To my layman's eyes, it seems that the market's hammering of high-quality ST corporate bonds has been excessive (latest M* data follows). My wife and I currently only have a very small position in this fund, but I am considering putting quite a bit of new money into the fund as an attempt to exploit the situation for a long-term play to weigh into a relatively low NAV and relatively high yield.

For my wife and me, long-term, the fund would be an income generator during retirement, along with a mix of a Fla state pension, social security, some muni funds, some laddered CDs, and perhaps a TIAA annuity. Unfortunately, we have very little  room for it in our tax sheltered accounts so the new money in VFSTX would need to be in a taxable acct.

I recognize that my wife and I would be taking on some extra risk compared with more money in our CD ladder (each holding under the FDIC limit), but it seems that with VFST's short duration and high quality holdings, and currently depressed NAV, it would be a decent, and still low-risk,  way to goose our over-all long term yield some, it's short duration minimizing interest rate risk. Or perhaps the risk is greater than I think?

Our situation: age 60, wife at 59. Anticipate needing interest from this asset at my age ~66, perhaps as early as age 62.

M* Data for VG Short-Term Inv-Grade (VFSTX)
Average Eff Duration 2.12 Yrs
Yield %    4.85
-
AAA    35.6
AA    20.2
A    23.6
BBB    17.3
-
Total Trailing Return %
1-Month            -3.63
3-Month            -3.52
Year-to-date        -2.49
1-Year            -0.60
3-Year Annualized     2.93
5-Year Annualized    2.65
10-Yr Annualized*    4.68

 Your thoughts on any of the above appreciated, Steve