Anyone familiar with the world of retirement planning and investing understands the importance of bonds. It is not for nothing that the closer you are to retirement, the greater your bond allocation.
The best bond funds will generate regular income, preserve capital, provide diversification (across issuers, maturities and sectors), be less sensitive to interest rate swings (shorter to intermediate maturities will be preferable), provide inflation protection, offer low expense ratios and provide tax efficiency.
These top mutual funds and ETFs offer one or more of the above benefits.
This post originally appeared at U.S. News & World Report.