Thanks for sharing. The question becomes which to buy. By my evaluation prior to the shock DHEIX and SEMMX were low risk short term MBS funds but both have gotten hit. dheix is still "only"down 5.6% for year

holy crap! Just goes to show that cash is the only sure thing. All the numbers on IOFAX and its consistency looked so strong. Also true for funds like SEMMX, DHEIX, which were identified in the conservative bond fund thread over the last couple of months. They've all been shot. @Charles a good time to revisit your article on how bad it can get. Surreal and painful.

At Schwab, you enter the trade and before the "PLACE ORDER" it will tell you
DHEIX isn't available - only to institutions.
DHEAX-free to buy, min $2500, 90 days early redemption fee at $49.95
JMISX (Inst share)-it's free to buy(unique, not at Fidelity), $100 min, 90 days early fee at $49.95
JMUTX-free to buy, min $2500, 90 days early redemption fee at $49.95

Do JMUTX JMSIX or DHEIX charge redemption fees? The prospectus is very vague

Great topic. Thanks for starting it. I'm looking at DHEIX as a steady eddy. But to be quite honest with these volatile moves I haven't pulled the trigger on any of these. I'm just keeping money in my Schwab money market and waiting. How do we know if any of these funds are really safe when you have the 10 year hitting .5% for the first time ever. And that's a week after it hit 1%. I'd love to hear others thoughts.

Do the problems in the credit markets ( what took them so long to wake up?) today concern anybody with positions in DHEIX JMSIx PTAX or JMUTX ?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-06/credit-market-has-worst-day-in-a-decade-as-virus-fuels-selling?srnd=markets-vp&sref=OzMbRRMQ
Of course after several days of analysis I just added to my positions

Years ago I worked as a developer for mutual funds transfer agent which handles all these funds trades. The following is a common process: the big shops like VG, Fidelity, Schwab, and others have their own internal transfer agent. Schwab aggregate each day PER EACH FUND all the buy and sell orders as ONE trade. This means DHEIX sees Schwab as one huge client. Then, after Schwab gets the shares it will separate it by each client/account. DHEIX still knows the names of each client and how many shares each has. In most cases, Schwab is the one who handles short-term and most other stuff. Most private mutual funds don't bother to tell the big shops what to do.
This is why I said Fidelity make their own rules.
There are several tricks I use not to pay ST fees :-)

dt, thanks for your post.
I, like yourself, work through Schwab (I also am with Vanguard). I have had this discussion with my Schwab Pinnacle Representative in Indianapolis. Besides the short term redemption fee that the fund may impose, based on how Schwab processes orders with a fund family, he does not know how the fund would know that it is "you". I gather that if the fund is "small" and it receives a huge order from Schwab, it might trigger something.
I guess an analogy would be purchasing x dollars in a fund to qualify for institutional shares and then turning around and selling a bunch of shares. I have done this countless times with Schwab and Vanguard Brokerage and never heard a peep from either. This seems to support that the fund family did not know. If my representative at Schwab is correct, I wonder how American Beacon knew it was you.
On the related, what I also do not understand is that if for example American Beacon has a short term redemption fee and you are willing to pay it, what is the problem. If they do not have a short term redemption fee, then what is the problem. When I purchase and then sell a Vanguard fund, the trading policies are transparent.
Mona
Mona, I have not experienced the trading warning at Schwab, but I have not traded very often at Schwab. The personal experience I incurred was when I was at Fidelity, and it was Fidelity who contacted me, on behalf of American Beacon, with the warning about frequent trading from American Beacon. I had recently upgraded SPFPX to SPFLX, and I then had made a sell out SPFLX shortly thereafer, and that apparently triggered the warning.
Regarding DHEIX/DHEAX, I have not experienced that personally at Schwab, but I have only owned DHEAX a few months. However, I do recall another poster stating the "Diamond Hill Boys" frowned on his trading frequently in and out of the fund.
I don't understand the dynamics of the interaction between the fund companies and the brokerage companies, but I was clearly left with the message that it was American Beacon who had flagged my trade actions while I was using the Fidelity Brokerage

I would just suggest that you research short term trading positions of bond oef funds you might consider for short term parking purposes. I have read poster comments of those who have attempted to use DHEIX in that manner. Diamond Hill issued warnings to those investors that they cannot execute their particular investing practice, if investors move in and out of this fund quickly and often. Some funds can red flag posters who do that, and you can lose your investing privileges with that fund. I have personally experienced that when I was with Fidelity a couple of years ago with SPFLX/SPFPX, when it was widely recommended as a cash alternative fund. American Beacon contacted Fidelity brokerage and suspended my ability to invest in that fund in the future, because I was interfering with their ability to carry out their particular investing practices and efforts to keep fees low. I think funds that carry a lot of cash, or assets considered "cash alternatives" allow that short term trading practice more than funds who use mortgage securities, bank loans, and even some corporates.

FPFIX is a pretty good fund invested mainly in securitized and low duration=1.7 and a good "cash sub". Another similar fund is DHEIX with duration=1.4. Both invested mostly in IG bond rating. I like DHEIX a bit more because it's yield = 3.9 while FPFIX = 2.6.
Securitized is my favorite category for years because deals better with rates.
I ran it thru Port Vis (link)
and DHEIX looks better for performance, SD and Sharpe

@guilhermes
ZEOIX had a good record for several years but HY have their problem when markets collapse. Losing -0.8% is a lot of money especially when you compare it to DHEIX which has over 80% in IG rating bonds. BTW, ZEOIX also lost -0.6% in Q4/2018.
I'm just giving several options. If it was me and I was looking for a "cash sub" fund I would use DHEIX and not ZEOIX. See (chart)

Analysis at the end, after the performance.

Performance......YTD...one week as of 2/29/2020
Multi
PDIIX……1.35....-1.0
PUCZX….0.7..…-1.35
JMUTX....1.3....-0.6
JMSIX.....1.4….-0.1 (JGIAX)
PTIAX….3.7….1.0
Multi(high % securitized)
PIMIX.....0.3….-1.0
EIXIX…..1.6….-0.1
VCFAX...1.75...-0.05
IOFIX.....2.85....+0.1
SEMMX...1.8....0    (ST duration, 3 year SD under 1, over 30% IG bonds-good cash sub)
DHEIX….1.4….0.35 (ST duration, 3 year SD under 1, over 80% IG bonds-good cash sub)
HY Munis
PHMIX…..4.6.....1
NHMAX....5.35.....1
MMHAX....4.15.…..1
OPTAX.....6.3.....1.
ORNAX….5.3……1.3
GHYAX......4.4......1
GWMEX….5.3…...1.5  (IG Munis but BBB+A rating)
NVHAX……2.8……0.4  (ST duration HY Munis-lower SD than the above)
Inter Term CORe/CORE PLUS
USIBX.......3.4.....0.7
BCOIX......3.5…...0.9
PINCX……3.5..…0.9
BND….......3.7…....1.1
Bank Loans/Floating rate
EIFAX.......-1.05.....-1.6
Uncontrain/Nontrad
IISIX..........0.4....-0.6
PUTIX......-0.1….-0.2
PAJZX……-1.45….-3.6
HY +EM
HYG.........-1.75.....-2.6
PHIYX.......-1.5.....-2.4
ZEOIX……-0.1….-0.8 (ST HY, 3 year SDCorporate
PIGIX….…3.2.….-0.15
VCIT……..3.4…..0.8
Preferred
PFINX…...-0.4……-3.2
OTHER
FXAIX.…..-8.3..…-11.4  (SP500)
PCI………-5.4... -7.6  (CEF)
“CASH SUB" (most with 3 years SD under 1 or close to it)
SEMMX...1.8....0      
DHEIX….1.4….0.35
ZEOIX…-0.1….-0.8 (ST HY)
DBLSX…0.75….0.1
LALDX….1.0….0.1
SSTHX….-0.85….-1.2  (ST HY)
MWCIX….1.0.….-0.1
PMZIX….1.3….0.25
BTMIX….1.3.…0.3 (ST Muni but I prefer NVHAX for LT)
Observations:
Last week was a clear way to separate the winner from the loser. Rates were down dramatically, stocks are in correction and panic is in the air. Since last week was such a major one I decided to post about YTD + one week.
Multi- mixed bag last week.  PIMIX+PUCZX lost badly while PTIAX shined. Most in securitized did OK
HY Munis continues to be a great category with 1+% for the week and very strong YTD and much better than Inter-Term higher rated funds.
Inter term – did well as expected when rates are down
Bank loans – as expected were down but not as much as HY.  I use this category only when I know rates are going up.
Uncontrain/Nontrad-are lagging and not impressive which tells you it’s usually not a good category LT
HY+EM – both lost money last week and not doing well YTD.
Corp – This category did well last week and YTD but PIGIX didn’t do well last week.
SP500-in correction
PCI-as expected from a CEF it was down last week.  At times like this CEFs are exposed.
“CASH” Sub-a unique category to make more money with minimal risk at SD less than 1.  It is obvious the best funds(SEMMX,DHEIX,PMZIX) are mostly in securitized which is my favorite category anyway. DHEIX has 80+% in investment-grade bonds if you like "safer" bonds.  SEMMX has the best peformance. PMZIX has done well YTD but not as good as the first 2 for 3 years.
===========================
Generic Views
My 2 favorite categories are Multi+HY Munis.
HY Munis-The funds that I usually invest in are NHMAX,OPTAX,ORNAX.  OPTAX has done best YTD
The Multi funds I’m interested are SEMMX,IOFIX,EIXIX,VCFAX,PTIAX,PIMIX,PUCZX,JMUTX,JMSIX/JGIAX.  SEMMX is the best performer for SD < 1 and IOFIX the best for SD<2.7. VCFAX+EIXIX are pretty good and invest at 85-90+% in securitized.  JMUTX+JMSIX are more diversified, actually, JMSIX was a nice surprise of losing just -0.1%. PIMIX+PUCZX are funds with moving parts and did worse than others, they are now going to my second-tier list. PTIAX has the best momo YTD so I have to pay attention.
“CASH” Sub-Investors who don't mind and understand the risk, may use SEMMX,DHEIX(ZEOIX is off the list)  as a cash sub LT, see 3 year SD<1(link).  In taxable you can use ST duration Munis. NVHAX duration is about 4 which is between ST to LT
IISIX disappointed.  Last year It looked like a better option for 3 years but VCFAX is the winner.  Again, funds with too many moving parts(PIMIX,PUCZX,PUTIX,PAJZX,IISIX) didn’t do well at this time of need.

PUCZX is a fund with several moving parts and why it's harder to predict every move. PIMIX is another fund like that. PUCZX is down 1.4% from its top while PIMIX is down "only" 0.7% but for 3 years PUCZX performance is better than most. BTW, IOFOX SD is higher than many but its performance is way better than most.
According to MFO databased when you search for Multi sector funds for 3 years + best martin ratio you get the following funds
Fund performace
ANFIX 5.3
IOFIX 10.6
SEMMX 5.1
BDKNX 5.7
ANGLX 4.2
PUCZX 7.2
ZEOIX 3.3
IISIX 5.2
TSIIX 4.9
JMUIX 6.2
RCTIX 7.8
DPFNX 6.2
ENIAX 3.9
JMSIX 6.1
MINC 2.9
PIMIX 5.7
For several years I have been using mainly a subsector of Multi which is securitized. The following funds have at least 85+% in it. DHEIX,SEMMX,VCFAX,DPFNX,IOFIX. In this category, SEMMX has the best performance for SD<1 and IOFIX has the best performance over 10% annually for SD< 2.7. There are only 2 Multi funds with performance over 7% RCTIX,PUCZX.

Below is what I posted on 1/31/2020
Performance..1 month...YTD as of 1/31/2020
• Multi
• PDIIX……1.5.....
• PUCZX….1.1..…
• JMUTX....1.15....
• JMSIX.....0.8……. (JGIAX)
• Multi(high % securitized)
• PIMIX.....0.8….
• EIXIX…..1.1….
• VCFAX...1.3...
• IOFIX.....1.8....
• SEMMX...1.3.... (ST duration, 3 year SD less than 1, over 30% IG bonds-good cash sub)
• DHEIX….0.6…..4.85 (ST duration, 3 year SD less than 1, over 80% IG bonds-good cash sub)
• HY Munis
• PHMIX…..2.1.....
• NHMAX....2.7.....
• MMHAX....2.0.…..
• OPTAX.....2.4....
• ORNAX….2.6……..
• GHYAX......2.1......
• GWMEX….2.6…... (IG Munis but BBB+A rating)
• NVHAX……1.7……. (ST duration HY Munis-lower SD than the above)
• Inter Term CORe/CORE PLUS
• USIBX.......2.1.....
• BCOIX......1.9…....
• PINCX……2.1..…….
• BND….......2.0…......
• Bank Loans/Floating rate
• EIFAX.......0.5.....
• Uncontrain/Nontrad
• IISIX..........0.7....
• PUTIX......-0.1….
• PAJZX……0.7….
• HY +EM
• HYG.........-0.5.....
• PHIYX.......0.....
• ZEOIX……0.3…….(ST HY, 3 year SD less than 1, good as cash sub)
• FNMIX……1.4…….
• Corporate
• PIGIX….…2.5..….
• Preferred
• PFINX…...1.5……
• OTHER
• FXAIX.…..0..…(SP500)
• PCI………0.9... (CEF)
Rating several good choices
Multisector+NonTrad-
SD less than 1=SEMMX,ANFIX,ANGLX,DHEIX…
SD less than 1.5=IISIX,TSIIX…
SD less than 2=VCFIX,/VCFAX,JMUIX/JMUTX,PIMIX…
SD less than 2.7=IOFIX,PUCZX,DPFNX,JMSIX
HY Muni-…
SD less than 2=NVHIX,WHYIX,ISHYX…
SD less than 3=NHMRX/NHMAX,GHYIX/GHYAX,MMHIX/MMHAX
Core+Core plus-…
SD less than 1.5=FIJEX…
SD less than 3=PINCX,GTO
Observations:
2020 OPENED WITH A BANG FOR BOND OEFs. Rates were down and many funds did nicely.
Multi- Another good month and especially for IOFIX. SEMMX did great for its low SD.
HY Munis continues to be a great category with 2+% for a month.
Inter term – did fantastic because rates were down
Bank loans – are lagging
Uncontrain/Nontrad-are lagging and PUTIX fell off the cliff
HY+EM – HYG lost money and EM did pretty well.
Corp – This category was on fire because of the rate cut.
===========================
Generic Views
My 2 favorite categories are Multi+HY Munis.
HY Munis-The funds that I usually invest in are NHMAX,OPTAX,ORNAX.
The Multi funds I’m interested are IOFIX,EIXIX,VCFAX,PIMIX,JMUTX,JMSIX/JGIAX,PUCZX but IOFIX is usually the leader. SEMMX did very well for a very low SD fund.
Investors who don't mind and understand the risk, may use SEMMX,DHEIX,ZEOIX as a "cash sub" LT, see 3 year SD less than 1(link). In taxable, you can use ST duration Munis. NVHAX duration is about 4 which is between ST to LT. I remember so many posts in 01/2019 about MM/CD that were paying just 2-2.5%.
============================
Any question or subject about bond mutual funds (not CEFs) is welcome in this thread. I will try and answer all of them.

For cash, I would look at SEMMX or DHEAX/DHEIX. SEMMX has lower rating bonds and better performance than DHEAX (Investment grade > 80%). I call these funds "cash sub" for investors who are willing to take a calculated risk.
See PorVis(link)
I hardly ever hold cash/MM/CD but that's what I do and what suites my goals.

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

Why so testy? I was only commenting. I have been considering DHEAX for much longer than a couple of months. One will never know how long it was discussed on M* because the forum changed less than a year ago. Cheers.

Regarding DHEIX/DHEAX, I am not sure when it became a frequently discussed fund at M* or MFO. I first heard about it in 2018 from FD, who was talking about a couple of short term bond oefs, that could be a safe harbor in that turbulent market period. FD had mentioned both DHEAX and SEMIX as short term bond oefs, that were available to him at Schwab. When I moved my brokerage account from Fidelity to Schwab in early 2019, I took a close look at both DHEAX and SEMIX, but did not choose to invest in them at that time. Toward the end of 2019, when I was doing some end of year portfolio adjustments, I decided to put some money into DHEAX. I have been pleased with it so far, but I think there are a number of short term bond oefs in addition to DHEAX, that would be good choices for a conservative bond oef investor.

"Gary1952">I am at Schwab and all too often fail to research there. Thanks for the update. I will look into those funds. DBLSX is my oldest bond OEF holding. recently I have been thinking about selling some. But with 50% equities now I like the relative safety of DBLSX.
Is Schwab selling DHEIX yet?
Edit: PSHYX is Pioneer Short Term Income fund.
Gary, thanks for the correction--I edited my post above. I had about 10 different short term bond oefs I had on a watchlist, and I accidentally referenced the fund as Putnam instead of Pioneer, when I was reviewing the information on them. Putnam also has a very good short term bond oef, but it was not one of the funds that Schwab had on its recommendation list.

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.
================================
Well, that's the thing about the internet...
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEAX was on 10/30/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&collapse_discussion=true
According to this M* search, the first post about DHEIX was by yogi in a Barron's Summary on 04/29/2019:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?q=dheix&noSynonym=false&page=2&collapse_discussion=true
The majority of posts about them, here and there, have been in the last TWO months, yet posters like to celebrate them (and hundreds of other funds) as though they knew about them/owned them during the period they refer to them as the better/best.
So what's your point again?

Correction (as long as the above analysis is correct) : DHEAX WAS the better fund.
The daily obsession with some posters (especially one) looking back at prior performance and deeming a given fund as the better/best is mind-numbing.
Had a poster, THREE YEARS AGO, stated that DHEAX will perform better than another similar fund over the next three years, and it did, now that would be something.
But truth be told, the first post about DHEIX/DHEAX that I EVER SAW on on ANY board by posters who now hail it as the better/best over the last three years was made within the last TWO months.
The last TWO months.
----------------------------------
To wit...
This MFO search history for DHEAX shows for that VintageFreak and willmatt72 posted about it in April-June 2019.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheax
This MFO search history for DHEIX shows for that willmatt72 posted about it in Feb 2018.
ALL other posts about it, including by those who hail it NOW as the better/best, were made between Dec 2019 and today.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/search?Search=dheix

DHEAX has been discussed well back into 2019 at M*. Not sure if you are referring to MFO only.