Look closely at interest rate risk, usually measured by duration. Be wary of anything over 5 years avg duration. It is the reason I left a couple possible bond OEFs off my list.
Note that PTIAX does not publish its duration. Spoke to them years ago and was told the reason is basically to protect us average investors from ourselves. Interest rate risk is not completely/accurately measured by avg duration and the firm does not want its avg duration to be incorrectly interpreted as a measure of PTIAX's interest rate risk.
Disclaimer: LT owner of PTIAX and comfortable with whatever avg duration it has, albeit largely unknown.

My update - PTIAX and RCTIX is not available in TRP Brokerage. I am deciding between PIMIX, HSNIX and TRP's own PRSNX...I've owned PONAX in another account and they have receovered well from March 2020 volatility. Next, from what I can see the PRSNX seems to protect better on the downside and it's USD Hedge adds a unique wrinkle. The top performer in the past 3 & 5 years, HSNIX, seems to take the most risk and potentially protect less. Although it came roaring back...

Although, I no longer post on the MFO board I still visit and read it. The last time hank visited was December of 2020. His extended absence gives me pause. With this, I'll be keeping him in my thoughts and prayers. Hopefully, he will be back soon. Skeet
Here is a link to the last post made by hank. https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57465/which-of-these-2-funds-is-riskier-safer-over-the-next-1-3-years-dodfx-vs-dodix

Well I watched WAITING FOR SUPERMAN, so I guess I'm now allowed to state opinions again. It throws a ton of different issues into the air, so commenting intelligently on them would take as long as the documentary. While some may choose to disagree, I saw a lot of things which agreed with what I was saying: Kids who are willing to work hard have involved parents, and who operate under reasonable levels of discipline; self-applied or otherwise, are likely to be successful. Others will tend not be. Pretty much what I said going in.
Yes, there are systemic problems. Yes, not all teachers are 'good', work hard, etc; just like any other field. The film strongly implied that unions were a major problem. Is it worth my time to point out that many of the very worst state educational systems (per the documentary) do not have unions while some of the best do? Is it worth noting to anyone that my home district, and the one in which I taught for twenty years, was 50% minority, provided free lunch to a huge percentage of its population, and was famously the inspiration for the NY Magazine article "Welcome to Newburgh, Murder Capital of NY".
https://tcf.org/content/commentary/welcome-to-newburgh-murder-capital-of-new-york/?session=1
Yet despite all of this, Newburgh integrated its schools by being one of the first NY districts to institute 'magnet schools'. While there were initially parochial schools; in time, ALL kids attended the public schools in Newburgh. People didn't flee because discipline was enforced and the educational program was superior to anything around. It was not uncommon for the very best students to graduate with a year of college credit. In my senior year, out of a class of approximately 1000, we ended up graduating 850; not the 300 and something suggested by the SUPERMAN documentary. Many of those who did not graduate chose to drop out as soon as possible and go to work. This was especially a problem with the latino population.
Tenure is proclaimed to be a problem, and it can be in some cases...but...one has to ask why, after three years of observing, a district gets itself saddled with a poor teacher? Can part of the problem be poor administrator oversight? Or maybe good candidates don't grow on trees and districts have to take what they can get? Why would that be? As for getting rid of tenured teachers, the hitch seems to be that you have to document the problem, and that seems to be difficult for administrators to do (which comes back to that oversight issue).
And if kids are being "passed along" and the school "failing" as a result, it's not the teachers doing it. In these cases, they are instructed to pass the kid along. Why would unions have any effect on THAT? If you abdicate your responsibility, have no standards, refuse to accept failure or impose consequences, how could you possibly expect a favorable outcome? We absolutely need to fix the system and get good people in there, but there is no simple and painless fix.

racq: "Thanks for the links; I'll take a look at the movie (documentary?)."
Yeah, documentary, like I said in my prior post...
The first was deeply dived into in the iconic, must see, 2010 documentary, Waiting for "Superman". Despite its critics, hard to express/expose the deep rooted issues and possible solutions any better than that.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/
Pretty shocking to me that someone who made the previous post that you did, in which you stated
"David, if you're not a teacher (and have never been one?), you can't begin to argue the issue with any insight..."
is the same person who now states (in effect) he's not seen this landmark documentary.
So, allow me to say, please STOP posting anything else about this issue until YOU get up to speed on the now 10+ year old documentary that crystalized the US education system issues for the world.
BTW, I know probably 50 retired teachers and NONE of them has NOT seen this documentary. So you're the first.
This may all sound a bit "snarky" but here's the thing...I searched this thread for the one word that MUST appear in ANY discussion about the root problem(s) in order that I spend any real time on it. Amazingly, that word does NOT appear anywhere in this thread. If/when it does, I may engage in the discussion further.

To add to my prior post, I would suggest the first couple on my list (if you're interested in it) to look at closely for your stated purpose of diversification would be PTIAX and one of the HY munis. They will however NOT get you the global exposure you seek, but they will give you diversification.
Note that World bond and/or EM bond funds can be VERY difficult categories to do well in. I tend to get my little bit of foreign bonds via other bond bonds, NOT a dedicated World bond fund. DODLX, cousin to DODIX(?), may be one of your best options there.
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/fund-screener/results/table/overview/averageAnnualReturnsYear3/desc/1?assetClass=TBND&category=IB,EB,XP,WH&mStarRating=4,5&ntf=&order=fundType,ntf,mStarRating

I'm confused by what is being debated here.
It seems that some may be concentrating on how to solve the BIG, LT education system issues, while others may be concentrating on the immediate, urgent need to address the issues of reopening schools due to COVID. I dunno, bit I do know my head hurts trying to determine that.
If so, I suggest that these are TWO vastly different issues and debates that, though not mutually exclusive, should be debated separately.
The first was deeply dived into in the iconic, must see, 2010 documentary, Waiting for "Superman". Despite its critics, hard to express/expose the deep rooted issues and possible solutions any better than that.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/
The second is chronicled pretty nicely here:
https://www.future-ed.org/what-congressional-covid-funding-means-for-k-12-schools/
I do NOT want to get into this debate any further than to suggest reading that link and understanding that the bulk of the "money being thrown at the problem" in the next stimulus bill is primarily to combat the unique issues related to COVID, and IMO, essential to solving those issues. Solving the deep rooted education system issues is a whole 'nother story, and one that the average person who is/was NOT a teacher (or have a bio akin to mine), may not be fully aware of had they not watched the referenced documentary.

Crash asserted nonsense and I called him on it with substantiation. Then he started handwaving about a just society but calling for more flunking of kids.
Whatever.
Racqueteer, this may not be the best month to trot out the tired bootstraps argument yet again. It does remain perennially popular among some of us nonminority types, and even among some minorities too. Why can't everyone be like the Jews and the Asians and others similarly situated? What racism? What structural inequality?
As for my career, I have been a teen worker, HS teacher, university TA, and most recently sometime HS coach and sub. Also parent and grandparent. Also married to an elem-schoolteacher for a decade. I do know the gut feeling of being in a difficult classroom. It all can be very discouraging, not to say difficult to have insights about.
But I know that this is pernicious crap at the talk-radio level: 'You can't solve real, significant problems --- not at the root --- by throwing money at those problems.'

The problem, to me, with BOTH sides is the unwillingness to bend from some absolutist stance. To my way of thinking, everyone is entitled to a fair chance. That may entail more help to some individuals than others. Ultimately, however, good intentions aside, I can't MAKE someone do what is necessary to be successful. And, like the reality or not, the society in which one lives has a huge impact on the outcome. Money is almost certainly an issue, but attitude on ALL sides is as well. "Throwing money" at a problem isn't the same thing as properly funding productive strategies. If we as a society were actually serious about the issue, we'd have better pay in hard to staff districts than in affluent ones. We have just the opposite. Further, it would be more 'help' to struggling students to have classrooms which are orderly (disciplined) than not.
Having spent almost 30 years teaching mostly chemistry and physics in a heavily minority district, I know that I was drawing my classes from about half the population. Even THAT population was underperforming its potential; a situation which became WORSE over my career, Discipline issues became a greater and greater issue as time went by; since the schools didn't want to have 'bad statistics'. This despite the fact that, in a class of 1,000 students, there were probably only a dozen kids accounting for 75% of the serious instances. Instead of controlling THOSE kids, 'we' lightened up on enforcement and the problem spread.
I don't want ANY kids to fail, but the reality is that, if you set standards, SOME will not meet them. The 'solution' isn't to lower the standards so that EVERYONE 'succeeds'. If you don't end up actually KNOWING anything, how is that 'succeeding'? Anyway, by all means, make it possible TO succeed, but don't expect that you can make everyone DO it.

David, if you're not a teacher (and have never been one?), you can't begin to argue the issue with any insight.
Gotta admit, I stopped reading your post there.
Following that logic (?), do you also hold that if you've never played professional sports, you can't possibly be an insightful professional sports commentator, writer or analyst? Or is that somehow different? And if so, how?
Lemme know so that I can wash my brain of anything I ever learned from Vince Scully, Bob Costas, Tom Verducci, Paul Zimmerman...
Me, I went to school for ~20 years, have two relatives (both with PhDs) who taught for years, am married almost 45 years to a retired school teacher, live in a neighborhood overstocked with retired school teachers, and have audited the books of about 20-25 schools. But, OK, I've never been a teacher. Do I, and others with similar bios, also NOT have any insight on the issue?

Fair enough, Stillers; I made too sweeping a statement going in. I would suggest that the cases you cite involve people who either have, or have access to, direct knowledge of the field involved. I submit that opinions tend to be less valid if not supported by actual evidence and experience. If you could be bothered to go beyond that flawed introduction, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Hello... 65% of Mama portfolio comprised of FBND. BND, fidelity2020 Fpifx, fidelitycash FCASH, and trp2020 funds TRRBX
She has many private bond corps from Ford att tmobile GM BAC
Btw most cash CD/ yields are extremely low now so unclear if these are good vehicles going forward
Kind regards

I just tried to purchase ITCSX at Schwab, and was told fund wasn't available at Schwab, so now I'm confused? Schwab does offer FLOTX which is one of the least risky Floating Rate Bond funds with $2500 minimum and transaction fee.

ITCSX is open at Schwab No load /with a fee - annual returns going back ten years within .05 -.15 basis points below PRWCX - Most likely as a result of the slightly higher ER .

Feb 5th, 2021 episode:
RYSEX is ranked #58th by US NEWS (Vanguard Funds are ranked #1,2,&3):
https://money.usnews.com/funds/search?category=small-value

David Giroux (PRWCX) suggest Floating Rate loans (Leveraged Loans or Bank Loans). TRP price manages RPIFX (see if you can get around the $1M minimum) or PRFRX ($2500).
Link to Bank Loan Mutual Funds:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/rankings/bank-loan

Always jam packed with information:
could-1-400-stimulus-checks-lift-air-travel-demand

David, if you're not a teacher (and have never been one?), you can't begin to argue the issue with any insight.
Gotta admit, I stopped reading your post there.
Following that logic (?), do you also hold that if you've never played professional sports, you can't possibly be an insightful professional sports commentator, writer or analyst? Or is that somehow different? And if so, how?
Lemme know so that I can wash my brain of anything I ever learned from Vince Scully, Bob Costas, Tom Verducci, Paul Zimmerman...
Me, I went to school for ~20 years, have two relatives (both with PhDs) who taught for years, am married almost 45 years to a retired school teacher, live in a neighborhood overstocked with retired school teachers, and have audited the books of about 20-25 schools. But, OK, I've never been a teacher. Do I, and others with similar bios, also NOT have any insight on the issue?

VOYA version appears to be an annuity fund;not available for sale at the 5 brokerage platforms I reviewed.

As I’ve noted... I’m in a fair number of MS funds... They have been @stillers for me (oops I mean Stellar) for me the last couple of years. This year looks strong as well. @BenWP shared a really interesting Baron EOY report which led me to this story: https://www.barrons.com/articles/more-than-two-dozen-funds-returned-more-than-100-last-year-heres-why-thats-not-good-news-51612570231
It seems to be a quick generalization of why Morgan Stanley funds have had such terrific returns as of late. It also implies that they may just be lucky by selecting a few high flyers like Fastly and Stitch Fix and the writer opines that the long term performance is not as as consistent with MS funds. I always appreciate alternate views to mine. So I’ll continue to keep an eye on my MS funds but perhaps it wasn’t just sheer luck. Perhaps they are on a consistent long term path of identifying real winners. The performance in small caps, growth and International is something to marvel at.

@Crash, you have it right. I've never known this fund to short by any significant percentage if at all. It is also my largest fund holding.
David's info would classify this as a market neutral fund which it certainly isn't. Per Schwab, the portfolio has about 1% short in equity and other, which I'm guessing is typical of any fund. It is fairly concentrated in that it's top 10 holdings make up about 57% of assets (assets = bonds and equity), 31 % of that being in equity. But to me that is not outrageous.
I don't really know where puts and sell call options list-out as long or short holdings, but could that be some of the confusion? Or could the short holdings be leveraged bond holdings. Maybe @msf might know.