According to a press release that just, well, released… Vanguard is reducing the account minimums required for access to their ultra-low-cost Admiral Shares.
Account balance minimums to qualify have been lowered for most retail clients to $10, 000 (from $100, 000) for Vanguard’s broad market stock and bond index funds, and to $50, 000 (from $100, 000) for most of Vanguard’s actively managed stock and bond funds. A total of 52 Vanguard funds offer Admiral Shares with the new eligibility requirements.
The expense ratios for the Admiral Shares of Vanguard’s three broad market index funds – Total Stock Market, Total Bond Market, and Total International – range from 0.07% to 0.20% and afford investors the opportunity to build a balanced, diversified portfolio covering the U.S. stock and bond markets and the developed and emerging international stock markets at a fraction of the cost of comparable funds.
Coming on the heels of their announcement of commission-free ETF trades, this is fantastic news for small investors, as it will cut Vanguard’s already low expense by 30-50% for anyone that qualifies.
Good news to be sure, however I discovered this week that even though they give 25 $7 stock trades now, if you open a brokerage acct in your traditional ira and then one in your roth ira, you are charged $20 per brokerage account but the 25 count is for however many brokerage accounts you need to open. If you go over 25, it’s like $20 per trade or something. That’s bunk. Just sayin’
Great news. Go Vanguard!
Thanks for posting this! Just converted my Total Market shares to admiral class. Figured I would be much older before I would qualify for that advantaged fee rate!
@ Steve, on their website, they state you will automatically be converted in the coming months (if you qualify). If you don’t want to wait, you can probably do it yourself now.
I converted to ETFs earlier this year, and won’t be converting back (too much trouble). Even so, this is great news.
I am even more excited about the fact they are increasing allocation to foreign stocks in some funds, including the Target Retirement funds.
Vanguard is the best of the bunch. They have made great strides in the industry. Now all they have to do is make the initial investment $1000 so more new investors can get started.
At least they are finally catching up to Fidelity. Now you can save 3 basis points on a 500 index fund without having six-figures. Not enough to make me switch, but it’s about time more companies start lowering their investment minimums.
Do you have to sell your existing shares and buy special admiral shares? or is it automatic based on how much you have invested?
This is great news!