Why are Vanguard ETFs so cheap?
Vanguard's unique cost structure, the economies of scale it has achieved, and the total number of assets under management (AUM) allow it to offer its ETFs at the lowest cost available in the market. We've listed 10 of the firm's cheapest ETFs by their expense ratio.
While it depends on your financial situation and existing portfolio, Vanguard ETFs could make sound investments for most individuals, especially if you plan to invest over a long period. You can use our investment calculator to determine how much your investment could grow.
The administrative costs of managing ETFs are commonly lower than those for mutual funds. ETFs keep their administrative and operational expenses down through market-based trading. Because ETFs are bought and sold on the open market, the sale of shares from one investor to another does not affect the fund.
Vanguard funds offer an enviable cost advantage
You don't get a bill explaining how much of your savings went toward paying fund expenses, because those costs are paid directly out of each fund's returns. Vanguard was built differently to make sure we stay focused on keeping your costs low.
"Overall, Vanguard's ETFs are widely acknowledged as dependable choices for investors seeking cost-effective means to achieve diversified exposure," August says. A great example is VT, which provides investors with exposure to over 9,800 global equities, all for a 0.07% expense ratio.
At any given time, the spread on an ETF may be high, and the market price of shares may not correspond to the intraday value of the underlying securities. Those are not good times to transact business. Make sure you know what an ETF's current intraday value is as well as the market price of the shares before you buy.
- Options commissions.
- Only offers fractional share investing on Vanguard ETFs.
- Active trading platform isn't as robust as competitors.
At least once a year, funds must pass on any net gains they've realized. As a fund shareholder, you could be on the hook for taxes on gains even if you haven't sold any of your shares.
However, if you know that you'd like a bit more exposure to smaller and medium-sized companies or just want to invest in more stocks overall, VTI is your best bet. VOO, meanwhile, is the better option for investors who want to focus heavily on large cap companies.
If you're paying fees for a fund with a high expense ratio or paying too much in taxes each year because of undesired capital gains distributions, switching to ETFs is likely the right choice. If your current investment is in an indexed mutual fund, you can usually find an ETF that accomplishes the same thing.
How to avoid Vanguard fees?
If you're the primary account owner, you can eliminate the fee on brokerage accounts by signing up for e-delivery of statements and the annual privacy policy notice; confirmations; reports, prospectuses, and proxy materials; and notices, amendments, and other important account updates.
While Fidelity wins out overall, Vanguard is the best option for retirement savers. Its platform offers tools and education focused specifically on retirement planning.
Vanguard charges no closing, transfer or inactivity fees. There is a $20 annual account service fee for all brokerage accounts and IRAs that is easily waived for clients who sign up for statement e-delivery.
Their high level of diversification across geographies, sectors, styles, credit quality, maturities and market-cap sizes can help investors easily tailor a portfolio to their desired risk tolerance, time horizon and investment objective. Our pick for the best overall Vanguard ETF is Vanguard Total World Stock ETF.
Both Fidelity and Vanguard have a wide variety of low-cost mutual funds and ETFs. If you're simply looking at the options offered by each firm, Fidelity has more options available.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VOO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market.
Market risk
The single biggest risk in ETFs is market risk. Like a mutual fund or a closed-end fund, ETFs are only an investment vehicle—a wrapper for their underlying investment. So if you buy an S&P 500 ETF and the S&P 500 goes down 50%, nothing about how cheap, tax efficient, or transparent an ETF is will help you.
Leveraged ETF prices tend to decay over time, and triple leverage will tend to decay at a faster rate than 2x leverage. As a result, they can tend toward zero.
In theory, if Vanguard went bankrupt, your assets within the ETF should be safe, as they're technically yours held in trust by Vanguard. So if Vanguard collapsed, then what would likely happen would be that another manager would take over the ETF, or the assets would be sold off and you'd be paid out.
Vanguard Group was fined and censured by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for errors that appeared in more than eight million account statements. Finra, Wall Street's self-regulator, said Vanguard had overstated projected yield and projected annual income for nine money-market funds.
Why are investors pulling money from Vanguard?
When the market cratered, investors withdrew $16.4 billion from Vanguard's index mutual funds. What accounts for remaining index mutual fund outflows? Johnson says it could be clients pulling out money because they're retiring, or because they're negatively affected by the pandemic.
Performance and Cost. As the innovator of index funds, Vanguard offers an impressive range of index funds today with low expense ratios. Fidelity has a comparable selection of funds, but its fees generally aren't as competitive as Vanguard's. That said, Fidelity does offer some zero-cost funds for its customers.
Q: How does the wash sale rule work? If you sell a security at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 calendar days before or after the sale, you won't be able to take a loss for that security on your current-year tax return.
Holding an ETF for longer than a year may get you a more favorable capital gains tax rate when you sell your investment.
One common strategy is to close out positions that have losses before their one-year anniversary. You then keep positions that have gains for more than one year. This way, your gains receive long-term capital gains treatment, lowering your tax liability.
