DWS High Income VIP

Data updated: 2026-08-27

C000017251 — DWS High Income VIP. Short Corporate Bond · $41.47M AUM · 0.71% expense ratio · 6.8% 1-yr return. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.

C000017251 Fund Overview

DWS High Income VIP is a US mutual fund managed by Deutsche Dws Variable Series II, categorised as Short Corporate Bond. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.

Type: US mutual fund
Manager: Deutsche Dws Variable Series II
Category: Short Corporate Bond
Assets under management: $41.47M
1-year return: 6.8%
SEC CIK: 0000810573
SEC series ID: S000006280
Share class ID: C000017251

C000017251 Investment Objective and Strategy

DWS High Income VIP describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by Deutsche Dws Variable Series II.

Investment objective

The fund seeks to provide a high level of current income.

Principal investment strategy

Main investments. Under normal circumstances, the fund generally invests at least 65% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in junk bonds, which are those rated below the fourth highest credit rating category (that is, grade BB/Ba and below) or, if unrated, determined by the Advisor to be of similar quality. Compared to investment-grade debt securities, junk bonds generally pay higher yields, have higher volatility and higher risk of default on payments of interest and principal. The fund may invest up to 50% of total assets in bonds denominated in US dollars or foreign currencies from foreign issuers, including issuers in emerging markets. The fund invests in securities of varying maturities and intends to maintain a dollar-weighted effective average portfolio maturity that will not exceed ten years.

Subject to its portfolio maturity policy, the fund may purchase individual securities with any stated maturity. Because the fund may invest in fixed income securities of varying maturities, the fund's dollar-weighted average effective portfolio maturity will vary. As of February 28, 2026, the fund had a dollar-weighted average effective portfolio maturity of 3.53 years. Due to regulatory changes, effective June 11, 2026, the fund will replace the 65% investment policy and related disclosures set forth in this prospectus. Specifically, effective June 11, 2026, under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in below investment grade debt securities (i.e. junk bonds) (which are those rated below the fourth highest credit rating category or, if unrated, determined by the Advisor to be of similar quality).

Derivative instruments that provide exposure to the investments above or exposure to one or more market risk factors associated with such investments are included in the funds 80% investment policy, consistent with the funds investment policies and limitations with respect to investments in derivatives. Management process. Portfolio management focuses on cash flow and total return analysis, and broad diversification among countries, sectors, industries and individual issuers and maturities. Portfolio management uses an active process that emphasizes relative value, managing on a total return basis, and intensive research to identify stable to improving credit situations that may provide yield compensation for the risk of investing in junk bonds. Portfolio management utilizes primarily a bottom-up approach, where relative value and fundamental analysis are used to select securities within each industry, and a top-down approach to assess the overall risk and return in the market, including macroeconomic trends.

Portfolio management also incorporates other considerations that it believes to be financially material, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, independent credit research, management visits and conference calls, as part of its analysis and research process. Derivatives. The fund may invest in derivatives, which are financial instruments whose performance is derived, at least in part, from the performance of an underlying asset, security or index. In particular, portfolio management may use credit default swaps to seek to increase the funds income, to gain exposure to a bond issuers credit quality characteristics without directly investing in the bond, or to hedge the risk of default on bonds held in the funds portfolio. In addition, portfolio management may use forward currency contracts to hedge exposure to changes in foreign currency exchange rates on foreign currency denominated portfolio holdings or to facilitate transactions in foreign currency denominated securities.

The fund may also use other types of derivatives (i) for hedging purposes; (ii) for risk management; (iii) for non-hedging purposes to seek to enhance potential gains; or (iv) as a substitute for direct investment in a particular asset class or to keep cash on hand to meet shareholder redemptions. Securities lending. The fund may lend securities (up to one-third of total assets) to approved institutions, such as registered broker-dealers, pooled investment vehicles, banks and other financial institutions. In connection with such loans, the fund receives liquid collateral in an amount that is based on the type and value of the securities being lent, with riskier securities generally requiring higher levels of collateral. Active trading. The fund may trade securities actively and this may lead to high portfolio turnover.

C000017251 Holdings

Top 10 holdings of DWS High Income VIP by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.

Holding	% of net assets
Dws	14.17%
State Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF	2.90%
Alpha Generation LLC	2.03%
Post Holdings, Inc.	1.98%
Dws	1.65%
Carnival Corp. Ltd.	1.52%
Charles River Laboratori	1.37%
Cco Hldgs Llc/cap Corp.	1.29%
Carnival Corp. Ltd.	1.29%
Xhr LP	1.25%

View all C000017251 holdings

C000017251 Portfolio Allocation

Asset-class allocation of DWS High Income VIP by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.

Asset class	Allocation
Fixed Income	91.4%
Cash & Equivalents	15.8%
Equity	4.1%
Loans	2.5%

C000017251 Performance

Total returns for C000017251 (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.

Period	Total return
YTD	2.3%
1 year	6.8%
3 years (annualised)	8.4%
5 years (annualised)	4.2%

C000017251 Risk Information

Risk metrics for C000017251, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.

1-year volatility (annualised): 2.5%

C000017251 Costs and Fees

C000017251 costs about $71 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.

Net expense ratio: 0.71%
Gross expense ratio: 0.90%
Portfolio turnover: 154%
Brokerage commissions: 0.01 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)

C000017251 Cashflows

Over the 12 months to 2026-06, DWS High Income VIP had net outflows of $1.54M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.

Month	Net flow
2026-06	−$108.88K
2026-05	−$506.98K
2026-04	$2.21M
2026-03	−$1.22M
2026-02	−$216.80K
2026-01	−$591.05K

C000017251 Debt Constituents

Largest debt holdings of DWS High Income VIP by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.

Debt holding	% of net assets
Alpha Generation LLC	2.03%
Post Holdings, Inc.	1.98%
Carnival Corp. Ltd.	1.52%
Charles River Laboratori	1.37%
Cco Hldgs Llc/cap Corp.	1.29%
Carnival Corp. Ltd.	1.29%
Xhr LP	1.25%
Vodafone Group PLC	1.23%
Insight Enterprs	1.03%
Park Intermed Holdings	1.03%

C000017251 Prospectus and SEC Filings

Official DWS High Income VIP filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.

Related Funds

Other Short Corporate Bond funds tracked on ABC INVEST:

Data Sources

ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.