5/16/2018
The German Bund is the national bond of Germany, denominated in Euros and can be purchased through licensed brokers with terms of 3 months to 30 years. If your primary broker, or one you already have a relationship with, doesn't offer them you'll have essentially no ability to buy individual bonds and if you decide to open an account expressly for that purpose you'll likely face significant fees (though a fund might work as a similar financial tool). If you are somehow able to buy individual bonds you're fortunate as it's relatively easy and absolves you having to pay any expense ratios. Be aware that any earnings will be taxed at both the state and Federal level (unlike those through Treasury direct) and the bond's value will fluctuate depending on the relative values of USD and EUR.
Importantly my broker doesn't offer that service without purchasing 100,000 units in that currency, not to mention fees. So...
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund ETF Shares (NASDAQ:BNDX)
Denominated in a variety of non-USD denominated investment grade bonds, including Germany, with government bonds making up 65.19% with corporate and government-related bonds making up around 13% each.
Price at write-up $54.36
Indexes (30, 180 day looks)
VIX: 13.42 (-4.88%, 1.73%)
TED: 51.25 (62.28, 31.25)
S&P500: 2722 (2678/0.81%, 2732/0.04%)
Target:
Valuation Ratios
Gross expense ratio . . . . . . 0.11%
Net expense ratio . . . . . . . 0.11%
Total assets . . . . . . . . . . . . $106B
Sec 30 day yeild . . . . . . . . 0.78%
Distribution yeild . . . . . . . 2.24%
Dividend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.26/2.32%
Premium/Discount . . . . . . .0.24%
Top 10 holdings
Nation YTD Return % of Assets
* France 1% -- 0.67%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.53%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.48%
* France 0.25% -- 0.44%
* Spain 4% -- 0.40%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.36%
* Germany 1.5% -- 0.36%
* UK 3.25% -- 0.36%
My Thoughts
Not being able to buy bonds directly makes this a pointless exercise. The point would be to get the 4% or greater yeilds that we can't get here while diversifying, but these sorts of funds only offer diversification with an expense ratio. I guess the risk is kinda low but returns aren't really that interesting.
Conclusion
Maybe worth your time if you buy directly, but I'm out of luck. If I could I might allocate 0.5% to 10% of my portfolio to foriegn bonds, but that would vary based on the research that I'm not going to bother doing. After doing that research I'd be interested in a variety of term lengths.
Due Diligence - Stability of the Nation-state, the Political climate of the Nation-State, expected exchange rate, the Nation-States willingness to print money to meet its debt obligations and inflation status of the state
The German Bund is the national bond of Germany, denominated in Euros and can be purchased through licensed brokers with terms of 3 months to 30 years. If your primary broker, or one you already have a relationship with, doesn't offer them you'll have essentially no ability to buy individual bonds and if you decide to open an account expressly for that purpose you'll likely face significant fees (though a fund might work as a similar financial tool). If you are somehow able to buy individual bonds you're fortunate as it's relatively easy and absolves you having to pay any expense ratios. Be aware that any earnings will be taxed at both the state and Federal level (unlike those through Treasury direct) and the bond's value will fluctuate depending on the relative values of USD and EUR.
Importantly my broker doesn't offer that service without purchasing 100,000 units in that currency, not to mention fees. So...
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund ETF Shares (NASDAQ:BNDX)
Denominated in a variety of non-USD denominated investment grade bonds, including Germany, with government bonds making up 65.19% with corporate and government-related bonds making up around 13% each.
Price at write-up $54.36
Indexes (30, 180 day looks)
VIX: 13.42 (-4.88%, 1.73%)
TED: 51.25 (62.28, 31.25)
S&P500: 2722 (2678/0.81%, 2732/0.04%)
Target:
Valuation Ratios
Gross expense ratio . . . . . . 0.11%
Net expense ratio . . . . . . . 0.11%
Total assets . . . . . . . . . . . . $106B
Sec 30 day yeild . . . . . . . . 0.78%
Distribution yeild . . . . . . . 2.24%
Dividend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.26/2.32%
Premium/Discount . . . . . . .0.24%
Top 10 holdings
Nation YTD Return % of Assets
* France 1% -- 0.67%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.53%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.48%
* France 0.25% -- 0.44%
* Spain 4% -- 0.40%
* Japan 0.1% -- 0.36%
* Germany 1.5% -- 0.36%
* UK 3.25% -- 0.36%
Not being able to buy bonds directly makes this a pointless exercise. The point would be to get the 4% or greater yeilds that we can't get here while diversifying, but these sorts of funds only offer diversification with an expense ratio. I guess the risk is kinda low but returns aren't really that interesting.
Conclusion
Maybe worth your time if you buy directly, but I'm out of luck. If I could I might allocate 0.5% to 10% of my portfolio to foriegn bonds, but that would vary based on the research that I'm not going to bother doing. After doing that research I'd be interested in a variety of term lengths.
Due Diligence - Stability of the Nation-state, the Political climate of the Nation-State, expected exchange rate, the Nation-States willingness to print money to meet its debt obligations and inflation status of the state