Dan Larkin, Senior Manager, Investment Product Management at Vanguard, joined Julie Cooling, Founder and CEO of RIA Channel, to discuss Vanguard’s active fixed-income ETF offerings.
Larkin notes that investors need to get the big things right in their portfolios and not miss the opportunities presented by the market, while advisors need to make sure that their sector allocations are appropriately sized for the current market environment.
Fixed-income opportunities are more attractive today than before the Fed started raising interest rates in 2022. Today, high-quality fixed-income offers yields above inflation and a better ballast against equity market volatility.
Vanguard’s actively managed fixed-income ETF offerings include the Vanguard Core Bond ETF (VCRB) and the Vanguard Core-Plus Bond ETF (VPLS). These ETFs offer exposure to high-quality, broadly diversified bonds with levers for active managers to pull to outperform the market. VCRB is more conservative, which can be a solution for conservative investors or a base layer for investors wishing to add different market exposures. For those wishing for core-plus exposure without adding it through additional funds, the managers of VPLS add different market exposures in a more flexible fund objective.
Advisors can ask their Vanguard representative to contact the portfolio analytics and consulting team for a portfolio audit. This allows advisors to see their total holdings from multiple perspectives to ensure that all exposures and risks are as desired and in line with market forecasts.
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