Vanguard Review 2023

Vanguard offers free stock/ETF trading, and some bonds are also free to trade. Non-trading fees are also low. On the negative side, financing rates and some mutual fund fees are high.

We ranked Vanguard's fee levels as low, average or high based on how they compare to those of all reviewed brokers.

To get things rolling, let's go over some lingo related to broker fees. What you need to keep an eye on are trading fees, and non-trading fees.

• Trading fees occur when you trade. These can be commissions, spreads, financing rates and conversion fees.
• Non-trading fees include charges not directly related to trading, like withdrawal fees or inactivity fees.

Below you will find the most relevant fees of Vanguard for each asset class. For example, in the case of stock investing, commissions are the most important fees.

We also compared Vanguard's fees with those of two similar brokers we selected, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing and Ally Invest. This selection is based on objective factors such as products offered, client profile, fee structure, etc. See a more detailed rundown of Vanguard alternatives.

To have a clear overview of Vanguard, let's start with the trading fees.

Vanguard trading fees

Vanguard trading fees are generally low and the fee structure is transparent. Some fees are charged depending on the amount of assets held at Vanguard.

Stock fees and ETF fees

Trading stocks and ETFs at Vanguard is free of charge.

If you prefer stock trading on margin, check Vanguard's margin rates.

The margin rate is charged when you trade on margin. This means that you borrow money or stocks from your broker to trade, after which you have to pay interest. It can add up to a significant proportion of your trading costs.

Vanguard margin rates are generally high.

Vanguard's margin rate is volume-tiered as well. It applies a base rate of 9% plus a premium, depending on the financed amount. The base rate is set at Vanguard's discretion.

Note: For balances of $1 million or above, margin rates are available on request

Fund fees

Vanguard's mutual fund fees are mixed, and can be relatively high in some cases.

Vanguard does not charge a commission for its own Vanguard mutual funds and for more than 3,000 other non-Vanguard funds. All other funds, however, come with a $20 fee per trade, which is what we used in the table above for comparison with other brokers.

Please note that if you sell no-transaction-fee funds within 60 days after the purchase, a $50 fee is charged for the sale.

There is also a required initial investment for each fund type, as well as a required minimum for each additional investment.

Bond fees

Vanguard has generally low bond fees. Bond fees differ according to bond types; for the purposes of comparison, we calculated with US Treasury bonds, which can be traded free of charge.

Trading bonds (other than US Treasury securities) on the secondary market costs $1 per $1,000 face value, with the fee capped at $250. New bond issues are free for most bond types.

Options fees

Vanguard's options fees are average, at $1 per contract. Those holding at least $1 million in Vanguard funds or ETFs may be eligible for some free trades.

Non-trading fees

Vanguard has low non-trading fees. It charges no inactivity or account fees if you opt for online paperwork.

There is no withdrawal fee if you use ACH transfer. Withdrawals to other banks using wire transfer cost $10, unless you hold $1 million or more in assets.

Account opening is fully digital and user-friendly, and there's no minimum account balance. However, the account verification process is quite slow.

Can you open an account?

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Vanguard is a US stockbroker and as such it primarily targets US clients. In this review, we tested Vanguard's services provided in the US.

Vanguard has a global presence through the group's other subsidiaries and partners. The available service and product range varies widely from country to country.

What is the minimum deposit at Vanguard?

The default required Vanguard minimum deposit is $0. However, there is a minimum deposit requirement if you trade on margin or opt for Vanguard's personal advisor service.

*You trade with money borrowed from the broker, also called trading on margin.

Account types

Vanguard offers several account types.

In this review, we tested the Individual Brokerage Account.

How to open your account

Account opening is user-friendly and fully digital. The online application process takes roughly 15 minutes, but verification is a bit slower. It took 3 business days for our account to be verified.

Steps at Vanguard to open an account:

1. Choose your funding method (bank transfer, rollover, other)
2. Choose the account type
3. Add your investment goals and preferences
4. Submit personal information, e.g. your Social Security Number, residency, phone number, etc
5. State your employment status and financial profile
6. Fund your account
7. Review your information
8. Acknowledge terms and conditions
9. Sign up for web access

Transferring money to your Vanguard account is easy and free, but deposit/withdrawal options are limited to bank transfers, and wire transfer withdrawals are not free.

Deposit fees and options

Vanguard charges no deposit fees. US clients can use checks, ACH and wire transfers for depositing funds. Credit/debit cards and electronic wallets are not accepted.

We tested the ACH transfer and it took 2 business days. You can only deposit money from accounts that have been previously linked to your brokerage account and are in your name.

Vanguard withdrawal fees and options

Vanguard charges no withdrawal fees if you use ACH, but US domestic wire transfers cost $10, unless you have an account balance of more than $1 million, in which case wire transfers are free of charge.

How long does it take to withdraw money from Vanguard? We tested ACH withdrawal and it took 2 business days.

You can only withdraw money to accounts that are in your name.

How do you withdraw money from Vanguard?

• Log in to your account
• Go to "My accounts"
• In the "Buy&sell" menu, select "Transfer money to/from your Vanguard settlement fund"
• Choose the transfer type (one-time or regular), your Vanguard account, and your previously linked external account
• Enter the amount you wish to withdraw
• Preview and submit the withdrawal

Vanguard has an average web trading platform, with safe login and a good fee report. On the down side, navigation is tricky, search functions could be better, and there's no customizability.

Vanguard has an in-house developed web trading platform that is available only in English.

Look and feel

Vanguard's web trading platform is well-designed, but its structure could be improved, as it's sometimes hard to find some features. For example, it took us a while to figure out where we can place an order for stocks or set price alerts.

Unfortunately, the platform does not offer any customizability.

Login and security

Vanguard provides a two-step login. You can turn two-step authentication on or off in your account under 'My Account / Account maintenance'. If you don't want to receive text or voice codes, you can declare your computer a trusted device and simply log in with your regular ID and password combo.

Search functions

Vanguard's search functions are not fully seamless. Under the 'Buy & Sell' menu, select the 'Trade an ETF or stock' option to access the search field. You can search by both company name or asset ticker. However, search results are not always relevant or displayed in the most useful order.

Placing orders

You can only use some basic order types:

• Market
• Limit
• Stop
• Stop limit

If you are not familiar with the basic order types, read this overview.

There are also order time limits you can use:

• Day
• Good 'til canceled (60 days)

Alerts and notifications

You can set price alerts for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. However, only email alerts are available, and setting them up is not easy.

Click 'Stocks and other ETFs' under the 'Investing' menu. On the right side, you can sign up for alerts. To set the alerts, click the 'Enroll now' button. It would be much easier if you could set the alerts when you search for an asset.

Portfolio and fee reports

Vanguard has clear portfolio and fee reports. You can find them under 'My accounts' in 'Transaction History'. It is a handy table, though you can't download it.

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Vanguard offers a user-friendly and well-designed mobile trading platform. However, it lacks price alerts, and you can't trade the full range of Vanguard products (such as options or bonds).

Similarly to the web trading platform, Vanguard has an in-house developed mobile trading platform, called Vanguard Investors. The app is available on both iOS and Android. We tested it on iOS.

The mobile trading platform is available only in English.

Look and feel

The Vanguard mobile trading platform is user-friendly. The app has a modern design and its structure is not confusing, unlike that of the web trading platform.

Login and security

Vanguard provides a safe two-step login. Similarly to the web platform, you can declare that your phone is a safe device and keep using a simple user ID & password combo.

You can use TouchID and FaceID as well for added convenience.

Search functions

The search functions are good. You can search both by asset name or by ticker, and the search results are relevant.

Placing orders

You can use the same order types and order time limits as on the web trading platform.

Alerts and notifications

You can't set price alerts and notifications on Vanguard's mobile platform.

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Vanguard does not provide a desktop trading platform.

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Vanguard offers a wide range of asset classes, including stocks, ETFs, funds and options. However, it covers only the US market, while forex and futures trading is not available.

Vanguard has an average ETF and mutual fund selection, and offers fewer stocks, bonds and options to trade than similar US brokers.

Stock and ETF

Vanguard gives access only to the US market.

Funds

Vanguard's mutual fund coverage is average.

Besides Vanguard's own mutual fund offer, you will find funds from other big fund providers such as Blackrock. In all, Vanguard offers thousands of different funds.

Bonds

Vanguard's bond selection is below average.

Vanguard's bond selection covers both government and corporate bonds.

Options

CBOE and other US options exchanges are covered, but an exact list of markets and products is not available, and clients must receive approval from Vanguard before they can start trading options.

Vanguard Personal Advisor Services

The essence:

• Vanguard Personal Advisor Services is a semi-automated investment service

•  It is a “managed account service”, meaning you get to build and invest in a portfolio with the help of an expert that is then managed by Vanguard’s robo-advisor technology

• The minimum investment required is $50,000

• The annual management fee starts at 0.30% of your portfolio balance with an 0.06% ETF expense ratio. Above certain deposit tiers, the management fee can be lower

How to set up an account with Vanguard Personal Advisor Services?

The service is only available for US residents, and setting it up can take a few weeks, as you need to discuss your plan with a human advisor.

Vanguard’s services can be split into four different branches:

• ‘Personal Investors’ consists of brokerage, robo-advisory and personal wealth management

• ‘Retirement plan participants’ focuses on retirement plans

• ‘Institutional investors’ targets companies with 401k programs and institutional wealth management

• ‘Financial advisors’ consists of all professional financial advice-related services

You’ll find Vanguard Personal Advisor Services within the ‘Personal Investors’ branch on Vanguard’s site.

To start your journey, choose ‘Vanguard Personal Advisor’:

• Submit your name, email address, birth date, citizenship, social security number and gender

• Next, provide your address and phone number

• Review your info and upload an ID to identify yourself

• Choose how much you are prepared to invest. Under $50,000, you’ll be redirected to Vanguard Digital Advisor, a solely automated robo-service

• If you are done, you’ll be given an option to book an online meeting with a representative of Vanguard to customize your portfolio

• You’ll have the chance to go over the plan with your advisor and confirm the investment to be ready to go

How much will it cost?

Fees start at 0.30% per annum with an ETF expense ratio of 0.09%.

The higher your initial balance is, the lower the management fees are, but the tiers are quite broad.

How does the service work?

After confirming your portfolio, you’ll have access to an advisor for free, either on chat or via video calls. Your advisor will give you status updates about your portfolio, and ping you if your plan needs to be changed.

Products included in the portfolio

As the portfolios are created based on clients' needs case by case, the number of possible portfolios is endless. All portfolios are based on Vanguard ETFs.

Bottom line - should I go with Vanguard Personal Advice Services?

Vanguard Personal Advice Services is an interesting take on a hybrid investment service system.

On the plus side, the option to talk to a human advisor can seal the deal for some, as you can constantly ask questions about your investment options when creating your portfolio. Automated tech is also handy, as your portfolio gets rebalanced automatically at the end of every quarter. Also, the algorithm looks out for any tax harvesting possibilities.

However, the necessity to deposit at least $50,000 to get started might be daunting for the average investor.

Vanguard's research tools are easy to use but quite limited. You can view fundamental data and a few trading ideas, but we missed sophisticated charting and other analytical tools.

Vanguard research tools can be found when you search for a product on the website. Similarly to the web trading platform, the tools are available only in English.

Trading ideas

Vanguard provides trading ideas, focusing mainly on stocks. The ideas come from third-party providers Argus and MarketGrader.

Fundamental data

Vanguard offers some fundamental data. You will find basic historical financial data going back 4 years if you start a search in the 'Investing' / 'Stocks & other ETFs' menu. We missed peer comparison and financial metrics, though.

Charting

Vanguard has a very limited charting tool. You can't use trend lines or other editor tools. There are only 15 technical indicators.

News feed

The news flow on Vanguard is nothing spectacular. You can read it easily, but it lacks visual elements, charts or pictures. It is provided by third parties such as the Associated Press or MT Newswires.

Compare research pros and cons

Vanguard has great customer service, providing fast and relevant answers on all available channels. On the down side, it's not available 24/7, and live chat is also missing.

You can contact Vanguard via:

• telephone
• email

Vanguard's telephone support gave relevant and helpful answers, while waiting times were reasonable.

Via email, we likewise got useful answers, usually within a day or two.

In addition to the above, Vanguard's Help Center also contains a lot of useful information, though its search function is rather poor.

Among the few negatives, we missed 24/7 availability and live chat.

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Vanguard offers solid educational articles and videos, and high-quality interactive webinars. On the flip side, there are no trading platform tutorial videos or a demo account.

At Vanguard you can learn in the following ways:

• General educational videos
• Webinars
• Quality educational articles

Vanguard's general educational videos and archived webinars are good quality, mostly targeting beginners, or general topics such as what is a yield curve, what is a bond, or how to approach your investments. There's a good amount of content focusing on retirement and tax issues.

We liked the interactive webinars; however, you can't download the materials. Webinars are typically held once a month.

Besides videos, you can listen to podcasts and read downloadable PDFs. Most of these features are accessible from your account under the 'News & Perspectives' menu. Vanguard has a well-structured info base called 'Vanguard blog' as well.

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Vanguard is regulated by top-tier US financial authorities, and comes with a high investor protection amount. On the other hand, negative balance protection is not provided.

Is Vanguard regulated?

Yes, it is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Is Vanguard safe?

To be certain, we highly advise that you check two facts:

• how you are protected if something goes wrong
• and what the background of the broker is.

How you are protected

At Vanguard, all customers are covered by the US investor protection scheme called SIPC.

The SIPC investor protection scheme shields you from the loss of cash and securities in case the broker goes bust. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash. This amount is substantially higher than the amount most investor protection schemes provide.

Not all investments are protected by SIPC. In general, SIPC covers notes, stocks, bonds, mutual fund and other investment company shares, and other registered securities. It does not cover instruments such as unregistered investment contracts, unregistered limited partnerships, fixed annuity contracts, currency, and interests in gold, silver, or other commodity futures contracts or commodity options.

Vanguard does not provide negative balance protection.

Background

Vanguard was established in 1975. The longer track record a broker has, the more proof we have that it has successfully survived previous financial crises.

The fact that Vanguard has been in operation for a long time and is overseen by top-tier regulators is a great sign with respect to its safety.

Find your safe broker

Vanguard is one of the biggest US stockbrokers and is regulated by top-tier financial authorities.

Vanguard offers free stock and ETF trading. It doesn't charge inactivity or account fees, and the account opening process is easy and fully digital. The mobile trading platform is user-friendly and has a great design.

Vanguard has some drawbacks, though. The product portfolio covers only the US market, and research tools are quite basic. Financing rates are also high when you trade on margin.

Still, as non-trading fees are low and no inactivity fee is charged, you should feel free to try Vanguard.

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We recommend Vanguard for long-term investors looking for a great ETF and mutual fund selection.

Below you can find links to all aspects of Vanguard in this comprehensive collection.

Lower fees, lower costs?

We detailed this in our Vanguard fees article.

What about the minimum deposit?

Our ultimate guide to the Vanguard minimum deposit is updated regularly.

How to start your Vanguard account?

Look no further than our evaluation of the Vanguard account opening.

How's their trading app?

Here's our expert view after checking the Vanguard trading app.

Is the quality of customer service satisfactory?

All you need to know about the Vanguard customer service.

Legit or scam?

Is Vanguard legit features all the key aspects you need to look at to see if a broker is safe and legit.

Free or premium? Or both?

A glance at actual costs and whether Vanguard is really free.

Is this broker good for beginners?

We checked it in Is Vanguard good for beginners.

Should you buy your silver bullets on Vanguard?

Research for silver bugs in the Silver buy on Vanguard guide

I want to trade options, are they available at Vanguard?

We explored the topic in Can you trade options on Vanguard?

What is the minimum account balance at Vanguard?

Check out the current account balance requirements at Vanguard in our What is the minimum account balance at Vanguard article.

Looking for commission and fees data for Vanguard?

We collected them in Vanguard commission and fees.

How do you withdraw money from Vanguard?

We tested it and collected the options and costs in How to withdraw money on Vanguard.