These funds lend your money to responsible borrowers for long periods.
There’s safe, and there’s ultra-safe. The first category of ETFs below has funds with either corporate bonds only or a mix of corporate and U.S. Treasury bonds. The second has only Treasurys.
By safe, we mean safe from large credit losses. There’s also the risk of a rise in interest rates. All these long-term bonds have that kind of risk. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) lost money in four of the last ten calendar years.
Comparative bargains include iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond (USIG), which benefits from a low expense ratio and some securities lending, and two of the long Treasury funds.
A bond ETF is included here if its portfolio averages a maturity of 9 years or more. There’s also a short list of preferred-stock funds. Preferreds act like bonds that never mature.
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For an explanation of our rankings and a directory of fund categories, turn to Forbes Best ETFs.
*Honor Roll member. For the full list, turn to Best ETFs Honor Roll.
For a searchable directory of fund names and tickers, use the ETF Directory.
