Tax Day is April 18, 2023. Visit the Tax Resource Center to help you prepare.

Three ways to buy Thrivent funds

We’re here to help you invest with confidence.

MUTUAL FUNDS

Thrivent Account

You can purchase mutual funds right on our site with an online account.

Buy with a Thrivent account

  • Set up an account starting with as little as $50 per month.1
  • Access your online account at your convenience.
  • Purchase funds without transaction fees or sales charges.

MUTUAL FUNDS & ETFS

Financial Professional

For guidance when investing, ask a financial professional about buying Thrivent mutual funds & ETFs.

Buy with a financial professional

  • Receive investment help from an experienced professional.
  • Build a relationship through in-person meetings.
  • Get help planning for life’s goals such as saving and retirement.
  • Additional fees may apply.

MUTUAL FUNDS & ETFS

Brokerage Account

If you already have a brokerage account, our mutual funds & ETFs can be purchased through online brokerage platforms by searching for Thrivent Mutual Funds and ETFs.

Buy with a brokerage account

  • Add Thrivent Mutual Funds and ETFs to your investments within your existing portfolio.
  • Take advantage of your account to keep your investments in one place.
  • Additional fees may apply.
Not quite ready?

We want you to invest your money wisely and with confidence.
Here are some other options that may help you.

  • Take our quiz to determine your personal investment style.
  • Talk to your financial advisor about ETFs.
  • Sign up for our monthly investing insights newsletter.

 

Need more help?

If you need assistance, we’re here to help. Reach out to us via the phone, email, and support page information below.

 

This ETF is different from traditional ETFs. Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. This ETF will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. For example:

 - You may have to pay more money to trade the ETF’s shares. This ETF will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information.

 - The price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of the ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for this ETF compared to other ETFs because it provides less information to traders.

 - These additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions.

 - The ETF will publish on its website each day a “Proxy Portfolio” designed to help trading in shares of the ETF. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the ETF’s holdings, it is not the ETF’s actual portfolio.

The differences between this ETF and other ETFs may also have advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETF secret, this ETF may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy its investment strategy. This may improve the ETF’s performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETF’s investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETF’s performance. For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of the ETF, see the Principal Risks section of the prospectus.

1 New accounts with a minimum investment amount of $50 are offered through the Thrivent Mutual Funds "automatic purchase plan." Otherwise, the minimum initial investment requirement is $2,000 for non-retirement accounts and $1,000 for IRA or tax-deferred accounts, minimum subsequent investment requirement is $50 for all account types. Account minimums for other options vary.

Thrivent ETFs may be purchased through your financial professional or brokerage platforms.

Contact your financial professional or brokerage firm to understand minimum investment amounts when purchasing a Thrivent ETF.

Now leaving ThriventFunds.com

 

You're about to visit a site that is neither owned nor operated by Thrivent Mutual Funds.

In the interest of protecting your information, we recommend you review the privacy policies at your destination site.

Steve Lowe, CFA
Chief Investment Strategist

Finding income in the current investment market

06/14/2022
By Steve Lowe, CFA, Chief Investment Strategist | 06/14/2022

Searching for income in today’s market environment feels a bit like hunting for that cool oasis of water in a parched desert. It can be difficult to find, but not impossible. 

While the Federal Reserve (Fed) has begun hiking rates, high-quality yields are still at historically low levels in the U.S. and globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downdraft.

The right kind of risk

It is possible, however, for investors to find income without unduly endangering principal with diversification and measured risks. 

There are two main avenues to obtain more income. The first is to own longer maturity fixed-income securities which have higher duration. (Duration refers to a debt instrument’s price sensitivity to changes in interest rates – the higher the duration the greater the sensitivity.) 

Higher-duration securities typically pay greater yields because they carry more interest rate risk and day-to-day volatility. These are usually bonds with fixed payouts and a long time to maturity, so every change in interest rates significantly impacts their value. They tend to do poorly when interest rates are rising.

Seeking greater yield through duration, however, is not attractive at present as interest rates on long-maturity investments are not significantly higher than interest rates on short-maturity investments, so the opportunity for additional yield is small.

There are a couple of drawbacks to investing in fixed income investments currently. First, high-quality government bonds offer scant yield in either short- or long-maturity bonds. Second, interest-rate risks are asymmetric with yields this low. Treasury rates have little room to fall, but plenty of room to rise over the long term and trigger lower bonds prices as the Fed raises rates.  

One route to generating higher income is to take on credit risk, which carries a higher risk of default and price volatility. Credit risks certainly have risen with the economic slowdown.

For income investors, we think the implication is clear – taking diversified and measured risks in non-investment grade securities may offer a better source of income than higher-duration securities. Additionally, it helps to diversify across asset types, such as corporate bonds, emerging markets, and securitized assets linked to mortgages or other assets.

Consider short duration bond funds

Currently, most savings and money market accounts offered by banks pay little more than 0%, and most bank certificates of deposit (CDs) offer yields under 1%. 

For investors with a longer-term outlook – particularly if you’re willing to take on some credit risk – we believe there may be some appropriate options. For example, Thrivent Limited Maturity Bond Fund (THLIX) has a very short duration (low interest-rate risk) and has recently offered a yield of 2.67%. The portfolio enhances yield with a diversified portfolio including securitized debt, such as government-guaranteed residential mortgage-backed securities and high-quality structured securities with underlying assets such as corporate and student loans.  It also invests in short-term, investment-grade corporate bonds.  

The yields for this Fund and the others discussed in this article are based on the distributions paid and the net asset value of the fund. Yields quoted here are “30-day SEC” yields calculated based on the previous 30 calendar days ending April 29, 2022. For the most recent yields on all Thrivent Mutual Funds fixed-income funds, see: Thrivent Mutual Funds Fixed Income Options.

Seeking higher yields

The same thinking applies to investors who are looking for higher yielding opportunities. One example is Thrivent Opportunity Income Plus Fund (IIINX). This Fund has relatively short duration (three years) and has recently offered a yield of 3.47%.

A bit more than one-fourth of the Fund is invested in floating-rate leveraged loans, which are bank loans to lower-quality U.S. corporations.  They offer a higher yield (currently around 6%) to compensate investors for greater credit risk, such as possible defaults.  The Fund also invests in a diversified mix of securitized debt, emerging-markets debt, and corporate bonds, including high yield. Each of these investments carry more credit risk than interest rate risk. We focus on mitigating that risk by conducting extensive research and by diversifying our holdings.

You might also consider a moderately conservative allocation fund, such as Thrivent Diversified Income Plus Fund (THYFX), with about a 20% allocation to equities and a fixed-income allocation that seeks to provide more income than traditional bond funds. It was recently offering a yield of 2.55%.

Another approach to balancing interest-rate and credit risk can be seen in Thrivent Income Fund (LBIIX), which invests primarily in investment-grade corporate bonds. The Fund gets a yield boost by investing in high-yield bonds and other asset classes opportunistically, such as floating-rate leveraged loans and emerging-markets debt. The Fund has less credit risk than Thrivent Opportunity Income Plus Fund but has more than double the duration (seven years). Its recent yield was 4.04%. (See current yield)

Moving along the credit risk spectrum

Further out in the credit risk spectrum would be a high yield-bond fund. Thrivent High Yield Fund (LBHIX) invests predominantly in high-yield corporate bonds. For that higher credit risk, it has traditionally paid a higher yield than Thrivent Income Fund (it was recently yielding 5.74%. (See current yield) We prefer the middle area of the high yield market—B rated bonds—over higher risk CCC bonds (as rated by Standard & Poor’s), because we think the risk tradeoff is better. 

Alternative income strategies can also enhance yield by carefully choosing credit risk opportunities. Thrivent Multidimensional Income Fund (TMLDX) invests in a broadly diversified set of higher yielding debt, including preferred securities. “Preferreds” combine features of debt and equity, in that they pay fixed dividends, but can have a higher potential to appreciate in price. The Fund also invests in closed-end funds and convertible bonds (bonds convertible into equity), both of which carry higher equity-like risk and offer higher potential returns than traditional bonds. The Fund has a relatively short duration of more than four years and was recently paying a yield of 4.48% (30-day SEC yield pre-waiver was 4.06%.ii). (See current rate)

Don't forget munis

Finally, if you are in a high tax bracket or live in a high-tax state, you may want to consider a municipal bond fund. Municipal bonds are bonds issued by state and local governments to finance public projects such as roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals. The interest they pay is exempt from federal taxes and, in some cases, from state taxes, although any capital gains distributions, as well as realized capital gains from selling fund shares, may be taxable. For certain investors, their after-tax yields can be significantly higher than for other types of bonds.

For example, Thrivent Municipal Bond Fund (TMBIX) was recently paying a yield of 2.62%. (See current rate) The tax-equivalent yield can be significantly higher (as compared with taxable bond funds), as the graph below illustrates:

We believe that it also makes sense to take strategic credit risks in the municipal market, since default rates historically are lower than in the corporate bond market.

 For example, Thrivent High Income Municipal Bond Fund (TMBIX) has recently paid a higher yield of  3.10% (30-day SEC yield pre-waiver was 2.47%)ii, which may compare favorably to other fixed-income options on a tax-equivalent basis. (See current rate)

While fixed-income yields are still low by historic standards, income-seeking investors can get more return on their investments by taking measured, diversified risks in credit.

The following chart shows the 1-, 5- and 10-year annualized returns of each of the Thrivent Funds fixed income funds discussed in this article:

Keep in mind, this information should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or product. Investment decisions should always be made based on an investor's specific financial needs, objectives, goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. We recommend that you consult your tax advisor to make sure you’re getting the most out of your investments. Thrivent employees and their representatives cannot provide legal or tax advice.

Performance data cited represents past performance and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Investment return and principal value of the investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed may be worth more or less than the original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Call 800-847-4836 or click here for performance results current to the most recent month-end.


All information and representations herein are as of 06/14/2022, unless otherwise noted.

The views expressed are as of the date given, may change as market or other conditions change, and may differ from views expressed by other Thrivent Asset Management, LLC associates. Actual investment decisions made by Thrivent Asset Management, LLC will not necessarily reflect the views expressed. This information should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or product. Investment decisions should always be made based on an investor's specific financial needs, objectives, goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance.

i 30 Day SEC yield is a standardized yield calculation developed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It captures the net investment income earned by a fund over a 30-day period, after the deduction of the Fund’s expenses. It’s an annualized percentage, based on the Fund's share price on the last day of the period. Since share prices and yields are subject to fluctuation, current yields should not be considered an indication of future results.

ii This yield calculation is similar to the 30-Day SEC yield but shows what the Fund’s yield would be without any fee waivers or expense reimbursements.  Refer to the expense table in the fund’s prospectus for details.


Related insights

March 2023 Market Update

03/07/2023

Stocks in box as economic uncertainty continues

Stocks in box as economic uncertainty continues

Stocks in box as economic uncertainty continues

Stocks have been trading in a narrow range in recent months, with the S&P 500 yo-yoing between about 3,700 and 4,150 since last September, as economic uncertainty over inflation – and the response by the Federal Reserve (Fed) – continues.

Stocks have been trading in a narrow range in recent months, with the S&P 500 yo-yoing between about 3,700 and 4,150 since last September, as economic uncertainty over inflation – and the response by the Federal Reserve (Fed) – continues.

03/07/2023

February 2023 Market Update

02/07/2023

Economy remains resilient despite Fed rate hikes

Economy remains resilient despite Fed rate hikes

Economy remains resilient despite Fed rate hikes

It's the economy that just won’t die. Even after a series of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed) totaling 4.25% over the past 12 months, along with other monetary tightening policies, the economy has continued to grow at a healthy clip.

It's the economy that just won’t die. Even after a series of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed) totaling 4.25% over the past 12 months, along with other monetary tightening policies, the economy has continued to grow at a healthy clip.

02/07/2023