Investor outcomes

Our responsibility is to invest client assets with care and prudence. In seeking to improve investor outcomes, we strive to provide investment returns that, with reasonable consistency and over the long term, exceed the average returns of competing funds with comparable policies and risk parameters. Low costs enable superior performance, and our funds and ETFs are among the lowest in cost.

In fact, Vanguard has led the low-cost revolution in the investment management industry. Our structure and scale have enabled us to reduce the expense ratios on our U.S. funds continually and consistently.¹ For most of the rest of the industry, fee reductions are a recent phenomenon, a reaction to competitive pressure as investors flock to low-cost investments. A respected industry observer dubbed this “the Vanguard effect,” and it has taken hold across the globe.² The Vanguard effect reflects the tendency of asset managers to reduce their fees after Vanguard has entered a market or introduced products in a certain category. Competitors follow suit, which results in lower costs for all investors.

Our investors are our owners; most other mutual fund management companies are owned by third parties—either public or private stockholders—who expect to profit from their ownership.³ Our unique structure directly benefits our fund shareholders, as we can consistently pass along profits to reduce the cost of investing for clients.

Lower costs enable investors to capture greater portions of their investments' gross returns. And when investors keep more of their earnings, they considerably improve their investment outcomes.