VTPSX | Total International Stock Index Fund Institutional Plus Shares

An investment in the fund could lose money over short or long periods of time. You should expect the fund’s share price and total return to fluctuate within a wide range. The fund is subject to the following risks, which could affect the fund’s performance:

• Stock market risk, which is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices. The fund’s investments in foreign stocks can be riskier than U.S. stock investments. Foreign stocks may be more volatile and less liquid than U.S. stocks. The prices of foreign stocks and the prices of U.S. stocks may move in opposite directions. In addition, the fund’s target index may, at times, become focused in stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the fund to proportionately higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
• Investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from non-U.S. small-and mid-capitalization stocks will trail returns from global stock markets. Historically, non-U.S. small- and mid-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large-cap stocks that dominate the global markets, and they often perform quite differently.
• Country/regional risk, which is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. Because the fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, the fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Currency risk, which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
• Emerging markets risk, which is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more developed foreign markets because, among other factors, emerging markets can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets.
• Special risks of investing in China: The fund’s investments in companies or issuers economically tied to China are subject to the country/regional, emerging markets, and currency risks described above, in addition to unique risks. Investments economically tied to China are associated with considerable degrees of social and humanitarian, legal, regulatory, political, and economic uncertainty. Risks described above may be more pronounced for the fund. All of these factors, among others, could have negative impacts on the fund. For example, the fund may not be able to access its desired amount of shares of companies incorporated in China that trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (A-shares) and/or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (H-shares), which may cause the fund to miss out on investment opportunities. Investments economically tied to China may be (or become in the future) restricted or sanctioned by the U.S. government or another government, which could cause these securities to decline in value or become less liquid. If the fund’s holdings become impacted by restrictions or sanctions, the fund may incur losses. Additionally, the fund may gain exposure to certain companies in China through legal structures known as variable interest entities (VIEs), which provide exposure to Chinese companies through contractual arrangements instead of equity ownership. Investing through a VIE does not offer the same level of investor protection as direct ownership and is subject to risks including breach of the contractual arrangements, difficulty in enforcing the contractual arrangements outside of the U.S., and intervention by the U.S. government. These risks could significantly affect a VIE’s market value, which in turn could impact the fund’s performance.
• Index replicating risk, which is the chance that the fund may be prevented from holding one or more securities in the same proportion as in its target index.
• Index-related risks: The fund is subject to risks associated with index investing, which include passive management risk, tracking error risk, and index provider risk. Passive management risk is the chance that the fund's use of an indexing strategy will negatively impact the fund's performance. Because the fund seeks to track the performance of its target index regardless of how that index is performing, the fund's performance may be lower than it would be if the fund were actively managed. Tracking error risk is the chance that the fund's performance will deviate from the performance of its target index. Tracking error risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or under other unusual market conditions. Index provider risk is the chance that the fund will be negatively impacted by changes or errors made by the index provider. Any gains, losses, or costs associated with or resulting from an error made by the index provider will generally be borne by the fund and, as a result, the fund's shareholders.