What Kind of Bonds Do You Hold?

[modhatter]

I know a lot of you hold Vanguard Total Bond Fund. Do you hold the ETF or the Fund?

How many others slice and dice their bond funds? If so, what kind of slicing are you doing? How many hold individual bonds to maturity? Thought it might be interesting to hear.

 

[nun]

I know a lot of you hold Vanguard Total Bond Fund. Do you hold the ETF or the Fund?

How many others slice and dice their bond funds? If so, what kind of slicing are you doing? How many hold individual bonds to maturity? Thought it might be interesting to hear.

I hold Vanguard Total Bond Index fund (VBTLX), Vanguard Intermediate Term Investment Grade fund (VFIDX), Wellesley, CREF Bond Market, and a Stable Value Income fund. I don't drink the "individual bonds to maturity" coolaid

 

[pb4uski]

I hold Vanguard Short Term Bond fund (I view it more as cash than as a bond), Total Intermediate Term Corporate Bond, Total International Bond and Guggenheim Bulletshares (2019 and 2020 Corporate and the 2017 and 2018 High Yield). All funds other than the Bulletshares which are ETFs.

My targets within bonds are 80% domestic bonds and 20% international bonds, and 20% high yield within domestic bonds.

 

[FIREd]

We own the following bond funds:

Pimco Total Return (only bond option in DW's 401K)
Vanguard intermediate-term investment grade (IRA)
Vanguard intermediate-term index (IRA)
Vanguard California intermediate-term tax exempt (taxable account)

In addition, I own individual i-bonds.

 

[W2R]

Just funds;

TSP "G Fund"
Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund (VBTLX)
Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund (VWIAX)

 

[teejayevans]

Short term TIPs, Short term Corp, High Yield, Total Intl

 

[racy]

In order of magnitude:
Short Term Investment Grade
Wellesley (let some 'smart' guys handle some!)
Intermediate Term Investment Grade
Total International Bond Index
High Yield Corporate

 

[Alan]

VG Target 2010 has a selection of bond funds
Fidelity Freedom 2010 also has a selection of bond funds
Wellesley
Wellington
I-Bonds
Also use VG short term bond fund as a savings account

 

[RE2Boys]

In order of amount:
I Bonds (from the days of inflation + 3%)
TSP G Fund
and the bond portion of Wellington

For cash use
T Rowe Price Short Term Bond Fund
GE Interest Plus
Duke Premier Notes

Last May liquidated a large (for me) position in T Rowe Price Spectrum Income Fund

 

[MooreBonds]

As of now, just I-bonds, a chunk of different preferred stocks, maybe 3 floating-rate ETF funds, and a small position in Wellington/Wellesley/Vanguard Convertible Bond fund

 

[Lsbcal]

In order of allocations:

BOND - Pimco Total Return etf
DODIX - Dodge and Cox
Ibonds - 3.4% oldies
VFSUX - Vanguard short term investment grade

Here is how they did in the last rate rise from 2003 to 2007:

 

[modhatter]

In order of allocations:

BOND - Pimco Total Return etf
DODIX - Dodge and Cox
Ibonds - 3.4% oldies
VFSUX - Vanguard short term investment grade

Here is how they did in the last rate rise from 2003 to 2007:

Your Pimpco did really nicely. Guess there's something good to say about the bond master.

I also learned something. I knew nothing about the Guggenheim Bulletshares before. Seems like a good idea.

I was beginning to wonder if everybody just bought the Total Bond Market.
Not that there's anything wrong with that at all. I don't know what it is about me. I think maybe because I'm a guilty of being somewhat of a control freak, I just like the idea of picking out my own mix. But of course, as usual, I just make things harder for myself and my choices might not be the best.

Is any one holding tax exempt (muni) bond fund in their taxable accounts?
I have little room in my Roth, so most must go into regular taxable account.

 

[scrabbler1]

I have a lot in bond funds.

In my taxable accounts, I have a big blob in the Fidelity Focused High Income Fund, which invests in bonds at or slightly below investment grade (BBB, BB, B). That is what pays out most of the dividends I use to cover my expenses. I have smaller blobs in the Dreyfus Intermediate Muni Income Fund and Fidelity's New York Muni Income Fund, both funds holdovers from my working days when I was in a higher tax bracket. Both have checkwriting privileges which is handy.

In my IRA I have about half of it in the Fidelity Intermediate Bond Fund which was a fairly close match to the Stable Value fund in my old 401k before I did the Rollover 5 years ago.

 

[Bikerdude]

I'm currently invested in the following bond funds/bonds/balanced fund:

LSGLX
VFIIX
VWEHX
VWELX
VFSTX
VFICX
I-Bonds

 

[bmcgonig]

Anyone buying closed end muni or bond funds that are now trading at large discounts ?

 

[Midpack]

Only bond funds, equally split between:

- Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBTLX)
- Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade Fund Admiral Shares (VFSUX)

The second as a (short) duration tilt. If not for the inevitable rate increase (who knows when), I'd be satisfied with all TBM.

 

[donheff]

We have a big slug of PIMCO Total Return in DW's 401K; a moderate amount of VG Intermediate Term and a bit of VG Short Term in an IRA; and a large chunk of the TSP G Fund (treasuries). I am not sure what, if anything, to do with the PIMCO. DW's plan now offers the VG indexes as options but a lot of people like PIMCO. Do you GURUs here like PIMCO Total Return or recommend moving over to the VG indexes?

 

[Fermion]

We have all of our bond allocation in PIMCO total in 401K also but it is at a historic low for us (20% of our money is in bonds, 20% cash, 60% stocks).

I guess cash could be considered a bond with a slightly better return this year than most bond funds.

 

[Lsbcal]

We have a big slug of PIMCO Total Return in DW's 401K; a moderate amount of VG Intermediate Term and a bit of VG Short Term in an IRA; and a large chunk of the TSP G Fund (treasuries). I am not sure what, if anything, to do with the PIMCO. DW's plan now offers the VG indexes as options but a lot of people like PIMCO. Do you GURUs here like PIMCO Total Return or recommend moving over to the VG indexes?

I'm not an exalted guru but from my previous post you can see what I've gravitated towards. Below is a Morningstar 12 month rolling returns graph for PTTRX versus VBTLX (Vanguard Total Bond Mkt). You can see that PTTRX has generally outperformed but occasionally VBMFX does. The 15 year returns are PTTRX 6.5% and VBMFX 5.1%. With admiral shares (VBTLX) one can add another 0.1% to the Total Bond Mkt return.

You can go to Bogleheads where there have occasionally been (sometimes heated but always amusing to me) discussions of Pimco Total Return and Bill Gross.

 

[gerntz]

short/medium/global/muni/high income funds. About 10 in all. Then hold a few old E bonds & individual munis. Not Treasuries. Pay way too little.

 

[veremchuka]

Stable Value fund in 401k
Vanguard Intermediate Term Corporate Bond Fund
Vanguard Short Term Corporate Bond Fund

 

[MDJO]

Wellsley; cash balance pension plan serves as part of bond portfolio as it is pegged to five year treasury, but has a guarantee of no less than 2.8%. Occasionally individual bonds & GE Capital Savings account paying .9 % for short term cash bucket.

 

[grasshopper]

Currently all our tax free/advantaged space is in Wellesley and a little VBTLX for portfolio ratio adjustment. Taxable all stock with about 13% cash waiting for distributions at the end of this quarter to do some adjustments/buying.

 

[modhatter]

short/medium/global/muni/high income funds. About 10 in all. Then hold a few old E bonds & individual munis. Not Treasuries. Pay way too little.

Interesting information. I kind of got the feeling that more people held more treasuries and less corp bonds, but it appears to be just the opposite, though this is a small sampling. I agree with poster above. I find it hard to purchase treasuries at the prevailing rates. But of course if we had another
2008-2009, or a 20's depression again, I might feel differently. How secure the short and intermediate bonds would be, I don't know.

 

[foxfirev5]

401k Stable Value Fund , No GIC ,ST Treas only - 34%
Pimco TR PTTRX - 26%
Vanguard Total Bond Instl. - 21%
Vanguard Hi Yld Corp - 8.5%
Vanguard ST Corp - 7%
Fidelity New Mkt Income - 3.5%

New contributions for the 401k are going into the SV fund to secure over 5 years expenses as a base. I plan to start W/D's in approx 2 years.