Principal Active High Yield ETF

Principal Active High Yield ETF (YLD) is an actively managed fund. It puts at least 80% of its assets in below-investment-grade, or "junk," corporate bonds and bank loans. Its trailing 12-month yield was 7.67% as of October 27, 2026, and it pays monthly. Its 0.39% annual fee is below HYG's 0.49% but well above index-tracking high-yield funds such as USHY (0.08%) and SPHY (0.05%).

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, YLD returned +2.5%, 2nd of 8 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +4.3%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-8.7%); its best was 2023 (+12.9%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 13.8% (Nov 8, 2021 to Sep 27, 2022), recovered by Dec 1, 2023.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 148 securities; the ten largest made up 15.93% of assets, and 7.09% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

The bonds mature in 5.6 years on average (weighted by size), with an average coupon of 7.48%.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $74.7M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +1.65%, +0.78%, +0.36%.

YLD does not track an index. Principal's managers choose the bonds. Under normal conditions, at least 80% of net assets go into below-investment-grade debt: securities rated Ba1 or lower by Moody's, or BB+ or lower by S&P. When the two agencies disagree, the fund uses the higher rating. For unrated bonds, the managers judge the quality themselves. They start top-down, looking at the economy and at sectors' fundamentals and valuations. Then they work bottom-up, studying each borrower's ability to repay.

The fund has no fixed maturity target. It does keep its average duration, a measure of how much bond prices move when interest rates change, within 25% of the Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Index. That index's duration was 3.30 years as of September 30, 2026. The fund may also hold Treasuries, floating-rate bank loans, preferred securities and foreign bonds, including emerging-market bonds. It may use currency swaps, credit default swaps and credit index futures to hedge or adjust its exposure. The June 30, 2026 holdings report showed no derivatives.

As of that date, the fund held 148 issues, and the 10 largest made up 15.93% of assets. The biggest positions were Energy Transfer (2.0%), Matador Resources (2.0%) and Olympus Water (1.5%). Bonds were 92% of the fund, loans 4% and cash 7.09%. Annual portfolio turnover was 42.7%.

• YLD charges 0.39% a year, versus an average of 0.45% for the similar funds below (4th of 8, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $40 in the first year and $493 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

YLD's main job is paying monthly income from high-interest junk bonds, not providing growth or protection in a downturn.

YLD could add a steady flow of monthly income. Its trailing 12-month yield was 7.67% ($1.41 per share) as of October 27, 2026. That income comes with real credit risk. The fund lost 19.62% in the first quarter of 2020, its worst quarter in the prospectus, and lost 8.57% in 2022, its worst calendar year. Measured on price, it fell 13.8% from November 8, 2021 to September 27, 2022. It did not regain that high until December 1, 2023, about 14 months after the low. The fund did not exist in 2008. In years like these, a retiree who has to sell shares for spending money would be selling at depressed prices. It costs 0.39% a year, or $40 in the first year on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example. That is below the 0.45% peer average but above index funds charging 0.05%–0.08%. 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).