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Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:45 pm
by yankees60
I'm trying to do my due diligence research on Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX).
I start here:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-fu ... file/VUSXX
Under "Product Summary" I read: "Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund, which invests in U.S. Treasury securities, seeks to provide current income and preserve shareholders’ principal investment by maintaining a share price of $1. As such it is considered one of the most conservative investment options offered by Vanguard. Although the fund invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills,....:
So far, so good.
But when I go down the page for "Portfolio composition" I see:
U.S. Govt. Obligations 9.2%
U.S. Treasury Bills 90.8%
How does THAT conform with the above..."the fund invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills"?
Is the above saying that BOTH Govt. Obligations and Treasury Bills comprise the fund's "U.S. Treasury securities" investment? And, the "fund invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills" is just describing PART of the fund's "U.S. Treasury securities" investment?
To try to further understand this, I click on "View prospectus and reports" (Just under the "Product summary")
I was quite happy to see it bring me to this link: Annual Report 08/31/2019. However, each time I click on it using either the Edge or Chrome browser is brings me to the Vanguard home page (
https://investor.vanguard.com/home/).
Anyone have any answers to my above concerns? And, can any of you get to that annual report?
Thanks
Vinny
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:15 pm
by thisisallen
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:04 pm
by yankees60
Many thanks for this!
1. How did you find it? I.e., what path did you take to get there?
2. Is this a prime example of what we were taught in school as "Window Dressing" (from page 28)?
- Capture.JPG (20.35 KiB) Viewed 14179 times
For the period in which they report they do own 100% U.S. Treasury Bills. However, just below it states that it may own issues that are "generally not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.
Can there be any conclusion other than this fund does not offer the same degree of safety as directly owning only Treasury Bills?
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:02 am
by Kriegsspiel
yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:04 pm
Can there be any conclusion other than this fund does not offer the same degree of safety as directly owning only Treasury Bills?
No, I don't think so. The advantage funds have over direct Treasury ownership is convenience, not safety (since there is an extra layer between you and the asset you want to own) or composition (since, if it were up to you, you'd just own the Treasuries). The Vanguard funds are covered under SIPC, but again, that's an extra layer between you and the assets you want that you deal with just due to the convenience of Vanguard managing your money for you.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:50 am
by mathjak107
again , just to reiterate , if you own your funds through a mutual fund account and not a brokerage account there is no sipc coverage involved .
only things owned through a brokerage account are covered . a vanguard mutual fund account would not get sipc coverage
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 8:16 am
by Kriegsspiel
mathjak107 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:50 am
again , just to reiterate , if you own your funds through a mutual fund account and not a brokerage account there is no sipc coverage involved .
only things owned through a brokerage account are covered . a vanguard mutual fund account would not get sipc coverage
Ah. So you would have to own it in the ETF form for it to be covered?
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 8:22 am
by mathjak107
you can own mutual funds in your brokerage account . remember brokerage accounts have holdings held in street name by the brokerage . so sipc is needed .. mutual fund accounts are different . they have you as the registered owner ... so you can own mutual funds through brokerage accounts but because now the brokerage is a middleman you get the sipc coverage. the mutual fund itself is a separate company so it is not effected by the brokerage going belly up . a new parent company takes over the fund and done .
the brokerage account is much more complex because they actually are holding the fund but not in your name so to speak
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 10:20 am
by mathjak107
MangoMan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:14 am
mathjak107 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 7:50 am
only things owned through a brokerage account are covered . a vanguard mutual fund account would not get sipc coverage
The way I understand it, the funds are a separate entity from Vanguard, so if Vanguard went down, the fund would be immune, even if held in a mutual fund account. Is that not correct?
yes they are separate when you have a fund account so no sipc is needed . but if you held that mutual fund through the brokerage account it is held in street name so sipc is needed because it is not segregated from vanguard itself like the fund is without the middleman registered to you
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 4:26 pm
by thisisallen
yankees60 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 8:04 pm
Many thanks for this!
1. How did you find it? I.e., what path did you take to get there?]
Google search
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:29 am
by fireplan
yankees60 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:45 pm
I'm trying to do my due diligence research on Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX).
But when I go down the page for "Portfolio composition" I see:
U.S. Govt. Obligations 9.2%
U.S. Treasury Bills 90.8%
I'm pretty sure that earlier this year, it was nearly 100% T-Bills, but I just took a look on vanguard and the composition has changed again for the worse:
as of 12/31/2019
U.S. Govt. Obligations 15.6%
U.S. Treasury Bills 84.4%
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:59 am
by mukramesh
Thanks for the info mathjak107! I never knew about this.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 5:31 am
by mathjak107
not many realize this when it comes to sipc
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:49 am
by dualstow
fireplan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:29 am
I'm pretty sure that earlier this year, it was nearly 100% T-Bills, but I just took a look on vanguard and the composition has changed again for the worse:
as of 12/31/2019
U.S. Govt. Obligations 15.6%
U.S. Treasury Bills 84.4%
Thank you for posting this! Darn. Looks like I’m going back to t-bills, which is far less convenient.
Depressing news, but important to know.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 7:38 am
by sophie
Dang, that is depressing....make's Fidelity's treasury only MMF look better in comparison, despite the ER of 0.42 (ouch). I really would have liked the MMF for simplicity, but otherwise, T bills on autoroll for the win.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:49 pm
by Kriegsspiel
VSBSX, the short term treasury fund, is 96.6% treasuries.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:51 am
by dualstow
I wrote to them the other day and got this response:
The Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) hasn't changed from it's (sic)
stated principal investment strategies recently. The fund managers will
make changes based on current market conditions to provide the best return,
while adding as little additional risk to the fund as possible.
Followed by the Principal Investment Strategies:
The Fund invests solely in high-quality,
short-term money market instruments whose interest and principal payments
are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Under
normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s assets will be invested in
U.S. Treasury securities; the remainder of the assets may be invested in
securities issued by U.S. governmental agencies.
and so on.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 9:37 am
by yankees60
dualstow wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:51 am
I wrote to them the other day and got this response:
The Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) hasn't changed from it's (sic)
stated principal investment strategies recently. The fund managers will
make changes based on current market conditions to provide the best return,
while adding as little additional risk to the fund as possible.
Followed by the Principal Investment Strategies:
The Fund invests solely in high-quality,
short-term money market instruments whose interest and principal payments
are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Under
normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s assets will be invested in
U.S. Treasury securities; the remainder of the assets may be invested in
securities issued by U.S. governmental agencies.
and so on.
Where did you write to them? I wanted to contact the funds investment's manager to ask questions but did not see a way to do so.
Vinny
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 10:44 am
by dualstow
When you log in, just go to Message Center.
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:51 pm
by yankees60
MangoMan wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:05 pm
Fidelity has a Treasury
Only MMF
Which I may quite possibly use in the future after Vanguard came off the mountain top through the poor SIMPLE IRA process they put me through.
Vinny
Re: Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund (VUSXX) Questions!
Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2020 3:06 am
by mathjak107
today , with the restrictions on money markets and what they can own i don't go nuts trying to find a suitable money market ... i simply use fidelity premium money market fzdxx .. there is a 100k min though