Investors love anything claiming to be high yield.
For taxable investors, headline yields are an illusion and this post shows after-tax returns for popular high yield ETFs.
High Yield Bonds
Let’s start with the poster child for high yield ETF investing: iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), the $18-billion corporate bond fund.
Graphs are based on current tax rates and assume an investor is in the highest federal bracket and lives in a state with high income taxes.
HYG has compounded at 5% since 2007. After-tax returns have been half of