Name a Bond Fund: It’s Probably Down. Here’s Why.

If you own a bond fund, it’s probably down in recent months. Let’s talk about why and walk through three popular fixed-income ideas from worst to first. We’ll start with the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) . TLT is the knee-jerk investment that many “first-level” investors buy when they are looking for bond exposure. Unfortunately, there are two big problems with TLT: It only yields 2.1%. Worse yet, its 19-year duration is drubbing its total returns. Any kid knows that 19 years is “way too long” to hold a bond when inflation is running a hot 7.5%. (Please, somebody get these TLT investors a Contrarian Income Report subscription!)… Read more