An Investor's Guide to Short-Term Bond Funds (2024)

Bond duration is a double-edged sword. Companies that issue bonds repay their debts over 10, 20 or even 30 years. For investors bond coupons generate limited but steady returns for years. They also lock up money. Short-term bond funds solve that problem by maturing in less than a year. Here’s how they work.

A financial advisor can help you create a financial plan for your needs and goals.

What Are Short-Term Bonds?

As noted, short-term bonds are debt instruments issued by companies and governments that mature in less than five years but more than 365 days.

Short-term bonds are considered low-risk, low-volatility instruments. By paying off in just a few years, they leave a very limited window for default or loss. They also return the investor’s money fairly quickly, limiting the opportunity cost of investment.

Because of this, short-term bonds are often considered cash-equivalent investments. You can liquidate them easily and can plan to use the money again in the near future.

Short-Term Bond Funds and Risk

One of the most important issues with bond investment is inflation and interest. Long term bonds can create very real risks on both of these issues, and they are a significant part of the attraction for short-term bonds.

Interest Rate Risk

All bonds carry what is known as “interest rate risk.” This is the risk that interest rates will rise over the lifetime of the bond, saddling you with a bond that underperforms relative to the rest of the market. For example, say you buy a 20 year bond paying 3%. Over the coming year the Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.75%. Now the new bonds coming onto the market might pay 3.75%.

You’re earning less than you could. More importantly, most investors buy bonds intending to trade them on the secondary market rather than keep the money locked up for years on end. Now you will have to sell your bond in an environment where investors could just as easily buy one paying 0.75 points more. This almost always means taking a loss on the face value of the bond just to get any money out of it at all.

Inflation

The returns on a bond fluctuate relative to inflation. As inflation grows, the bond’s effective rate of return decreases. For example, say you buy that 20 year bond paying 3% interest. Suppose also that inflation is at 2%. This means that the spending power of your money decreases by 2% per year, creating an effective yield on this bond of 1%.

If inflation declines while you hold the bond, it will get effectively more valuable. If it goes up, your yield will decline. This creates a form of risk that investors cannot control.

Short-term bond funds minimize both of these risks. Holding bonds that matures in just a few years means less opportunity for interest rates and inflation to fluctuate unpredictably. This makes them valuable to investors who want to know what will happen with their money.

Short-Term Bonds: Pros

The main reasons for investing in a short-term bond fund include:

Short-Term Bonds: Cons

The main reason not to invest in short-term bond funds is limited returns.

Short-term bond funds provide a combination of high liquidity and high security. That makes them very marketable. So organizations don’t have to pay very much in order to sell them.

Short-term bond funds pay less, often far less, than long term bonds. For example, at time of writing a six month Treasury instrument paid 1.55% interest, while 30 year bonds paid 2.21%. Two randomly selected Vanguard short-term bond funds yielded a return of 1.68% for the short-term assets and 3.05% for the long term ones.

Short-Term Bonds Compared

The main difference between short-term bond funds and long term bonds is stability and liquidity. For a retail investor, this will often not make a significant difference. If your priority is risk mitigation, well rated long term bonds (generally purchased through a mutual fund or ETF) will give you a better rate of return at a degree of risk that will work for almost any individual investor.

Short-Term Bonds vs. Cash

However sometimes the liquidity can be a very real asset. This is particularly true when it comes to cash reserves.

You never want to completely tie up your access to cash. Sometimes unexpected expenses crop up and you simply need access to an emergency fund. Still, short-term bonds can often provide a better alternative for money you want to keep close at hand. They provide a stronger rate of return than a savings account and are typically easy to liquidate. Except for short-term spending money, short-term bonds can be a strong alternative to keeping cash reserves in the bank.

Short-Term Bonds vs. Stocks

Short-term bonds are an asymmetrical alternative to equities.

Most investors buy stocks for their growth. The section of your portfolio with equities, either in the form of individual stocks or funds, will generally post the strongest returns out of all your investments. Short-term bonds can’t offer that.

Bottom Line

Short-term bond funds tend to pay low interest rates compared to longer term instruments. Those need higher interest rates to offset market risks and opportunity cost.

Like stocks short-term bonds are highly liquid, but they serve a different role. For retail investors they are usually best used as a way to keep money liquid and secure, but to get a better rate of return than the bank can offer. They cannot offer the growth potential of stocks.

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