Best Performing Long Term Bond Mutual Funds 2014

Year 2014 has been great for long duration bond mutual funds. Some of these best performing long term bond funds are managing to achieve double digits returns. They also provides higher yield for income.

Long Term Bond Funds

Long-term bond funds utilize its assets to purchase corporate and other investment-grade U.S. fixed-income issues. These fixed income funds have durations of more than six years (or, if duration is unavailable, average effective maturities greater than 10 years). Due to their long durations, these portfolios are exposed to greater interest rate risk.

From this best performing funds list, you may find each individual fund review. You can find the fund performance, expense ratio, and yield or dividend from the table below. If you are interested in ETF, you can check my previous article. The list is sorted based on its year to date return up to October 19, 2014.

Best performing long term bond mutual funds 2014 are:

1. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund (VBLTX)
2. PIMCO Long Duration Total Return Fund (PLRIX)
3. Schroder Broad Tax-Aware Value Bond Fund (STWTX)
4. SEI Long Duration Fund (LDRAX)
5. SEI Long Duration Corporate Bond Fund (SLDAX)
6. Spirit of America Income Fund (SOAIX)
7. Dupree Taxable Municipal Bond Fund (DUTMX)

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund

As an index fund, Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund invests mainly in U.S. investment-grade bonds with maturities of more than ten years. It invests in corporate bonds & government bonds. It has a high yield of 4.10%. The expense fee is only 0.20% per year. The current share price is $14.06.

In 2014, the year to date return is 17.10%. This best performing long term bond fund has returned 15.21% over the past 1 year, 6.45% over the past 3 years, and 8.88% over the past 5 years. It is ranked with 3 stars rating.

You can buy with as little as $3,000 for your brokerage account. There are 92 brokerages that are offering this top bond fund.

PIMCO Long Duration Total Return Fund

PIMCO Long Duration Total Return Fund is a 4 stars rating mutual fund. With total assets of $5.5 billion, this bond fund has a yield of 3.82%. Its expense fee is 0.50%. The fund manager is Stephen A. Rodosky since 2007.

More: Top 10 Taxable Bond Mutual Funds 2011

This top performing long term bond fund has YTD return of 16.66% in 2014. The past 5 years performance is as followed:

• Year 2013: -8.56%
• Year 2012: 10.28%
• Year 2011: 18.57%
• Year 2010: 11.64%
• Year 2009: 5.62%

Schroder Broad Tax-Aware Value Bond Fund

Schroder Broad Tax-Aware Value Bond Fund objective is to provide total return that exceeds that of the fund’s benchmark. The benchmark is composed of the BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. Municipal Large Cap Index (75%) and the Barclays U.S. Long Government Bond Index (25%). The current yied is 3.32%.

The top 2 sectors are U.S. Treasury, and Corporate bond. The top 3 holdings are Grand Parkway Transn Corp Tex Toll 5.25%, Moreno Valley Calif Uni Sch Di Go Refund, and Sacramento Calif Mun Util Dist 5%. The year to date return in 2014 is 16.18%.

Top Long Term Bond Mutual Funds Returns

No	Fund Name	Ticker	YTD Return %
1	Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Inv	VBLTX	17.1
2	PIMCO Long Duration Total Return Instl	PLRIX	16.66
3	Schroder Broad Tax-Aware Value Bond Inv	STWTX	16.18
4	SEI Long Duration A (SIIT)	LDRAX	14.96
5	SEI Long Duration Corporate Bd A (SIIT)	SLDAX	13.64
6	Spirit of America Income A	SOAIX	12.94
7	Dupree Taxable Municipal Bond	DUTMX	11.16