This index fund offers a low-cost, diversified approach to bond investing, providing broad exposure to U.S. investment-grade bonds with maturities of more than ten years. Reflecting this goal, the fund invests about 60% of assets in corporate bonds and 40% in U.S. government bonds within that maturity range. Because long-term bonds tend to be very sensitive to interest-rate changes, one of the fund’s key risks is that increases in interest rates may reduce the price of the bonds in the portfolio, which would reduce the fund’s share price. Investors who are looking for a fund that seeks to provide interest income and are able to tolerate significant interest rate risk may wish to consider this fund.
If you work at a company providing a 401(k) plan, it behooves you to understand your fund options. Most plans offer three types of investment alternatives: target-date mutual funds, actively managed mutual funds and index funds.
