re: Municipal Bonds........

Yeah, but you bought many of those when prices were down and your tax bracket may be significantly different than the OP. The individual muni's I own are definitely trading at a premium to face value, and the limited term tax exempt is at a premium to when I bought. The OP is taking risk in paying over the face value of most available desirable TE bonds/funds after the run up, when municipalities in many areas are facing severe operating shortfalls. He might be better sticking with his CD's. At current valuations on shorter term bonds I would be better buying a 7-yr 3.5% CD for safety and if rates increase redeem it earlier with penalty of 3-6 months interest and reinvest in higher yielding bonds or CD's. I don't believe the risk/reward profile of current TE bond choices is great for a fixed income investor as an entry point, better to wait if earning decent guaranteed interest rates elsewhere.

Then again, I hold fixed income to reduce the overall volatility of my portfolio and tend to stay on the shorter end, especially with such artificially low rates in place.

Per Bloomberg, the 7-yr AAA GO is trading with yield of 2.26%, which is 3.14% taxable at 28% fed bracket, why not get the 3.5% CD?

Bond yields

To the OP, I would spend some time and effort on this site to promote learning and keep from being screwed if you use a broker, there can be large markups on individual bonds that could take you years to recoup:

EMMA