Investment Strategy
The Portfolio invests in two Vanguard stock index funds and two Vanguard bond index funds, resulting in an allocation of 7.5% of its assets to U.S. stocks, 5% of its assets to non-U.S. stocks, 61.25% of its assets to investment-grade U.S. bonds, and 26.25% of its assets to investment-grade non-U.S. bonds. The percentages of the Portfolio's assets allocated to each Underlying Fund are:
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund 7.5%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund 5%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund 61.25%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 26.25%
Through its investment in Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund, the Portfolio indirectly invests in a broadly diversified collection of securities that, in the aggregate, approximates the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index in terms of key risk factors and other characteristics. The Index represents a wide spectrum of public, investment-grade, taxable fixed income securities in the United States—including government, corporate, and international dollar-denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities—all with maturities of more than 1 year. The fund maintains a dollar-weighted average maturity consistent with that of the Index, which generally ranges between 5 and 10 years.
Through its investment in Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund, the Portfolio indirectly invests in government, government agency, corporate, and securitized non-U.S. investment-grade fixed income investments, all issued in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and with maturities of more than one year. To minimize the currency risk associated with investments in bonds denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the Fund will attempt to hedge its currency exposures.
Through its investment in Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund, the Portfolio indirectly invests in primarily large-capitalization U.S. stocks and, to a lesser extent, mid-, small-, and micro-capitalization U.S. stocks. The fund's target index represents approximately 100% of the investable U.S. stock market.
Through its investment in Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund, the Portfolio indirectly invests in international stocks. The fund is designed to track the performance of the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index, a float-adjusted market-capitalization-weighted index designed to measure equity market performance of companies located in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States. The Index includes more than 5,800 stocks of companies located in over 45 countries.
Investment Risks
Because it invests mainly in bond fund holdings, the Portfolio primarily is subject to low to moderate levels of interest rate risk, income risk, call risk, prepayment risk, and extension risk. The Portfolio also has low to moderate levels of credit risk, index sampling risk, currency hedging risk, nondiversification risk, liquidity risk, stock market risk, investment style risk, currency risk, emerging markets risk, country/regional risk, and derivatives risk.