With a big selection and very low fees, Vanguard is consistently featured as one of the best brokers. Read this Vanguard review and see why it is a good choice for long-term investors.
Vanguard is a unique online brokerage company known for low-cost investments. The platform is mostly for long-term investors, who are interested in the buy and hold strategy and don’t need graphic charts, streaming data, and indicators to make their trades. Vanguard’s philosophy makes it very attractive to people who are interested in long-term investments, with low costs. If you’re a short-term investor, this platform might not be for you.
The company also operates a low minimum account, which encourages new traders and investors to buy and hold for long term. Despite Vanguard’s biased focused that encourages mostly new and long-term investors, the company keeps growing, this might be because Vanguard is tailored made to suit low-cost traders.
Vanguard Popularity
Vanguard is a very popular online broker without any iota of doubt. The platform boasts of more than 30million users, with about 23.3million web traffic. This is quite a huge following!
Besides, a little more fact analysis shows that Vanguard has about 302,000 followers on twitter and about 224,000 followers on Facebook. Vanguard also score 45 on its user rating on SiteJabber and a general rating of 3.1/5 for its app when about 5000 reviews were considered.
From the above, it’s easy to note that the platform is very famous in mainstream media and has successfully maintained a very low negative media. All of these show that the platform is really popular for good reasons and they are loved by majority of users.
Another factor that might have contributed to Vanguard’s popularity and their reputation is the numerous lists o awards under the company’s belt. The firm has won notable awards over the years, one of which is the 2019 U.S. Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence for Exemplary Stewardship. Another award they have received is the Best New U.S Equity ETF, among others.
These awards have made them more acceptable to the general public and given them a strong fanbase and popularity among other brokers.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL | Date |
| Number of users (approximate) | 30m+ as of January 31, 2020 | https://about.vanguard.com/who-we-are/fast-facts/ | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Website traffic (estimated) | 23.3m | https://www.similarweb.com/website/vanguard.com/ | 20 Aug 2020 |
| # results on web | 112m | https://www.google.com/ | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Search volume Google | 1.22m | https://searchvolume.io | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Twitter followers | 302K | https://twitter.com/Vanguard_Group | 20 Aug 2020 |
| FB followers | 224K | https://www.facebook.com/Vanguard | 20 Aug 2020 |
| How popular on mainstream media? | High | Yahoo Finance, Financial Times, Barron’s, WSJ, Forbes | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Negative media? | Very low | https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/vanguard-group | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Notable awards | 2019 U.S. Morningstar Award for Investing Excellence for Exemplary Stewardship, Best New U.S. Equity ETF, Best New International/Global Fixed Income ETF, Best New Active ETF | https://pressroom.vanguard.com/news/Press-Release-Vanguard-Receives-Exemplary-Stewardship-Award-051019.html https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/IWE_NewsVngdRcnzd3ETFAwds | 20 Aug 2020 |
Vanguard User Rating
| Query | Answer | Reference URL | Date |
| # users rated on user platforms | 45 on SiteJabber | https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/vanguard.com | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Percentage of positive reviews out of user reviews | 91% | https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/vanguard.com | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Common compliments | Good investment platform, low fees | https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/vanguard.com | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Common complaints | Sometimes poor customer service | https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/vanguard.com | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Positive feedback on Twitter? | Great information and analysis | https://twitter.com/Vanguard_Group | 20 Aug 2020 |
| Negative feedback on Twitter? | Hard to receive help from support | https://twitter.com/Vanguard_Group | 20 Aug 2020 |
| App rating (summary) | Almost 5K reviews with an average rating of 3.1 / 5 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 | 20 Aug 2020 |
Vanguard Background Information
John. C. Bogle began the idea of Vanguard in 1983 to help clients with bonds and stocks using the mutual fund approach. Right from inception, the platform was never designed for short term investment and frequent trading, rather the idea was to encourage long-term investments by leveraging low costs fees.
Vanguard’s philosophy and mission was so widely accepted that it became a standard for other competitors like Fidelity and Charles Schwab to follow later on. In recent times, the company has focused its efforts in educating new investors on how to make experienced trading moves by providing guidance, with incentives that rewards careful trading.
As at 2020, the company boast of a revenue data of $48.5 billion with an employee strength totaling about 17,600.
| Company public/private | Private | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanguard_Group |
| Revenue Data | $48.5 billion in Q1 of 2020 | https://www.marketwatch.com/story/vanguard-blew-away-the-competition-in-q1-fund-flow-data-show-2020-04-03 |
| CEO and bio | Mortimer J. Buckley – earned a BA degree in economics in 1991 from Harvard College and an MBA degree in 1996 from Harvard Business School | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortimer_J._Buckley |
| Number of employees | 17,600 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanguard_Group |
| Notable investors (private companies) | None | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/vanguard |
Vanguard Security
As expected, Vanguard has a top-notch security protocol that is expected of an online brokerage at their level. Both primary and secondary security protocol exist to help in accessing individual accounts, while biometric recognition is needed to have access into the mobile app.
Moreover, the fear of losing money and sensitive data that most investors have has been mitigated by the company. They did this by insuring clients’ accounts with SIPC by the London Insurance and Lloyd’s of London. This is why there hasn’t been any reported case of significant breach of data since Nov. 2019 in any of its locations.
Here are also a few extra security checks that Vanguard has put in place to make their system is impermeable to attacks.
- Security Codes
This is one of the measures that Vanguard has put in place to authenticate your identity when you log in using an unknown device. You will be sent a unique 6- digit number as a text message or you may receive an automated phone call. You will then be required to use this code to verify your person. This is called a 2-factor authentication.
- Security Keys
Another way to increase the security of your system is to buy a security key which is like a flash drive that you can attach to your system to confer an extra layer of security every time you login. This is particularly useful to foil hacking attempts.
- Voice Verification
This is as simples as it comes, your voice is all you need to confirm your identity and access your accounts.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL |
| HTTPS Certificate | Yes | https://investor.vanguard.com |
| 2FA ? | Yes | https://investor.vanguard.com/security-center |
| Device monitoring? | Yes | https://investor.vanguard.com/security-center |
| New device extra security? | Yes | https://investor.vanguard.com/security-center |
Vanguard Fees & Offering
Vanguard is renowned for its zero fees on almost all its trading option while charging very small fees on other activities. However, their account minimum is $20. Per leg commissions on option trade also doesn’t exist. More so, in case you need to be inactive for a season, you don’t have to worry about been charged recurrent bills as there are no fees on inactivity. Paper statements, trade confirmation, wire sending and receiving all comes at no cost too.
Vanguard Trading App
Asides form the oddness of the interface which apparently is because it is old, the trading app really works well. However, the popularity of the trading app is undeniable as the app has over 1million downloads on Android app store and about 4756 reviews from users.
iPhone app users seem to rate the app better giving a rating of 4.1/5 which is more than android users who rated the app for just 2.1/5. This might be because of the difference in user interface. However, the weighted average rating of the app is about 3.1/5 which leaves one with the conclusion that the app is generally well accepted by all.
One of the reasons that might account for the good acceptance despite the problem with the interface may be because of their great customer support services. Many users have commented the customer support was really helpful and supportive. The customer support team can be reached via calls from 8am to 8pm.
| Query | Answer | Reference URL |
| Android app # installs | 1m+ | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard |
| Android app # reviews | 4756 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard |
| iPhone app # reviews | 29 | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 |
| Android app rating | 2.1 / 5 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard |
| iPhone app rating | 4.1 / 5 | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 |
| Common compliments on app | Easy to use and navigate once you get used to it. | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 |
| Common complaints on app | No fingerprint support, the app feels dated. | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 |
| Weighted average app rating | 3.1 / 5 | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanguard https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vanguard/id1433920498 |
Final conclusions:
Vanguard has many awards to prove its success and popularity among traders and investors. If you are looking for long term investments, then this platform is a sure bet. However, if you’re looking for short term trades, you may need to explore other options.
Overall, the company’s security approach, huge educational resources and diverse investment options all at a low fees have made them irresistible to traders and investors over the years.