"Crash">I continue to read this thread with interest. My household situation is such that I can manage fine (along with wifey,) together here with extended family, though my portfolio is surely much smaller than many or most who participate here. Therefore, I have streamlined and consolidated my portfolio prior to our moving out here. Conservative bond-OEFs? Well, I actually can't afford to be too conservative. I'm happy with my TRP bond funds, along with PTIAX, which has been mentioned by several people already. My goal is to generate BETTER than plain-vanilla monthly dividends, without going overboard re: risk. I have become accustomed to what I would characterize as moderate risk; and of course, with regard to BOND funds, volatility is much less pronounced than with stocks. I have my eye on the sister-fund to PTIAX, which is the Perf. Trust Muni bond fund. I might end-up buying into that one. Wife's 403b will be directly rolled-over from VEIRX into VLAAX...And she's starting her new job here very soon. I hope there's a 401k or 403b which is not a pile of dooky. It's some sort of Nursing Home. And she tells me that employees have their medical insurance paid for by the company (?) Holy pennies from heaven, Batman! Can that be true?
Crash, that is interesting and sounds like you have established some strong conviction for what you are interested in. What is "conservative" for one investor, could be "risky" for another investor--it is all in understanding your own risk tolerance. My wife has a relatively small amount in her Traditional IRA account, and about 50% of our joint taxable account comes from her inheritance from her deceased parents. Her desires is to be much less risky than funds I put into a relatively broad conservative category. She would prefer CDs and short term bond funds as her investments of choice. Over time, I have shown her visually on performance charts how her desired short term bond funds look like compared to slightly more risky bond categories such as nontraditional bond funds. Now in her Traditional IRA account, she is comfortable with MWCIX and IISIX for an account of about $100K. In our joint taxable account, we own several of the lower risk bond oefs that she is comfortable with (funds like DHEAX), but about half of the joint taxable account consist of funds that fit my risk level (funds like SEMMX and PUTIX). You just have to develop your portfolio to fit you needs and investment style, and believe in the criteria you used to select them.

"Gary1952">What is too conservative? I have a basic AA of 50/50. But the 50% bond OEFs have 50% (25% overall) in low duration/lower yielding "safer" type funds. The other 50% (25% overall) is in higher yielding multi/non-traditional funds. I own no "ballast" funds such as core/core plus OEFs. Is this too conservative or not conservative enough? My goal is to target 3-4% yearly income from divs, CDs and growth.
My market correlation for 10 years is .35%. The max draw down is -.42% for the bond OEFs.
I know it is my judgment but I am curious what others think.
Gary, In a more specific response to your post, you and I use very similar kinds of funds, although I break my funds down into funds for my taxable account, and funds for my tax exempt (IRA) account. In my taxable account if use more of the "safer" bond oefs, but with a wide variation if diversity. So, for example, DHEAX is the short term bond fund I use, but I consider it more risky than DBLSX and less risky than FIJEX. There is an argument that you could use just one of these short term bond funds, or you could use more than one of these funds for more diversification. I use 4 very different nontraditional bond oefs in my taxable account because they are all "conservative" for me, but they don't always perform the same in a given set of market conditions. PUTIX is my most risky nontraditional bond oef, MWCIX is my least risky nontraditional bond oef. I also own a municipal bond oef which is a HY MUNI (AAHMX) and this is one of the least risky HY Munis you can own. I used it to replace BTMIX, which is a very good short term investment grade muni bond oef, but I felt I was ready to move up in risk. I have considered NVHAX, but it is more risky than AAHMX, and NHHAX has some history of significant peak to trough losses and a larger "worst 3 month performance period" than AAHMX. I am still considering adding NVHAX to my portfolio in 2020, but if I do, I will probably make it much smaller position than AAHMX. In the past I have used MMHAX as longer duration and more risky bond oef, but I am not inclined to use it right now because I am not comfortable with its risk level. I am very clear that many investors will use much more risky bond oefs in their taxable account because there are a lot of pundits thinking they will sail through 2020 in the same way they sailed through 2019--that may fit their conservative criteria, but not mine.
When it comes to my IRA account, I use several multisector bond oefs that are more risky than what I will use in my taxable account. I rank order multisector bond oefs in roughly the following low to higher risk: ANGIX, VCFAX, PIMIX, PTIAX, JMUTX, JMSIX, PUCZX, IOFIX. All investors can make an argument for these funds being "conservative" based on the criteria they use. For me, I have chosen to only use VCFAX and PIMIX, but I don't dismiss the rationale from others to use some of these other funds. For me, I would not touch IOFIX with a 10 foot pole, but there are many others who believe this is the next great multisector bond oef.
At any rate, it appears to me that you are using relatively conservative bond oefs, but you could very easily change your criteria for other bond oefs to fit your investing roles you have defined for each fund.

Just my opinion based on what is available at Schwab brokerage--not sure about other brokerages, but here are some of the lower volatility, low risk bond oefs you might consider for your taxable account:
Short Term Investment Grade bond oefs--DBLSX/DLSNX is a very solid, very conservative fund, which I periodically use as a very safe haven option. DHEAX/DHEIX is very similar to DBLSX/DLSNX, but with a bit better TR and yield. FIJEX is a hidden gem short term bond fund, in the institutional class but cheap to buy, but holds lower class investment grade bond oefs that has produced more volatility but higher TR than most short term bond oefs.
Low risk nontraditional bond oefs--MWCRX/MWCIX is one of my favorites and cheap to buy. CUBAX is very similar to MWCRX and cheap to buy. PMZIX/PMZAX is an excellent fund from PIMCO, with a solid TR history, good yield, and PIMCO investment expertise--it is not as tax efficient as some funds buy very conservative. SEMMX/SEMPX is a low volatililty, very consistent TR fund, with higher TR and yield than almost any of the lower volatility funds available--holdings are more in the HY category but excellent management history to control risk with solid TR. IISIX/ISIAX is a great TR fund, very similar to more aggressive multisector bond oefs, but pays a solid yield--not as good tax efficiency as other nontraditional bond oefs.
Short Duration HY bond oefs--ZEOIX is an excellent fund, and institutional class fund, but cheap to buy at Schwab--very consistent and low risk performance history. AAHMX is another excellent fund, with a slightly better TR history. SSTHX is another good fund.
Short Term Muni Bond funds, with emphasis on investment grade bonds: BTMIX is my favorite, but other good funds are VMPAX, and ORSTX.
HY short duration Muni Bond oefs: NVHAX and SDHAX are my favorites and much lower risk than most HY Muni Bond oefs. NVHAX had a significant peak to trough performance in the 2015/2016 meltdown, but since then has been solid as a low risk Muni option.

MikeW: " Have you evaluated DHEIX as an option? It has an average annual return of about 4% and a MAXDD of only 0.2%. Looks like a very interesting fund. SD is only 0.7."
Hi Mike--In my taxable account, I own DHEAX, a different share class of DHEIX, and have been very pleased with it. I am not able to purchase the DHEIX share class at Schwab. I also own MWCIX and PUTIX, which I also am pleased with. My other 2 major holdings in my taxable account are DBLSX and BTMIX, but I am in the process of determining whether I want to replace them with funds that I think will produce higher total return, with slightly more risk.

DHEAX I can understand. But you have to explain why you would invest in GILDX over VMMXX?

I've been putting cash in MINT, GILDX and DHEAX. All holding up pretty well.

I've been adding to MAVRX, FISMX, VYMI on down days. I've been putting my near-cash and ST bond stuff in GILDX and DHEAX.