Fund info

Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund Admiral Shares is an index mutual fund that seeks to track a market-weighted benchmark of U.S. investment‑grade bonds with maturities of one to five years. The fund follows the Bloomberg U.S. 1–5 Year Government/Credit Float Adjusted Index, providing diversified exposure across U.S. Treasuries, agencies, and high‑quality corporate debt while maintaining limited interest rate sensitivity through a short effective duration profile. Designed to serve as a core short-duration fixed income holding, it emphasizes broad market coverage via sampling and market‑value weighting, aiming to reflect the performance of the short end of the U.S. investment‑grade bond market. Its structure and low expense profile support cost‑efficient access to thousands of bonds, monthly income distributions, and a risk posture oriented toward high credit quality and reduced volatility relative to longer‑maturity strategies. The fund’s role in portfolios commonly includes cash management enhancement, duration balancing alongside intermediate and long-term bond allocations, and diversification away from equity risk within multi‑asset frameworks.