Equivalent Wellesley Fund

[ferco]

Looking for an equivalent fund to the Vanguard Wellesley (VW) Fund with either Fidelity or TR Price......any suggestions. I assume VW (or equiv) is a good fund for Bucket I money to draw down at FIRE for a little higher yield than MM , CD ladder or bond funds?

 

[freebird5825]

Morningstar has a "Similar Fund" tool under their Tools menu.

I'm a Premium subscriber at M*, so I can't guarantee you can access this tool as a free member. Give it a try.
There might be other "Similar Fund" or "Compare Fund" tools at other web sites.

 

[W2R]

Naturally, there really isn't another balanced fund that is exactly like Wellesley since the portfolios held by these large balanced funds are complicated and their management is too.

But maybe what you really want is a balanced fund with about the same percentage of stocks (38.05% at the moment). Here is some information on Wellesley's portfolio:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0527&FundIntExt=INT#hist=tab:2

Good luck in your search. I think Wellesley is one of a kind.

I think Wellesley is a good fund for dividend income.

 

[Dawg52]

Better than mom's apple pie. Just ask Unclemick.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

TRP has a retirement income fund, TRRIX, which is a 35:65 balanced fund managed for income. In the past year or so it lost more than Wellesley by about 4 absolute percentage points. In the past month or so it is gaining. I prefer Wellesley because the stock allocation seems to be more geared toward income than gains, but DW has the TRP fund in her individual 401K. TRRIX is decent, but nothing special.

 

[FUEGO]

I seem to recall fidelity has a fund called "Puritan" that does this type of thing. I can't recall the exact mix of investments or stocks and bonds. Of course the expense ratio is 140% higher than vanguard's (even more if you can afford Admiral shares).

Edit to add: I looked it up. Puritan is 60/40 stocks/bonds. Wellesley is 35/65 or so.

 

[nwsteve]

I was looking for a comparable balanced fund and came across Janus Balance--Jabax. Also Oakmark has similar fund. Both are ntf at Fido.
Janus actually outperforms both Wellesley and Wellington and is 5 star rated.
Nwsteve

 

[youbet]

I was looking for a comparable balanced fund and came across Janus Balance--Jabax. Also Oakmark has similar fund. Both are ntf at Fido.
Janus actually outperforms both Wellesley and Wellington and is 5 star rated.
Nwsteve

I purchased equal amounts of Wellesley and Janus Balanced last August in DW's IRA with divs and cap gains reinvested. (Couldn't make up my mind.) Since then, the Janus fund has been slightly more volatile but is currently a fraction of a percent ahead in total NAV. I like 'em both.

 

[Lawrence of Suburbia]

I don't have a teddy bear, so I hold my Wellesley semiannual report (which just arrived!) close and feel secure.

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm - back from a short week trip to New Orleans - or more properly Bush, Slidell, Covington.

Sooo - pssst well you know who.

heh heh heh -

 

[Gotadimple]

So, JABAX comes reasonably close, except one would spend 3x the amount in expense fees (.79 vs .25 for Wellesley). That would be fine, but any other fund needs to consistently outperform Wellesley to justify the increase in expenses.

I haven't found one that can do that.

I don't own Wellesley.

Rita

 

[youbet]

So, JABAX comes reasonably close, except one would spend 3x the amount in expense fees (.79 vs .25 for Wellesley). That would be fine, but any other fund needs to consistently outperform Wellesley to justify the increase in expenses.

I haven't found one that can do that.

I don't own Wellesley.

Rita

Looking at this chart (credit to Schwab fund research), my experience since buying both last August seems to be verified. Janus has more volatility (higher highs, lower lows) but not much. The past few months, Janus has outperformed by a small margin. The big difference seems to be in div payouts with Wellesley at 5.5% and Janus Balanced at 2.3% Not a factor for DW since she isn't looking for income from this money for about nine years.

BTW, Janus is categorized as moderate allocation and Wellesley is conservative allocation although both have approximately the same fixed/equity ratios.

You pay your money, you take your chances.