In fact, Morningstar categorizes more than 60 municipal bond mutual funds as intermediate, of which several use one of the BarCap Municipal intermediate indices or similar index as a performance benchmark.
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Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with long technical names often use catchy or easy-to-remember symbols in order to bolster their marketability as well as indicate their portfolios. (NYSE: MUNI) is the ticker for Pimco Intermediate Muni Bond Strategy ETF which invests in municipal bonds, while (NYSE: CORN) represents Teucrium Corn Fund ETF that tracks the price of corn.
What if you are buying a short- to intermediate-term bond fund, not the bond itself?
Osterweis Strategic Income has more credit risk but lower interest-rate risk (due to shorter average duration) than some intermediate-term bond funds.
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Broadly, they fall into the same Morningstar "Intermediate-Term Bond" category.
If you are worried about the direction of interest rates, an alternative to iShares Barclays 7-10 Year Treasury ( IEF) would be the SPDR Barclays Capital Intermediate Term Corporate Bond ETF ( ITR), or something similar to it.
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Yale's Spiegel recommends intermediate-term corporate bond funds in tax-favored savings accounts.
In a recent article titled Index Fund Portfolio Reign Superior, I created 10, 000 portfolios using actively-managed U.S. large cap funds, international large cap funds, and intermediate-term municipal bond funds.
To reduce interest-rate and default risk, Ms. Benz suggests sticking with intermediate-term muni-bond funds with a high percentage of their holdings in general-obligation bonds, which are repaid with tax revenue.
As yields rose in January, I reduced my exposure to intermediate-term bonds in favor of bond funds like PIMCO Income (PONDX) and Osterweis Strategic Income (OSTIX), which have a broader spectrum of fixed-income that they can invest in.
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Consider alternative investments for your intermediate-term goals like short-term bond funds, municipal bond funds or income funds that include dividend-paying stocks in the mix but watch for bonds with long maturities.
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