Principal Investment Grade Corporate Active ETF

Principal Investment Grade Corporate Active ETF (IG) is an actively managed bond fund. It holds mostly investment-grade corporate bonds, meaning debt from companies rated BBB- or higher, and it pays income monthly. The fund does not track an index the way LQD does. Its managers choose the bonds and keep interest-rate sensitivity close to a benchmark. Its 0.19% expense ratio is above the 0.13% average for similar funds, and it is the smallest fund in its peer group.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, IG returned -1.7%, 5th of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was -0.6%.
• In the 2020 COVID crash it fell 18.9% and regained its old high 3.4 months after the low.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-16.9%); its best was 2019 (+12.9%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 23.1% (Sep 22, 2021 to Oct 20, 2022), not yet recovered.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 243 securities; the ten largest made up 14.6% of assets, and 2.54% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 12.7 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 5.25%.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $34.0M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +0.57%, +0.81%, +0.20%.

Principal's investment team chooses the bonds; the fund does not follow an index. Under normal conditions, at least 80% of net assets go into investment-grade corporate bonds and other fixed-income securities. If two rating agencies disagree, the fund uses the higher rating. If a bond has no rating, the managers judge its quality themselves. The fund can also own foreign bonds, US government and agency debt, and dollar-denominated foreign government bonds.

The fund has no target maturity. Instead, it keeps its duration within 10% of the duration of the Bloomberg US Corporate Investment Grade Index, which was 6.32 years as of September 30, 2026. Duration measures how much a bond's price moves when interest rates change. As of June 30, 2026, the fund held 251 positions with an average maturity of 12.7 years and an average coupon of 5.25%. About 79% was in US issuers. The largest positions were bonds from Morgan Stanley (2.6%), Bank of America (2.4%), PNC Financial (1.5%) and Huntington Bancshares (1.5%). The top ten made up 14.6% of the fund.

The managers also use derivatives. Treasury futures adjust interest-rate exposure, while credit default swaps and credit index futures adjust exposure to sectors or single issuers. Hedges can fail to match the assets they protect. Turnover was 80.5%, so the portfolio changes often.

• IG charges 0.19% a year, versus an average of 0.13% for the similar funds below (6th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $19 in the first year and $243 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

IG holds investment-grade corporate bonds and pays income monthly, with a trailing yield of 5.29% as of October 27, 2026.

IG could add steady monthly income: $1.05 per share over the trailing 12 months, a 5.29% yield as of October 27, 2026. It launched in April 2018, so it has no record from 2008. In March 2020 it fell 18.9% in two weeks, then recovered by July 1, 2020. Rising rates did more damage. The fund lost 16.92% in 2022, its worst calendar year, and took about 40.5 months, until February 10, 2026, to regain its January 2022 level. Its deepest drop was 23.1%, from September 2021 to October 2022, and the fund had not fully made it back to that 2021 peak as of October 27, 2026. Anyone selling shares in 2022 to cover spending would have locked in losses. Costs are 0.19% a year, or $243 over 10 years in the SEC's $10,000 example. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by bond funds with the closest average maturity and issuer mix (N-PORT).