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Follow up to the Bogleheads - cost matters

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Aug 4, 2010 5:11 pm

Recently took a peek at Vanguard's fine print for IRA accounts.  I haven't been over there in a while. Noticed that Vanguard now charges a $20 annual fee for each fund that has less than 10k in it. So, if a small investor wants to be truly diversified, he could be getting bent over and cleaned out with a wire brush if he thinks having a bunch of funds makes him diversified.

That cost can be more expensivve than using one of us dumb joe's - eh?

Aug 4, 2010 6:59 pm

Having a lot of funds could make him diversified.  Diversification has zero to do with cost. 

It's a slap in the face of the small investor for Vanguard to charge $20 a pop for any individual fund under $10K in an IRA.  That's just stupid. 

Aug 4, 2010 7:05 pm

[quote=matt1957]

Recently took a peek at Vanguard's fine print for IRA accounts.  I haven't been over there in a while. Noticed that Vanguard now charges a $20 annual fee for each fund that has less than 10k in it. So, if a small investor wants to be truly diversified, he could be getting bent over and cleaned out with a wire brush if he thinks having a bunch of funds makes him diversified.

That cost can be more expensivve than using one of us dumb joe's - eh?

[/quote]

It's free if you sign up for electronic delivery of statements, prospectuses, etc.

Just sayin'

I actually think it's a good idea to incent people to sign up for electronic delivery so we kill fewer trees.  (OK, it's the "green" in me)

Aug 4, 2010 7:47 pm

I would guess that most folks who use Vanguard are going to be comfortable with e-delivery.  I agree with you, B24, that people should be using e-delivery more.  Or the industry as a whole should make it a point of going to recycled paper.  I don't know about your office, but we kill a lot of trees in mine. 

Those Boglehead folks are different.  They're obviously passionate about what they believe, but they don't often look at anything other than cost.  They're under the impression that if you set up the "right" asset allocation and keep the cost down, everything will turn out OK.  I've spent maybe an hour trolling their site and I've probably read 25 times someone suggesting to put the money in X Vanguard funds and just forget about it.  And they have the nerve to call us crooks.