Investment Strategy
The Portfolio invests in two Vanguard stock index funds and two Vanguard bond index funds, resulting in an allocation of 50% of its assets to stocks and 50% of its assets to investment-grade bonds. The percentages of the Portfolio's assets allocated to each Underlying Fund are:
Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Index Fund 30%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund 20%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund 35%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund 15%
Through its ownership of the two stock funds, the Portfolio indirectly owns primarily large-capitalization and, to a lesser extent, mid-, small-, and micro-capitalization U.S. stocks, and international stocks. Through its ownership of Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund, the Portfolio indirectly holds a mix of bonds—including government, corporate, and international dollar-denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities—that represent a wide spectrum of public, investment-grade, taxable, fixed income securities in the United States, all with maturities of more than 1 year. The Fund maintains a dollar-weighted average consistent with that of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, which generally ranges between 5 and 10 years.
Through its ownership of Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund, the Portfolio also 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 1 year. To minimize currency risk associated with investment in bonds denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, the Fund attempts to hedge its currency exposures.
Investment Risks
Through its stock fund holdings, the Portfolio is primarily subject to stock market risk. Through its bond fund holdings, the Portfolio has low to moderate levels of interest rate risk, credit risk, income risk, and call/prepayment risk. The Portfolio also has low to moderate levels of country/regional risk and low levels of currency risk, emerging markets risk, index sampling risk, currency hedging risk, nondiversification risk, and derivatives risk.