Vanguard mutual fund fees and minimums | Vanguard (2024)

FAQs

How do I waive my Vanguard fees? ›

We'll waive the fee if you have at least $5 million in qualifying Vanguard assets. Refer to the applicable fund prospectus for other exclusions that may apply.

Vanguard fund trading fees

You won't pay a commission to buy or sell Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs online in your Vanguard account. A few Vanguard mutual funds charge fees designed to help cover high transaction costs and discourage short-term trading.

To keep costs low, Vanguard often uses a sampling strategy to construct its index funds using less than the total number of assets in an index. Vanguard offers funds that track a wide variety of market indices, large and small.

A number of factors determine whether an expense ratio is considered high or low. A good expense ratio, from the investor's viewpoint, is around 0.5% to 0.75% for an actively managed portfolio. An expense ratio greater than 1.5% is considered high.

But unlike other firms, Vanguard is owned by its U.S. funds and thus indirectly by its U.S. fundholders, “I think the $100 account-closure fee is best interpreted as Vanguard trying to make sure that the labor and other costs generated by closing an account are paid by those closing the account rather than spread ...

Vanguard Personal Advisor charges Vanguard Brokerage Accounts an annual gross advisory fee of 0.35% for its all-index investment options and 0.40% for an active/index mix.

Fidelity was named Bankrate's best broker for beginner investors in the 2024 Bankrate Awards. Fidelity stands out for its low costs, number of account types offered and great customer service, while Vanguard offers thousands of no-transaction-fee mutual funds and commission-free online trading of stocks and ETFs.

Minimum initial investment

The minimum amount of money you need to begin investing in a specific mutual fund. $1,000 for Vanguard Target Retirement Funds and Vanguard STAR® Fund. $3,000 for most actively managed funds.

Vanguard's low fees can help you save ^* $28,574

*As of December 31, 2023, Vanguard's average mutual fund and ETF expense ratio is 0.08%. Industry average mutual fund and ETF expense ratio: 0.44%. All averages are asset-weighted. Industry averages exclude Vanguard.

What is the best mutual fund to invest in in 2024? ›

Vanguard's ETFs and mutual funds are go-to choices for long-term investors for many reasons: Vanguard funds tend to be low in cost. Vanguard has built its reputation as a low-cost asset manager, and it remains one of the industry's lower-cost providers. Vanguard funds generally pursue simple, reliable strategies.

Go With A No-Load Fund

In order to keep the cost of a mutual fund down, investors should try to avoid any fund that has a load associated with them. That means the fund is paying a commission to whoever is selling their fund for them.

To determine how much to invest in Mutual Funds monthly, subtract your monthly expenses including contributions to your emergency fund and short-term goals from your monthly income. The remainder is what you can allocate to investments.

The Bottom Line. A 1% management fee is well within the average for most financial advisors, who tend to charge around 0.5% and 2% for their services. The bigger question, though, is whether you feel like you're getting what you pay for because, even at small percentages, those management fees aren't cheap.

Vanguard Brokerage may charge a $100 processing fee for each account closure and full transfer of account assets to another firm. Electronic Bank Transfers and ACH are not subject to this fee.

We don't charge any transfer fees or exit fees for transferring in or out. Your current provider might charge exit fees when you transfer to us, so it's best to check first.

Vanguard announced new annual fees on legacy mutual-fund-only accounts to start September 1, 2023, so this convinced me at long last to transition all my Vanguard legacy accounts to brokerage accounts, which will have no annual fees. The transition is now complete.