Non-Retirement: Bond Inter. Term Mutual Fund

Wylie Pick: Managers Bond MGFIX

Selecting from mutual funds available through Etrade with no load or transaction fee and an initial $2500 investment or lower minimum and subsequent $100 or lower minimums, when looking for an Intermediate Term Bond fund, I use the Mutual fund screener to screen out options with 4, or 5 stars and find 6 choices. money

Click the image for a larger view comparing the funds as of Etrade's data on 3/25/07:


Westcore Plus and Managers are the two 5 star funds and they have both been 5 star funds over 1 year, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year periods. money

Westcore Plus Bond has trailed Managers Bond slightly and has slightly more risky holdings (A instead of AA) so despite higher expenses and higher turnover, Managers is the pick for this hypothetical portfolio as it has out performed all along the way and has more management expertise. money

Non-Retirement: Bond Short-Term

Wylie Pick: American Performance Short Term Income APSTX

Selecting from mutual funds available through Etrade with no load or transaction fee and an initial $2500 investment or lower minimum and subsequent $100 or lower minimums, when looking for a Short-Term Bond fund, I have five options. money

Two options have a 5 star rating from Morningstar. They are both American Performance funds but one is called "American Performance Interm Bond Fund." This caught my eye because Intermediate Bonds are held for a longer term and ahve their own category and after jumping over to morningstar, I find that in December of last year, this fund switched from the Intermediate category to Short-Term. money

Since I am looking for a Short-Term fund, I rule this one out as an impostor but it illustrates an issue- funds with categories in their titles can be deceptive when a category changes but the title does not. money

So that leaves one 5 star fund and since it has low expenses, American Performance Short Term Income APSTX is our pick. money