Friday, July 24, 2009

Junk Bond ETF

I'm buying iShares High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG). Why? The spreads are tightening and companies are happily issuing new junk bonds. It's got a still-ridiculous yield of 10.5%. This is a trade that i couldn't pull the trigger on earlier in the year. I've been thinking about it since March. I feel so stupid about it, but I'm not going to make that same mistake again. I'm going to start dollar-cost averaging into this ETF. It won't necessarily be a smooth ride. Some default could easily rock the entire market. At that point, I will take a deep breath, and pile more on my plate. This is the old "blood in the streets" approach to getting rich. It's very hard to buy value when people are screaming and running for the exits, but I'm a big believer in mean reversion. It will probably take more time that I'd like to spend waiting, but spreads will continue to narrow. As a matter of fact, I should be praying for defaults so that I can really get a good bargain.

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