Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Time To Jump In To Muni Bonds??

If I were an investor in a high tax bracket (which I am not), I would suggest owning municipal bonds due to the various tax and diversification benefits.  The mounting budgetary problems of US states and local governments have been well-documented and have led to a large-scale sell-off in municipal debt recently.  This may present an opportunity to buy muni funds at a more reasonable price.  Bill Gross certainly thinks so, as documented here.  

However, the skeptic in me wonders if his $4.4M purchase is merely an advertisement for PIMCO's muni funds.  Additionally, even though we've seen a nice selloff thus far, I think munis have much further to fall as states continue to struggle.  I would not be a buyer quite yet.

When the time comes to invest in this asset class, I do like VWITX.  I also think there will be opportunities aplenty to buy at a discount in the closed-end fund space.