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Vanguard

Vanguard

 3.6/5 (338 reviews)
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About Vanguard

This profile has not been claimed by the company. See reviews below to learn more or submit your own review.

Vanguard, founded by Jeff Bogle (who invented index funds), is a long-standing investment company that offers low-cost funds and robo-advising options. Its platform is intended for long-term investors who wish to buy and hold their funds. The company offers mutual funds, stocks, ETFs and options and requires no commissions on certain trades.

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Pros

  • Robo-advisor option
  • Free educational resources
  • Low-cost funds

Cons

  • Lacks features on platform
  • Fund minimums

Bottom Line

Vanguard is one of the largest investment companies in the world and is known for its low-cost funds and robo-advising. It doesn’t have commission fees, but it does require certain fund minimums.

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Rated with 5 stars
Verified

Great variety of good performing mutual funds and ETF - no upfront charges, low fees on both index funds and ETFs - easy to use website, in transferring money from outside account...

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Rated with 5 stars
Verified

When I had an emergency it was fairly easy to get my money. My portfolio was very diversified and I was able to keep abreast of any changes, trends, losses and gains. All in all V...

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What is Vanguard?

Vanguard is a long-standing investment company known for its low-cost index and exchange-traded funds. It’s one of the largest of its kind in the world and has over 30 million investors. It’s not owned by outside stockholders — instead, it's owned by the customers who buy and own its shares, meaning Vanguard can give back its profits to customers through lower costs.

Vanguards offers commission-free ETF, stock and option trades, and the company has over 3,100 mutual funds with no transaction fees. It’s geared toward buy-and-hold investors, especially those looking to build a diversified portfolio from ETFs. Vanguard also has good educational resources for those wanting to learn more about long-term planning.

What is a Vanguard brokerage account?

A Vanguard brokerage account lets you invest in mutual funds or ETFs owned by Vanguard or other companies, as well as other investment products like stocks, CDs and bonds. It’s designed for investors who need more flexibility than Vanguard’s money market settlement fund offers.

How does Vanguard work?

You can start trading Vanguard ETFs, stocks, bonds and more through a money market settlement account. If you want to invest in Vanguard’s mutual funds and ETFs — or those of other companies — you’ll need a Vanguard brokerage account. The easiest way to fund your Vanguard accounts is by linking to your credit union, bank, savings or loan accounts.

When it comes to trading, you’ll have access to a basic trading platform that’s best for placing orders on Vanguard’s website and app. Unfortunately, the mobile view omits data like charting or the day’s change and volume. For certain investment products, like multi-leg options, you’ll have to call in your order with a live broker instead of completing it online.

New investors wanting some help and guidance can take advantage of Vanguard’s Digital Advisory, a service that provides professional money management for $4.50 per year for every $3,000 invested. The service is a robo-advisor that builds a basic index funds portfolio based on your personalized profile. You’ll need a Vanguard brokerage account and an individual taxable account, traditional IRA or Roth IRA to use Digital Advisory.

Vanguard fees

Vanguard charges $0 trading commissions on online trading of stocks, ETFs and Vanguard mutual funds. There also aren’t closing, transfer or inactivity fees. A few mutual funds charge purchase and redemption fees to discourage short-term trading and cover high transaction costs.

The company’s management fees, or expense ratios, are as follows:

  • Mutual funds: 0.10%
  • ETFs: 0.06%
  • Target-date retirement funds: 0.10%

Vanguard also charges a $20 annual service fee for brokerage accounts and accounts with only mutual funds. This fee is waived for customers opting to receive statements electronically. 

If you want to invest in Vanguard’s mutual funds, a minimum of $3,000 is required to fund your account. Vanguard also requires a minimum investment of $1,000 for any Vanguard Target Retirement Fund or Vanguard STAR fund.

Vanguard FAQ

Is Vanguard good for beginners?

Vanguard may be good for beginners — its library of educational resources can help first-time investors get started, but new investors may find it challenging to meet the fund minimums.

Is Vanguard a good investment?

Whether Vanguard is a good investment depends on your needs. Vanguard is known for its low-cost investing and is ideal for retirement savers and buy-and-hold investors.

Does Vanguard have account minimums?

No, there aren’t any account minimums, but there are fund minimums of $1,000 or $3,000, depending on the account.

What types of funds does Vanguard offer?

Vanguard offers mutual funds, ETFs, options and stocks.

Is Vanguard good?

Yes. Vanguard is a trusted leader in low-cost investing due to low expense ratios on index and exchange-traded funds. Its founder, Jack Bogle, invented index funds. Its services are ideal for buy-and-hold and retirement investors looking to build wealth over the long term.

Those new to investing might also appreciate Vanguard’s free educational resources and explainers on its website, as well as its low-cost Digital Advisor service. Active investors looking for a comprehensive trading platform may be better served elsewhere, as Vanguard’s website and app are pretty basic in terms of features.

Vanguard Reviews

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Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10
Rated with 1 star
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 23, 2023

The account "buy or sell" webpage won't accept the ticker for preferred shares. I spent several hours talking to no less that 6 different customer service reps who couldn't even tell the correct ticker or how to trade shares. Every other brokerage makes trading preferred shares an easy task, but Vanguard makes it impossible. And what's worse is that their customer service staff doesn't even know how their own website works.

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Rated with 1 star
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 22, 2023

Problem Number 1 - Vanguard said I already had an account and took a week to get that sorted out. I had to submit a W9 tax form to them. Problem Number 2 - It took a week for my money to transfer from my bank to Vanguard. Problem Number 3 - I set up a withdrawal of funds from my Vanguard account to my bank account during the SVB collapse. There is no way to stop the withdrawal. I called them to see if they could cancel my withdrawal and was reassured that it would not take effect. They were wrong. Problem Number 4 - When speaking with the Personal Advisor, it was clear that he was just treating me like the other 50 customers that he spoke with that day. No personal touch at all. Problem Number 5 - The website and app are extremely outdated and nonintuitive. Problem Number 6 - The website and app both have a 20 minute delay for stock quotes. Who can operate like this?

Summary - Don't waste your time with these outdated offerings from Vanguard. I opened an account with Schwab and so far the website and app are top notch. My money will arrive from my bank within 4 days of setting up my account. Overall a much better platform. Go with any company other than Vanguard. Don't say you were not warned!

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    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: March 21, 2023

    If you are want to transfer money into Vanguard, you need to read this review. My sister and I inherited some IRA money from my mother who passed away at the end of 2022. My sister opened 2 inherited IRA account at Vanguard. One for traditional IRA and the other for Roth. My sister initiated the transfer early Jan and received traditional IRA money on 1/17/2023 at Vanguard. However Roth portion of the inherited IRA took a long time. On 2/21/2023, we called TIAA (where mom kept her IRA) to inquire about the transfer and the representative told us the check was sent on 1/6/2023 and he also gave us the check number and the amount. We then called Vanguard. However the representative at Vanguard told us she could not locate the check. She then called TIAA and we were told TIAA will do some research on this check and get back to us.

    My sister and I called TIAA on 3/1/2023 and were told that the check sent by TIAA was already cleared by Vanguard on 1/13/2023. We called Vanguard on the same day and the person we spoke to found the check immediately and the money appeared on my sister's account the next day. Due to someone's mistake at Vanguard, my sister lost hundreds of dollar of money in interest. We contacted Vanguard to ask for some sort of resolution today 3/21/2023, the representative from retirement department was extremely rude. He told us "how do you know this is not a mistake made by the other institution?" after admitting the fact that the check did clear on 1/13/2023 and all the information needed to credit my sister's account was provided by TIAA.

    He insisted there would be nothing they can do because the money was transferred. That statement is partially correct: the money was transferred to Vanguard but not into my sister's account. Therefore, she lost interest money due to Vanguard mistake. When I asked if there is a complaints department we can write to, he simply said "NONE". Think twice before you transfer your hard earned money to Vanguard.

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    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: March 19, 2023

    I can't overstate how disorganized and lackluster our experience was as we tried to do a very simply task, open a personal investors account and transfer our investments in from other financial institutions. We wasted 6 months with Vanguard before we called it quits. We ended up working with 3 different Vanguard "Investment Reps" since each time they either stopped responding to emails, provided inaccurate information, or made significant errors that caused us to restart the process. When we called, the customer service reps would tell us the same thing, clearly reading off the screen and unable to provide actual help beyond their templated message. We left voicemails with Managers asking for follow on the poor service their reps were providing. We never heard from the managers, we would just get a call from a new Rep but ran into the same problems.

    I'm amazed that a company this large can have such horrible service and clearly show with their actions that they do not care about their customers. Worlds apart (and at very similar price), we accomplished the same goals with Betterment. Their customer service was stellar and their onboarding rep provided accurate and quick insight to get our Accounts up in running with a couple of weeks. Save yourself the frustration and avoid Vanguard.

    2 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 2 stars
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: March 16, 2023

    I have been shopping for a new portfolio company and advisor. Called Vanguard due to good reviews. The guy would not talk with me. Since I was inquiring for my mother in law he would not talk to me. WTH. I have talked to two other companies and they were nothing but professional. The guy made me open account in my name just to ask Him the costs etc of their company. He was supposed to call us at 9am today. Since he insisted that my mother in law be present we drove to her place and waited an hour. NO CALL. He just called me 3 1/2 hours later totally unprofessional. I made another appointment with him. I have decided to go with someone else. I will tell everyone I see who is looking for a portfolio company NOT TO GO WITH VANGUARD.

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    Rated with 1 star
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    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: Feb. 18, 2023

    BEWARE OF INVESTING WITH VANGUARD. On each of the following, Vanguard replaced my proposed investments with another generating little or no interest. With each I complained and asked to speak with a manager. Despite having very significant investments, Vanguard refused. Do not trust them with your money!

    My mother had over $500,000 in various investments. She passed at the age of 97. During her later years, when she became less savvy, Vanguard put some of her money in an essentially non-interest bearing account. They took advantage of her age and physical condition. I invested $500,000 in 5 accounts. Vanguard refused my request to speak with a manager, and to provide some restitution. They have lied to FINRA about their own taped conversations.

    I invested $500,000 in 5 accounts. I indicated this in both a formal application and a telephone conversation. Two months later, my statement indicated that it was put in a non-interest bearing accountVanguard refused my request to speak with a manager, and to provide some restitution. Once again, Vanguard refused my request to speak with a manager, and to provide some restitution.

    3. On 12/27/2022 I called. I asked to invest $100,000 in Delta Airlines stock. The stock was selling at $32 a share. My statement indicated my investment instead was put on a Vanguard money market fund. I called, and was told this was a "settlement fund." Vanguard refused my efforts to speak with a manager, and lied to me stating their tapes did not indicate any Delta investment. I complained to FINRA. They admitted that I was told my investment in Delta was complete, and reluctantly backdated my investment. Vanguard has never allowed me to speak with a senior official despite my repeated requests. I have made requests for the taped conversations. Of course these requests were refused. It is apparent that Vanguard uses every opportunity to defraud their investors.

    Tony **

    5 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: Feb. 17, 2023

    Vanguard does not allow an added beneficiary to a joint account. For example, Dad and Mom have a joint account with right of survivorship. They do not allow you to add a beneficiary for when both mom and dad are dead. Why is this bad. You could end up with assets in probate whereas with a beneficiary it would pass to the beneficiary on death without going through probate. Vanguard is taking away your choice. All the banks, and other brokerage firms, Fidelity and Schwab allow a beneficiary in this situation. Don't get caught.... Don't go with Vanguard

    4 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 5 stars
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: Jan. 28, 2023

    My father had the upmost trust in this company and now that he has passed on, I find that they are as helpful, honest and polite as he said they were. They are happy to do a bit of hand-holding with me, as I figure out how best to manage my affairs. I could not recommend them more highly!!!

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    Rated with 3 stars
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    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: Jan. 21, 2023

    Mutual funds IRA with Vanguard my entire working life, 4+ decades. Unable to access my account online for 2 years. Supposed to send a code they don't. They're only available by phone weekdays. They need to upgrade their website at the very least.

    10 people found this review helpful
    Rated with 1 star
    Verified Reviewer
    Original review: Dec. 30, 2022

    I have been a client for 17 years. Client service has deteriorated! Their customer reps that I have spoken with recently have experiences of one year or less. That is ok except when the information given is wrong and affects your year-end tax consequences. With 4 trading days remaining in 2022, I was informed that I had until the last day to make a trade and still meet the RMD for the year. Wrong! As it takes 2 days for the funds to settle, I really had 2 days remaining. To correct their admitted misinformation, I now await their "shortfall letter" that HOPEFULLY will satisfy the IRS and avoid its penalty for not meeting the RMD. In addition, written messages left on one's account site are ignored and never responded to. There is no way that one can speak to a supervisor much less any officers of the firm. I would not recommend Vanguard to anyone!

    14 people found this review helpful
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    Vanguard Company Information

    Company Name:
    Vanguard
    Year Founded:
    1975
    Address:
    Vanguard P.O. Box 1110
    City:
    Valley Forge
    State/Province:
    PA
    Postal Code:
    19482-1110
    Country:
    United States
    Website:
    investor.vanguard.com