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Is Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor (VWINX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Having trouble finding a Allocation Balanced fund? Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor (VWINX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. VWINX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VWINX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWINX. The Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor made its debut in July of 1970 and VWINX has managed to accumulate roughly $8.11 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Loren Moran is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2017.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.99%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.55%, which places it in the bottom 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. Over the past three years, VWINX's standard deviation comes in at 9.27%, compared to the category average of 11.89%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 8.64% compared to the category average of 11.33%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.45, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. VWINX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.8, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VWINX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.22% compared to the category average of 0.86%. So, VWINX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor ( VWINX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor ( VWINX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Allocation Balanced segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.
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Is Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor (VWINX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Having trouble finding a Allocation Balanced fund? Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor (VWINX - Free Report) is a potential starting point. VWINX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VWINX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VWINX. The Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor made its debut in July of 1970 and VWINX has managed to accumulate roughly $8.11 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Loren Moran is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2017.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.99%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.55%, which places it in the bottom 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. Over the past three years, VWINX's standard deviation comes in at 9.27%, compared to the category average of 11.89%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 8.64% compared to the category average of 11.33%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.45, the fund is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. VWINX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -3.8, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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, VWINX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.22% compared to the category average of 0.86%. So, VWINX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor ( VWINX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, Vanguard Wellesley Income Investor ( VWINX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
Your research on the Allocation Balanced segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.