Low-fee bond ETFs for stable income

Article Excerpt

We continue to advise against investing in bonds right now, because today’s low interest rates make them unattractive. That’s especially so in light of the potential rise in inflation that may follow the heavy deficit spending and rapid expansion of the money supply that is now underway. However, if you need stable income and want to hold bonds, here are two bond funds that have low fees and high-quality holdings. ISHARES DEX SHORT TERM BOND INDEX FUND $29.15 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XSB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Short-Term Bond Index. This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade federal, provincial, municipal and corporate bonds with between one- and five-year terms to maturity. The fund holds 201 bonds with an average term to maturity of 2.92 years. Top issuers include the Government of Canada, Canada Housing Trust and the Province of Ontario. The bonds in the index are 72.1% government and 27.9% corporate. The…