Switzerland, now this.
You will look like a genius if you have anything paying interest or dividends now.
Denmark's central bank cuts deposit rate to -0.2%
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/denmarks-central-bank-cuts-deposit-rate-to--02-2015-01-19-10913628

XLE and VDE are about a coin toss for ER at .16 and .12 . XLE has 44 holdings and VDE has 144; being all of the big energy companies. I also reviewed IYE, with similar holdings, but an ER of .45%.
Both XLE and VDE may be "played" with options, too. Not by this house, but by others.
All of these moved about +3.2% with last Friday's close
Thank you for your considerations.
Catch

@Soupkitchen
Mark's link, yes.
Basically, the "TTM" is the previous 12 month period average of what the stock or fund was paying. For the two funds you noted, both the dividends from equities held and yields from bonds held in the fund were higher during the prior 12 month period. As the price of either or both the equity and bond holdings increased, the dividend/yield moved lower. Which was generally the case for both in 2014. This TTM will vary depending upon what is held within any given fund based upon the mix.
The 30 day yield is related (as noted in Mark's link) to the most recent short time period, usually based at the end of the prior month (in this case, Dec. of 2014).
The funds you noted show yields decreasing; being from price appreciation during the previous 12 month period.
The same applies to high yield/junk bonds; but in reverse to what you find with the funds you mentioned.
SPHIX is an example: 12 months ago, more folks were still buying junk bonds, moving prices up and yields down. Today is the reverse, with folks selling junk bonds causing pricing to move down and yields to much higher.
TTM for the above fund is 5.44% (average). The 30 day SEC yield is 6.08%.
'Course, related to investment grade bonds in particular; is some of the supposedly sharp folks who talk on the tv and write articles; is that how can one expect to make any money with IG bonds with such crappy, low yields. Seldom do they note what happened to the bond pricing as yields continued downward. The answer, of course; is that investors made money on the price appreciation, not really caring about the yield, as long as it (the yield) was still going down.
Hope this helds somewhat.
Regards,
Catch

Help here maybe:
http://ibd.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=594471&CN=brf295,http://ibd.morningstar.com/archive/archive.asp?inputs=days=14;frmtId=12, brf295

I've been looking at a fund that has a 4.67% TTM yield, at the same time having a 2.99% 30 day SEC yield. What would the difference be between the two yields (not mathematically :), and why are the numbers so different? Oh, the fund is CAIBX by the way. Looking at another income fund, VWINX, I see that the two yields are almost the same. 3.10% TTM and 2.53% 30 day. What gives?

FYI: For instance, there are now over 1,600 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs). Thanks to ETPs, average Joe retail investors can invest in asset classes previously reserved only for institutional and accredited investors.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/13008467.html

Hi @finder
Yes, PDI has been a most decent performer. I suppose the dip in mid-2013 scared a few folks away for awhile.
Thank you for the note about this.
Take care,
Catch

Hi David.
I love you man.
I agree.
15 years is about the most we can hope for with single manager.
But I do not know for sure...our database does not account for category drift...or, manager drift, sad to say...past performance, numbers only.
Here are some of the 10 year funds with top-quintile risk-adjusted performance across the past 10, 5, 3, and even 1 year evaluation periods through Dec 2014. (I left off most of the sector funds and munis.)
Access Capital Community Investment I (ACCSX)
American Century Mid Cap Value Inv (ACMVX)
AMG Chicago Equity Partners Bal Instl (MBEYX)
Artisan International Value Investor (ARTKX)
Buffalo Discovery (BUFTX)
First Trust Value Line Dividend ETF (FVD)
GE Instl Premier Growth Equity Inv (GEIPX)
Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators (IWIRX)
Hennessy Equity and Income Institutional (HEIIX)
Homestead Small Company Stock (HSCSX)
iShares Morningstar Large-Cap (JKD)
iShares S&P 500 Growth (IVW)
JPMorgan Mid Cap Value Instl (FLMVX)
Metropolitan West Total Return Bond M (MWTRX)
PIMCO Intl StksPLUS AR Strat (USD-Hg) A (PIPAX)
PIMCO StocksPLUS Absolute Return Instl (PSPTX)
Pinnacle Value (PVFIX)
Principal MidCap R2 (PMBNX)
RidgeWorth Conservative Allc Strat I (SCCTX)
SEI Moderate Strategy Allc A (SAAT) (SXMAX)
SEI US Managed Volatility A (SIMT) (SVOAX)
Shelton Nasdaq-100 Index Direct (NASDX)
T. Rowe Price Diversified Sm Cap Growth (PRDSX)
T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX)
T. Rowe Price Instl Mid-Cap Equity Gr (PMEGX)
T. Rowe Price Instl Small-Cap Stock (TRSSX)
Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Inv (VTXVX)
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Inv (VTIVX)

Thanks for those charts @catch22. It appears that both funds were started in 2010 within a couple of months from each other. DLTNX had some early performance gains over DLFNX that would explain the gap between the two funds. However, the last year +/- both funds have done equally well. Sometimes DLFNX has outperformed the other. The sliding bar for the time frame shows this well.

Hi @JohnChisum
Chart for DLFNX set for 50, 100 & 200 days, over a 3 year period, RSI (relative strength) at 14.
Chart for DLFNX set for 10 & 39 days, over 1 year period, RSI at 14, smooth moving average.
There are numerous other setting one may fiddle with below the chart in 3 different areas. Also, just to the right of the ticker symbol; these charts are set for weekly price movements. This may be changed to daily. An "inspect" box may be checked to allow some other functions with the cursor over the graph.
I have only studied a few of the features available at this site. Wish I had more time in the day.
Take care,
Catch

Take a look at the components, and it's not hard to realize that it is not "up" at all for 2015.

11) How much money I make...even the IRS is not 100% sure...

@John,

I knew a friend who invested greatly in Janus funds. When the shenanigans started to come to light I mentioned to her that she might start looking elsewhere. She had been treated well at Janus so she stayed put and lost a substantial amount of money.
Her personal experience with the company overrode the reality of the situation.

Back then I had substantial investment with Janus through my 401k. When Janus and other firms were identified to be involved in the infamous scandal, I left even though I had profited through Janus Worldwide fund. The rest is history as Janus never recovers. It is questionable that Gross's new fund will out-perform Pimco Total Return without the same level of analyst support he had. Janus is never known to be a decent bond shop.

@dryflower: According to iShares Website EWL is up 1.81% YTD, not the 2.90% YTD as showen by M*
Regards,
Ted
http://www.ishares.com/us/products/239685/ishares-msci-switzerland-capped-etf
M* EWL Performance:
http://performance.morningstar.com/funds/etf/total-returns.action?t=EWL&region=usa&culture=en-US

I was just looking on Morningstar at the performance for EWL. The fine print says that the performance is as of 1/16/15, but it clearly is not. The year to date number for example cannot be even close to correct. If they are old numbers, why don't they just say so? They shouldn't say they are up to date if they are nowhere close.

@JohnChisum @Crash et al
Linked chart for DLFNX vs DLTNX
Linked chart for for DLFNX vs DLTNX vs PONDX
In both cases with these charts, this is an active site link. Being that you may add and/or remove the tickers for your own comparative use. Save the site/chart link for future use for any compares. ALSO NOTE, that these charts do include "total returns" inclusive of dividends, cap. gains, etc.
ALSO, left click at the left edge of the 200 day slider (default setting) and drag the slider to the left for about a 1150 business day view. NOTE the "temper tantrum" period that came into place in May of 2013 when the Fed stated that they were going to remove some of the easy money. One may also view any 200 day period (not available for very new funds, stocks) with holding a left click onto the 200 day slider and dragging the slider to the left for earlier periods. The slider can be reduced to about 2 days and to much earlier start dates, depending upon the age of what is being viewed.
We looked at DoubleLine when they were first born, but maintained our PONDX holding, which later evolved into a PIMIX holding.
Active management is going to cause any of these "multi-sector" funds to travel different paths, yes?
An alternative for the "build your own" would be to hold equal amounts of about 5 or 6 etfs in bond areas of your choice.
Take care,
Catch

I ran across this earlier today. A new wearable pain relief device called Quell. The company making the device is NeuroMetrix. This wearable goes on your upper calf and works for chronic pain like low back, diabetic nerve pain, and knee pain.
Ticker is NURO. This does seem like a promising device and it is already FDA approved.
http://www.medicaldevice-network.com/news/newsneurometrix-pain-relief-quell-4445711

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-things-investors-wont-tell-you-2015-01-16/print

I guess I should not have said very similar, but they both have similar characteristics. I used Lipper for comparison. Both hold GNMA's as their biggest holding. Total Return has about twice the percentage of GNMA as Core Fixed Income. DLFNX has a variety of Treasuries and then Corporates. DLTNX has Treasuries and then Asset-Back Securities. DLFNX has a bit more duration.
The ratings for DLFNX are lower than for DLTNX. That must be behind as it looks like DLFNX beat the other slightly last year. AUM for DLTNX is around $40 billion, while DLFNX has around $3 billion.
Thanks @mrc70 for that breakdown as well. As @Crash noted, DLFNX seems to be more spread out asset wise. It should be said that these funds are changing all the time. M* (with grains of salt) shows a somewhat different allocation as of 12.30.2014. Both have increased their cash allocation.
M* lists both as Intermediate Bond. Lipper categorizes DLTNX as a Mortgage Bond fund while DLFNX is listed as Core Plus Bond.
Thanks to both of you for your comments.