchase in my Vanguard account.
I do not post but rarely ,so keep up the good work and welcome to the board.
fundly
fundly, very encouraging post. Thanks for letting us know what you are doing and the reasons. Sounds like you have a good handle on what you are doing and could be very helpful in sharing your knowledge and experience with other posters. I look forward to other posts from you in the future. One of the things I personally get from posts like yours, is what is available through other brokerages that I am not familiar with. I envy you being able to get DHEIX so inexpensively at Vanguard.

@dtconroe.
I have thoroughly, again thoroughly, enjoyed your post and was able to evaluate some of your named funds to add to those I currently keep in my portfolio. Each post I believe has value to someone and some repetition is no problem at all, as in the end,the next post usually has some newly added value or information. Do not be offended by any ones opinion about your methodology, as it is only an opinion. The only true arbiter of this forum is Dr. Snowball and his minions. If it has to do with investing keep it coming!! Dr. Snowball only rarely gets involved and typically only with character assault issues.
I am retired also, and keep a 30% equity, 50% bond 20% cash portfolio and use a barbel type philosophy with the portfolio, with aggressive funds balanced by conservative ones both OEF's and etf's. One of my favorite HY Muni funds is VWALX. On my Wells Fargo platform this Admiral fund has a minimum purchase of $0. Yup. $0 instead of the 50K at Vanguard.This could be available similarly at certain other brokerages. If not VWAHX is available with a $3000 minimum and an ER of .17% This is a HY classified Muni fund but in actuality is mostly investment grade with an average BBB bond portfolio and with great metrics for what it is. Highly rated by M*.
I liked what I saw with DHEIX and at Vanguard it is available with only a $2500 minimum. Even with the $20 purchase fee, with a reasonably sized purchase it is far cheaper to keep for a year than DHEAX which is ntf. I made the purchase in my Vanguard account.
I do not post but rarely ,so keep up the good work and welcome to the board.
fundly