@msf,
I do not think I follow this (can you pl elaborate, may be with an example)?
"Deductibility of IRAs is based on another form of MAGI"

To calculate MAGI for IRMAA purposes, you add in tax-exempt income (line 2a of the 1040).
https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0601101010
Contributions to an IRA cannot be deducted if MAGI exceeds certain amounts. For 2025, they are $146K (MFJ) and $89K. You can still contribute (assuming you have taxable compensation); you just can't deduct the contributions.
MAGI for IRA deductibility purposes follows Worksheet 1-1 in Pub 590-A. This adds in a half dozen other amounts, but does not add in tax-exempt income.
More generally,

Your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is your adjusted gross income with some of those adjustments added back. It determines whether you qualify for certain deductions, credits and other tax benefits, and how much you qualify for. MAGI is calculated differently for each benefit.

https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/definition-of-adjusted-gross-income

For a muni fund with a wide range of duration, one can look outside the box (national muni funds).
STWTX / STWVX (Hartford Schroders Tax-Aware Bond Fund) was classified as a muni fund through 2018. Since then it's been classified as a taxable bond fund. As M* describes the fund:

It often holds 70%-80% of assets in munis but will make big shifts to this allocation when its managers see more value there. [In 2020-2021 it dropped munis to 50%-60% of the portfolio. Since 2022 munis have constituted 70%+ of the fund.]

Currently, 93% of its assets are muni bonds.
With respect to duration:

The Fund may invest in fixed income securities of any maturity or duration. The Fund’s effective duration may vary overtime

Summary Prospectus.
M* shows that over the past five years, the fund's style box has ranged from short term/middle grade to long term/high grade. In words, M* writes:

duration stood at just under 4.0 years for most of 2019 through the end of 2021, but it extended again throughout 2022 and 2023 to over 9.0 years

Where the rubber meets the road:
Even on a pre-tax basis, BSNIX has performed significantly better. But as its prospectus says, it does not go long. (See also its fixed income style map here.) Both funds are five star funds. I'd stick with the lower risk, higher performing Baird fund.
Wide ranging funds, even five star funds, are not always what they're cracked up to be.

I own Baird Strategic Municipal Bond BSNIX (current duration 4.28 year) as well as Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt VWIUX (current duration 5.6 years). In the past, I have used them for tax-loss harvesting and currently have a much larger position in BSNIX.
I am please with BSNIX and have concluded that the additional 21 basis points in the ER has been well worth it. BSNIX 12 month, 3-year, and 5-year returns have been significantly better, with a higher 3-year alpha and a lower Standard Deviation. I had also looked at NSAOX, but the considerably higher Standard Deviation scared me away.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1539996/000116204425000126/dss497.htm
DSS AmericaFirst Total Return Bond Fund
Class A: DGQAX
Class U: DGQUX
Class I: DGQIX
FEBRUARY 6, 2025
SUPPLEMENT TO THE PROSPECTUS AND SUMMARY PROSPECTUS DATED NOVEMBER 1, 2024
______________________________________________________________________________
The Board of Trustees of DSS AmericaFirst Funds (the “Trust”) has concluded that it is in the best interests of the DSS AmericaFirst Total Return Bond Fund (the “Fund”) and its shareholders that the Fund cease operations. The Board has determined to close the Fund and redeem all outstanding shares no later than the close of business on February 28, 2025.
Effective immediately, the Fund will not accept any new investments. In the near term, the Fund will begin liquidating its portfolio and will invest in cash or cash equivalents (such as money market funds) until all shares have been redeemed. The Fund will not be able to pursue its stated investment objective once it begins liquidating its portfolio. Shares of the Fund are otherwise not available for purchase.
Even though the DSS AmericaFirst Total Return Bond Fund is closing, you may wish to continue your investment with another fund in the DSS AmericaFirst fund family. Prior to February 28, 2025, you may exchange your shares, in accordance with the “How to Exchange Shares” section of the Fund’s Prospectus, which allows shareholders to exchange their shares in the Fund for the same share class of another DSS AmerficaFirst fund, as listed below. The Board is waiving the share exchange minimum so that exchanges may be made with any amount of shares.
DSS AmericaFirst Income Fund
Class A: AFPAX Class U: AFPUX Class I: AFPIX
DSS AmericaFirst Monthly Risk-On Risk-Off Fund
Class A: ABRFX Class U: ABRUX Class I: ABRWX
DSS AmericaFirst Alpha Trends Factor Fund
Class A: SBQAX Class U: SBQUX Class I: SBQIX
You may exchange shares either by telephone by calling 1-877-217-8501, if you have not canceled your telephone privilege, or in writing. Written requests for exchange must provide the following:
·current Fund’s name;
·account names and numbers;
·name of the Fund and share class you wish to exchange your shares into;
·the amount you wish to exchange;
·specify the shareholder privileges you wish to retain (e.g., Telephone Privileges); and
·signatures of all registered owners.
To exchange shares by telephone, you should call 1-877-217-8501 on any day the Funds are open. The Fund will process telephone requests made after the close of business on the next business day. You should notify the Funds in writing of all shareholder service privileges you wish to continue in any new account opened by a telephone exchange request. Please note that the Funds will only accept exchanges if your ownership registrations in both accounts are identical.
Prior to February 28, 2025, you may redeem your shares, in accordance with the “How to Redeem Shares” section of the Fund’s Prospectus. Unless your investment in the Fund is through a tax-deferred retirement account, a redemption is subject to tax on any taxable gains. Please refer to the “Dividends, Distributions and Taxes” section in the Prospectus for general information. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of any redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another Individual Retirement Account within sixty (60) days of the date of the distribution in order to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you receive a distribution from a 403(b)(7) Custodian Account (Tax-Sheltered account) or a Keogh Account, you must roll the distribution into a similar type of retirement plan within sixty (60) days in order to avoid disqualification of your plan and the severe tax consequences that it can bring. If you are the trustee of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may reinvest the money in any way permitted by the plan and trust agreement.
ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT REDEEMED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUND PRIOR TO FEBRUARY 28, 2025, WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT TO THE ADDRESS OF RECORD. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR DIRECTLY OR THE FUND AT 1-877-217-8501.
________________________
The Prospectus, Summary Prospectus for the Fund and Statement of Additional Information each dated November 1, 2025, and as may be supplemented, each provide information about the Fund and should be retained for future reference. These documents have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are incorporated herein by reference. All of these documents are available upon request and without charge by calling toll free 1-877-217-8501.
Please retain this Supplement for future reference.

@a2z
Have you considered Baird Strategic Municipal Bond Fund?
I'm not sure how the fund's targeted duration would align with your preferred 1 yr. - 8 yr. period.
"It targets an average maturity in the short to
intermediate-term range, investing across the
1-15 year segment of the yield curve. The
team utilizes yield curve positioning in the
investment management process to capture
pricing inefficiencies and optimize yield and
'roll' while striving for tax efficiency."
"While obligations of any maturity may be
purchased, under normal circumstances, the
Fund’s dollar-weighted average effective
maturity is generally expected to be between
three months and ten years. The Fund has a
targeted duration of +/- 2 years to its
benchmark."
https://www.bairdassetmanagement.com/siteassets/pdfs/fact-sheets/bond-strategic-muni-fact-sheet.pdf

TSP Folio updated this AM to 4.625% (unchanged).

Ultra-ultra-short munis is an interesting idea. There don't seem to be many competitors, though access to any of them (including FHMIX) can be challenging. Clearly such funds are best used in taxable accounts.
FHMIX - Fidelity, TF, $25K min. Elsewhere $1M min.
ATOIX - Schwab, TF, $1min. Elsewhere $1M min.
ATOAX - Various, NTF, $100-$2500 min.
TFCAX - Fidelity & TIAA, TF, $100K min. Elsewhere access limited.
These funds are useful if they return more, after tax, than MMFs. They may be useful even if their after-tax returns are similar to MMFs if one is seeking to reduce AGI.
For example, Medicare surcharges (IRMAA) are based on one form of MAGI. Deductibility of IRAs is based on another form of MAGI. And so on.
But if AGI is not a concern, I would take a MMF over any bond fund that didn't significantly beat the MMF in after-tax performance. This is why I tossed in FSIXX (NTF, $1min at Merrill) for comparison. Its current APY of 4.3% in a 25% bracket gives 3.23% after tax. Assuming a 5% state income tax, that's equivalent to a national muni fund pre-tax yield of 3.4%. Not too much different from these zero-ish duration muni funds.
I really like the idea of these funds, but I'll need to see them do better before I'm sold.
Here's a comparison of these three funds by Fidelity, including durations, SEC yields, and a graph of performances.

Am I missing something? REMIX/BLNDX knocks the socks off LCORX, and the other competitors mentioned by several members in this thread.

REMIX / BLNDX is not a direct competitor of other funds mentioned. It and the others are not only in different categories, but as M* views them in different asset classes - alternative and allocation respectively. (The latter is why I highlighted CRBDX, as it eschews fixed income, atypical for an allocation fund.) Lipper concurs: REMIX / BLNDX is in "Alternatives", while LCORX is in "Mixed Assets".
This M* piece may help to see the fine distinctions among the various alternative fund categories and more broadly the difference between alternative funds and allocation (tactical or otherwise) funds. The section entitled "What Are Alternatives?" is a good starting point. There is another paragraph that explains why DRRIX is classified as tactical allocation rather than multistrategy or macro trading (REMIX has drifted between those two). This explanation is helpful in the context of this thread.
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/blndx/performance
Different types of funds react differently to varying market conditions:

Category	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	5 yr avg
Multistrategy	1.63%	6.86%	-2.07%	6.24%	6.09%	3.94%
Macro Trading	4.54%	3.86%	0.01%	2.62%	6.55%	4.03%
Tactical Alloc	9.83%	13.36	-15.49	10.74	10.20	5.20%

American Funds R1-R6 are just share classes, not plan designations. Those are 401k, 403b, 457, H.S.A, etc.
Smaller plans may have R1-R4 available, larger plans R5-R6.
AF has specific classes for 3rd party channels (DIY, independent advisors), F1-F3; advisor load channels A, C; 529.
If you are wondering why isn't there an institutional class I, that's really R6 within large retirement plans only.

AAII Sentiment Survey, 2/5/25
BEARISH became the top sentiment (42.9%, high) & neutral remained the bottom sentiment (23.8%, low); bullish became the middle sentiment (33.3%, below average); Bull-Bear Spread was -9.5% (below average). Investor concerns: Budget, debt, inflation, the Fed, dollar, geopolitical, Russia-Ukraine (154+ weeks), Israel-Hamas (67+ weeks; cease fire). For the Survey week (Th-Wed), stocks up, bonds up, oil down, gold up, dollar down. NYSE %Above 50-dMA 55.44% (positive). Gold at a new high, but gold-miners lagging (far from 2011 highs). #AAII #Sentiment #Markets
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1871/thread

Vanguard has never created an ETF share class of an existing actively managed fund. Until a few years ago that would have created disclosure problems (publishing portfolios daily) for the existing funds. Even now, it might find it difficult to shoehorn the newer ETF rules into its patent for ETF/OEF share classes. (Don't know, haven't checked.)
Nor is Vanguard likely to ever clone an OEF into an ETF. That could immediately trigger an outflow from the OEF into the cheaper ETF, at least in tax-sheltered accounts. Vanguard was burned by doing something similar not too long ago - opening a cheaper clone of a TDF to lots of investors by lowering the min for the clone. The resulting shifting of assets by investors created a hefty cap gains tax liability for those investors remaining in the more expensive fund.
The third alternative would be to convert the OEFs into ETFs. If that were such an obvious move, then one would expect most fund companies to have already done this. While some have, the number seems to be more like a trickle than a flood.
IMHO RK is understating VDIGX's performance issues. I agree that when one invests in a particular style of fund and that style by design underperforms, that's not cause for concern.
However ... a quick M* screen of large cap blend funds with "Dividend" in their name (e.g. Rising Dividends, Dividend Growth, etc.) turns up 60 share classes. VDIGX is 60th of 60 for 3 year returns. 97th percentile in 2023, 98th percentile in 2024, and 89th percentile YTD.
OTOH, with Primecap, ISTM that its moderate underperformance (55th percentile over 3 years, 63rd percentile over 5 years) may indeed be attributed to its long term style - investing more in large caps and less in mega caps, and investing 10-20% internationally. If one is looking for a pure US large/mega fund, this isn't it and never has been.
Finally, there's a difference between moving away from Vanguard's platform and Vanguard's funds. It may be possible to negotiate a waiver of transaction fees for Vanguard funds on another platform. I was able to do that with Schwab when I brought my (somewhat sizeable) Vanguard holdings there. Though it is very difficult to buy additional Admiral shares of actively managed Vanguard funds on non-Vanguard platforms.

American Balanced has 19 classes!
NTF/no-load at Fido & Schwab is BALFX, ER 0.62%
Cheapest is Retirement R6 RLBGX, ER 0.25%

R6 shares are what American Fund uses in their Target Date funds which is why they are the cheapest to reduce costs on top of costs. Not something that you can buy. currently right now my parents are in R2 (shares typically used in 403b's)
The cheapest available shares are F2, and F3 shares but are only available through their CG advisor but they'll pay AUM. The cheapest way for them to own AF with an advisor is with A shares using a 1MIL+ breakpoint which reduces the front load to 0 and outside of a few annual account fees, the advisor manages the portfolio for their 12b-1 fees.
My parents won't manage their own and I don't have time, so this is the best way to get them what they need even though i'm not an American Funds fan.

3rd business day of February & no update.
May be the guy who was doing this is gone and the new IT kids at Treasury have no clue about the TSP G Fund or its update. It's easy to forget about only $285 billion when they may be handling trillions.

American Balanced has 19 classes!
NTF/no-load at Fido & Schwab is BALFX, ER 0.62%
Cheapest is Retirement R6 RLBGX, ER 0.25%

Numerous mutual funds from American Funds have far too many share classes!

Tactical allocation funds have quite varied approaches and their performances are all over the map. A few examples, in case this is what you were looking for, illustrate this.
I'm not including funds that M* classified as something other than tactical allocation in 2022 (e.g. moderate allocation, market neutral, etc.). Even the styles of many of these funds are volatile.
QSTFX - worst of the worst in 2022, 100th percentile, -45.16% return
DWTNX - a top performer in 2022, 2nd percentile, 2.59% return, but 97th percentile in 2023
These two give you the range of tactical allocation returns in 2022.
CRDBX - 21st percentile in 2022, -8.54% return. All other full calendar year returns were in top quintile. Very high Sharpe ratio (relative). This fund does not invest in fixed income (per prospectus).
LCORX - 13th percentile in 2022, -6.79%. A popular 4* fund here, included for reference.
In a year when almost everything is down, funds that made money or lost a pittance are likely to have lucked out, or be extremely erratic or the opposite, extremely conservative (as I recall only Treasuries did well in 2008).

@Observant1 - Thank you. Yes it is. Too late last night when I first looked. I’m surprised tactical allocation lost more than 15% in ‘22. LCORX lost about half as much.

Morningstar has a short blurb on the 2024 outflows for 4 popular Vanguard funds - VWELX, VWINX, VDIGX, VPMAX. Reasons vary - bonds have been a drag for allocation funds & VPMAX is a high conviction growth fund that can misfire (so, it needs patience).
I was curious if this was an issue for 2024 only or had a longer-term pattern. MFOP FLOWS came in handy to determine that there have been significant outflows for 5 years; in the prior times, there were mostly inflows.
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/4-vanguard-funds-pummeled-by-outflows-2
MFOP FLOWS

American Balanced has 19 classes!
NTF/no-load at Fido & Schwab is BALFX, ER 0.62%
Cheapest is Retirement R6 RLBGX, ER 0.25%

VWELX and RLBGX have very similar expense ratios. The expense ratios are 0.26% and 0.25% respectively.
RLBGX compares favorably to VWELX over the trailing 3 year, 5 year, and 10 year periods ending Jan. 2025.
ABALX also performs well vs. VWELX but can't overcome higher expenses (0.57%) over the trailing 10 year period.
Portfolio Visualizer

Speaking of damages that Musk is causing to the government. Turely appalling ….
https://npr.org/2025/02/03/nx-s1-5285539/doge-musk-usaid-trump
Some of those working for Musk don’t have security clearance but they are assess classified files in the Treasury department.