The figures are old, e.g. M* reports a 1 month return (as of March 1) of 0.27%. Confirmed by RiverPark, whose page shows month return ending 2/28 as 0.27%. M* chart shows a return of 0.418% for 12/30/22 through 1/30/23.
All of this just confirms your writing that "extrapolating the data is anything but exact", and my common refrain that "what have you done for me lately" (here, the past month) distorts analyses.
Feb returns were unspectacular because rates were rising quickly, depressing the prices of holdings (even very short term ones). Thus one sees the occasional daily decline in RPHYX in Feb, but no decline in January or last December. This is why RPHYX/ RPHIX should hold its own unless there are more rapid rate increases. Outperform is more iffy.

I go back and forth on this fund versus treasuries now in the 4.7-5% range, but RPHYX has actually had a relatively good run the past 6 months.
What I see for total return over that time:
180 days +3.3% extrapolated 1 year return 6.6%
90 days +2.11% extrapolate 1 year return 8.4%
60 days +1.13% extrapolate 1 year return 6.8%
30 days +.41% extrapolate 1 year return 4.9%
Extrapolating the data is anything but exact, but I think it gives a closer idea than yield for where it's headed in comparison to other fixed income, like treasuries. Maybe I'm wrong on that. That said, this fund was the bulk of my withdrawal bucket for quite a while, but I have reduced it substantially the past couple months to buy treasuries.

Anybody else a bit discouraged about the relatively low yield ( I calculate 3.2% using recent payout annualized, pre M* 3.4%).
I think I would be better off in six month Treasuries.
Any thoughts?

What are your thoughts here. I know we have some really knowledgeable bond people here at MFO and I' like to hear everyone's opinion on the subject and if you are buying.
I've been out of specific bond funds for about a year and a half (except for RPHYX). I'm considering getting back in now with the hope the worst is over or close. What are other's thoughts? I'm specifically looking at floating rate at this point, piggybacking onto statements I've seen from David Giroux and others in Barrons. If I'm looking for an early trend, the last quarter of 2022 was steadily increasing for this sector. I'm considering using SAMBX.
I know the safer route is CD's and treasuries at 4-5%, but I'm hoping with a little added risk, high single digit returns may be obtainable.
What are the thoughts? Pros and cons?

David Sherman is very good in the tyle of ST/LD HY bonds. CBLDX and RSIIX are very good next steps after RPHIX/RPHYX, IMHO.

Hello All --
With garden variety CDs offering 3.5-4% or more in FDIC insured interest (and I-Bonds offering north of 6.5%); is there any argument for buying into a Short-Term High-Yield Fund (RPHYX, TRBUX)?
D.S.

There seem to be several "mostly closed" funds that are listed as open at E*Trade. Closed funds often have a loophole - that you can open a new account if you are investing through an advisor who already has money with the fund. (Another common exception is investing directly with the fund.)
So I'm wondering whether these funds are really open to DIY investors, or whether you need to be working with a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor, or whether a personal rep as @fundly mentioned suffices, or ...
Here are some (semi) closed funds that E*Trade shows as open:
ARTJX - investor class (1.31% ER), $1K min
APDJX - advisor class (1.15% ER), $0 min
(Other closed Artisan funds, e.g. ARTFX, ARTKX are closed at E*Trade.)
RPHYX - retail class (1.14% ER), $100 min
RPHIX - inst class (0.89% ER), $100K min
CIPNX - inst class (1.01% ER), $0 min
(The more expensive advisor class CIPSX is closed to new investors.)
DHMAX - inv class (1.21% ER), $2.5K min
(Another closed DH fund, DHLAX, is closed at E*Trade.)
Franklin Templeton - cheaper Advisor shares of some funds are open (e.g. FGADX, FRDAX); most brokerages sell more expensive A shares NTF. Also open are institutional shares of some Salomon Bros/Smith Barney legacy funds (now branded Clearbridge), such as SAIFX and SBLYX.
Invesco - older, cheaper Investor shares of some funds are open (e.g. LCEIX, FSTEX); most brokerages sell more expensive A shares NTF
PEMGX - A shares, NTF (0.93% ER), $1K min
PCBIX - inst class (0.67% ER), $0 min

Thanks @msf.
If I take the data from Portfolio Visualizer, from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2022, RPHYX returned 2.71%. To echo your point, there were no 1 year CD's, MM or Treasuries to buy on Jan 1, 2022 that would have paid that. In betting on which will return more in 2023, RPHYX total return in the 4th quarter was 1.7%. Always a risky venture, but if you extrapolate that for 1 year you might say RPHYX is on trend to return 1.7x4 = 6.8% moving forward. Obvious risk and no sure bet to saying that, but that might be more comparable to the 1 year treasuries and CD's available now.
In any case, comparing last year's RPHYX's 1 year return is not a representative comparison to future CD/treasury rates available now. You can only make that comparison 1 year from now. I'm betting and hoping for higher total return with RPHYX.
So, my answer to your question @Mav123, I'm going to play both. I'll separate my eggs to both baskets :)

RPHYX/RPHIX still managed to return below 3% for the year, as compared to a few banks/CUs that pay above 4%
This is an apples to oranges comparison, comparing past one year return for RPHYX with the current APY on MMAs. A retrospective comparison would be between a bank's one year return and RPHYX's one year return.
Some of the 4% accounts didn't even exist at the beginning of 2022. For example, Republic Bank of Chicago's Digital Money Market Account (4.25% APY) only started last August. Starting new account types (often requiring new money) is a common tactic among banks.
Or look at All America Bank's Mega Money Market Account, also with a 4.25% APY. That started the year with a 0.30% APY, not rising above 1% until nearly the end of June. Even by the end of October, it was only up to 2.5% APY.
Banks do look better prospectively. For bond funds, prospective means looking at SEC yield. RPHIX's last reported SEC yield is 3.27%. At first blush, that looks inferior to several higher yielding banks, including those that don't play fast and loose with new accounts and rates.
But compare carefully. That 3.27% is the SEC yield as of November 30th. American Bank's Mega MMA's rate was 2.5% APY until the last week of November when it jumped to 4.0% APY. For the moment, a few banks seem competitive, though not necessarily superior.
despite such a good distribution
This suggests a common confusion between YTM and current yield. What counts in the end is total return. Each time RPHYX / RPHIX makes a distribution, whether large or small, the NAV drops by about the size of the distribution. The size of the distribution has little bearing on total return.
Suppose a fund holds a single, deep discount bond. (HY funds typically buy bonds at substantial discounts.) The fund's NAV gradually increases as the bond ages. This "appreciation" is actually interest - that's part of the YTM.
When a bond finally matures (or is sold), that "appreciation" (interest) is recognized all at once, even though it really accrued over time. If the fund gathers up all this recognized "appreciation" (interest) and distributes it in December, that could explain the unusually large December div.
It might be more meaningful to take the excess distribution (above what one expected for the Dec div) and mentally allocate it evenly across all the months. This large div may be nothing more than an accounting artifact, much as annual cap gains distributions don't mean that a fund realized all its gains in December.

Happy New Year everyone,
Just curious that despite such a good distribution, RPHYX/RPHIX still managed to return below 3% for the year, as compared to a few banks/CUs that pay above 4% on the liquid MMA accounts, even short-term treasuries such as 4, 8 weeks pay above 3%. So, the question to the people who hold RPHYX/RPHIX is, do you still find it valuable competitive, and a good return on your money?

What are your thoughts here. I know we have some really knowledgeable bond people here at MFO and I' like to hear everyone's opinion on the subject and if you are buying.
I've been out of specific bond funds for about a year and a half (except for RPHYX). I'm considering getting back in now with the hope the worst is over or close. What are other's thoughts? I'm specifically looking at floating rate at this point, piggybacking onto statements I've seen from David Giroux and others in Barrons. If I'm looking for an early trend, the last quarter of 2022 was steadily increasing for this sector. I'm considering using SAMBX.
I know the safer route is CD's and treasuries at 4-5%, but I'm hoping with a little added risk, high single digit returns may be obtainable.
What are the thoughts? Pros and cons?

They settle on a relatively consistent, usually conservative monthly distribution early in the year, with the result that most years, there's excess income to distribute at the end of the year.
This is by design. Many CEFs including PDI have a managed distribution policy. It's a little hard to see this in the prospectus, but it is there.

Closed-end fund managed distribution programs are designed to facilitate regular, relatively consistent distributions to shareholders, typically by:

1. Estimating a fund’s long-term total return (both income and long-term appreciation, net of expenses)
   
2. Setting a regular monthly or quarterly distribution amount intended to match the fund’s total distributions to its total return over time

https://www.nuveen.com/en-us/insights/closed-end-funds/understanding-managed-distributions
From the PDI prospectus:

The Fund makes regular monthly cash distributions to Common Shareholders at a rate based upon the past and projected net income of the Fund. Subject to applicable law, the Fund may fund a portion of its distributions with gains from the sale of portfolio securities and other sources. The Fund’s dividend policy, as well as the dividend rate that the Fund pays on its Common Shares, may vary as portfolio and market conditions change, and will depend on a number of factors.

RPHYX/ RPHIX doesn't manage its distributions. Generally, what you see (earn as income) is what you get (as income divs).
----
David Sherman's CrossingBridge Pre-Merger SPAC ETF, ticker SPC, also gave a .24/share distribution yesterday. Nice Christmas present from these 2 holdings.
I hadn't taken a close look at SPC. Interesting fund. Follows Sherman's RPHYX approach of investing in "remnants", but in a different pool ("money good" SPACs, i.e. ones "trading at par value or at a discount" ).
These divs come out of NAV, unlike divs in funds that declare divs daily. Whether the fund sells more assets to pay a larger div, or the shareholder sells shares to generate the same cash flow, the effect is the same.
This is why I prefer to focus on total return. Though I do understand that receiving a dividend (especially a large one) "automatically" somehow feels different.

RPHYX / RPHIX just paid a whopping monthly interest dividend - over 5x the next largest monthly dividend in 2022. For RPHIX, it was 14.11¢ per share vs. 2.5*¢ per share in Aug, Sept, and Oct.
This pattern of larger (but not this large!) December divs seems to have started in 2020, when the Dec div was about 10% higher than the next highest monthly div, and accelerated in 2021, when the Dec div was double that of the next highest monthly div.
http://riverparkfunds.com/assets/pdfs/rpsthyf/RiverPark_Short_Term_High_Yield_Institutional.pdf
http://riverparkfunds.com/assets/pdfs/rpsthyf/RiverPark_Short_Term_High_Yield_Retail.pdf
Any guesses as to what's happening? This fund does not invest internationally so currency hedging cannot be the cause, which is what Yogi speculated could explain FMIJX 's large div.
All I've turned up so far is Russell Investment's generic explanation for variable December income divs:

The last distribution of the year in mid-December may vary from other monthly distributions more significantly. This distribution reflects actual income received by the fund for part of the month of December plus an estimate for the remainder of the month of December. Also included in these distributions are tax adjustments and adjustments required as a result of the audit of financial statements, reflecting the full year of operations of a fund. Therefore, these adjustments may significantly increase or decrease the mid-December distributions relative to other monthly distribution

https://russellinvestments.com/-/media/files/us/funds/income-dividend-distributions-004519958.pdf
Setting aside mid-month estimates (Riverpark distributes at end of month), that leaves tax adjustments and financial statement adjustments. Whatever those mean.
---
This fund is mostly closed to new investors. The only investors who may open new accounts are those who already hold an existing account with the fund, or invest directly through Riverpark, or "are clients of any financial adviser or planner who has client assets invested in the Fund.”
http://riverparkfunds.com/assets/pdfs/RiverPark_STHYF_Summary_Prospectus.pdf
This is why the fund is closed through intermediaries like Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard. But RPHYX does seem to be open at Firstrade and at E*Trade. Even more interesting is that RPHIX seems to be open to new investors at E*Trade with no transaction fee, albeit with a $100K min.

I saw that article too, @sma3. Back in March of this year, I bought into SPC, CrossingBridge Pre-Merger SPAC ETF when the manager, @davidsherman, talked about it here at MFO in a post. It has been very tame since I bought it and has slowly been trending up nicely since September. I'd actually like to hear from David his thoughts on how it might hold up in a 2023 recession. I looked at a couple of the spac's mentioned in Barrons and they don't fit my sleep easy volatility profile. SPC does, much like David's other fund I own in my withdrawal bucket, RPHYX.

I kept small amounts in RPHYX (under $1000) and sold the rest to buy a variety of Brokered CD's. I'd rather lock in some attractive rates than wait for this fund to start returning 3% or more annually !

Well @msf, your very good post was worth repeating!
Hard to believe that RPHYX return of 0.66% for 1 month will be sustained. I didn't realize it took that 1 mo jump though.
And I agree that this fund (any bond MF in my opinion) needs to be looked at as total return, not yield. Especially true since mine is a tax differed account. Who needs a fund that yields 7% but still loses -10%?

Compare apples to apples. Also be careful whether talking about total return or yield. Personally I prefer total return since a higher yield coming out of principal (declining NAV) seems misleading.
Of the numbers below, I'm most inclined to look most at the first comparison, though it would be nice to update the figures past 10/31. All the figures suggest that RPHYX will do more than keep pace, though returns will be lumpy. Just look at that 8.2% annualized figure based on last month's total return!
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/performance-and-risk/76882K801 (RPHYX)
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/performance-and-risk/31617H805?type=o-NavBar (FZDXX)
Current projected total return (30 day SEC yield for RPHYX, 7 day yield for MMF) as of 10/31:
RPHYX SEC yield: 3.41%
FZDXX 7 day yield: 3.08%
Total return over last 12 months, as of 10/31:
RPHYX: 1.81%
FZDXX: 0.67%
(Per M*, RPHYX's trailing 12 month yield is 2.11% but I don't know the "as of" date. It roughly matches RPHYX's total return of 2.13% as of 11/15.)
Current total return (one month as of 11/15/22), annualized:
RPHYX: 8.2%; calculated as 0.66% (one month return), annualized. ≈ 1.0066^12 - 1
FZDXX: 3.85% (actually less over past month, this is past 7 day yield, compounded and annualized)
Monthly RPHYX total return from M* https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/rphyx/performance

That's a question I've been pondering also @Mav123. My 'withdrawal' (or safe) bucket is ~40% RPHYX. It was closer to 50% but I did start moving some of that money over the past few weeks and buying short term, 3-12 month CDs or Treasuries, which ever was paying more at the time.
I'm interested in other's opinions. RPHYX has been a great safe cash-substitute in the past, but as you said its historical 2-3% return doesn't even match a MM anymore.

Some notes from the RPHIX/RPHYX 06-30-2022-Shareholder letter (I've added the bold):
As of June 30, 2022, the portfolio was comprised of securities with an average maturity of 4.43 months. At quarter-end, the invested portfolio had a weighted average Expected Effective Maturity of 11/10/22, and 43.10% was comprised of securities with an Expected Effective Maturity of 30 days or less.
As of June 30, 2022, the Weighted Average Market Yield to Effective Maturity was 7.17% for Effective Maturities of 31 days or more. That comprised 57% of the invested Portfolio.

yes, thank you, I've seen that article. Are the concerns still valid today?

Some notes from the RPHIX/RPHYX 06-30-2022-Shareholder letter (I've added the bold):
As of June 30, 2022, the portfolio was comprised of securities with an average maturity of 4.43 months. At quarter-end, the invested portfolio had a weighted average Expected Effective Maturity of 11/10/22, and 43.10% was comprised of securities with an Expected Effective Maturity of 30 days or less.
As of June 30, 2022, the Weighted Average Market Yield to Effective Maturity was 7.17% for Effective Maturities of 31 days or more. That comprised 57% of the invested Portfolio.

Adding to RPHYX and REMIX. My list is LYB, NRG, COST and ADM.