At last, the Federal Reserve has ended the Quantitative Easing program. This may have serious implications for fixed income investments and interest rates. Many investors believe that the Fed will increase short term interest rates in 2015 and … [Read more...]
Are You Really a “Long-Term” Bond Investor?
When it comes to investing, there are millions of people who would describe themselves as “long-term investors.” This description generally refers to someone who has a time frame of many years (think decades) and is willing to ride the ups and downs … [Read more...]
How to avoid the #1 mistake made by bond fund investors
Many bond investors top priority is income, which leads them to place a heavy emphasis on a fund's yield when making investment decisions. To show you why that’s a mistake, and why you should focus on total return instead, lets take a look at an … [Read more...]
Best Municipal Bond Funds for 2013 and Beyond
Here at Learn Bonds we strive to make the process of choosing a bond fund easy. That’s why we released our LB Ratings program, which gives you our thoughts on the best bond funds from each of 5 categories. Below is our list of the best municipal … [Read more...]
Will Your Balanced Fund Protect You In The Next Bear Market?
I recently attended a luncheon at which a balanced fund manager for a well-known financial services provider spoke. He shared several thoughts about the current investing environment and also touted his fund’s performance during the 2007 to 2009 … [Read more...]
Best Bond Funds for 2013 and Beyond
One of our primary goals here at Learn Bonds is to make the process of choosing a bond fund easy. With this goal in mind we launched our free bond fund rating reports, called LB Ratings, earlier this year. While we put our stamp of approval on all … [Read more...]
The 5 Best Bond Funds Available Today
Not all bond funds will provide you protection from the turbulence of the stock market. If you are looking for the best bond funds which will act as a shock absorber to the stock market, we suggest that you choose of one of the funds below. All the … [Read more...]
Convertible Bond Funds: Equity market returns with less risk?
Convertible bond funds, are bond mutual funds and ETFs that invest in bonds which can be converted into stock at a fixed price. If the stock does well, convertible bondholders benefit. On the other hand, if the company goes into bankruptcy, … [Read more...]
3 Income Investing Ideas: Dividend Stocks, High Yield Bonds, MLPs
(September 2012) While our parents' generation may have expected their retirement to last 10 or 15 years, couples today expect their retirements to last 27 years on average (according to a survey by investment manager BlackRock). The change in … [Read more...]
Defined Maturity Bond Funds – Don’t Confuse These Great Products With Target Date Funds
Defined maturity funds, which are also known as target maturity bond funds, have been around for a few years, but have yet to become very popular. Once interest rates start rising, we believe that many investors will start switching from traditional … [Read more...]
The “Risk Tolerance” Mistake That Could Lead You To Financial Disaster
I read a number of great personal finance blogs including the Oblivious Investor written by Michael Piper. Recently, I found a guest post by him on the Bible Money Matters blog, called How To Determine Your Risk Tolerance. In the article, he … [Read more...]
AGG vs. BND Bond ETFs: Which One is Better?
AGG and BND are often mentioned in the same breath as Bond ETFs that give broad bond market exposure. If you are looking for a core bond fund for your portfolio then both funds are worth a look. However there are a few differences worth looking at … [Read more...]
AGG ETF LB Rating – What You Should Know Before Investing
Symbol: AGG Category: Core Bond Funds Style: Passive LB Rating: **** 4 Stars Last Updated: 9/5/2012 Useful Links Choosing a bond fund with LB Ratings AGG ETF Price Chart AGG Vs BND The 5 Major Bond ETFs and The Indexes They … [Read more...]
The 5 Star LB Ratings System
The LB Ratings system is a 5 star system with Fund’s rated 1 star being the worst and 5 stars being the best. Here is the rationale behind the LB Ratings system and the factors which go into each level. We love the fund … [Read more...]
LB Ratings – Bond Fund Categories and Allocation
Having the right category allocation is just as important as having a highly rated fund. For this reason LB ratings will always have a category associated with them. Sample Asset … [Read more...]
Are Online Allocation Tools Useless?
Many financial advisory firms offer tools that,with a few quick questions, provide you “advice” as how to divide your money between different categories of stock and bond funds. I tried several of these tools, including the one offered by Ameriprise, … [Read more...]
PIMCO Commodity Real Return Fund – Not the Inflation Protector it Claims to Be
Since 2002, PIMCO has offered the PIMCO Commodity Real Return Fund (PCRAX). The fund’s fact sheet (published on June 30th, 2012), describes it as “Capturing The Diversification and Inflation-Hedging Potential of Commodities”. The marketing for … [Read more...]
How to Choose a High Yield Bond Fund
So you’ve read our article on high yield bond funds and are ready to choose one for yourself? How do you choose the right fund from the hundreds of available options? Follow the Learn Bonds 6 steps to choosing a high yield bond fund: We … [Read more...]
How to Choose a Municipal Bond Fund
There are over 2,000 municipal bond funds, however most people will invest in only 1 or 2. Here are some simple steps which will allow you to filter through all the options and chose the fund that’s right for you. Step 1: State Specific … [Read more...]
Core Bond Funds – How to Choose One in 8 Simple Steps
So you’ve read our article on core bond funds and are ready to choose one for yourself. How do you choose the right fund from the thousands of available options? Step 1: Passive vs. Active Core Bond Funds? There are two types of core … [Read more...]