Vanguard Products’ Cost Reviews 2019
Vanguard is world’s one of the largest investment management firms. It started operations in 1975 and operates in 18 locations worldwide.
Its total assets under management is almost $5.2 trillion as of January 31, 2019. It has 190 funds in U.S. and 220 funds outside U.S. Also, it has more than 20 million investors worldwide.
As an investor, you can have following account types in Vanguard;
- Roth and Traditional IRAs
- SEPs, SIMPLEs & i401(k)s
- Variable annuities
- 529 college savings plans
- Individual & joint accounts
- Income annuities
- 401(k) rollovers and transfers
In Vanguard, you can form a portfolio including any combination of Vanguard ETFs and mutual funds, other companies’ funds, individual stocks and other ETFs, and CDs and bonds.
The average Vanguard mutual fund and ETF expense ratio is 83% less than the industry average.
Costs in Vanguard
In the following section, we summarize the general costs for Vanguard products as individual stocks, options, ETFs and mutual funds. For details, you can visit Vanguard website.
Individual stocks
The following table shows the costs for individual stocks and also, they are applied to sales involving leveraged and inverse ETFs.
Assets Invested in Vanguard | Online | By Phone |
---|---|---|
Less than $50,000 | $7 for first 25 trade; $20 thereafter | $25 per trade |
$50,000 to $500,000 | $7 per trade | $25 per trade |
$500,000 to $1 million | $2 per trade | $20 per trade |
$1 million to $5 million | $0 for first 25 trades; $2 thereafter | $0 for first 100 trades; $2 thereafter |
$5 million plus | $0 for first 100 trades; $2 thereafter | $0 for first 100 trades; $2 thereafter |
Options
The following table shows the costs for options.
Assets Invested in Vanguard | Online or By Phone |
---|---|
Less than $50,000 | $7 + $1 per options contract |
$50,000 to $500,000 | $7 + $1 per options contract |
$500,000 to $1 million | $2 + $1 per options contract |
$1 million to $5 million | $0 for first 25 trades; $2 + $1 per options contract thereafter |
$5 million plus | $0 for first 100 trades; $2 + $1 per options contract thereafter |
ETFs
All Vanguard ETFs—more than 75 of them—are always commission-free. In addition, the following table shows the costs for ETFs from other companies.
Assets Invested in Vanguard | Online | By Phone |
---|---|---|
Less than $50,000 | $0 | $25 per trade |
$50,000 to $500,000 | $0 | $25 per trade |
$500,000 to $1 million | $0 | $20 per trade |
$1 million to $5 million | $0 | $0 for first 25 trades; $2 thereafter |
$5 million plus | $0 | $0 for first 100 trades; $2 thereafter |
Mutual Funds
All Vanguard mutual funds—more than 140 of them—have no transaction fees, but there are minimum investment requirements, for example, in order to invest in Vanguard Target Retirement Funds or Vanguard STAR Fund, you should invest $1,000. For the most other Vanguard funds, you need at least $3,000.
On the other hand, for mutual funds from other companies, you should provide the following minimum investment requirements:
- Initial purchase: For most funds, $3,000 for nonretirement accounts and $1,000 for IRAs.
- Additional purchases: $1,000 for any type of account.
- Dollar-cost-averaging purchases: $100 for any type of account (minimum 2 transactions).
The following table indicates the costs for mutual funds from other companies.
Assets Invested in Vanguard | Online | By Phone |
---|---|---|
Less than $50,000 | $0 | $50 service charge for trade |
$50,000 to $500,000 | $0 | $50 service charge for trade |
$500,000 to $1 million | $0 | $40 service charge for trade |
$1 million to $5 million | $0 | $0 |
$5 million plus | $0 | $0 |