Ah ha - Morningstar shows PSLDX holds 98% stocks ... and 147% bonds. It uses 2.5x leverage to achieve higher returns. Using leverage, they returned 22%/year for the past 10 years.
But let's say we compare that to a passive index fund that uses leverage, like UPRO (3x S&P 500). With slightly higher leverage, UPRO had far higher returns of 38%/year for the past 10 years.
That said, 2008 would have been a disaster for UPRO. It didn't exist then, so we can't see it's 3x performance when the S&P 500 dropped 38% that year. But 2020 offers a hint of what a short crash can do: UPRO returned 10% with 3x leverage, while the S&P 500 returned 18% without leverage.
Which brings me back to being impressed with PSLDX, because in 2008 they "only" lost 33%. For a fund with heavy leverage, that's impressive. When interest rates drop, older bonds with higher yields sell for more on the market. So in 2008, they probably had bond gains and equity losses. In 2020, they beat the S&P 500 by quite a bit - so again, they handle leverage better than UPRO.
Given PSLDX used leverage well in two important crashes, and a higher allocation to bonds than equities, they might be a reasonable active fund pick. Normally a 0.61% expense ratio is high, but most 3x leveraged funds charge about 1.00%.
As to purchasing it, I think you have to use Vanguard's "FundAccess" (or something similar at other brokerages). The name "institutional" confused me, because they allow minimum purchases of $1,000 - that's friendly to individual investors, not institutional.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/810893/000119312516484085/d139007d497k.htmI'm trying to gather ideas for the active 10% of my portfolio, and I'm tempted to include this fund as 1%. I'm really impressed how they handle the bad years.
