Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv Overview

Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv (VWEHX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond High Yield Bond fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 1978.

The investment seeks to provide a high level of current income. The fund manager employs an active management approach, investing primarily in a diversified group of high-yielding, higher-risk corporate bonds with medium- and lower-range credit quality ratings (commonly known as “junk” bonds). Under normal circumstances, it invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in high-yield investments and other financial instruments with economic characteristics similar to such investments. The fund's high-yield bonds and loans mostly have short- and intermediate-term maturities.

About Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv (VWEHX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.92 years: Michael Chang (2022), Elizabeth Shortsleeve (2022). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 3 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%, Bloomberg US HY Ba/B 2% Issuer Cap TRUSD index with a weighting of 95% and Bloomberg 1-5 Yr Treasury TR USD index with a weighting of 5%. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv has 1033 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 5.1% 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 High-Yield Corporate Inv is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv has 12.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.4%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.1% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 95.7% (82.8% domestic bond, 12.9% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv has 3.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $2 billion in total assets, which is above the $545 million average for the High Yield 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.

VWEHX 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 High-Yield Corporate Inv expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the High Yield Bond category. Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv has an expense ratio of 0.22%, which is 76% 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 High-Yield Corporate Inv has a portfolio turnover rate of 44%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 72% for the High Yield Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Inv returned -0.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the High Yield Bond category had an average return of -0.3%. 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 High-Yield Corporate Inv has a trailing yield of 6.32%, which is above the 6.28% 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 High-Yield Corporate Inv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.1%, 0.5 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 4.9% over the past year (grade of C), 7.5% over the past three years (grade of C) and 3.8% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 4.9% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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