High yield bonds are now well established as a strategic component for multi-asset class portfolios, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that junk was packaged in an index fund. The Barclays iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (Amex: HYG) is the first attempt to offer beta in something close to its pure form from the lesser-rated realm of fixed-income in publicly traded fund. But indexing is tricky when it comes to high yield bonds, as your editor detailed in the July/August issue of Wealth Manager. For a closer look at the fund, what makes it tick and the complications that accompany the task of passively investing in junk via an ETF, read on….