Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral Overview

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral (VBLAX) is a passively managed Taxable Bond Long-Term Bond fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 2019.

The investment seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Long Government/Credit Float Adjusted Index. This index includes all medium and larger issues of U.S. government, investment-grade corporate, and investment-grade international dollar-denominated bonds that have maturities of greater than 10 years and are publicly issued. All of the fund's investments will be selected through the sampling process, and at least 80% of the fund's assets will be invested in bonds held in the index.

About Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral (VBLAX)

There are 1 members of the management team with an average tenure of 13.36 years: Joshua Barrickman (2013). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Float Adj TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US L Govt/Credit Fl Adj TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has 2982 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 11.0% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has 7.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 98.8% (91.6% domestic bond, 7.3% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has 1.2% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $774 million average for the Long-Term Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

VBLAX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Long-Term Bond category. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has an expense ratio of 0.06%, which is 94% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has a portfolio turnover rate of 24%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 78% for the Long-Term Bond category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral returned 0.7%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Long-Term Bond category had an average return of 0.4%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral has a trailing yield of 4.74%, which is below the 4.95% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Admiral Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.9%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 3.9% over the past year (grade of F), 1.9% over the past three years (grade of F) and -3.9% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 0.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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