All synthetic bond funds are not equal

In the December issue of Investment Executive, I wrote about synthetic bond funds.  I couldn’t mention them by name in that article, but I used a couple of new Franklin Templeton synthetic bond funds to illustrate that not all new products of this type are worthwhile.  The two funds referred to are Templeton Global Bond Hedged Yield Class and Bissett Canadian Short Term Yield Class.  I found that the former provides good tax value while the latter does not in the current rate environment.

Those interested in this topic may want to have a look at an older blog entry – Tax-friendly bond exposure – where I speak more broadly to the challenge of finding bond-like exposure for taxable money.