Most investors could be well served by an allocation to bonds. Bonds can provide valuable stability should stocks stumble. And because they don’t move in lockstep with stocks, bonds can help reduce the overall volatility of a portfolio that includes stocks.
But deciding on specific investments to hold as your bond allocation can stump even seasoned investors. Should you buy and hold individual bonds, even though it could lock up a lot of money? Should you research the broad universe of bond mutual funds? Or should you pick a bond index fund or ETF, and call it a day?
Each of these approaches can have its merits. But for many investors, one option worth closer consideration may be active bond ETFs, due to the particular mix of efficiency, simplicity, professional management, and cost they can offer.
What are active bond ETFs?
Active bond ETFs are exchange-traded funds that invest in bonds. They offer the same structure and features as stock ETFs, like the ability to buy or sell shares anytime the market is open.
The “active” part means that the ETFs do not simply seek to track the performance of an index. Instead, they are actively managed by a professional manager or management team. Put another way, it generally means that one or more human beings are making careful judgment calls on exactly which bonds to hold.
3 reasons to consider active management for bonds
Many investors find that index funds and index ETFs work well for the core stock portion of their portfolio. Indexing can provide an easy way to get exposure to a vast slice of the stock market—providing broad diversification at a potentially competitive price point.
However, the bond market is very different from the stock market. Due to those differences, index investing doesn’t necessarily offer the same straightforward advantages that it can in the stock market. In fact, there are a few important reasons why active management has often been the stronger strategy, when it comes to bonds.
1. With indexing, investors are most exposed to borrowers with the most debt
When investors buy a stock index fund or index ETF, they’re typically most exposed to the largest, most valuable companies (i.e., the companies with the largest market capitalization have the greatest weight in the index). This can work to investors’ advantage, because successful companies naturally grow to a larger market cap over time, becoming larger players in an index.
But when investors buy a bond index fund or index ETF, they’re typically most exposed to whatever company, government, or other issuer has the most outstanding debt. In other words, bond indexes give the biggest weight to the biggest borrowers. This structure doesn’t always work to investors’ advantage, however, because the more debt an entity issues, the less creditworthy it may become. That’s why, for example, bond index funds typically hold a lot of US government bonds—the federal government represents a large share of the overall bond market due to how much debt it has. (Note that not all bond indexes and bond index funds use this type of weighting, though it is by far the most common approach.)
With active management, by contrast, professional managers can focus on investing in whatever parts of the bond market they feel are most attractive, rather than on whatever issuers have the most debt.
2. The bond market is complex, varied, and often inefficient
In the stock market, one share of a particular company’s common stock is interchangeable with another. Shares often trade hands millions of times a day. And in the case of prominent companies, analysts, managers, and individual investors may follow a company’s every move and financial report. These features help to make the stock market relatively efficient, particularly when it comes to large companies.
The bond market operates very differently. One company may have many different types of bonds outstanding—each with different interest rates, maturity dates, seniority, and even different levels of credit risk. Some bonds may trade only sporadically. And due to that heterogeneity and complexity, any particular set of bonds may have a relatively thin following from analysts and investors.
These features can make the bond market less efficient than the stock market—creating opportunities for active managers to identify mispricings, such as bonds trading at a discount relative to other similar bonds. By researching individual bonds and comparing valuations across the market, active bond managers may be able to steer toward bonds with more compelling risk-reward characteristics, while avoiding those that appear less attractive.
3. Managers have flexibility to respond to changing conditions
Bond markets are heavily influenced by factors such as interest rates, inflation, and the overall health of the economy. These forces can shift over time—sometimes gradually and sometimes quite quickly—affecting different parts of the bond market in different ways.
For example, changes in interest rates can have a significant impact on bond prices, particularly for bonds with longer maturities. Shifts in economic conditions can affect the creditworthiness of issuers, in turn impacting the prices of their bonds. Even subtle factors, like changes in inflation expectations, can take prominent roles in driving the bond market.
Active bond managers can adjust a portfolio’s positioning in response to these evolving conditions. By adapting to the environment, active managers can seek to manage new risks and take advantage of new potential opportunities, rather than being limited to a relatively static positioning over time.
4 reasons to consider ETFs for bonds
Active management can help investors not just navigate but potentially benefit from the complexities of the bond market. The ETF structure, in turn, can provide a flexible and efficient way to put those strategies to work in a portfolio, thanks to a few key benefits.
1. Potential tax efficiency
The ETF structure can offer tax advantages compared with some other investment vehicles. Specifically, due to the behind-the-scenes mechanics of how ETFs create and redeem shares, they are often able to limit capital gains generated within the fund. As a result, investors may be less likely to receive taxable capital gains distributions, depending on the strategy. Note that there is only a tax advantage if held in a taxable account, and the ETF structure does not provide a tax advantage for interest income.
2. Potentially lower costs and efficient trading
Many ETFs offer relatively low expense ratios, which can help reduce the ongoing cost of investing. Like mutual funds or other pooled investment vehicles, they can also simplify trading compared with buying individual bonds one by one. For individual investors, buying and selling individual bonds can be complicated and expensive, especially in a market where trading isn’t always straightforward. By pooling money and trading in bigger transactions (which often receive preferential pricing in the bond market), the ETF structure can help investors access professional-level pricing without being a professional themselves.
3. Easy diversification
As with mutual funds and other pooled investment strategies, bond ETFs can make diversification more accessible. Building a diversified portfolio of individual bonds can require a large upfront investment, since many bonds are issued and traded in relatively large increments. By contrast, a single bond ETF can provide exposure to a broad mix of types of bonds, specific issuers, maturities, and credit qualities. This can help investors achieve diversification more easily, even with a relatively modest investment.
4. Simplicity and low maintenance
With a portfolio of individual bonds, investors face ongoing portfolio-management decisions as bonds make cash interest payments and periodically mature. Without reinvesting that cash, an investor’s allocation and risk profile may quickly drift off course.
ETFs can make it easier to maintain a consistent bond allocation over time. Investors do not need to manage individual bond purchases, monitor maturities, or reinvest proceeds as bonds are paid off. Instead, the ETF structure handles these ongoing portfolio tasks, allowing investors to focus on the big picture of their portfolio.
Risks of active bond ETFs
Active management and the ETF structure each offer distinct advantages in the bond market. Active managers can help navigate the market’s unique landscape, complexity, and drivers. The ETF structure, in turn, can make it easier to access those strategies in a flexible, cost-conscious, and tax-efficient way.
However, all investments come with risks, and active bond ETFs are no different. Those risks may include:
Risks of investing in bonds
Active bond ETFs do not eliminate the risks of investing in bonds. Those may include the risks of changing interest rates hurting bond performance, the risk that holdings decline in credit quality or that an issuer defaults, or the risk of higher inflation eating into bondholders' purchasing power.
Risk of underperformance
With deep research and careful risk management, actively managed bond funds may be able to return more than a comparable index or index fund. But there is no guarantee that they will do so, and it is also possible for an active bond ETF to underperform.
Lack of customization
ETFs are not tailored to any one investor’s needs. Many investors may be able to find an active bond ETF that suits their goals. However, investors who prefer more control over exactly what they’re exposed to—or who want to actively manage the timing and type of taxable income generated by their bond holdings—may find ETFs less flexible than a portfolio of individual bonds. (Learn how bond separately managed accounts can help with customization and tax management.)
Research active bond ETFs
Fidelity customers can search for active bond ETFs using the Fidelity ETF Screener . Fidelity offers a number of active bond ETFs, including the following:
- Fidelity Total Bond ETF (
) - Fidelity Investment Grade Bond ETF (
) - Fidelity Tactical Bond ETF (
) - Fidelity Low Duration Bond ETF (
) - Fidelity Limited Term Bond ETF (
)
The Fidelity screeners are research tools provided to help self-directed investors evaluate these types of securities. The criteria and inputs entered are at the sole discretion of the user, and all screens or strategies with preselected criteria (including expert ones) are solely for the convenience of the user. Expert screeners are provided by independent companies not affiliated with Fidelity. Information supplied or obtained from these screeners is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or guidance, an offer of or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities, or a recommendation or endorsement by Fidelity of any security or investment strategy. Fidelity does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy or approach to screening or evaluating stocks, preferred securities, exchange-traded products, or closed-end funds. Fidelity makes no guarantees that information supplied is accurate, complete, or timely, and does not provide any warranties regarding results obtained from its use. Determine which securities are right for you based on your investment objectives, risk tolerance, financial situation, and other individual factors, and reevaluate them on a periodic basis.