This "Ah-ha" moment just hit me. I have a small % of my IRA invested in intermediate term bonds. But the mutual fund's expense ratio is 0.8%. And bonds usually bring in returns of 0.5 to 4% annually. So why bother if at least 25% of your returns are going back to fund management?

The alternative is an intermediate bond ETF. I'm looking at Vanguard's BIV because its expense ratio is 0.11%.