Learning Center

Deciding Between Individual Bonds and Bond Funds

Date06 Feb 2013

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We use both individual bonds and bond funds for our clients. It can be confusing why one strategy for buying bonds is preferable to another, but in reality the reasoning is fairly straightforward: It comes down to costs, diversification and liquidity needs. Individual Bonds Our overall approach to investing emphasizes taking risk through a diversified...

2012: The Year it Didn’t Happen

Date21 Jan 2013

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Author: Weston Wellington, DFA Judging by the headlines in the financial press, investors spent much of the past year anxiously awaiting one calamity after another that failed to occur. The plunge off the so-called fiscal cliff was averted. The euro zone did not fall apart. China’s economy and stock market did not crash. The bond...

In Context Newsletter – Fall 2012

Date07 Nov 2012

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For the majority of 2012, events both economic and political have left Americans with more questions than answers. Most investors would agree that recent times have been fraught with uncertainty. How should we approach the uncertainty associated with financial matters, such as what will tax rates be in 2013, or when and how will the Eurozone crisis be resolved? Investors can approach this from three different perspectives.

Resolutions for 2013

Date17 Oct 2012

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Overview: Author Carl Richards, director of investor education for the BAM ALLIANCE, shares his views on New Year’s resolutions. The New Year’s holiday is a great time to reflect on what’s really important to us. Spending time with family and friends can help us get focused on where we’re at right now and where we...

Lessons From 2012

Date17 Oct 2012

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Overview: Each year, author Larry Swedroe, director of research for the BAM ALLIANCE, takes a look back at the investing lessons the markets provided in the past year. Introduction Over the majority of 2012, our collective attention was focused on several events: Our continuing fiscal deficits and our ability to continue to fund them What...

Managing Municipal Market Credit Risk

Date06 Aug 2012

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Our process for managing credit risk in individual municipal bonds goes well beyond the credit ratings that they are assigned by credit rating agencies. While we believe these ratings have value, and they are one piece of information we consider, we also evaluate other parameters such as the bond issuer’s municipal market sector, municipality revenues...

The Risks of Yield-Seeking Strategies

Date03 Aug 2012

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In the past few years, some investors have asked us whether they should replace a portion of their high-quality bonds or bond mutual fund holdings with strategies ranging from high-dividend stocks to oil and gas master limited partnerships because “rates are low.” We have generally counseled investors that every one of these strategies involves substantially...

High-Yield Corporate Bonds as an Asset Class

Date09 Jul 2012

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Vanguard recently announced that it would be closing its high-yield corporate fund “effective immediately” and that the fund had received “approximately $2 billion” of flows over the past six months. While growth of Vanguard’s assets under management is almost always a good thing, a fund shuttering its doors to new flows makes one wonder just...

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