Investing - Theory, News & General • Money market funds vs Bond funds

There have been several Boglehead posts on the subject of MMF vs bond funds. I apologize if I am repeating question(s) asked in the past. However I still find myself confused.
I used Morningstar to look at [growth + dividend] for several Vanguard bonds funds vs Vanguard Cash Reserves VMRXX. The mmf did better than these bond funds over several time periods and did worse over other time periods. Am I missing something in this analysis?
Is the overall opinion still that, regardless of the data below, long term investing in bond funds such as the 3 I looked at is a better choice than a mmf?

MMF: Vanguard Cash Reserves VMRXX
Vanguard bond funds:
VBILX IT Bond Index VFIDX IT Investment Grade VBTLX Total Bond Market Index

5 year period 8.21.21 - 9.29.26 Growth + Dividend
VMRXX 20.3% VBILX -3.9% VFIDX 1.1% VBTLX -4.0%

5 year period 8.31.17 - 8.31.22 Growth + Dividend
VMRXX 5.9%% VBILX 4.1% VFIDX 4.8% VBTLX 2.3%

5 year period 8.31.17 - 8.31.22 Growth + Dividend
VMRXX 5.9%% VBILX 4.1% VFIDX 4.8% VBTLX 2.3%

10 year period 8.31.16 - 9.29.26 Growth + Dividend
VMRXX 27.9%% VBILX 14.9% VFIDX 24.6% VBTLX 11.7%

10 year period 8.31.12 - 8.31.22 Growth + Dividend
VMRXX 7.5%% VBILX 18.2% VFIDX 23.2% VBTLX 14.2%

Statistics: Posted by goshenBogle — Wed Sep 30, 2026 12:19 pm