Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Have a question about your personal investments? No matter how simple or complex, you can ask it here.
Post Reply
Topic Author
Parkinglotracer
Posts: 3947
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:49 am
Location: Upstate NY

Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by Parkinglotracer »

Is there a stable value fund or ETF avail on a major exchange one can buy thru Vanguard Brokerage?

I have one avail for part of my portfolio thru the US Gov Thrift Savings Plan but am interested in finding one avail on a major stock exchange.

Thank you.
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26351
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by ruralavalon »

Parkinglotracer wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:38 pm Is there a stable value fund or ETF avail on a major exchange one can buy thru Vanguard Brokerage?

I have one avail for part of my portfolio thru the US Gov Thrift Savings Plan but am interested in finding one avail on a major stock exchange.

Thank you.
Sorry, Stable Value Funds are unique to company plans like 401ks and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

Is there some reason not to use the G Fund in the TSP?
Last edited by ruralavalon on Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
alex_686
Posts: 13320
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:39 pm

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by alex_686 »

Sorry but no.

A Stable Value Fund is a insurance product. As such, it can only be a option within a retirement plan.

Is there a particular reason you are looking for a stable value fund instead of a bond fund? There are fairly similar.

Yes, the stable value fund can't go down in value. I won't call it a gimmick but it is less valuable than you might think.
Former brokerage operations & mutual fund accountant. I hate risk, which is why I study and embrace it.
Topic Author
Parkinglotracer
Posts: 3947
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:49 am
Location: Upstate NY

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by Parkinglotracer »

ruralavalon wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:43 pm
Parkinglotracer wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:38 pm Is there a stable value fund or ETF avail on a major exchange one can buy thru Vanguard Brokerage?

I have one avail for part of my portfolio thru the US Gov Thrift Savings Plan but am interested in finding one avail on a major stock exchange.

Thank you.
Sorry, Stable Value Funds are unique to company plans like 401ks and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

Is there some reason not to use the G Fund in the TSP?
Thank you - I only have a small amount of my retirement savings in the tsp - need more to achieve my desired fixed income AA. The paperwork of transferring money into the tsp appears burdensome to me.
Topic Author
Parkinglotracer
Posts: 3947
Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 2:49 am
Location: Upstate NY

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by Parkinglotracer »

alex_686 wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:45 pm Sorry but no.

A Stable Value Fund is a insurance product. As such, it can only be a option within a retirement plan.

Is there a particular reason you are looking for a stable value fund instead of a bond fund? There are fairly similar.

Yes, the stable value fund can't go down in value. I won't call it a gimmick but it is less valuable than you might think.
I think I could use a short duration bond fund that would meet my desired investment goals. It would limit my interest rate risk.
User avatar
ruralavalon
Posts: 26351
Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:29 am
Location: Illinois

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by ruralavalon »

Parkinglotracer wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 5:40 pm
ruralavalon wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:43 pm
Parkinglotracer wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:38 pm Is there a stable value fund or ETF avail on a major exchange one can buy thru Vanguard Brokerage?

I have one avail for part of my portfolio thru the US Gov Thrift Savings Plan but am interested in finding one avail on a major stock exchange.

Thank you.
Sorry, Stable Value Funds are unique to company plans like 401ks and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

Is there some reason not to use the G Fund in the TSP?
Thank you - I only have a small amount of my retirement savings in the tsp - need more to achieve my desired fixed income AA. The paperwork of transferring money into the tsp appears burdensome to me.
Why do you feel that is burdensome? I am not in the TSP so I don't know if the required paper work is burdensome. I would love to be able to use the G Fund.

In an account at Vanguard you can consider any one of the 7 good credit quality, low expense ratio, Vanguard short-term bond funds. Vanguard fund screener.

Also consider Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund Investor Shares (VUBFX), or for an ETF Vanguard Ultra-Short Bond ETF (VUSB).
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein | Wiki article link: Bogleheads® investment philosophy
alex_686
Posts: 13320
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 1:39 pm

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by alex_686 »

Parkinglotracer wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 5:42 pm I think I could use a short duration bond fund that would meet my desired investment goals. It would limit my interest rate risk.
That is true. However short term bond funds are not expected to keep up with inflation. As such it is not exactly in the same league as a Stable Value Fund.
Former brokerage operations & mutual fund accountant. I hate risk, which is why I study and embrace it.
vtMaps
Posts: 1031
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:05 pm
Location: central Vermont

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by vtMaps »

ruralavalon wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:43 pm Sorry, Stable Value Funds are unique to company plans like 401ks and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
Isn't TIAA Traditional a stable value fund? TIAA offers a liquid version of it in their IRA, although it pays less than the non-liquid version in their employer plans.

--vtMaps
"Truly, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" --Voltaire, as translated by Norman Lewis Torrey
User avatar
JoMoney
Posts: 16260
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Stable Value Fund / ETF you can Buy with Vanguard Brokerage?

Post by JoMoney »

As others have explained, Stable Value funds are insurance products and only made available in workplace retirement accounts, and usually have various restrictions on them where you're not allowed to exchange them directly for "competing" bonds funds or money market funds.

They're not at all the same as a proper "stable value" fund, but there are insurance products with similar interest rates available such as MYGA's / Fixed Annuities
https://www.blueprintincome.com/fixed-annuities
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
Post Reply