Municipal bonds are attractive to investors, particularly high tax-bracket investors, because they are potentially exempt from federal and state income taxes.
But my concern is that some people who won’t necessarily benefit from municipal bonds are purchasing them for their supposed tax advantages.
Let’s take a look at municipal bonds and see which investors would benefit from holding municipal bonds.
What are municipal bonds?
Municipal bonds are debt issued by municipalities (e.g. cities, states, or towns). Like any bond, investors lend money to borrowers, who promise to pay back the loan over time, with interest.
The primary benefit of municipal bonds compared with other bonds is that the interest earned is typically exempt from federal income taxes. In general, income from municipal bonds is also exempt from state income taxes if you live in the state where the bond is issued.
Calculating the equivalent return of municipal bonds
Municipal bonds will typically have lower returns than an equally risky corporate or government bond. However, the interest on corporate and government bonds are usually taxable, so the difference in expected returns between municipal and taxable bonds narrows. Investors are willing to earn less interest on municipal bonds because they won’t have to pay taxes on that interest.
The tax-equivalent yield is calculated using the following formula:
Tax-equivalent yield = Yield / (1 – tax rate)
So if the yield on a municipal bond is 3% and you are in the 25% tax bracket, then the tax-equivalent yield would be 4% (3% / (1 – 25%)).
While this formula can be used for back-of-the-envelope calculations, there are significant weaknesses with using this formula to compare municipal and taxable bonds (see this Bogleheads thread for an excellent discussion).
Municipal Bond Investing Tips
If you are going to invest in municipal bonds, here are some tips (there’s also great discussion on municipal bonds in the Bogleheads forums, for example here, here, and here):
Invest in a taxable account
If you’re going to invest in municipal bonds, you should invest in a taxable account. You don’t get the tax benefits of municipal bonds over taxable bonds in a retirement account, since you don’t pay any taxes on profits in Roth retirement accounts and withdrawals (contributions and profits) are taxed as ordinary income in traditional retirement accounts.
Diversify your municipal bond portfolio
You should generally not invest in individual municipal bonds, just like I recommend against investing in individual stocks. If that municipal bond defaults, you could experience significant losses on your investment. Invest in a portfolio of municipal bonds and diversify your risk across multiple municipal bonds. Even better…
Buy passively invested municipal index funds
Buying a municipal bond fund enables you to get hundreds to thousands of municipal bonds in a single purchase. Like with stocks or taxable bonds, you should try to keep costs low. Invest in passively-managed municipal bond index funds that have low fees and expense ratios.
This is an area where Vanguard shines over Fidelity. Vanguard offers many municipal bond index funds. Some index funds are general municipal bond index funds (such as VTEAX, ER 0.09%), so you will only get the federal income tax benefit. Other Vanguard municipal bond funds are state-specific, where state residents can be exempt from both federal and state taxes. Fidelity also offers municipal bond funds, but at higher expense ratios.
Your state’s municipal bonds will provide the greatest tax benefit
State tax laws vary, but in general, you are exempt from state income tax on bonds that are issued in the state where you live. So to maximize your tax benefit, you should invest in bonds that your own state issues.
Don’t invest only in your state’s municipal bonds
Of course, you shouldn’t put all your money in your state’s municipal bonds, because it puts an inordinate amount of risk on the economy of a single state. You should buy a mix of your state’s municipal bonds and a general municipal bond fund.
Don’t invest only in municipal bond funds
Even if it is tax-advantageous to do so, you shouldn’t allocate your entire bond portfolio to municipal bonds. Municipal bonds have unique risk factors compared to the rest of the bond market. Of course, you could put the taxable bond fund in a retirement account and your municipal bonds in a taxable account.
The Problem With Municipal Bonds
The value of municipal bonds is dependent on what tax bracket you are in. For investors who are in the 10 or 15% tax bracket, the tax benefits of holding municipal bonds are relatively low. The tax benefits of holding municipal bonds are maximized for investors in the top federal income bracket who are also residents of the state where the municipal bond is being issued.
Municipal bond prices are driven by supply and demand, and investors in the top tax bracket are willing to pay the most
The price of municipal bonds, like every other investment, is driven by supply and demand. The bonds will be sold at the price where someone is willing to buy it. Investors in the highest tax bracket, because they will receive the greatest benefit from holding municipal bonds, will be willing to pay the most of the bonds, and accept the lowest before-tax return. Any other investor in the municipal bond will pay the same price as the high tax bracket investor, and receive the same before-tax return.
However, the high-tax bracket investor will get a better after-tax return than other investors. Assuming that the high-tax bracket investor gets the same after-tax return with municipal bonds and comparable-risk taxable bonds, then lower tax-rate investors will get an inferior after-tax return with municipal bonds compared to taxable bonds.
When do municipal bonds make sense?
For investors in the top tax bracket, it is reasonable to invest in municipal bonds, provided you follow the investing tips above. Investors in lower tax brackets will derive less benefit from investing in municipal bonds. Investors in very low tax brackets should invest in taxable bonds, as they derive very little tax benefit from the municipal bonds compared to wealthier investors. Investors in middle tax brackets can consider holding a small portion of their taxable bond portfolio in municipal bonds for diversification reasons (note that Vanguard’s Total Bond index fund has less than 1% municipal bonds).
Conclusion
I personally do not have any bonds in my taxable account, but if I were to hold bonds, I would actually hold a regular total bond fund even though its returns would be taxed. It keeps things simple, and I believe that only investors in the top tax bracket derive the full value of municipal bonds. For investors in lower tax brackets, municipal bond returns are potentially inferior to taxable bonds, even after taxes.
What do you think? Do you invest in municipal bonds, taxable bonds, or both?
I have a handful of individual munis from my home state. They are a very small part of my portfolio. They are all from my home state as my diversification is in not just holding munis. My take is it isn’t worth holding other state munis as there price reflects the home state tax advantage you’d be giving up. I’d rather have a fund for my home state but it’s too small so I have some very well researched individual bonds ( only 3-4 at a time). YMMV as I consider myself extremely knowledgeable about bonds, so I wouldn’t recommend this path to others.
Definitely if your state doesn’t have its own dedicated municipal bond fund, then purchasing several individual municipal bonds, as part of a larger fixed income portfolio, is the way to go.
I lost my job few months back and there was no way to get income for my family, things was so tough and I couldn’t get anything for my children, not until a met a recommendation on a page writing how Mr Bernie Wilfred helped a lady in getting a huge amount of profit every 6 working days on trading with his management on the cryptocurrency Market, to be honest I never believe it but I took the risk to take a loan of $1000. and I contacted him unbelievable and I was so happy I earn $12,500 in 6 working days, the most joy is that I can now take care of my family I don’t know how to appreciate your good work Mr. Bernie Doran God will continue to bless you for being a life saver I have no way to appreciate you than to tell people about your good services. For a perfect investment and good strategies contact Mr Bernie Doran via WhatsApp :+1(424)285-0682 or Telegram : @Bernie_doran_fx or Email : Bernie.doranfx01@gmail.com
Nice post on muni bonds! My parents are heavily invested in their home state’s muni bonds, both individual bonds and mutual funds. They built their muni portfolio from scratch, and it took them decades to get to where they are now. It will definitely help them as they get older, as they both have multiple taxable income streams which will throw them into a higher tax bracket in the next few years. Until I found the FIRE community, I was going to invest the same route as that was the way I was taught, and was the first way I ever saw anyone become wealthy in real life. In the future I probably will invest in my state’s munis, but for now I’m just going to stick with good old fashion index funds.
Municipal bonds often have lower default rates than comparably rated corporate bonds (e.g. A-rated municipal bonds have lower default rates than A-rated corportate bonds), which makes an apples-to-apples comparison between the two so difficult when using the tax-equivalent yield calculator. With the total bond fund index fund, it makes fixed income investing so much simpler, especially if you are not in the top tax brackets.
I have had tax-free bond mutual funds in my taxable accounts for some time. I am in the highest tax bracket. It seems to make sense for me although I do wonder if there are more hidden risks in munis that I’m not aware of. Presumably, a mutual fund is diversified enough to make up for local defaults.
Certainly, wealthy docs such as yourself are the ideal purchaser of municipal bonds. Allan Roth over on the Bogleheads forum discussion mentioned that municipalities have pension and healthcare obligations that corporations don’t have, but you’d think that the ratings agencies would account for all that.
Comprehensive and well-reserached post, thanks for sharing. I’m curious what your thoughts are regarding WCI’s advice that bonds go in taxable?
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/asset-location-bonds-go-in-taxable/
I personally do not hold any bonds in taxable — they are in my retirement accounts. I understand WCI’s logic, and I agree that it’s probably splitting hairs.
I am a long term investor in municipal bonds, mostly via Vanguard funds (including high yield (VWAHX) and limited term (VMLTX)).
One of my all time favorite investments was in my Hospital’s municipal bond offering, purchased a couple years before interest rates nose dived and yielding 5%. They eventually called them before maturity and issued lower yielding bonds, which I also purchased.
Great post! What are your thoughts on buying $10k each (for my spouse and I) of Series I US Treasury bonds, exclusively, if the $20k in bonds meets our current asset allocation? We plan to hold until retirement, and I started my career recently. Thanks!
I am no expert on I Bonds, but one caveat mentioned in the Bogleheads wiki is that the tax benefit of I bonds may be muted if you are not retired at the end of the 30 years.
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/I_savings_bonds
Good to know, and thanks for the link.
Hey Doc, I’m in the 33% tax bracket, so Muni’s make sense based on my calculations. I do agree that they’re likely best suited for high tax investors, and should only be invested in if the “After-Tax” rate justifies the investment. Great overview, I’ll add a link to your post on a future post I’m planning about Munis.
Thanks Fritz — looking forward to your muni post.
Love the analysis. Unfortunately, these don’t make sense for me. I’m in the accumulation phase and prefer the higher expectation of equity investments to bond investments right now. I’m also not in the highest tax bracket so the benefit is probably not worth the lower rate to me.
Very nice summary! I went through a similar thinking process (and used the Bogleheads forum) to help guide me toward moving some of the bonds in my taxable account into municipal bonds.
The tax-equivalent yield formula was a nice little touch!
Great website! Just discovered it. I’ve turned into a factor and alternative investment junkie. Thus I fill up my tax advantaged space with some very tax inefficient investments: alternative lending, reinsurance, variance risk premium. All my bonds are high quality municipals with average maturity 5-6 years in taxable account. I strongly believe in taking the risk on the equity side.
Dave
I just discovered this post. I have been wondering about munis since tax reform is lowering most tax rates. I have a lot of muni funds and a couple of state specific muni bonds. I am about to retire as well. Tax free income is nice but most of my income will be capital gains and dividends so probably 15%. I am not sure it still makes sense.
I appreciate you helping me learn more about municipal bonds and how they work. My husband is thinking about investing in municipal bonds but he really doesn’t have much information about the process. It’s interesting that you mentioned that if you acquire these bonds you don’t have to pay taxes and you’ll earn interest, so it actually is a good investment.
My name is Tom Peacock from USA, I want to say thank you to Dr Emu for the good thing he has done for me, Though am not sure if this is the best forum to show my joy and happiness for what he has done for me but i can’t hide my happiness and my joy so i have to share it with people, my marriage got crashed about two years ago and i tried all i could within my power but to no avail. I saw a post and testimonial about the good things Dr Emu has been doing so I decided to give it a try. though he is always a busy man but when he responded back to my email, he gave me 48 hours for my marriage to be restored really just like he said my marriage was restored since then I am happy and i am living happily i am so grateful to Dr Emu you can always email him here: {emutemple@gmail.com} or WhatsApp: {+2347012841542}
TRACE AND RECOVER YOUR LOST CRYPTO THROUGH ULTIMATE HACKER JERRY.
Learn more;Web http://www.ultimateshackjerry.com
Last year I stumbled across a cryptocurrency platform Advertisement online and I felt compelled to watch them since I had little knowledge of how profitable cryptocurrency is. I was immediately intrigued by it and decided to invest with the investment firm., on my first trial, I deposited $113,000 to the platform.My profit had accumulated so quickly after 48hrs that I became more interested and decided to add $215,100 to my initial investment.on attaining my profit target I requested for withdrawals. This company then began asking for more funds to activate my withdrawals.This made me suspicious, so I decided to consult a Crypto Expert. I came across Ultimate Hacker Jerry who advised me that I had been scammed but was also an Expert in Crypto Recovery Services. This expert Ultimate Hacker Jerry was able to recover all my Crypto a total of $328,100.I must recommend this erpert to any Scam victim that has been defrauded and have your Crypto recovered back by Ultimate Hacker Jerry.
CONTACT;Mail Ultimatehackerjerry@seznam. cz \
Whatsapp +1(520)282-7151.
HOW I FINALLY RECOVERED MY LOST CRYPTO: I lost all my crypto to a fake investment scam to someone I met online. I started searching for help legally to recover my funds, and I came across a lot of Testimonies about HACKER STEVE. I contacted him, providing the necessary information and it took him and his team of experts about 36 hours to locate and help recover my stolen funds. I am so relieved and the best part was, the scammer was located and arrested by local authorities in his region. I hope this helps as many out there who are victims. I strongly recommend Steve professional services for assistance with swift and efficient recovery (Crypto, Credit card, Forex, NFT, etc) on Gmail: Hackersteve911@gmail.com | https://hackersteve.great-site.net/