Fund Evaluator:

Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm Overview

Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm (VWETX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Long-Term Bond fund. Vanguard launched the fund in 2001.

The investment seeks to provide a high and sustainable level of current income. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in investment-grade fixed income securities. For purposes of the 80% policy, investment-grade fixed income securities are those rated the equivalent of Baa3 and above by Moody’s or another independent rating agency or, if unrated, are determined to be of comparable quality by the fund’s advisor. It may invest in derivatives instruments, such as options, futures contracts, and other swap agreements.

About Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm (VWETX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.79 years: Daniel Shaykevich (2018), Blanton Keh (2026), Arvind Narayanan (2019), Scott St. John (2014). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Credit A+ Long TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm has 1296 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 6.1% 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 Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm has 12.1% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.1%. 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 98.3% (86.3% domestic bond, 12.1% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm has 1.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $9 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.

VWETX 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 Investment-Grade Adm expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Long-Term Bond category. Vanguard Long-Term Investment-Grade Adm has an expense ratio of 0.10%, which is 90% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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 Investment-Grade Adm has a portfolio turnover rate of 60%, 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 Investment-Grade Adm returned 0.3%, which earned it a grade of C, 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 Investment-Grade Adm has a trailing yield of 5.18%, which is above 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 Investment-Grade Adm Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.2%, 0.0 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 4.6% over the past year (grade of C), 3.2% over the past three years (grade of D) and -2.7% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 1.6% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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