Fund Evaluator:

Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS Overview

Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS (WAASX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Nontraditional Bond fund. Franklin Templeton Investments launched the fund in 2008.

The investment seeks to maximize long-term total return. The fund has a flexible investment strategy and will invest in a variety of securities and instruments and use a variety of investment techniques in pursuing its objective. Under normal market conditions, it will invest at least 50% of its net assets in debt and fixed income securities rated at least in the Baa or BBB categories at the time of purchase by one or more NRSROs or unrated securities of comparable quality at the time of purchase. The fund may also enter into various exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivative transactions for both hedging and non-hedging purposes.

About Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS (WAASX)

There are 7 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.61 years: Julien Scholnick (2018), Amit Chopra (2026), Nicholas Mastroianni (2026), Rafael Zielonka (2026), Mark Lindbloom (2013), Michael Buchanan (2024), Frederick Marki (2018). 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 ICE BofA US 3M Trsy Bill TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS has 388 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 37.1% 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 Total Return Uncons IS is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS has 25.6% 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 0.3% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 114.2% (88.6% domestic bond, 25.6% foreign bond and 0.1% convertible bond). Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS has -14.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $3 million in total assets, which is below the $663 million average for the Nontraditional Bond 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.

WAASX 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 Total Return Uncons IS expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Nontraditional Bond category. Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS has an expense ratio of 0.67%, which is 53% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. 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 Total Return Uncons IS has a portfolio turnover rate of 177%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 304% for the Nontraditional Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Western Asset Total Return Uncons IS returned -0.3%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Nontraditional Bond category had an average return of -0.2%. 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 Total Return Uncons IS has a trailing yield of 5.75%, which is above the 4.94% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly 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 Total Return Uncons IS Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.5%, 0.7 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 2.8% over the past year (grade of D), 4.6% over the past three years (grade of D) and 0.3% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 2.2% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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