Fund Evaluator:

Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C Overview

Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C (LWMSX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Securitized Bond - Diversified fund. Franklin Templeton Investments launched the fund in 2012.

The investment seeks high current return. The fund normally invests at least 80% of its assets in mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage-backed securities may be issued by private issuers, U.S. government-sponsored entities such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and by agencies of the U.S. government, such as the Government National Mortgage Association. It may invest in government stripped mortgage-backed securities and other stripped securities. The fund may invest in securities of any maturity or duration, and the securities may have fixed, floating or variable rates.

About Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C (LWMSX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.95 years: Ion Dan (2021), Greg Handler (2019), Michael Buchanan (2024). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US MBS TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has 425 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 46.8% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has 1.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 1.4% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 156.9% (155.0% domestic bond, 1.9% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has -58.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 million in total assets, which is below the $547 million average for the Securitized Bond - Diversified category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

LWMSX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Securitized Bond - Diversified category. Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has an expense ratio of 1.65%, which is 67% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has a portfolio turnover rate of 198%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 361% for the Securitized Bond - Diversified category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C returned -1.2%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Securitized Bond - Diversified category had an average return of -0.7%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C has a trailing yield of 4.46%, which is below the 5.10% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Western Asset Mortgage Total Ret C Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.2%, 0.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 3.4% over the past year (grade of F), 4.0% over the past three years (grade of F) and -0.8% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 0.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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