Description

The investment seeks to provide inflation protection and income consistent with investment in inflation-indexed securities. The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in inflation-indexed bonds issued by the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities, and corporations. It may invest in bonds of any maturity; however, its dollar-weighted average maturity is expected to be in the range of 7 to 20 years. At a minimum, all bonds purchased by the fund will be rated investment-grade or, if unrated, will be considered by the advisor to be investment-grade.

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

TotalReturn:

'Total return is the amount of value an investor earns from a security over a specific period, typically one year, when all distributions are reinvested. Total return is expressed as a percentage of the amount invested. For example, a total return of 20% means the security increased by 20% of its original value due to a price increase, distribution of dividends (if a stock), coupons (if a bond) or capital gains (if a fund). Total return is a strong measure of an investment’s overall performance.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The total return, or performance over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is 11.9%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (102.7%) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (38.1%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return of -2.8% is lower, thus worse.

CAGR:

'The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a useful measure of growth over multiple time periods. It can be thought of as the growth rate that gets you from the initial investment value to the ending investment value if you assume that the investment has been compounding over the time period.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The annual performance (CAGR) over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is 2.3%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (15.2%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the annual return (CAGR) is -1%, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 11.4% from the benchmark.

Volatility:

'Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Volatility can either be measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction. For example, when the stock market rises and falls more than one percent over a sustained period of time, it is called a 'volatile' market.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Looking at the 30 days standard deviation of 6.5% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (20.9%)
  • Compared with SPY (17.3%) in the period of the last 3 years, the 30 days standard deviation of 6.9% is smaller, thus better.

DownVol:

'Downside risk is the financial risk associated with losses. That is, it is the risk of the actual return being below the expected return, or the uncertainty about the magnitude of that difference. Risk measures typically quantify the downside risk, whereas the standard deviation (an example of a deviation risk measure) measures both the upside and downside risk. Specifically, downside risk in our definition is the semi-deviation, that is the standard deviation of all negative returns.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the downside risk of 4.5% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (15%)
  • Compared with SPY (12%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside volatility of 4.8% is lower, thus better.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.61) in the period of the last 5 years, the risk / return profile (Sharpe) of -0.03 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at Sharpe Ratio in of -0.5 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.51).

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio, a variation of the Sharpe ratio only factors in the downside, or negative volatility, rather than the total volatility used in calculating the Sharpe ratio. The theory behind the Sortino variation is that upside volatility is a plus for the investment, and it, therefore, should not be included in the risk calculation. Therefore, the Sortino ratio takes upside volatility out of the equation and uses only the downside standard deviation in its calculation instead of the total standard deviation that is used in calculating the Sharpe ratio.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.85) in the period of the last 5 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of -0.05 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation is -0.72, which is lower, thus worse than the value of 0.74 from the benchmark.

Ulcer:

'Ulcer Index is a method for measuring investment risk that addresses the real concerns of investors, unlike the widely used standard deviation of return. UI is a measure of the depth and duration of drawdowns in prices from earlier highs. Using Ulcer Index instead of standard deviation can lead to very different conclusions about investment risk and risk-adjusted return, especially when evaluating strategies that seek to avoid major declines in portfolio value (market timing, dynamic asset allocation, hedge funds, etc.). The Ulcer Index was originally developed in 1987. Since then, it has been widely recognized and adopted by the investment community. According to Nelson Freeburg, editor of Formula Research, Ulcer Index is “perhaps the most fully realized statistical portrait of risk there is.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the Ulcer Index of 6.75 in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (9.32 )
  • Compared with SPY (10 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Downside risk index of 8.65 is lower, thus better.

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown is defined as the peak-to-trough decline of an investment during a specific period. It is usually quoted as a percentage of the peak value. The maximum drawdown can be calculated based on absolute returns, in order to identify strategies that suffer less during market downturns, such as low-volatility strategies. However, the maximum drawdown can also be calculated based on returns relative to a benchmark index, for identifying strategies that show steady outperformance over time.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Looking at the maximum DrawDown of -14.6 days in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively higher, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (-33.7 days)
  • Compared with SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum DrawDown of -14.6 days is larger, thus better.

MaxDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Max Drawdown Duration is the worst (the maximum/longest) amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs) in days.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum days below previous high of 597 days of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is higher, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days under water of 597 days is larger, thus worse.

AveDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The average time in days below previous high water mark over 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is 168 days, which is greater, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (124 days) in the same period.
  • Looking at average time in days below previous high water mark in of 251 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (181 days).

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund are hypothetical, do not account for slippage, fees or taxes, and are based on backtesting, which has many inherent limitations, some of which are described in our Terms of Use.