Balanced Funds and Bonds

[okapi]

I have always invested in balanced funds.I have a large holding in Wellesley Fund.Wondering if other Wellesley or balanced fund investors changed their holdings due to all the bond bubble talk.Like to know if your holding or if not where are you investing this X-balanced fund money. Cheers

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by okapi Wondering if other Wellesley or balanced fund investors changed their holdings due to all the bond bubble talk.Like to know if your holding or if not where are you investing this X-balanced fund money.

No change here - I'm sticking with my holdings in Wellesley and Wellington.

I try to remain fairly close to my target AA and not pay a great deal of attention to which way the forecasters say the wind will blow. My history of attempting to time the market is dismal.

[nun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo No change here - I'm sticking with my holdings in Wellesley and Wellington. I try to remain fairly close to my target AA and not pay a great deal of attention to which way the forecasters say the wind will blow. My history of attempting to time the market is dismal.

Same here, I figure the folks at Wellington are doing anything necessary. Wellesley has performed well through thick and thin so I see no reason why it shouldn't continue to do the same.

On the bond side I'm sticking with intermediate (5 year) durations, as it's money I won't need for a few years

[grumpy]

I don't own any bond funds. My only bond exposure has been a big slug of I-Bonds. But in 2002 I inherited my mother's IRA which was invested in the Vanguard Balanced Index - VBINX. I decided to leave it there. Despite my taking an RMD each year since then based on my life expectancy, the fund is still worth more than when I inherited it.

DW recently inherited her father's IRA which is invested in the Franklin Income Fund. We are considering rolling it over to a Vanguard balanced fund as well.

[LOL!]

I do not own any balanced funds because I put bonds in tax-advantaged accounts and have only stocks in taxable accounts. Balanced funds are tax-inefficient for me. Maybe they are for you as well? It doesn't matter what the performance is, it a big chunk of it is going to taxes.

[nun]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! I do not own any balanced funds because I put bonds in tax-advantaged accounts and have only stocks in taxable accounts. Balanced funds are tax-inefficient for me. Maybe they are for you as well? It doesn't matter what the performance is, it a big chunk of it is going to taxes.

I too have only stocks in taxable accounts, but I still own Wellesley in my IRA along with bond index funds and some stock index funds. I can see that if your taxable account is of comparable or larger size than your tax deferred account you might not own something like Wellesley, as you'd fill up your tax deferred with bonds and might need some tax free bonds in taxable to to satisfy your AA. Wellesley isn't very tax efficient.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo No change here - I'm sticking with my holdings in Wellesley and Wellington. I try to remain fairly close to my target AA and not pay a great deal of attention to which way the forecasters say the wind will blow. My history of attempting to time the market is dismal.

My asset allocation includes 30% Wellesley, and like REWahoo and others here that hold Wellesley I have made no changes in the percentage of Wellesley that I hold or in my overall asset allocation due to the bond bubble talk.

If the bond bubble bursts, I expect Wellesley shares will fall in value for a period of time. Should that happen, I plan to make no changes other than rebalancing to maintain my planned asset allocation.