Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX)

TotalReturn:

'Total return, when measuring performance, is the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time. Total return accounts for two categories of return: income including interest paid by fixed-income investments, distributions or dividends and capital appreciation, representing the change in the market price of an asset.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (109.2%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return, or performance of 7% of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (77.9%) in the period of the last 3 years, the total return, or increase in value of 10.4% is smaller, 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.'

• Looking at the annual return (CAGR) of 1.4% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (16%)
• During the last 3 years, the annual performance (CAGR) is 3.4%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 21.3% 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.'

• Looking at the volatility of 6% in the last 5 years of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to the benchmark SPY (17.3%)
• During the last 3 years, the volatility is 6%, which is smaller, thus better than the value of 16.8% from the benchmark.

DownVol:

'The downside volatility is similar to the volatility, or standard deviation, but only takes losing/negative periods into account.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (11.9%) in the period of the last 5 years, the downside volatility of 4.2% of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus better.
• Looking at downside volatility in of 4.1% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (10.9%).

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio is the measure of risk-adjusted return of a financial portfolio. Sharpe ratio is a measure of excess portfolio return over the risk-free rate relative to its standard deviation. Normally, the 90-day Treasury bill rate is taken as the proxy for risk-free rate. A portfolio with a higher Sharpe ratio is considered superior relative to its peers. The measure was named after William F Sharpe, a Nobel laureate and professor of finance, emeritus at Stanford University.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.78) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of -0.19 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus worse.
• Looking at risk / return profile (Sharpe) in of 0.15 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (1.12).

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio improves upon the Sharpe ratio by isolating downside volatility from total volatility by dividing excess return by the downside deviation. The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the asset's standard deviation of negative asset returns, called downside deviation. The Sortino ratio takes the asset's return and subtracts the risk-free rate, and then divides that amount by the asset's downside deviation. The ratio was named after Frank A. Sortino.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (1.13) in the period of the last 5 years, the excess return divided by the downside deviation of -0.27 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is smaller, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (1.72) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk / excess return profile of 0.21 is lower, thus worse.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (8.43 ) in the period of the last 5 years, the Ulcer Ratio of 7.6 of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is lower, thus better.
• Compared with SPY (3.76 ) in the period of the last 3 years, the Ulcer Index of 2.26 is smaller, thus better.

MaxDD:

'A maximum drawdown is the maximum loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio, before a new peak is attained. Maximum Drawdown is an indicator of downside risk over a specified time period. It can be used both as a stand-alone measure or as an input into other metrics such as 'Return over Maximum Drawdown' and the Calmar Ratio. Maximum Drawdown is expressed in percentage terms.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -14.5 days of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is higher, thus better.
• During the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high is -6.4 days, which is larger, thus better than the value of -18.8 days from the benchmark.

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (488 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum time in days below previous high water mark of 965 days of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is higher, thus worse.
• Looking at maximum days under water in of 290 days in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to SPY (87 days).

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.'

• Compared with the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average days under water of 391 days of Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities Fund is higher, thus worse.
• Compared with SPY (22 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the average days below previous high of 80 days is greater, thus worse.