Happy 15th, PTIMX!
PTAM’s second oldest fund, the Performance Trust Municipal Bond Fund (PTIMX), has just turned 15 years old, and the numbers make the case better than we ever could:
- 2nd percentile over the last 15 years in its Morningstar Municipal National Intermediate Bond Category (the “category”).1
- 1st percentile in its category Year-over-Year.1
Total Returns (%)1
| YTD | 1-Year | 3-Year | 5-Year | 10-Year | 15-Year | |
| PTIMX | 3.13 | 8.50 | 4.66 | 1.01 | 2.28 | 4.13 |
| Category | 1.99 | 6.18 | 3.86 | 1.09 | 1.86 | 2.76 |
| Index2 | 2.32 | 7.03 | 3.76 | 1.05 | 2.15 | 3.20 |
| Percentile Rank | 4 | 1 | 10 | 54 | 14 | 2 |
| # of Investments in Category | 286 | 276 | 256 | 329 | 177 | 136 |
Performance data quoted represents past performance which does not guarantee future results.
For those interested in the story behind PTIMX’s creation, the Fund was founded by Senior Portfolio
Manager (PM), Mike Plaiss, who at the Fund’s inception, had already been trading municipal debt for over
15 years. As Mike puts it, “I had an absolutely goldilocks experience. I met two guys in 1996/97, Steve
Kiper and Brad Smith, working at a broker dealer in Louisville, KY. They are still some of the most
knowledgeable bond folks I’ve ever met. They taught me the importance of coupon and call protection. At that time there were a lot more zero-coupon bonds in existence than there are now. As Steve Kiper put it, ‘Identify the steepest part of the yield curve and buy as many zeros with good original issue discount (OID) as you can, at the top of the steepest part of that curve.’ Then, in 1998 I went to Performance Trust Capital Partners’ Bond Camp. (For those unaware, PT Asset Management was founded by a broker dealer, Performance Trust Capital Partners, which had created the Shape Management Methodology used by our firm today). I started applying the methodology to the knowledge I had already accumulated in the Muni space, and my life changed forever.”
As to why PTIMX was created, Mike puts it most eloquently: “PTIAX was started when we started looking at what was in other Core-Plus bond funds, and we were appalled…PTIMX naturally followed. We started looking into what other tax-exempt funds owned, bonds sprinkled across the curve with no rhyme or reason, lousy coupons, lousy call protection, and we frankly thought this would be easy.”
Since then, Mike has been joined at the helm by PM, Mark Peiler. Prior to PTAM, Mark spent 23 years as CIO of BNC National Bank, where he applied Shape Management to a portfolio heavily weighted in, you guessed it, municipal bonds. Ever since joining the team, Mark has continued to emphasize the importance of practicing discipline, “After 15 years, it’s rewarding to see how much wealth you can potentially create by simply not predicting rates, staying agnostic and trusting that a consistent methodology, applied over the right time horizon, lets the fundamental math of bonds play out. Shape Management is what allows us to eliminate the ‘dogs’, or the inefficient parts of the curve and coupon structure, and lean into the asymmetric opportunities that remain, which is exactly why this portfolio ends up so intentionally differentiated from both the Index and the Category.”
The strategy of the fund has been, and remains, one of simplicity. The goal is to find Tax-Exempt
Municipals that offer asymmetric risk/rewards. What does this mean? As stated in prior pieces put out by your resident Client Portfolio Managers, certain bonds can outperform their cousins more often, and by larger amounts, than when they lose. By using Shape Management to visualize the go-forward return of these investment options, across different scenarios, we calculate the mathematically solvable go-forward returns of bonds, and in doing so, visualize these asymmetric opportunities in the marketplace.
This discipline shows up directly in what investors have earned. If you choose to invest in PTIMX today,
you would be investing in a portfolio primarily composed of AAA- and AA-rated assets, which has profited investors with a 3-year annualized return of 4.66%1, fully tax-exempt. For an investor at the top of the income tax bracket, at a 40.8% “all-in” tax rate, this would be equivalent to a taxable bond fund earning 7.87% each year, for the last three years! We’re quite proud of PTIMX’s performance through the years, and Mike and Mark will continue to hunt diligently for the asymmetric risk/reward profiles that they have been chasing (and successfully finding) for decades. Here’s to another 15 years of not predicting anything, and to the investors who’ve benefited from that discipline along the way.
PTIMX Top 10 Holdings (as of 6/30/2026)
Performance data quoted represents past performance which does not guarantee future results. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Performance data current to the most recent month-end may be obtained by visiting test.ptam.com or by calling (866) 792-9606. Returns over one year are annualized.
1- Source: Morningstar Direct. Data as of 6/30/2026.
2- Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index
Adam is a Client Portfolio Manager with 9 years of experience in fixed income markets. He serves as a liaison between the investment, marketing, and sales teams, leading investment strategy updates, portfolio communications, and market commentary. A previous employee of PTAM’s affiliate company, Performance Trust Capital Partners, Adam specializes in educating investors on complex fixed income asset classes and strategies through the lens of Shape Management. He holds a BA in Business Economics from Wheaton College.
Glossary
Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index is a market value weighted index of investment grade municipal bonds with maturities of one year or more. It is not possible to invest in an index.Risks and Other Important Considerations
Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Investments in debt securities typically decrease in value when interest rates rise. This risk is usually greater for longer-term debt securities. Investments in lower rated and non-rated securities present a greater risk of loss to principal and interest than higher-rated securities. Investments in asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities include risks that investors should be aware of such as credit risk, prepayment risk, possible illiquidity and default, as well as increased susceptibility to adverse economic developments. For a complete list of disclosures, please visit www.test.ptam.com. ©2026 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, ETFs, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a 3-year history. ETFs and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product’s monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% 3-year rating for 36–59 months of total returns, 60% 5-year rating/40% 3-year rating for 60–119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% 5-year rating/20% 3-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent 3-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Morningstar Rankings represent a fund’s total return percentile rank relative to all funds in the same Morningstar Category for the same time period. The highest (or most favorable) percentile rank is 1%, and the lowest (or least favorable) percentile rank is 100%. It is based on Morningstar total return, which includes both income and capital gains or losses and is not adjusted for sales charges or redemption fees. Past performance does not guarantee future results. While PTIAX (Class I) is no-load, management fees and other expenses still apply. Please refer to the prospectus for further details. The ETF is actively managed and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The ETF may have a higher portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index.Investment and Insurance Products: •Are not FDIC or any other Government Agency Insured •Are not Bank Guaranteed •May Lose Value
© 2026 PT Asset Management, LLC. All Rights Reserved. PT Asset Management, LLC (“PTAM”) is the advisor to the PTAM Funds. Distributed by ALPS Distributors, Inc. PTM000566.The Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses must be considered carefully before investing. The summary and statutory prospectuses contain this and other important information about the investment company, and may be obtained by calling 1.877.738.9095. Read carefully before investing.
