Where to put my US bond allocation

[tominsc]

I’m caught in the paralysis of analysis!

I’ve got my stock/bond allocation pretty much worked out. I’m not sure how I want to spread the bond part. I don’t want a lot of interest rate sensitivity and I won’t take much credit risk. So those both move me to a high quality/low-to-med interest rate sensitivity style box.

But once there, it seems as if it doesn’t matter a lot which vang funds I pick, among short term Treas, short term bonds, short term TIPs, etc., in the short term box, and likewise in the other boxes.

I guess my question is: should I just put all the % I want in a particular box in ONE good bond fund in that box, or is there any point to divvy it up among the various alternative IN one box? I’m leaning to picking one good fund per box, and sort of set it and forget it, till the next rebalancing deadline rolls around.

[retired@50]

My solution to this problem is to let Vanguard do the divvying.

I use Vanguard total bond market fund (VBTLX). It holds most of its assets in the high credit quality, short term and intermediate term style boxes.

Regards,

[KneePartsPro]

I too use one bond index fund for my entire bond allocation. Keeping it simple serves my portfolio well while providing for easy rebalancing.

[tominsc]

Yeah, I agree. I've pretty much decided (since I posted the OP!) to keep it simple, stupid! One short term high quality fund, one med qual med sensitivity fund like VBTLX (that my wife's $ is in and she's not inclined to change, so I'll keep it there), and then some % of our total bond allocation in foreign. Overall, three bond funds, tops.

[checkyourmath]

Don't fight the Fed. Throw the bond market in the trash. They used to take the punchbowl away now they just add more booze.