Why We Invest With Vanguard

Not too long ago, my brother-in-law asked me what Tara and I invest in. I told him we invested in Vanguard funds. He had plenty of questions on how and why we do it, and this gave me some time to reflect on why it is we invest with Vanguard. If you have wanted to start investing, but haven’t been sure where to start or are looking to improve your current investments, Vanguard is a great option. Here’s why:

FEES

The number one reason why we invest with Vanguard is because of their low fees. They don’t charge commissions for trading, which separates them from the rest of the pack.

The only thing you pay for when buying and trading Vanguard funds is their expense ratio.

For the index fund that I buy, VTI, I only pay .04%. Some funds have an expense ratio of .1% for comparison. I’m sure it comes to no surprise that the less fees you pay, the more money you get to keep. Having the low fees from Vanguard seems like a no-brainer when it comes down to making more money.

You are in control

With Vanguard funds, I am in charge of where my money goes. I have always believed that I am the sole person who will take care of my money the best. I don’t want to trust anyone else with my money because they won’t treat it as carefully as I will.  Sure, there is more responsibility on my shoulders to make the most of my investments, but that’s something I’m comfortable with. Many people use financial planners to invest for them, but Vanguard easily takes out the middleman and allows you to do it on your own, which saves you lots of money.

Free education

Vanguard provides plenty of resources to learn about what you are investing in. They breakdown most everything to make it simple and easy to understand. I don’t have a degree in finance, nor do I spend copious amounts of time studying things related to finance, but Vanguard makes it easy to understand.

Returns

The Index fund that I have most of my investment in, VTI, has performed well for me. This index fund covers the entire stock market in the US, which allows me to not worry about things like timing the market or researching companies in depth. If you are like me, we don’t have the time to do that.

These are the main reasons why we invest with Vanguard. If you would like help setting up a Vanguard account, or if you have any general questions about investing, feel free to ask below in the comments, or send us an email at thefundfamly@gmail.com and we will walk you through it all.