I've moved on from bond funds. I never understood them, and I made that clear several times on MFO. With my newly discovered freedom selling puts, I have absolutely no use for them.
The only out and out bond funds I owned were RSIVX and RPHYX. I expect to lose them by EOY. SIRIX and SSIIX I have to think about. I might get rid of some balanced funds as well. This year I'm going to greatly reduce the number of funds I own. I have previously belittled nonsense about owning "too many funds". I still don't have issue with it. Just that I've found a better mousetrap.
Most of all, I'm sorry to say WFH due to Covid has been good to my health as well as wealth. I will not apologize for it. 007 can take a hike AFAIC.

Just reporting, I've sold my RPHYX and RSIVX in my IRA. I will be doing options trading for generating income. After approximately a month of doing so in my taxable account, I feel quite comfortable I can exceed the returns either / both funds can provide and with a KNOWN level of risk. In other words, I've decided to trust myself instead of a fund manager.
Going back to my stance prior to buying outright bond funds. No more.
PS - Just to close out the situation with Vanguard. Getting options approval is so painful, I'm just not doing it. I have approval at Fido and Schwab, so I'm moving money out of Vanguard and will do options with them at other brokerages.

I have Merrill Edge. If there is one, they are making a good job of hiding it. Frankly as I mentioned on another thread, I've resorted to learning how PUT options work and selling "way out of the money puts". I'm getting comfortable with doing so and really, really close to ditching even RPHYX and RSIVX as well.
I'm expecting very very low yield environment. Election year, stock market has to be pumped up, Corona is not a beer anymore, and fed doubled down on printing money = rates going to zero.

commisions are non-existent. you only pay by # of contracts you trade. And it is 65 cents at Schwab, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade. At Vanguard it is $1.0
I made $500 selling OTM puts in SPY last week in my fidelity account. SPY has 3 expiry dates every week. I just sold PUTs the day before each expiry. It was ridiculously easy.
There is something called beginners luck. I'm going to give this couple of months. If I continue to generate this kind of money I don't need RPHYX and RSIVX.

@MikeM and @expatsp you are right. However, RPHYX *was* touted as a cash substitute. For RSIVX I can take 100% of the blame.
Looking on the positive side, this market has taught me 2 things.
Don't effing buy what you don't understand. I still wanted to own some bonds and paid the price.
Diversifying with more long-short funds is not the same as diversifying with equity funds.
I own NCLIX and I own RMBFX at Schwab. One doing the trick, one not. i expect to reduce one fund, no guesses for which.

Just as a reminder, RPHYX is the Short Term High Yield Fund and RSIVX is Strategic Income. The former is down 2.5%, the latter down 14.5% as of 3/23/20.

@catch22 Actually I would challenge the notion. It is not secret I am bond challenged. I've also mentioned 007 doesn't know jack s*** - stirred tastes better than shaken.
When I buy bond funds I HAVE to trust the manager. This the reason I seldom buy bond funds outright. Imagine buying IOFIX "knowing what's under the hood". I'm just glad I didn't buy it.
Back to RPHYX and RSIVX. I expected these to be low risk funds. Now "low risk" is in the eye of the beholder. However when I look at FPNIX, at least I have some confidence. With RPHYX...mea. With RSIVX I'm not happy.
I bought RPHYX and FPNIX risking funds I would otherwise have put in money market.
I bought RSIVX because I thought PTTRX is risky. WTF? Please tell me ONE person who thought PTTRX is a better risk/reward bets in the "sky is falling on bonds" world where every Tom, Dick and Harry is saying buy funds with short durations. They've been wrong on this for at least 10 years.
But tell you what. Let me but PTTRX. It will promptly tank 20%.

Hi @VintageFreak
A quick look at the portfolio of the fund ( RSIVX ) you mentioned indicate why the recent price drops.
First, a quick look at S&P's bond rating guide:
"AAA" and "AA" (high credit quality) and "A" and "BBB" (medium credit quality) are considered investment grade. Credit ratings for bonds below these designations ("BB," "B," "CCC," etc.) are considered low credit quality, and are commonly referred to as "junk bonds".
RSIVX , per M* has an overall rating of "B" rating. Also, as a compare; an excellent high yield/junk bond fund ARTFX has a SEC yield of 6.25%, while RSIVX has a SEC yield of 5.53%. For me, this also indicates that RSIVX is closer to "junk" status for its holdings.
Corporate bonds in particular, have not fared well during this melt period.
There remains a lot of stress going forward in the ability of companies to be able to service their debt properly.
RSIVX bond grade holdings:
Grade / Fund %
AAA/ 0.00
AA/ 0.00
A/ 0.64%
BBB/ 23.72%
BB/ 30.51%
B/ 38.18%
Below B/ 6.95%
Not Rated/ 0.00
Lastly, regardless of the "name type" (strategic, total, etc.) of a fund, one needs to know what is under the hood, yes?
My 2 cents worth.
Take care,
Catch

I want some answers on RSIVX not RPHYX.

Maybe I should try another site ? So much for Yahoo finance !! Schwab shows rsivx -7.49 % YTD.
Derf

Should have acted on Mr. Snowball's musings. What are the chances RSIVX will recover its YTD losses by EOY?

There is a reason majority of my cash is in VMMXX...the only thing safer would be a bank money market fund. I do have a smattering of RPHYX and RSIVX.

While I agree that a bank money market account, so long as it were within FDIC insurance limits, would be safer than VMMXX, I consider VUSXX to be safer still.
VMMXX holds corporate debt and can break a buck. While it is the "sense of Congress" that the FDIC is backed by the Treasury, there is no statute providing that level of backing. In contrast, the treasuries held by VUSXX are backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.
Dancing on the head of a pin, perhaps.
As of 1/14/20, M* reports identical 1 year returns for VMMXX and RPHYX of 2.20%, which means that RPHIX has returned about a quarter percent more than the MMF (no 12b-1 fee).

@RisklessInSeattle There is a reason majority of my cash is in VMMXX...the only thing safer would be a bank money market fund. I do have a smattering of RPHYX and RSIVX.

I am looking for some punch over my MM funds with minimum risk. I am not too happy with RPHYX and RSIVX.

You might look at the other fund in the Semper stable too: SEMRX/SEMIX. Mostly mortgages, very short duration (0.4), mostly investment grade, current distribution yield ~ 3%, avg. price a shade over par, 5* in M*'s ultrashort bond category.
NAV risk is pretty well contained in the current environment: NAV's varied in a very narrow range (9.88-9.90) since April 15, per Yahoo historic price tables.
Again, it's mostly floating rate, 74% per the current fact sheet.
Good luck out there -- AJ
P.S. I've been thinking of dumping one of the rate-sensitive funds I own now and partially replacing it with SEMRX next time there's a dip in T rates. I don't think holding a slug of intermediate and long duration is going to be the winner it was for a while there, and if another big rate dive does materialize, it's easy enough to rent exposure thru TLT or IEF.

confused. please tell me fund that has lowest risk. I thought MBS had much higher risk than another SD fund with same characteristics. Or is my judgement being clouded by the financial crisis?
I am looking for some punch over my MM funds with minimum risk. I am not too happy with RPHYX and RSIVX.

how the heck are these funds doing this? I know if I buy they will start tanking.
All who own this funds please thank me.
I have RPHYX, RSIVX, and FPNIX

Agree with jojo. I think Ted laid it out pretty well for a general overview of investments.

Sorry, but exactly "how aggressive" someone is investing in retirement NEEDs information regarding how much cash that individual holds.
If I have 90% cash and 5% in PONCX and 5% in ETFs, is not aggressive. That's like saying if you take a photo of me at exactly certain latitude and longitude, at a certain distance, in a certain light, and wearing glasses that cloud vision, I look like Brad Pitt.
I think people know I don't do bonds except for RPHYX and RSIVX, but they are a smattering of my total investments. If I simply total up whatever I've invested and not in VMMXX, then I will also be an aggressive investor. Fact is I am a wimp.
Bottom line, if subject line says "here's my asset allocation", then it should say something like
40% Cash (i.e. FDIC insured)
20% Money Markets (e.g. VMMXX, etc. etc.)
20% Domestic (e.g. VTMSX)
10% International (e.g. VTPSX)
10% Fixed Income (e.g. PONCX)
Then there is also no need to say "its' aggressive" or "its not aggressive", yeah?
A post such as above would not need so many more posts following it to ask questions. But I do understand we are all bored and this is so much better than Effbooking eh?

HOBEX yield is 3%. RPHYX is 2.3%. RSIVX is 5%. And VMMXX is a "risk free" 2.0%.
I am all bonded out. So not buying HOBEX or ZEOIX for that matter. If interest rates keep rising VMMXX will keep up with it. Just does not make sense to me to go further out to make an extra % and risk a break. Wish such funds were available 3 years back.

The only TRUE bond funds I own are RPHYX and RSIVX.
If I feel "secure" and if interest rates hit 4% I might consider buying treasuries directly and holding for dear life.

If what one wants is two year treasuries, why not just buy them directly? Virtually zero credit risk, zero cost to buy, zero cost to own.
Just missed this month's auction:
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/press_secannpr.htm

Only because I'm no James Bond and would think buying MF would be easier. There's a reason I don't invest in individual bonds. I really don't get them. Even bond funds I don't beyond "money market". RPHYX and RSIVX are my only bond funds.