I bet I can guess what the April 15th sale was for...
Thanks for posting. I agree that these types of funds should be for a specific use and watched very carefully. They can have pretty attractive yields but are as you say...very interest rate sensitive and also collateralized debt obligation default sensitive...as I found out personally.
I'm still happy with my decision to sell them at the loss and go into equities as that is what brought me back so well in 2009, and will certainly entertain owning at least a portion of them again at some point in the future.
Once I get through this holiday season and things settle down, I intend on opening up some Schwab accounts and getting serious about this.
I'm more and more convinced to do it my way, on my own though...than with my FA like I always have. He won't be happy, but I'm sure he'll get by.
