Bond funds in a 401K should generate an income dividend, which would be reinvested of I've selected to reinvest gains which I have


I've been testing my Broad Market Bond Funs for several months now and the only number that changes in the price. The number of shares has stayed stagnant at some 865 shares seeing this period.

What gives, how does this work

Look at your statement, find those Dividend payments, and look to see if they are changing the cash balance on the account.

You probably just don't have "reinvest" selected like you think you do.

A lot of growth stocks don't pay dividends, so their funds don't either. And bond funds do pay dividends which can be reinvested, but bond prices fluctuate so it follows that bond fund share prices do too. 50 shares bought at $10@ that turns into 100 shares at $5@yields a net gain of zero. I have never put a single bond investment in either my 401-K or my IRA, I retired in 2018 and my IRA has doubled despite taking RMD's.

Rydyn said:

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Look at your statement, find those Dividend payments, and look to see if they are changing the cash balance on the account.

You probably just don't have "reinvest" selected like you think you do.

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I double checked and what i have selected "says reinvest in my current plan" Vs "send to me"


I looked back further and I've had the same 865 shares for more than a quarter. The only thing changing the total value is the price

jamey said:

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Rydyn said:

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Look at your statement, find those Dividend payments, and look to see if they are changing the cash balance on the account.

You probably just don't have "reinvest" selected like you think you do.

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I double checked and what i have selected "says reinvest in my current plan" Vs "send to me"


I looked back further and I've had the same 865 shares for more than a quarter. The only thing changing the total value is the price

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I have never seen a fund pay anything but monthly, so no share increase would mean it isn't being reinvested back into itself. The funds will post an interest payment schedule on their website so you can see when and what it paid. You then should be able to go to activity screen in your 401k and see where it is going.

Is there a chance you bought a bond etf, and the interest payments go back into the fund and not to you?

So if a bond pays, that goes into the fund and buys more bonds and the value should reflect that, but you will not see more shares or the payment.

What fund are you looking at?

chris1515 said:

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Is there a chance you bought a bond etf, and the interest payments go back into the fund and not to you?

So if a bond pays, that goes into the fund and buys more bonds and the value should reflect that, but you will not see more shares or the payment.

What fund are you looking at?

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My 401k from a previous employer has a bond fund they advertise as a "fund of funds" where they blend two or three funds from different investment firms into one fund. Set aside whether that's better or worse than a single fund, it does create a headache from a transparency standpoint in reporting dividends, etc. My share count hasn't changed over time, and the fund administrator says the dividends are reflected in the share price. I can't prove they're right, but the overall fund performance over time has been comparable to single funds on Vanguard, Fidelity, so I guess they're telling me the truth. I still can't stand the obscurity, and at the right point in time I'll roll over that 401k to an investment that has much better transparency.

chris1515 said:

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Is there a chance you bought a bond etf, and the interest payments go back into the fund and not to you?

So if a bond pays, that goes into the fund and buys more bonds and the value should reflect that, but you will not see more shares or the payment.

What fund are you looking at?

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It's in my 401K, just Broad Market Bond Fund

Maybe that's what it is, hidden in the price, which seems kinda sneaky

MemphisAg1 said:

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chris1515 said:

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Is there a chance you bought a bond etf, and the interest payments go back into the fund and not to you?

So if a bond pays, that goes into the fund and buys more bonds and the value should reflect that, but you will not see more shares or the payment.

What fund are you looking at?

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My 401k from a previous employer has a bond fund they advertise as a "fund of funds" where they blend two or three funds from different investment firms into one fund. Set aside whether that's better or worse than a single fund, it does create a headache from a transparency standpoint in reporting dividends, etc. My share count hasn't changed over time, and the fund administrator says the dividends are reflected in the share price. I can't prove they're right, but the overall fund performance over time has been comparable to single funds on Vanguard, Fidelity, so I guess they're telling me the truth. I still can't stand the obscurity, and at the right point in time I'll roll over that 401k to an investment that has much better transparency.

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Maybe that's what mine is, but the price isn't exactly going up steady either. Of course that could be offset by the normal swing in bond price

Pretty annoying of that's it's. Fund says it follows US Bloomberg aggregate bond index