BNDX
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund ETF Shares
Mentions (24Hr)
300.00% Today
Reddit Posts
Missing dividends for BNDX
The BOJ "Short Squeeze" - Like an anime fight sequence
My mom passed away from COVID last year - Left me $100K - How should I invest ?
A couple of hypotheticals about a private individual investing on a relative's behalf, without professional financial advisors or dependency
Mentions
Diversify into BNDX, TMF, VXUS
BNDX is hedged to dollar. IGOV is not, but higher expense ratio, as there is no Vanguard competitor.
I am moving to a more defensive position. I was at about 16% bonds and I'm now at 23% on my way to 25%. Not doing it all at once to get an average price. I also diversified my bonds to include foreign bonds (BNDX) as well as TIPS (SCHP for now. May but some directly later.) I was at 1% gold and over the last few months have increased that to 2%. I would like it to be 5% but I'll do that over years rather than but at what might be the high. I have also shifted from about 10% foreign equities to 15% For domestic equities I have shifted to about 15% in "defensive" sectors including consumer staples, utilities, healthcare, and 10% into sectors that sell hard assets(REITs, energy and mining). That still leaves 25% in the s&p which I will keep because any further movement would result in big taxable gains, otherwise I would bring it down to 20%
I just retired and am staying at 77 percent stocks. I gave up too much money owning 20 percent in BND and BNDX last 9 years and rebalancing cost me more money.
On the “whitecoatinvestor” website’s 150 portfolios better than yours post, a Boglehead adjacent strategy of keeping up to 10% in non-Boglehead investments and speculations (individual stocks, factor funds like SCV, crypto, bonds/funds of, gold, etc, etc..) is right below the “3-fund portfolio”. Which should be a 4-fund portfolio with BNDX or IAGG. Still think the basic idea is keep market cap with a few funds for most investments to simplify life .. while letting the market work for an investor long term. Having some “wilder” investments bordering on speculation and/or a bond ladder, esp when older, can work.
No, I can't. That would mean buying SGOV or BNDX, but everything looks so bullish for gold. Maybe I need to do a stop/loss order for some of it.
Fund-wise,VT contains most of the world’s investable stocks, while VTI is only US based ones. Hasn’t been a bad bet as Fidelity released a study that 70% US stock/30% non-US was the optimal mix from 1950 to 2022 (reducing volatility, tho pure U.S. returned a wee bit more), .. but the past is no guarantee of the future as they say. Then there’s diversifying bonds with long Treasuries being the least correlated with stocks as in a recessionary downturn, investment grade bonds will go up while stocks go down. However since 1900-ish, stocks have returned 10% per yr on average vs bonds at 5%, .. so it’s advised that younger people go with more stock. There’s some gold and/or commodity funds to look at. Bill Bernstein, a neurologist turned fund adviser made a point of recommending a little bit in “gold” and a little bit in long Treasuries to take insure against extremes in the economy (maybe more for psychological salve). Anyways I add these to the 3-fund portfolio, .. well now 4-fund with BNDX .. with an example in whitecoatinvestors “150 portfolio ideas better than yours” webpage // right below the 3-fund portfolio recommendation. I’ll keep a little in a global gold mining fund which sometimes doesn’t track gold vs if gold goes flat, there’s dividends to reinvest for the next “emergency” (ymmv but gold went pretty much flat from 1982 to 2002).
I am 58 and am 77 percent in stocks such as VTI and VXUS. Staying right where I am because bond funds such as BND and BNDX do not excite me. 22 percent of my portfolio is in these bond funds. I do not want to miss out on more stock gains.
Yes I see what you are saying. I lost like $6,500 on JDS Uniphase back in early 2000s and was invested in many tech stocks at the time which declined. Now I just own VTI, VXUS, VBR, BND, BNDX and VTIP. My portfolio has gone from 1.1 million to almost 3 million in 9 years. Maybe just stick with index funds. I know I could have done better with the Mag 7 but based on past experience I just went with index funds.
BNDX https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/bndx
VTI. Should have stayed 100 percent VTI 9 years ago and not diversified into BND, BNDX and VXUS. This diversification cost me a million dollars. The VTI and chill crowd has been correct.
It just seems like there is so much money in the system due to the Fed and our government and it just keeps going into risk assets, gold, tech stocks, bitcoin. Bonds have been a big loser with these low interest rates. I really do not understand why the Fed is lowering interest rates. More money will just keep going into these risk assets. 9 years ago I put 20 percent of my portfolio into BND and BNDX as per Vanguard's advice. Also, I put money in VXUS. If I just stayed with 100 percent VTI I would have a million dollars more. Everyday it is the same story, US stocks just go higher. I feel like an idiot for diversifying.
Just think what you would have being 100 percent VTI. Big mistake in that I listened to Vanguard and added BND, BNDX and VXUS to my portfolio 9 years ago.
The ETF comment is probably the right answer. It’s really hard to see JPM, MSFT, or MA and/or V not existing and making money in 15 years. A lot of answers will be tech, JPM and old banks like that have been here for 200 years. Not the largest, or highest growth (again, VTI/VXUS/BND/BNDX is a really good split maybe with IAU as insurance), but around. MSFT has a wider diversity than most of the tech stocks, that would be the one I pick to survive the forthcoming AI bubble crash that will likely occur within that time span you specify.
Yes. I just own VTI, VXUS, BND, and a little BNDX
Most of these funds are super high expense ratio and are leveraged and not necessarily great for long term holds and simplicity for newer investors. Even the bond funds recommended are not bad but can do better with just getting BND or BNDX or BNDW
Don't understand the difference! I'm all SPY/SPDW and some BND/BNDX. Only individual stock is RCAT (5% of portfolio). I stared at the options table today because for shares I got in at $4, went up to $12, and now is at $8, so I'm trying to figure out what's going on with it. Someone said the "options calls" were suppressing the share price, but I have no idea what that means.
First, great work breaking the cycle. That's worth celebrating. I also am first generation white collar. I grew up in a poor farming family with people who were literally afraid of math and finance, and it utterly crippled them from being functional adults. Good luck navigating the nuances, it can be challenging for sure. Agreed with avoiding any active management. There is very little an advisor is really needed for, especially at your age. You can pay a pay-per-hour CFP to look at your finances and give guidance occasionally as needed for a spot check, but this stuff really isn't that complex once you are used to it. I personally wouldn't put Fidelity in the same sentence of Robinhood or Webull - its like comparing a full trim Subaru to a tuk-tuk or offbrand moped. RH and WeBull are considered discount brokers for a reason, and over time, the "discount" part is going to sting you. Either they won't be there to support you when you need them, or they will keep incorrect records that will burn you. I would strongly recommend picking a large, well established broker like Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, and sticking with them, possibly for life. You WILL need to eventually call them, and the first time that that happens, you will realize exactly why RobinHood is considered a discount brokerage - almost zero support. And even less when you need immediate help. If you have to ask for guidance on what to invest in, I'd point you towards /r/bogleheads and suggest you start with a simple 2 fund (VT/BNDW), 3 fund (VTI/VXUS/BNDW), 4 fund (VTI/VXUS/BND/BNDX) portfolio. All give you extremely well diversified portfolios with coverage of both equities and bonds covering more or less the whole planet. It will make a rock solid core for your portfolio. The vast majority of your portfolio should be boring funds. At your age, mid 30s, I would recommend having some amount of bond exposure. It doesn't have to be a lot, but you need to figure out what rule of thumb you're comfortable with and stick with it. Also, I strongly recommend you check out ["the flowchart"](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/4gdlu9/how_to_prioritize_spending_your_money_a_flowchart/) for best practices on what to fund first. The general best practice would be to contribute to your 401k/403b up to the matching level, max out your IRA, finish maxing out your 401k, and then contributing to taxable accounts. I also recommend reading the following books, in this order. 1. Richest Man in Babylon by Clason 2. The little book of common sense investing by Jack Bogle 3. A Random Walk down Wall Street by Malkiel 4. The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham If you do, you'll understand why I am suggesting what I am suggesting.
If I was in your shoes I would max out my employer-sponsored retirement accounts every year. I would then get a high-deductible health plan and max out an HSA every year. I would also max out either a traditional or Roth IRA every year (Roth is better for most people). I would primarily invest in international stock ETFs like VXUS, and in bond ETFs like SCHQ and BNDX.
Mid 50s, USA, Husband and Wife. We've got $300,000 in cash. I've had it in a high yield savings account for 2 years. My wife and I sold our house in a high cost of living area, and rented a house in a lower cost of living area to be nearer to my parents who have health issues. Our income combined is around $200K. I had planned on us buying a house in a year or two after we moved here, so that's why I kept it in cash. Now we may or may not want to buy a house here. Only debt is our beach condo mortgage, about $100K at 4%. Our other holdings are 401k type investments in SP500 (50%), international funds (20%), and broad market bond funds (30%), about $1.5M. I feel vaguely silly sitting on that much cash at this point. I'm concerned that the independence of the Federal Reserve is being eroded and we'll hit a period of stagflation a la the 1970s. The current US president is a former real estate developer, and developers hate having to pay more interest on land they're developing. I don't know what the exogenous shock will be this time to kick off the stagflation. Maybe it'll be these new tariffs. What do I put it in? Bond ETF ex-US like BNDX? That got hammered in 2021 and 2022, but was up a lot in 2023 and a little in 2024. I guess it really depends on what I believe and am willing to take on risk for it.
If this is taxable your BNDX and BND dividends are being taxed as ordinary income
I wish I had remained 100 percent VTI. I listened to a Vanguard advisor and put 20 percent of my portfolio into BND and BNDX. Actually he recomended 35 percent in bonds which would have lowered my return further. Also bought VXUS on his recommendation. If I stayed 100 percent VTI I would have 3.8 million instead of 2.8 million. I do not believe a 50 percent stock decline is even possible in today's environment with the buy the dip mentality and fed and gov intervention. I made a really big mistake. Stay 100 percent stocks.
As you get older your TDF is composed of more and more bonds and money market funds. This is primarily to PROTECT your money for retirement, but the trade of for reduced risk is that your returns are significantly lower. If you wanted to swap out an equivalent would be a variation of the 2/3/4 fund portfolio that you can find in r/Bogleheads , but TLDR that is some ratio of VTI+VXUS+BND+BNDX or VT+BNDW. Less protection for your money, but more money can be made if you just buy and hold.
Hey guys!! I'm a young kiwi investor looking for some advice for index investing, which will be done through ETFs on a long-term DCA plan. My main focus as of right now is my academics (hence why I'm index investing instead of spending the time on DD for stocks) so I'm looking for some advice critique on my current auto-invest selection. I'm also looking at a super long-term horizon (30+ years) for all this, which I'm well aware could mean holding through massive dives in the dollar value of my portfolio. Currently my contributions are: 30% VTI 30% VEU 15% BND 15% BNDX 10% VAS If you can't tell I'm a big fan of Vanguard (although very much open to other ETF providers) and I like to balance my US and International exposure. My broker also does free currency exchange so that is not an issue. Any contribution is appreciated :)
IUSB yields about 0.5% more on average but with bond funds/etfs every little bit helps (%yield, %er) to make it worthwhile over purchasing bonds themselves (though most may prefer shorter term CDs, TIPs for inflation, etc. the latter US govt backed for US saver-investors fwiw). It still has enough investment grades and ultimately Treasuries to weather foreseeable downdrafts, plus probably respond better to the inevitable bounceback. High yield default rates long term averaged 4% in the 1980s down to 2% recently; 2009 was a high with 10% defaulting in the U.S., but the amt of high yield in IUSB is still very low vs investment grade. Now if looking at risk parity like I did when starting, look at long term Treasuries. I did following the late Harry Browne’s advice on his late ‘70s “permanent portfolio” though there’s an updated discussion on optimized portfolio website (which points out that investment grade corporates aren’t as safe as govt bonds … to each their own). Caveat: I might be a little fearless as I still have long term Treasuries and even long term zeroes from a previous “risk parity” portfolio of mostly US aggressive growth for .. growth vs. LT treasuries as a “hedge”, though still be looking to cash most of those in with my going into retirement bond funds [they themselves “4 fund”] being almost equal SHY/maybe ISTB, IUSB>>TLT, hedged BNDX>>> unhedged IGOV (not counting actual TIPs and CDs to cash in …). [i]Add[/I] so for stocks, I’ll be “2 fund” with VONE>IXUS in my IRA (US self-directed retirement account), .. for bonds I’ll have more than a few funds/etfs to spread various risks.
>It seems as though the vanguard bond ETFs are down in value right now (something awful must have happened in 2022!). So it might be a good time to be buying. With bond funds, the NAV tends to be less important than the dividends, which makes charting difficult. But yeah, bond yields were at the lowest they'd been in a long time. And then as rates rise, that drives down the price of existing bonds, so it takes some time for funds to pull in the new ones and recover pricing. Anyways. >Question: I see where they offer a couple of global bond ETFs. Would buying one of these be "two birds with one stone" as far as portfolio diversification? Both a global investment and a bond. Short answer: no. First is that bonds and stocks have some level of uncorrelation (which is good), but that in turn means ex-US bonds are going to behave differently than ex-US stocks. But with a fund like BNDW or BNDX, they're currency hedged. That means they attempt to provide the same results regardless of whether the USD strengthens or weakens, which is good for stability. One of the major diversification benefits of VXUS or similar though is currency: as the dollar weakens, your stock goes up without the companies on the other side changing at all. There are unhedged bond funds too, but then you're not getting bond-like behavior as much as the currency hedge. My personal conclusion when reading through stuff was to not bother and only use US Treasuries for my bond allocation. That's not an unusual stance, but Vanguard and some other providers have decided to include international bonds in their target date funds, and they have smart people. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Developed_market_bonds has some info.
That's a good split. If you wanted something even easier and more diverse, dump your money into something like [https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vffvx#portfolio-composition](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vffvx#portfolio-composition) which will basically do what you're doing but allocated to according to global market caps. Currently, the split is roughly: * 54% VTI * 37% VXUS * 6% BND * 3% BNDX (international bond, as BND is only US)
BNDX is I think the main fund for ex-US bonds, although there are more. A big point of discussion there is whether you want (currency) hedged or unhedged bonds. If you're going for stability, then you usually want hedged, but that can incur additional expenses. If you're trying to expose yourself to the exchange rates, then you want unhedged. Some more reading: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Developed_market_bonds
SGOV 4.7 pct, European Defense stocks, BNDX European Bonds.
Q: Should I sell off old index funds that are long term losses? I have a Schwab brokerage with a set of index funds I pulled out of a robotrader over 10 years ago. A couple of them are showing losses (over the entire lifetime of the account) between -8% to -10%, such as **BNDX**, **AGG**, **MUB**. BNDX for example has dropped off at the beginning of 2022 and never recovered.
Not a very exciting market right now in the USA, Warren Buffett is not buying and he is very bullish long term. Why not invest 25K every 3 months, hold the rest in BNDX and SGOV, both yield over 4 pct?
No, I am mainly selling. I sold X last week due to the impending Nippon Steel merger, will sell oil as it rises. I don't know what to do with my cash, so paying taxes, buying SGOV and BNDX. Might short treasuries and more USD.
The classic answer: it depends. What are your goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon? If you're young and can handle the volatility of 2025, consider a mix of domestic and international equity exposure using broad-based index ETFs. If you're older or feeling cautious, bonds might be worth exploring. I’m less familiar with them, but ETFs like BND or BNDX can provide bond exposure. Whatever you decide, take a breath. The market is volatile right now, headlines from the president or Fed chair are moving it by full percentage points. Zoom out and keep the bigger picture in mind.
Thanks. Are US treasuries still considered investment grade? I know MCO changed US sovereign debt creditworthiness, but I don't know all the grades off hand. I like VGLT because it's cheaper than TLT. I guess that would be considered medium-long bonds. I was looking at EDV but I also know it has way bigger interest rate risk, not necessarily a bad thing. I think I just need someone to sell it to me. I know longer duration has lower equity correlation. I do hold some BNDX in my taxable but generally shy away from corporate bonds due to the higher correlation with stocks. That's why I also like gold and managed futures.
Think you’re good except may look af increasing long bonds a bit. Fidelity published an analysis last year about asset allocation in and coming out of the 2008-2009 GFC. Investment grade bonds in an 80/20 portfolio helped balance that stock drop, and while equities did better coming out going to 2014, at 2014 both were about equal. Can play around with it. Then from 1999 to about 2020-ish, a 80/20 “Boglehead-ish” 4 fund (60/20/15/5 in VTI, VXUS, BND,BNDX) did as well as the stock index (… which is very hard to do)z
Put 500k in: —>mutual fund variants:(VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX) —>ETF variants: (VT + BND + BNDX) Live off of the passive income
Think of (investing in the stock market), like this. By investing in “assets that are good long term assets.” Either (ETFs or mutual funds). You are achieving (capital appreciation + earning dividends). —>Capital appreciation = total value of your stock portfolio. Capital appreciation = unrealized gains/money on paper. People who are long term investors do not care about (capital appreciation as much). They will only care about capital appreciation, when they are going to sell shares/convert unrealized gains into realized gains. -when you sold share because of a dip. You just converted (unrealized gains, into realized gains). —>Earning dividends = earning passive income, without even having to sell shares. You are getting a guaranteed return on your investment, without even having to sell shares. -Aka: You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). In return, you could be receiving ($300 dollars in dividends per year). ($300/$10,000 = 0.03 * 100% = 3%). ->You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). You are receiving (capital appreciation, but can also become capital depreciation). You are receiving (dividend income, and perhaps long term dividend appreciation, but can also become dividend depreciation). ->You have manually allocated ($10,000 dollars to your investments). And you are receiving a (3% APY interest rate — because of the ($300 dollars in dividends per year). And the amount of dividends could potentially grow, if there is “long term dividend appreciation.” Good long term assets to invest in: -ETF variants: (VT + BND + BNDX) -mutual fund variants: (VTWAX + VBTLX + VTABX). (Total world stock market = 100% equities) + (Total US bond market) + (Total international bond market). Bonds are essentially debt assets. (Financial institutions/banks), mainly make their profits from (debt or debt interest). Bond holders get to receive a percentage of this (debt or debt interest).
Just another storm to ride out. If you are diversified, then not all that much to worry about. I used to be a domestic bond only person. But I diversified into funds like BNDX, and SPHY to compliment BND. And a mix of CD's can't hurt either. Commodities will also be important under the Trump administration since there's a lot of unpredictability.
30% here. I am 50 and semi retired. I have a mix of SPAB, SPHY, abd BNDX.
We looked at the classic Vanguard target date fund for starters, as far as international diversification away from US. VXUS looked fine but has developing markets, we're worried about these impacts hurting the lesser countries and wanted only developed so we went with VEA. For fixed income, BNDX is hedged, not so good with a dropping US dollar, so we went with unhedged WIP instead (foreign government bonds, developed countries, with inflation protection), and IBND for some international corporate bonds from highly rated companies. That's what we settled on. Hope it wasn't a mistake but staying in US treasuries sure didn't look good when we did this a while back.
VXUS, BNDX, AAAU and FXF looking better by the minute
BNDX and VXUS and I'm probably going to grab some FXF to go with my AAAU position
Another good day for my VXUS / BNDX / CALM + puts on TSLA port.
Nothing wrong with broad index investing except it’s usually relatively boring (which is a good thing). Think about 15%-20% of the time it can be exciting .. either good or bad; being a human endeavor at least some “social psychology” drama to be expected. That said some investors and especially speculators are far more competitive but I also remember watching some of Buffett’s and Munger’s videotaped musings … about not being very impressed with more [other] professional money managers. People who do this full-time. Not saying mirroring Berkshire is the way forward as they themselves change with the times, but many will fall short = may as well go with an index unless doing something combining investments with taxes, hedging corporate concerns, etc.., There’s also asset allocation with investor age to consider (like adding bonds but a bit of non-US too). If keeping the uncomplicated theme, Vanguard’s “life strategy” 4-index fund asset allocations (2 stocks, 2 bonds) seem relatively simple with a 5^th (TIP) fund only added to the fund coming due. Will actually be replicating that with iShares mostly fwiw except with BNDX.
Totally fair frustration a lot of people got burned by bond ETFs in that 2021–2022 window. What happened is pretty straightforward: when interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Since BOND and BNDX hold longer-duration bonds, they were hit hard as the Fed started hiking aggressively. SGOV held up because it’s ultra-short duration, so it doesn’t get smacked by rate changes in the same way. That said, you’re absolutely right to wonder about the *opposite* happening. If rates *drop*, bond prices should rise, especially for funds like BOND and BNDX. But yeah, a lot of that potential rebound is already priced in — unless the Fed cuts faster or deeper than expected, it probably won’t be a huge snapback. I’ve personally shifted some of my capital to places where yield is more predictable. One tool I’ve been using is LPShares it’s a platform for private and secondary deals, where you can sometimes find better returns without being so tied to interest rate headlines. Might be worth exploring if you’re looking for ways to move beyond traditional bond ETFs.
If you go [here](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/bndx#overview) you can read on what BNDX is. It appears its an international bond fund with similar time frames as BND. You need to ask yourself why are you buying bonds in the first place. I don't feel a younger investor needs them at all. You will get far greater returns overtime investing in index type ETF/Mutual Funds. Save bonds for when you are nearing retirement.
Also, do you know if BNDX is short, intermediate, or long-term? Or a mix of all? I want to have a better understanding of what I'm doing before I sell it and buy something else.
You need to look at dividends reinvested. That would normally be https://totalrealreturns.com/s/BND,BNDX,SGOV but it looks like something happened to their data a few days ago so it's not giving historical graphs. Bond prices on the secondary market depend on interest rates for new bonds. https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=360575 is a good read, and includes this nice summary: > There is a rule of thumb--for a bond, it is exact, but for a bond fund it is only a rule of thumb. It is: the duration of the bond fund is the period of time over which short- and long-term effects of an interest rate increase balance out. An interest rate increase is bad for an investor who holds for less than the duration, good an investor who holds for longer than that. The specific question that you're having at the end is called ["the cash trap"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1cgcqrp/thinking_of_ditching_your_total_bond_fund_for_a/).
"So should I just assume that there will be no spike in the future and instead tranfer BOND and especially BNDX to where they will be receiving higher yields?" zero people know the answer here
“I have my uninvested savings in the ETFs BOND and BNDX” Your savings are invested, in BND and BNDX.
This is a fair question. My tax-deferred accounts are mostly VXUS and BNDX with a little IAU.
BNDX now flat while BND still down, going international wins again.
My positions aren’t static and held in several different brokerages. The largest is the federal TSP I fund, which mirrors the MSCI ACWI IMI ex USA ex China ex Hong Kong Index. My main brokerage account is in Vanguard Developed Markets Index (VTMGX) and Vanguard Total International Bond (BNDX). Individual holdings are limited to BRK.B, GLD, SLV, and some AAPL that I’d owe huge cap gains on if I sold.
There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers. I sold a lot of equities from Oct-mid April and bought a gold fund GLD, a short duration US bond fund (SGOV 5 PCT interest), an intl bond fund (BNDX 4 PCT interest). I am buying United Healthcare UNH right now, I bought back some AMZN @ 175 and some European equity EUAD fund and EADS which makes Airbus planes. Ticker is probably EADSY. I started selling because of Buffet, so I sold 50 PCT of my AMZN at 210. It then rose to 240 I think. I am also thinking about buying a rare book, ie a collectible, but that would be a new direction.
I'm 38 so I only have ~5% BND and BNDX, but I'll likely add more around 50.
Agree. But the main thing is the capital gains tax, let's say if you sold 100K and 70K was profit. Also, assume you put the 100K into SGOV or BNDX and achieved a 4-5 PCT return.
VT for stocks,high risk high expected return BNDX for bonds, low risk low expected return vMFXX for cash,no risk very low expected return Mix and match as desired
If by "the market" you mean the US market, I'm reasonably confident we *will* see a 30% drop from the previous all-time high in the next couple years (maybe not a 30% drop from where we're currently at, though I wouldn't rule it out). As for what I'm doing, at least in my retirement accounts I'm holding a mix of about half foreign stocks (VXUS), about half foreign bonds (BNDX), and a little bit of gold (IAU). But that's my retirement accounts—I'm doing somewhat different things with money I might conceivably need in the next couple years. In particular, I've got even more bonds, including inflation-protected bonds. Note that while I want to protect myself against inflation risks, I personally would not *assume* we will definitely see 5-7% inflation. If I were assuming that I might go lighter on non-inflation-protected bonds. Also note that if you could *truly* see the future about a major stock index and nothing else, the obvious thing to do is buy put options on the index. But in real life that's far from riskless.
Got you. I’m unsure why BNDX would not have the same currency risk since the bonds are all international so I assume they are settled and sold in non-USD
I'm mostly in VXUS and BNDX with around 5% in IAU. Gold's low correlation with other asset classes is nice but you shouldn't overdo it. VOO, on the other hand... the drop from ATH is nothing by recession standards, meanwhile China tariffs have been on too long for the damage to be undone even if they were fully lifted tomorrow (because moving goods around the globe takes time), and the real pain hasn't even hit yet (because moving goods around the globe takes time). So depending on how much gold you have, consider selling it and holding cash, buying bonds, buying international stocks... but no not VOO.
I’d say the opposite, IGOV has currency risk, BNDX is hedged against that. Like the poster said above, IGOV should do well if the dollar falls. The foreign country pays in Pounds or whatever and that translates to more dollars than before since you need more dollars to buy a Pound. And worse in the opposite case.
I was understanding BNDX was as straight up international bond etf - are you saying it is not and IGOV has less risk?
hi, I'm trying to diversify currencies. I bought some BNDX and FXE. Any other tips? Thanks!
Oh I'm buying shares... in VXUS and BNDX. (Just hedging my exposure to America.)
Are you arguing for BNDX? IGOV isn’t currency hedged like BNDX.
Not the worst idea. I mean mine's roughly half VXUS, half BNDX, with a little IAU, but there are worse things you could do than holding cash right now.
Yeah but I mean look at how many investors have strayed away from fundamentals as well. Exhibit A: This sub Turns out that posting modest but reliable gains on a blend of VTI/VXUS/BND/BNDX just doesn't reap that sweet sweet karma
I like to use most of the finance subreddits as sounding boards. If I see someone with an idea similar to mine, I will give input and see what holes people can poke in it. I was planning on using BNDX as a hedge against USD instability. Someone corrected me that the fund was USD hedged with forward contracts at a set USD rate. I missed that when I read through the fund since I am as fallible as anyone. Now, I plan on using ISHG as soon as Powell gets the boot or his term is about to end. I don't pick my investments based on reddit analysis. There is a wealth of advice you can get from real professionals to develop your own strategy.
VEA, BRKA, VCSH, BNDX and cash
The real problem with dollar inflation for international bond funds is that said funds are almost without exception currency-hedged. But so far it's at least shielded me from the Treasuries selloff (BNDX has outperformed BND since I shifted to it).
I mean I have *some* money in puts on specific stocks but it's a tiny fraction of what I have in VXUS/BNDX, and posting those positions seemed sort of beside the point in a post about the broad economic picture.
Sold all my US stocks early February when I realized the trade war was getting serious to lock gains .. and slowly averaging back into the US mostly “mega-caps” (that’s been back and forth), while keeping international (non-US). Going forward [IMHO], I’ll probably build up my US position slowly with mostly mega-cap growth/tech and let it ride with my stock % being, like the 1970s, with the introduction of the “international fund”,to 2007, .. a past optimal 80%^- US vs 20%^+ non-US stock mix with biannual rebalancing. This one top of my bond allocation which will increase with age (2:1 Treasuries: BNDX, .. then mixing SLQD to the US portion upon retirement). Along with up to 5% “gold” if need be (have a bit of crypto/blockchain in my equity %). Trying to keep it mathematical after all this..
Honestly this is good advice. My VXUS/BNDX mix is working out well for me since I adopted the strategy in March, but there's no reason for OP to trust me on this.
Personally I'd do a mix of VXUS and BNDX. People *still* are not taking Trump's commitment to the ridiculous idea of eliminating trade deficits via tariffs as seriously as they should be.
Absolutely no reason to go all-in on the US right now. Most of my money's in BNDX, with a significant minority in VXUS. If you don't trust yourself to make that call, though, do VT rather than VTI.
Definitely don't pay off the mortgage, you'll get higher interest rates in a money market fund like VMFXX. Personally my money is mostly foreign bonds (BNDX) with a substantial minority in foreign stocks (VXUS) and a little bit in gold (IAU). If you want to play it super-super safe though you could do a money market fund or inflation protected bonds (VTIP). Note: all tickers except VMFXX are ETFs. All ETFs except IAU are Vanguard funds, and have traditional mutual fund counterparts which you can find via Vanguard's website.
BNDX is currency hedged to US dollar. Not good with a falling dollar.
Ignoring BNDX, better than 95% of the holdings in VWO, VGK, and VPL are already covered by VXUS. While VXUS covers the markets except US, you're extra holdings are adding weight to everything else that isn't Canada or the Middle East. Why?
The bigger issue is both those funds mean you're going entirely into cash. Also consider international equities and bonds, these will give you the currency exposure while still having long-term growth. https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?FXE,FXF,VOO,VXUS,VT,VGK,BND,BNDX&n=2989&O=011000
Aye. I’m in VWO, VXUS, VGK, BNDX, and VPL. The rest of the world may experience some troubles but I do believe they are severely undervalued vis-à-vis the U.S. If you can deal with the tax work, wouldn’t hurt to exchange for some euros to own some European stocks.
I’m not an expert either, but I’ll offer my thoughts. BNDX is *supposed* to hedge against change in relative currency values. How effectively the fund managers accomplish this affects how well it will serve as a hedge against a falling dollar. I would not count on it to do so, its value lies more in being a secure bond fund that shouldn’t collapse if the US Treasury bond market does. IGOV has been going up, and I largely suspect that is indeed due to the falling dollar.
For this long of a time horizon and assuming a period of high inflation and rising bond yields in the US, it sounds like you would want either an international stock index like VXUS or an international bond fund like BNDX.
IGOV is unhedged and this is why I own IGOV not BNDX. ISHG is short-term and unhedged
I have IGOV which is up 10%+ vs. BNDX because it is unhedged against the US dollar. This way if the US dollar goes down IGOV goes up which is why it's outperforming BNDX and why I bought it
BNDX is a hedged fund, just so you know.
I wish in the US there was a short duration European non etf like SGOV, CLIP, etc. I find that I don’t know enough to handle the volatility in the bond market. I was looking at BNDX. though.
One interesting bond etf is BWZ which is not currency hedged (as opposed to BNDX which is currency hedged).
BNDX is the gold standard. I don't think we have a US Japanese bond ETF like they do in Europe...
[VLXVX](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vlxvx#portfolio-composition) is presently 53% VTI, 37% VXUS, 7% BND, and 3% BNDX, so the only difference between what you're doing and what the people who get paid to do this shit is a 10% bond exposure
I don't know anything about international bonds but shouldn't BNDX be up more given the dollar slide?
You can buy vanguard funds on fidelity. VTI tracks all us stocks. VT tracks world stocks (including us and intl). VXUS and VEU track international stocks only. BNDX tracks international Bond markets. You buy any of those tickers on fidelity and it’s like you’re buying all of the stocks within them weighted by their size (but packaged into a single ticker).
if you want to truly completely be hands off follow 1 of 2 strategies VT + BND + BNDX at a stock:bond ratio that suits you VTI + VXUS + BND + BNDX at a stock:bond ratio that suits you AND at a US domestic: international ratio that suits you I like VTI + VXUS so I can contribute 50:50 to both US and international but some people like VT because it is a self balancing ETF. VTI + VXUS is also slightly more diverse than VT and will likely expose you a bit more to emerging markets than simply VT
IGOV works BNDX is US dollar hedged
as a fairly passive investor, personally I'm going heavy into VTIAX (same as VXUS) until midterms at the least, and probably more in BNDX. If it's looking like he's going to be able to fire powell, i'll probably buy more IAU as well, I have a few shares at the moment. And most of my cash is in HYSA/CDs because 4% is better than the market's offering right now, but the moment the FDIC is cut/ended/burnt to the ground, I'll be transferring out to fidelity and vanguard to ride it out in SGOV/BNDX. that's the best i've got for this bullshit. I'm a long term investor forced to look at short term because of the economy policy rn, and i gotta admit i hate it