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Target-Maturity Bond ETFs Historical Returns Studies — MyPlanIQ Research Report
Every target-maturity bond ETF in the MyPlanIQ database, 145 funds from BulletShares and iBonds, measured from first trade to last against a matched bond index and against cash. 68 have matured. Most lost to the index; Treasury and short municipal won.
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Beware of The Parabolic Stock Market Rise
Stock market melt-up risks, Social Security cap proposal, harder job market.
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Savings for Your Kids’ Lifetime Education
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Lifetime Education Cost Planner
- Market Overview
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Variable Annuity vs. 401K vs IRA
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Variable Annuity vs. 401K vs IRA
- Market Overview
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ETFs Can Match Lowest Cost Funds in 401(k) Plans
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- ETFs Can Match Lowest Cost Funds in 401(k) Plans
- Retirement Withdrawal Calculator
- Market Overview
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Wars and Investments
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Wars and Investments
- Oil Price and Inflation Infographic
- Market Overview
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Special Report: Iran War, Oil Price & Your Investments
- Special Report: Iran War, Oil Price & Your Investments
- Tools & Tips: Asset Location Calculator
- Market Overview
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IRS Is Giving Out Money
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- IRS Is Giving Out Money
- Tools & Tips: RSU (Restricted Stock Unit) Calculator
- Market Overview
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The Federal Reserve Bank and Your Money
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- The Federal Reserve Bank and Your Money
- Tools & Tips: 401(k) Investment Assistant
- Market Overview
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2026 Tax Season Begins Today
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- 2026 Tax Season Begins Today
- Tools & Tips: Traditional 401(K) vs. Roth 401(K)
- Market Overview
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Useful Tips for 401(k)s, IRAs, and RMDs in the New Year
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Useful Tips for 401(k)s, IRAs, and RMDs in the New Year
- Tools & Tips: Roth IRA Compounding
- Market Overview
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New Year Resolutions for Your Personal Finance
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- New Year Resolutions for Your Personal Finance
- MyPlanIQ 2026 Market Outlook
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2025 Crystal Ball Market Prediction Scorecard
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Stock Market Bubble & Retirement Savings
- Tools & Tips: Retirement Spending Calculator
- Market Overview
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Stock Market Bubble & Retirement Savings
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Stock Market Bubble & Retirement Savings
- Tools & Tips: Retirement Spending Calculator
- Market Overview
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Retirement Savings To Help Student Loan Payments
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Retirement Savings To Help Student Loan Payments
- Tools & Tips: I-Bond Comparison Calculator
- Market Overview
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Series I Savings Bonds: Good Time to Buy?
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance
- Series I Savings Bonds: Good Time to Buy?
- Tools & Tips: I-Bond Calculator
- Market Overview
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Series I Savings Bonds: A Decent Shelter Against Inflation (If You Understand the Fine Print)
Is it worth to buy Series I Savings Bonds (I Bonds)? This article discusses what I Bond is and how it’s compared with money market and Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPs).
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Good Time to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)?
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance: Fed to Cut Rate, AI Big Spend, Oracle of Oracle
- Good Time to FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)?
- Tools & Tips: FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) Calculator
- Market Overview
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When the Fed Cuts Rates, What Really Happens to Stocks?
- Latest in Retirement Savings & Personal Finance: Job Growth Slowed, Gen Z Dipped into Retirement Savings, Best S&P 500 Earnings in Four Years
- When the Fed Cuts Rates, What Really Happens to Stocks?
- Tools & Tips: Total Compensation Calculator
- Market Overview
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Why Actively Managed Bond Funds Outperform Index Funds More Often Than Stocks
Multiple research results now point to what seems like a consistent pattern: active bond funds tend to outperform their passive peers more often than stock funds do.
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Certificates of Deposit (CDs) vs. Treasuries: The Key Pros and Cons Explained
In this article, we summarize the pros and cons between CDs and Treasuries for fixed-income investors. Key Differences Between Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and Treasuries Factor CDs Treasuries Security – FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. + Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, Treasuries are considered among the safest investments, with security that surpasses even FDIC insurance. – Limited insurance coverage for amounts above $250,000 at each bank. + No limit to the amount of protection. Yield + Generally higher yields for maturities of 1 year or longer. – Typically lower yields for maturities over 1 year. – Lower yields for shorter maturities compared to Treasuries. + Higher yields for short-term maturities (less than 1 year). Note: this could possibly change so double check yields before purchase. Taxes – Subject to both federal and state income taxes. + Exempt from state income taxes. – State tax impact can reduce effective yield, especially in high-tax states. + More tax-efficient, especially in high-tax states. Maturities – Limited availability for maturities beyond 5 years. + Wide range of maturities (4 weeks to 30 years). – Flexibility can be restricted depending on the bank’s capital needs and availability of brokered CDs in a brokerage like Schwab or Fidelity. + Extensive maturity options between 2023–2053. Liquidity – Less liquid, may involve fees or uncertainty of receiving original principal if sold early. + More liquid, with an active secondary market for easy resale. – Brokered CDs can be sold in secondary markets but may involve a fee. + Easier to sell with tighter bid/ask spreads. Strategy Considerations – Fewer maturity options for building a maturity CD ladder. + Easier to build a flexible bond ladder portfolio. Convenience + Banks often promote CDs with lower yields. – Has to rely on Brokerage to purchase/sell Treasuries most times Detailed Tax Impact Comparison: State Tax Impact CDs Treasuries For High-Tax States – State income taxes can reduce yield significantly (e.g., California, New York). + State income tax exemption offers a clear tax benefit. Example – In California, a 3-year CD yielding 3.90% after state taxes drops to 3.38%. + A 3-year Treasury yielding 3.51% remains unaffected by state taxes. Breakeven Tax Rate – For a CD to equal a Treasury’s yield, a state tax rate of ~10% or more may be required. + More tax-efficient for investors in high-tax states. Conclusion In summary:
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Market and Economy Review
We review the current economy and financial markets.
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High Yield Bonds Are Good Alternatives For Aggressive Fixed Income Investors
High yield bonds, managed correctly, can be a valuable addition to boost fixed income returns.
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Trends, Factors & Indicators
We look at several famous lazy portfolios and discuss asset allocations and diversification effect in portfolio construction.
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January 18, 2022: Steady And Consistency Win In The Long Term
Sticking to a good investing strategy for a long period of time (20 years or longer) is the only way to reap benefits from the strategy
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January 3, 2022: The Year In Rear View: Portfolio And Asset Class Review
We review our main portfolios in 2021..
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December 13, 2021: Present And Future
We review asset trends and discuss future returns.
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November 22, 2021: The ‘Best’ Balanced Fund Revisited
The T.Rowe Price Capital Allocation fund is again performing. However, we show that there are several ways to construct a portfolio to outperform it, both in terms of returns and risk .
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November 15, 2021: Q&A On MyPlanIQ Strategies And Portfolios
This newsletter clarifies several FAQs on our model portfolios and strategies. .
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November 8, 2021: Major Asset Returns In The Past Twenty Years
We look at major asset returns for the past 20 plus years and discussed their potential risk and returns.
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November 1, 2021: Latest Momentum Factor ETFs Review
We review latest stock factor ETFs and point out they are very similar in terms of their indexing methodoloty.
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October 25, 2021: A Long Term Theme Or Trend Doesn’t Necessarily Yield Good Returns
We discuss recent hot topic: theme based investing and conclude that a mega trend doesn’t equate a good long term return.
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October 18, 2021: Dimensional Fund Advisors DFA ETFs
We look at Dimensional Fund Advisors recently convereted ETFs and compare them with Vanguard.
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October 11, 2021: MyPlanIQ Ultra Short Term Bond Portfolio vs. Other Funds
We compare our ultra short term ETF portfolios with several famous bond funds. Specifically, we look at DoubleLine’s bond funds.
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October 4, 2021: Asset Trends, Market Internals And Inflation Implication
We review asset and market internals and discuss the possible secular interest rate change and its implication.
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September 27, 2021: Newsletter Collection Update
Regular newsletter collection update
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September 20, 2021: Benchmarking MyPlanIQ Fixed Income Bond Portfolios
We continue review of our fixed income portfolios and compare with Trend Pilot bond ETF PTBD.
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September 13, 2021: Benchmarking MyPlanIQ Tactical Portfolios
We compared our tactical portfolios with some popular tactical ETFs and mutual funds including Cambria global momentum GMOM and Ned Davis Tactical fund.
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August 30, 2021: Invest And Speculate: A Sensible Alternative To Buy And Hold
We review a very sensible strategy that combines valuation and tactical strategies.
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August 23, 2021: Style ETF Portfolio Review
We review style ETFs and portfolios that use same as candidate funds. We also discuss long term performance.
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August 16, 2021: Smart Factor ETFs Review
We review smart factor ETFs and our smart factor ETF portfolio.
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August 9, 2021: Best Global Allocation Funds vs. MyPlanIQ ETF Portfolios
We continue to show that our ETF portfolios have outperformed even the best global allocation funds.
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August 2, 2021: Major Asset Trends And Market Internals
The review of current market internals reveals some big concern.
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July 26, 2021: Ultra Short Term Bond ‘Money Market’ Portfolio And Banking
We review our ultra short term bond fund portfolio and discuss how it fits to be a money market fund substitute.We also again discuss how to utilize a brokerage account for banking activities.
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July 19, 2021: Take The Challenge of The ‘Best’ Balance Fund
We examine the best balance fund, T.Rowe Price capital appreciation fund and discuss our confidence to outperform it.
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July 12, 2021: The Long Forgotten Bear Market Cycles
We examine S&P 500 index total returns in its 93 plus year history and reveal that there are many bear or flat periods that are longer than 20 years. It’s important to be cautious and understand that the current bull market might end one day and likely enters a long period of bearish or flat market.
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June 28, 2021: Resuming Growth Trends Chaotically?
We review major asset trends and point out that large growth stocks are again in favor. We also speculate that the current market rise might be the final thrust before a big correction.
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June 21, 2021: Stocks Are Not Replacement Of Bonds
We discuss why bonds are still important and show that our portfolio actually outperformed S&P 500 since 2001.
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June 14, 2021: Outperform The Best Performing PIMCO Income Bond Fund
We review and compare our bond portfolios against the best bond fund PIMCO Income fund and show that our portfoios have outperformed it.
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June 7, 2021: “Good” S&P Sectors
We show how to use ‘good’ S&P 500 sectors to build portfolios that outperform S&P 500 index by good margins.
