Vanguard Reviews & Ratings + User Comments

What Type of Accounts you can open with Vanguard?

Vanguard offers following accounts:

1. Retirement Accounts: IRAs, Roth IRAs and personal 401Ks
2. Education: 529, Custodial, and Coverdell ESA Accounts
3. Managed Account
4. Specialty Accounts: Trust, Limited Partnership, Partnership, Investment Club, LLC, Sole Proprietorship, Corporate (profit & nonprofit), Pension Plans for Small Businesses

Vanguard offers the following investment products:

1. Mutual funds
2. ETFs
3. Stocks
4. Bonds
5. CDs
6. Annuities
7. Retirement income

Vanguard Investment Offerings: Fee & Commissions

They are the fore-runner of the low cost mutual fund investing, they are known for their low cost index funds. They charge no commissions for trading MF's and in-house ETF's, but for stocks and other ETF's, they are on the higher side of the market with commissions touching the roof. Vanguard offers more perks to existing long-term and high net worth customers than to new customers. For example, if you've been in a Vanguard fund for 10+ years and have a balance > $50,000 you can qualify for Admiral Shares which are extremely low expense-ratio shares.

Vanguard Platform Performance and Tools

Vanguard doesn't have an array of independent third-party research and variety of analysis tools that their competitors have. When you use their tools you get the feeling that their primary focus is the Vanguard fund family, everything else takes a back seat.

Tools offered by Vanguard are

1. Stock & Fund Screeners: Vanguard's stock and fund screeners pale in comparison to those offered by competitors and by independent research sites. They need more criteria, the current versions can only provide a lengthy list of potential funds.
2. Portfolio Analysis Tool: You can use the Portfolio Analyzer to evaluate risk, risk vs return, asset allocation, diversification, and measure the impact of taxes and transaction costs to your portfolio.

Vanguard Mobile Platform

Vanguard has apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. Traders can use the apps to access account balances, track personal performance, and transact on your account. They can also visualize their asset mix, balance trend, and investment returns with informative charts and graphs.

How good is their Customer Service and Support?

Vanguard offers great phone support, they take service very seriously. There are some personal responses from Jack Bogle (the founder) posted to the internet by customers because they were excited that he had answered them personally. The reps are very friendly and knowledgeable and waiting time are short. Vanguard does not offer live chat. They do offer email support. Vanguard does have specialists but you have to go through the regular phone reps to get to them.

Education & Training for Traders

They do excel in one area, Vanguard is the best hand holder in the business. They really go out of their way to educate novice investors and help them make investment selections. They do tend to steer most people into Vanguard funds, but since they are one of the top performing, least expensive, and best managed fund families on the planet, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Miscellaneous information about Vanguard

The Vanguard Group is an American investment management company based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, that manages approximately $2.0 trillion in assets. It offers mutual funds and other financial products and services to retail and institutional investors in the United States and abroad. Founder and former chairman John C. Bogle is credited with the creation of the first index fund available to individual investors, the popularization of index funds generally, and driving costs down across the mutual fund industry.