Are you on the hunt for a Government Bond - Short fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Short Term Inflation Protected Security Index Investor (VTIPX). The fund does not have a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, though we have been able to explore other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

Objective

The world of Government Bond - Short funds is an area filled with options, such as VTIPX. Government Bond - Short funds hold securities issued by the federal government of the United States of America. These are seen as extremely low risk securities from a default perspective, and are often regarded as risk-free assets. This category focuses on the short end of the curve, and that results in lower yields, but also less sensitivity to interest rate fluctuations, too.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is responsible for VTIPX, and the company is based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Short Term Inflation Protected Security Index Investor made its debut in October of 2012, and since then, VTIPX has accumulated about $3.02 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager, Joshua Barrickman, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. VTIPX has a 5-year annualized total return of 3.04% and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3 -year annualized total return of 1.87%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. VTIPX's standard deviation over the past three years is 3.16% compared to the category average of 12.01%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 2.84% compared to the category average of 12.43%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

VTIPX carries a beta of 0.21, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 1.55, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Expenses

For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VTIPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.14% compared to the category average of 0.83%. So, VTIPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.