Vanguard Digital Advisor®

You live in the moment—we'll plan ahead

Balancing multiple financial goals just got easier.


Digital Advisor®

No advisory fees for 90 days.3


The benefits of digital financial advice

Our robo-advisor offers:

Ongoing support

For a minimum of $3,000 in a Vanguard Brokerage Account,1 we'll monitor your investments and rebalance your portfolio as needed.

Low-cost investing

For all-index investment options, you'll pay no more than $2 a year for every $1,000 Digital Advisor manages.2

Custom portfolios

We can help you meet your goals using an all-index, ESG* tooltip icon, or active/index mix.

90 days with no advisory fee3

Just one more way we keep your costs low.

Simplify your life with Vanguard Digital Advisor

Meet the technology that's helping more investors feel confident about their future.

Duration: 2:02

What is a robo-advisor?

Put our robo-advisor to work—and make staying on track to your financial goals simple.

Duration: 1:44

Introducing Vanguard Digital Advisor

Learn what to expect when you sign up for Vanguard Digital Advisor.

Duration: 3:12

Your journey to the future

Enjoy no advisory fees for 90 days3

If you like Digital Advisor, stick around. When your 90 days are up, you'll automatically remain in the service. For all-index investment options, you'll pay no more than $2 a year for every $1,000 Digital Advisor manages.2 If you're not satisfied, you can unenroll at any time without any penalties.

How will Digital Advisor benefit you?

Our digital algorithms choose investments based on your timeline, current savings, and risk assessment.

We'll test your portfolio against thousands of market scenarios so you can feel confident in your plan.

Digital Advisor can help you save for a new home, dream vacation, and more.5

Our algorithms will adjust your investments as needed, saving you time. Specialized tools can help you tackle debt or save for emergencies.6

Frequently asked questions

You'll pay no advisory fees for the first 90 days.3 After that, you'll pay no more than 0.20% in advisory fees for all-index investment options or 0.25% for an active/index mix, depending on your elections. In other words, for every $1,000 Digital Advisor manages you'll pay no more than $2 each year for all-index investment advice (or no more than $2.50 in advisory fees for an active/index mix). (See our fee calculator above or disclosures below for more details on fees.)2

You should consult your plan fee disclosure notice for the applicable gross advisory fees that apply to your plan (401k) account.

For more information on Digital Advisor's fee structure, refer to Form CRS and the Vanguard Digital Advisor Brochure.

Enrollments in Vanguard Digital Advisor require at least $3,000 in each Vanguard Brokerage Account.1  For each taxable, traditional, Roth, or rollover IRA you wish to enroll, the entire balance must be in certain investment types (based on eligibility screening by Digital Advisor at the time of enrollment, see next question for more details) and/or the brokerage account's settlement fund.

For eligible 401(k) retirement accounts, the minimum enrollment balance is $5.7

Your eligibility screening will determine whether you have the types of investments that Digital Advisor can manage. In some cases, you'll need to sell all or a portion of certain investments as part of the enrollment process so we can manage them for you.

For each brokerage account you wish to enroll, the entire balance must be in certain investment types (based on eligibility screening by Digital Advisor at the time of enrollment) and/or the brokerage account's settlement fund. If your brokerage accounts include Vanguard index funds or Vanguard ETFs®, you may be able to keep those investments in your Digital Advisor account. However, we may recommend you sell down those or other investments before enrolling. Since there may be costs and tax consequences associated with selling your existing investments, we use a breakeven cost analysis to weigh the costs of transitioning the investments you hold before enrolling in Digital Advisor (see our Digital Advisor brochure for more details). We estimate the capital gains tax impacts compared to the expense ratio benefits from selling investments that aren't our lead recommendation (the investment we would typically recommend for you), but that still align with your recommended asset allocation. So depending on the outcome of the breakeven analysis, we may recommend that you continue to hold certain investments subject to our portfolio construction guidelines—or we may determine it's in your interest to sell down a particular investment during enrollment.

The following types of investments cannot be in your brokerage account before enrolling in Digital Advisor: non-Vanguard mutual funds, individual bonds, securities traded on international exchanges, preferred stocks, penny stocks, illiquid stocks, and options.

In this case, you'd need to sell the ineligible investments and invest the proceeds in your brokerage account settlement fund before enrolling. If you're in this situation, you might also consider opening a new Vanguard Brokerage Account to enroll in Digital Advisor. 

Important: Digital Advisor doesn't assess the suitability of the sale of existing holdings given a particular client's financial circumstances, recommend selling a client's existing holdings to enroll, or provide tax advice. The sale of existing holdings could cause you to incur capital gains—costs associated with incurring capital gains vary based on the time you hold a position and your individual tax situation. The cost of incurring capital gains can be substantial. We recommend you consult a qualified tax advisor to discuss your individual situation and any potential tax consequences.

For eligible 401(k) retirement accounts, Digital Advisor doesn't require a money market or stable value fund minimum balance.7

To enroll, you'll need to meet the following requirements:

  • You have a retail Vanguard Brokerage Account with a balance of at least $3,000. (If you're new to Vanguard, opening an account is simple.)
  • You're a United States resident, or you have an APO/FPO/DPO mailing address.
  • You’re at least 18 years of age. (At least age 19 in Alabama or Nebraska and at least age 21 in Mississippi.)
  • You're not—or do not live in the same household as—a board member, executive, or someone who's able to influence policy in a publicly traded corporation.

If you have a Vanguard-administered 401(k) retirement account, you may also be eligible to enroll.Restrictions may apply to certain organization members.

Vanguard Brokerage Option (VBO®) accounts offered by plan sponsors aren't eligible for management by Digital Advisor. Special notice to non-U.S. investors

Digital Advisor can manage eligible 401(k) retirement accounts7 and the following types of retail Vanguard Brokerage Accounts:

  • Individual or joint tenants with rights of survivorship (JTWROS) taxable accounts.
  • Traditional IRAs.
  • Roth IRAs.
  • Rollover IRAs.

However, we recommend that you connect other Vanguard and non-Vanguard accounts as you plan your goals so we can incorporate them into your goal growth projections, and help you forecast your likelihood of meeting your long-term goals.

Your first eligible Vanguard Brokerage Account (IRA or taxable) or employer-sponsored retirement plan account (401(k)) qualify for the advisory fee waiver. (If your employer-sponsored plan account qualifies for the advisory fee waiver, you’ll see that during the enrollment process.)

If your account has been enrolled in Digital Advisor for more than 90 days, any new accounts you subsequently enroll are not eligible for the advisory fee waiver.

Employer-sponsored retirement accounts enrolled by the plan fiduciary are not eligible for the advisory fee waiver.

For more information on Digital Advisor’s fee structure, see the VAI Form CRS and the Vanguard Digital Advisor Brochure.

Digital Advisor offers a portfolio of actively managed mutual funds and index ETFs for Vanguard Brokerage Accounts. During the onboarding process, you'll take an assessment to determine whether you have the risk temperament for active strategies and can ride out periods of active underperformance. Incorporating active funds allows for greater portfolio personalization and the potential for better investment outcomes for those clients willing to pay a higher cost for that potential.

Digital Advisor takes a holistic approach to funding your goals by “pooling” your assets across all your taxable accounts to fund your goals. This way, your taxable accounts will work together to get you closer to success. Plus, Digital Advisor will shift resources where needed and adjust automatically to ensure your asset mix evolves.

As your goals get closer, we'll make sure amounts you need to withdraw are invested more conservatively to reduce market risk. Contributions you make will be optimized to support all your goals, and any cash you withdraw will affect all your goals. With a dynamic portfolio, a single, evolving asset mix, and automatic adjustments, your goals will be aligned to stay on track together and take advantage of tax efficiencies.

Note: At this time, your nonretirement goals are only funded by taxable accounts, while retirement goals are funded by both taxable and retirement accounts. Because our approach is designed to optimize your investment returns, and minimize risk in the short term, Digital Advisor can only support goals that are at least 18 months away. To remain enrolled in Digital Advisor, you’ll need to have at least $3,000 in your account after making a withdrawal. (If you have less than $3,000, your account is no longer eligible to be managed by Digital Advisor and you would need to unenroll. There are no cancellation fees or penalties for having an account that no longer qualifies for the service.)6

Robo-advisor is a commonly used term for an all-digital financial planning and investment management service. Robo-advisors often use algorithms (i.e., processes or sets of rules followed in computer calculations) to provide automated investment services without human interaction. A robo-advisor typically gathers information about your investing goals, uses an algorithm to determine an appropriate asset allocation, and builds an investment portfolio tailored to your situation. Most robo-advisors automatically rebalance your portfolio, so you don't have to.

Learn more—watch our video

We're glad you asked! Our money-management service:

  • Features state-of-the-art financial planning and portfolio construction capabilities, powered by Vanguard's practical and time-tested investment strategies.
  • Offers access to high-quality investments consisting of Vanguard ETFs®, plus robust, easy-to-use financial planning tools.
  • Connects to non-Vanguard accounts so it can present you with a holistic picture of your financial life and more accurate projections.
  • Focuses on helping you build retirement savings and includes a debt payoff tool.
  • Continues to add new features to help with your financial planning needs.

Digital Advisor can manage your personal investment accounts and certain employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement accounts for which Vanguard is the recordkeeper.7

Vanguard is one of the most trusted names in financial services built on the radical idea of putting investors' best interests first.

You'll incur expenses to invest in the underlying funds, collective investment trusts, and ETFs in your portfolio (i.e., expense ratios). If you're invested in ETFs, collective investment trusts, or mutual funds today, you're already paying these expenses. We credit the revenue received from your investment portfolio toward the gross advisory fee and deduct only the additional net advisory fee from your managed accounts.

In general, if you incur a fee that results in revenue for Vanguard or a Vanguard affiliate, it will be included in this credit amount. Certain regulatory required trading fees aren't considered revenue and are still incurred for trades within Vanguard Brokerage Accounts, but not credited. For more information about Digital Advisor's fee structure, refer to Form CRS Conversation Starter questions and the Vanguard Digital Advisor Brochure.

Market volatility is when the price of stocks swings up or down because there's too much trading in one direction (substantially more buys than sells or vice versa). Many investors might see the stock dip and want to sell or wait to "time the market." The market, however, is unpredictable. But that doesn't mean your money is completely up to the whims of the headlines. Even with daily ups and downs, the overall market has historically grown over the decades.

With Digital Advisor, you can benefit from the market's long-term growth with a time-tested strategy: owning a balanced portfolio. The foundations of a balanced portfolio are asset allocation and diversification. Digital Advisor will maintain your investments so you'll always have a portfolio that aligns to your retirement goal. If you choose to add other goals, it can adjust your holdings to keep you on target. We'll rebalance your portfolio if we detect it's drifted more than 5% from our recommended allocation.

What can you do during market swings? You can look at your accounts and update your information if anything has changed. You can also check out Vanguard's resources on market swings. Rest assured that your goal projections take all kinds of market volatility into account—while short-term "blips" might feel jarring, we have your long-term focus in mind.

Voted NerdWallet's "Best Robo-Advisor for Low-Cost Investing" for the 3rd year in a row

Awarded January 2023, based on data as of October 2022.8

First overall robo-advisor in Morningstar's 2022 Robo-Advisor Landscape Report.

Awarded March 2022, based on data as of December 2021.9

Compensation provided for use of the rating in marketing materials.

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Stay in the loop

Share your email address below so we can keep in touch with the latest buzz on Vanguard Digital Advisor.

We may also send you other Vanguard information you might be interested in. You can opt out at any time.

Get even more guidance

Personal Advisor offers ongoing personal financial planning and automated investing options with access to an advisor.