The range of investment funds available within the fixed income Market is very diverse.

The distinctions between different fixed income funds could be based on credit exposure.

maturity investing in specialist bonds or geography for credit exposure this could range from a fund investing in low risk government bonds.

All increasing up through the risk reward profile to investment grade corporate bonds.

And then on up to High Yield Corporate bonds offering higher yields, but also a higher risk of default and on to Emerging Markets.

With higher risk comes more uncertainty but also the potential for higher returns.

Fixed income funds can also be defined by the maturity of the bonds that are held with short dated bond funds having less sensitivity to changes and interest rates with longer dated bond funds having more sensitivity to interest rate changes.

There are also many specialist bond funds out there including those which only invest in investment rate bonds.

Which have a variable interest rates? Index linked bond funds which invest in bonds whose cash flows are just for the level of inflation.

and mortgage back security funds which invest in Securities whose cash flows are linked to the cash flows from an underlying pool of mortgages.

Bond funds can also be split by geography.

from funds that focus on single countries to geographical regions Or to not being Limited at all allowing the fund manager to invest on a global basis.