On the topic of private credit, no idea how the next 5 years will pan out but the past 5 have been pretty amazing. As an example, CCLFX (large player in this space) returned 10.5% with a max dd of 0.2% (yep this is not a typo)

Senate left for the night. That guarantees a government shutdown tomorrow.
https://nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdown-deadline-democrats-republicans-trump-blame-rcna234516
Labor data will be available on Friday. Will the market behave differently this time?
Correction: BLS office is closed due to government shutdown. No labor data will be reported. While some services remain operational, some will not be available. TSA may be short handed so plan accordingly. Here is a list of what services that will be impacted.
https://nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/government-shutdown-what-happens-opened-closed-departments/3831580/

WAPSX min is $1M at Schwab even for IRA accounts. At a 5Y performance of Minus 1.8 and MaxDD of 24.1, hard pass.

WAPSX. IS the min initial investment really 1M?

From my limited understanding, $1m is the default setting that Yahoo places on a fund record when it can't extract a min investment from the prospectus or fact sheet. Lol, I got in at $50k over 10 years ago and I really haven't paid much attention to the metrics since. I just let it grow and focused on the growth stuff for the past 10 years. Ask your broker what the actual min is..maybe it depends on in/out of IRA.
Yeah, 2022 was awful. Should've been more proactive. Getting better with MFO. ;)

I'll never understand what propels these markets at times like these - is it:
1) Algos/computers
2) Buyers outnumbering sellers
3) Some mad scientist behind a red velvet curtain, pulling levers.
It feels a bit surreal at this point. Nothing seems to derail this Bull market. At some point it will flip, but that could a week from now or that could be a year away.
Here is an oddity during strange times - John Hussman's funds are all up this year, and NICELY:
Returns - YTD as of Sept 29
Hussman Strategic Allocation (HSAFX) + 8.48%
Hussman Strategic Market Cycle Fund (HSGFX) +10.58%
Hussman Strategic Total Return (HSTRX) +18.62%
Yep, strange times.
I see that analysts are forecasting a swell year ahead for earnings, but I thought that corporate visibility was limited due to tariffs. Did that clear up?

To me the label of Bond fund is less relevant than whether it has served the function of a bond fund. I.e. Decent return and low max dd. With that frame, here are some funds that have returned 7% or higher during the last 5Y with a drawdown of 3% or lower.
CEDIX, 15.6, 2.4
VFLEX 10, 2.1
LCTIX 7.4, 2.5
as compared to
CBLDX 6.1, 1.4
PFIIX 4.5, 7.3
PAIIX 2.6, 8.9
The last two would be no-go's for me with those performance and max dd numbers.

WH withdraws their whackadoodle BLS nominee...
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/30/politics/ej-antoni-nomination-withdrawn-bls

per M* via Schwab-
Overall Rating Out of 534 Funds: 2 star
3 Year Rating Out of 534 Funds: 1 star
5 Year Rating Out of 474 Funds: 1 star
10 Year Rating Out of 353 Funds: 2 star
Historic Return Below Average
Historic Risk High
Not sure that I'd want to put a million on that one...

@Peak2climb. re: WAPSX. IS the min initial investment really 1M? That would take up almost 25% of my TRAD. IRA. And 2022 seems excessive.

Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 10/1/25
TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
No changes.
Restricted RC 5.00%, RA 4.75%
Flexible RCP 4.25%, SRA 4.00%, IRA-101110+ 4.00%
(TIAA Declaration Year 3/1 - 2/28)
TSP G Fund pending (previous 4.250%).
Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
#StableValue #401k #403b #TIAA #TSP
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/2233/thread

Some would say why worry?
After all, the S&P 500 was up today!
No problems whatsoever...

PRWCX is underperforming VWELX for various time periods 3 months to 3 years. 5 and above it has outperformed VWELX
I hold a small position in TRAIX with the hope of scaling up if this fund starts firing again. Giroux has a great long term track record.
https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/fund-performance?s=y&sl=4VSTgvOMP3SRfjVH0g4UM5

From Markets A.M. newsletter by Jinjoo Lee.
On this day in 1981, Uncle Sam issued new 20-year Treasury bonds at a 15.78% yield,
an all-time high rate for any U.S. government issue.
Analysts expected that yields would have to go higher “to attract stronger demand.”
Yields promptly began going down and do so for the next twelve years.

It has underperformed both VWELX and VBINX
???
PRWCX 5 year performance (through 9/26/25): 11.65% (annualized)
VWELX 5 year performance (through 9/26/25): 10.52%
VBINX 5 year performance (through 9/26/25): 9.25%
Portfolio Visualizer gives similar results when looking at returns from Sept 2020 - Aug 2025.

That’s interesting. Appreciate your comment. I used Chart Fund on M*; Growth including Dividends; 5 year period. For some reason it provided me with different results and I’m not sure why. Definitely wasn’t knowingly providing false information.

Looks like you did something wrong. As has been noted, M*$10k growth chart shows PRWCX +74% and the other two almost 10 and 20 points behind. (Assuming I am doing it right.)

When I mention "core bond fund", I am referring to the largest bond fund position in my portfolio.
My search domain includes the following M* bond categories:
interm. core-plus, global bond, corporate bond, short-term bond, nontraditional bond, and multisector bond.
Maximum drawdowns, losses during turbulent periods, and overall volatility are major considerations.
HOSIX has performed very well but it has a short lifetime (5/2/2022 inception)
and high expense ratio — 1.51% net.
CBLDX is an excellent fund but as of 6/30/2025, 35.23% of its portfolio was in
below investment-grade bonds while 26.75% was in bonds that are not rated.
Although CBLDX has exhibited low-risk performance thus far, I don't wish to assume
the fundamental risk of significant junk bond exposure in my largest bond fund position¹.
However, I am considering CBLDX as a satellite holding in a separate account.
¹ For reference, approximately 60% of my overall portfolio is comprised of equities.

Although I can't wholeheartedly recommend WAPSX (a Franklin Templeton Core+ bond fund sitting in my IRA) because its metrics can't compare to those discussed already, it does produce consistent returns. For the past decade, for every $50k, it returns about $200/month ($2400/yr), or about 4.8%, which I reinvest. It has had negative growth since Covid (2020) but it is beginning to climb from the valley over the past year. Perhaps it is a risk, but since it is at a low price point (around $9.30/sh), it may be an option to consider.
Lots of food for thought in this thread. Thx.

PRWCX last 52W is at 10.01% vs. VWELX at 13.03%. As per barchart.com

:) strikes me as entirely excellent for a low-drama, low ulcer strategy.”

I saved this chart at some point and revisited it today. Struck me as something @David_Snowball had shared:
Link to image:
https://app.screencast.com/OaRqGlzwseQcb?conversation=qNo8KtYT1R4jNcS9JH9QhR
Found the link:
https://mutualfundobserver.com/2023/05/investing-without-an-ulcer/

:) My generic “ … not leading the pack” isn’t substantiated. Not sure what I’d compare PRWCX to. I’m running slightly ahead of PRWCX’s 10.28% YTD, which highly unusual. I generally lag. And in The Observer’s September issue @David_Snowball reports: ”My Indolent Portfolio, at just 50% stocks, has returned a lovely 11.25% so far this year, which strikes me as entirely excellent for a low-drama, low ulcer strategy.”
Re “From a distance” - I track PRWCX daily. Recently it fell more in a day than any of the 12-15 other assorted funds I track. I guessed then that he had some rate sensitive bonds, because rates had spiked that day. Knowing the history and philosophy of PRWCX I doubt the fund has much, if anything, in gold and the p/c miners. That would lower its performance compared to the crowd. But I might be wrong.

Not necessarily. There are actually several production methods for making steel- for example, the electric-arc method.

There's also cement manufacturing to deal with. Cement manufacturing is already efficient (see section 2.1 in link below) and carbon capture reduces emissions but not the use of coal.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790823000721

"Distribution of CO2eq emissions from industrial processes in the U.S. in 2018 (BF/BOF: blast furnace / basic oxygen furnace, EAF: electric arc furnace) compared to the total production of the material. Data markers refer to the carbon intensity measured by the total emissions divided by the total production, resulting in an estimate of MtCO2eq per Mt of material produced."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360128521000800