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Mutual funds at Vanguard

Your expert
Fact checked by
Adam N.
Updated
Jul 2024
Personally tested
Data-driven
Independent

How mutual funds can help you lower risk

My key findings in a nutshell
Edith
Edith Balázs
Forex • Safety • Financial Journalism

I've thoroughly tested Vanguard services with our analyst team by opening a real-money account and these are my most important findings:

  • Risk management is an important aspect of trading and investing
  • Mutual funds pick assets using a strict risk management policy, shielding you from risk
  • Mutual funds are available at Vanguard

Are you worried that you'll pick the wrong stocks and put yourself at risk of losing money? Just do what you would do in other walks of life - leave it to a professional! In this case, consider investing in a mutual fund, where experienced fund managers invest in stocks and other assets while making sure your potential losses remain within limits.

How do mutual funds manage risk? First of all, they have a risk management policy that is strictly followed and communicated. For example, European mutual funds must be classified into one of seven riskiness categories (with 1 being the lowest and 7 being the highest risk) and publish this information via their so-called Key Investor Information Documents.

More importantly, each of these funds are actively managed by a fund manager; an actual person who continuously hand-picks assets for the fund - supported by a team of expert traders and analysts of course - to achieve the right risk-reward mix. This expertise doesn't come free, so make sure you buy mutual funds at brokers that don't charge too much in additional fees. Does Vanguard offer the right selection of funds at reasonable cost? Read on to find out.

To find out more, read our in-depth guide to risk management, where we discuss various types of risks, as well as popular broker tools to handle them.

Overall score
4.3/5
Minimum deposit
$0
Stock fee
Low
Options fee
Low
Inactivity fee
no
Account opening
1-3 days

Can you buy mutual funds at Vanguard?

Yes, mutual funds are available at Vanguard.

Is it worth buying mutual funds at Vanguard?

No, Vanguard is not the best place to buy mutual funds, as costs are not that low.

However, if you are searching for a good broker that offers mutual funds, check out our best brokers for funds list.

Vanguard main highlights
💰 Vanguard Mutual fund trading fees class Average
💰 Vanguard withdrawal fee $0
💰 Vanguard minimum deposit $0
💰 Vanguard inactivity fee No
📃 Vanguard deposit methods Bank transfer
🗺️ Country of regulation USA
🎮 Vanguard demo account provided No

Data updated on July 22, 2024

At Vanguard, there is a vast number of mutual funds to choose from. This provides the opportunity to diversify your investment portfolio more easily.

At BrokerChooser, we only publish objective analyses based on live testing. Every recommendation is unbiased and based on first-hand experience: we open a live account anonymously at each broker, deposit real money and test every important feature.

Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.

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Further reading

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

author
Edith Balázs
Author of this article
I bring 20+ years of experience as a correspondent having worked for Bloomberg, Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal covering macroeconomics, stock, currency and fixed-income markets. I hold a Master's degree in American Studies and Journalism.
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