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If you're one of the lucky ones still making the big bucks,you've got to love tax-free municipal bond funds."Munis" to those in the know, these funds areparticularly attractive to those in high tax brackets, who get morebang for their buck from the tax benefits. Let's talk about onethat's been around for a while, is conservatively managed andhas paid off for investors.
The Thornburg Limited-Term Municipal National Bond Fund (LTMFX)is the kind of investment your parents would be proud you made.Brian McMahon and George Strickland have managed the fund since itsinception in 1984, and their investment strategy is simple: Investin high-quality munis, keep the bonds' maturity datesrelatively short and ladder the portfolio.
Laddering a portfolio typically means buying bonds that havesequential maturity dates. In the Thornburg Limited-Term muni fund,that means keeping roughly 10 percent of the portfolio invested inbonds that mature each year. "The longest bonds we own will be10-year [maturing] bonds," says Strickland.
That strategy keeps the fund's yield competitive under mostmarket conditions and the average maturity in the fund'sportfolio short (right now it's 4.6 years).
Performance: Year to date through December 19, 2001, up 4.3percent
Web site:www.thornburginvestments.com
Toll-free number: (800)847-0200
Dian Vujovich is an author, syndicated columnist andpublisher of mutual fund investing site www.allaboutfunds.com.
