Monarch Ambassador Income Index ETF

Monarch Ambassador Income Index ETF (MAMB) is a fund of funds. It tracks the Monarch Ambassador Income Index, which holds about a dozen bond ETFs and shifts their weights based on where the index's rules place the economy in its cycle. That rotating approach sets it apart from a plain bond index fund. So does its cost: a 1.15% expense ratio, which is a lot for a portfolio built from other index ETFs.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, MAMB returned -0.1%, 8th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +0.3%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-13.0%); its best was 2025 (+10.7%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 19.3% (Sep 3, 2021 to Oct 20, 2022), recovered by Oct 10, 2025.

As of Aug 31, 2026, the fund held 10 securities; the ten largest made up 99.57% of assets.

• Over the three months to Aug 31, 2026, investors added a net $10.7M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -0.60%, -1.91%, +1.31%.

MAMB aims to match the Monarch Ambassador Income Index, before fees, and puts at least 80% of its total assets into the index's holdings. Kingsview Wealth Management, the fund's adviser, is also the index provider and wrote its rules. Solactive, which is independent of the fund, sponsors and calculates the index. A sub-adviser, Penserra Capital Management, runs the money using replication. That means it holds nearly all of the index's holdings in about the same proportions.

The index holds about 12 ETFs across different types of bonds: corporate, high-yield ("junk" bonds from less creditworthy issuers that pay more interest), Treasury, municipal, mortgage-backed and convertible. Its rules use employment data to decide whether the economy is in expansion, peak, contraction or trough. Then they tilt toward the bond sectors judged best suited to that phase. Up to 12.5% can go into an alternative sleeve, such as currency or commodity ETFs. Portfolio turnover was 46%.

As of August 31, 2026, the fund held 10 ETFs. The largest were the iShares MBS ETF (18.6%), an iShares iBoxx bond ETF (16.1%), an iShares 7-10 year bond ETF (13.6%), an iShares Core U.S. bond ETF (12.4%) and an iShares 1-3 year bond ETF (11.2%). The iShares Gold Trust made up 6.5%, so part of the fund was exposed to gold rather than bonds.

• MAMB charges 1.15% a year, versus an average of 0.86% for the similar funds below (8th of 8, cheapest first).
• Of that, 0.85% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $117 in the first year and $1,398 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It offers a rules-based mix of bond ETFs plus a small gold position with low sensitivity to stocks, but its high cost and modest yield make it a weak fit as a core income holding.

MAMB launched in March 2021, so it was not around for the 2008 or 2020 crashes. In the 2022 bear market it fell 16% between January 3 and September 27, 2022, and took about 35 months to recover. Its deepest drop was 19.3%, from September 2021 to October 2022, and it did not regain that peak until October 10, 2025. Its worst calendar year was 2022, at -12.99%. The economic-cycle rules did not shield it from the sharp rise in interest rates that year. A retiree selling shares in 2022 would have locked in those losses.

Its trailing yield was 2.73% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. In the SEC's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost $117 in fees over one year and $1,398 over ten. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by other buffer (defined-outcome) funds, largest first.