I'm currently a student awaiting admission into grad school and have about $10,000 in a Scott Trade account ready to invest. Because I'll be using the money to pay for moving expenses and anything else that pops up not covered by my current finances (and not investing it long-term since I will most likely be withdrawing the entire amount in less than a year), I'm more interested in retaining the principal instead of looking for long-term growth - with maybe a bonus of receiving some minor income on the side.
I've been looking at ETFs, particularly Vanguard's BIV - and was wondering what the significance of the SEC 30-Day Yield (currently 1.81) is. I've read up on the difference between the SEC Yield and the Current Yield (which is about 3), so I know I should be looking at the SEC Yield for a better idea of the income I'd receive from investing into the ETF.
However, my questions are two-fold:
Am I looking in the right place for short-term, if basically minor, gains (should I be looking somewhere else for the amount I have for the time I have?), and
If I were to buy ~100 shares of BIV ($90.01), what's the significance of the SEC Yield and does it imply that I'd receive a 1.81% (~$160) payout every 30 days on the amount invested without fund expenses or broker expenses calculated in?
Thanks in advance.