ETFs
Mutual funds
Stocks
CDs
Bonds
Money market
Exchange-traded funds offer more flexibility than traditional funds.
You don't need thousands of dollars to purchase a Vanguard ETF. Low minimums, diversification, and low costs make these investments competitive.
Lower your investment risk by choosing a mutual fund instead of an individual stock or bond.
Vanguard pioneered low-cost mutual fund investing. Our current fund lineup includes a wide selection of both index funds and actively-managed funds.
Want to invest in a specific stock or a bond? No problem.
With Vanguard Brokerage Services®, you can invest in your choice of stocks or bonds. It's up to you how much you want to control your investments.
Add stability to your portfolio with CDs.
Certificates of deposit (CDs) are an FDIC-insured option that can reduce volatility in your portfolio and preserve your capital while earning income.
Diversify your portfolio with bonds.
You can earn income while investing in a less risky alternative to stocks.
Make your cash work for you.
It's a good idea to keep some cash available, in a lower-risk, easily accessible account. See what money market fund is right for you.
Exchange-traded funds offer more flexibility than traditional funds.
You don't need thousands of dollars to purchase a Vanguard ETF. Low minimums, diversification, and low costs make these investments competitive.
Lower your investment risk by choosing a mutual fund instead of an individual stock or bond.
Vanguard pioneered low-cost mutual fund investing. Our current fund lineup includes a wide selection of both index funds and actively-managed funds.
Want to invest in a specific stock or a bond? No problem.
With Vanguard Brokerage Services®, you can invest in your choice of stocks or bonds. It's up to you how much you want to control your investments.
Add stability to your portfolio with CDs.
Certificates of deposit (CDs) are an FDIC-insured option that can reduce volatility in your portfolio and preserve your capital while earning income.
Diversify your portfolio with bonds.
You can earn income while investing in a less risky alternative to stocks.
Make your cash work for you.
It's a good idea to keep some cash available, in a lower-risk, easily accessible account. See what money market fund is right for you.
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Common questions about investment products
When you open an account at Vanguard, you’re opening a brokerage account that can hold most types of investments. Having all your investments in 1 place helps you easily keep tabs on your portfolio and make changes if necessary.
Your brokerage account includes a settlement fund—a money market mutual fund used to pay for and receive proceeds from brokerage transactions.
The most common investments held in Vanguard accounts are mutual funds and ETFs (from Vanguard and other fund families) and individual stocks, bonds, options, and CDs.
The biggest risk is that your portfolio will lack diversification. An individual investment product, like a stock, could provide excellent returns, but the company could also go bankrupt, and its stock could become worthless. By investing in products that hold multiple investments, like mutual funds and ETFs, you spread out the risk of 1 investment performing poorly.
Actively managed funds are directed by professional fund managers who handpick investments to try to beat market returns.
Browse our actively managed funds
Passively managed funds—also called index funds—are directed by professional fund managers to try to keep pace with market returns by mirroring certain market segments.
Each strategy has a unique method for selecting its underlying investments. Compare other aspects of these management styles
Consider your investment goal, time frame for needing the money, and overall risk tolerance to determine an appropriate asset allocation. Then, pick a proportion of stock, bond, and cash investments to build a portfolio that matches your target asset mix.
You can also take our Investor Questionnaire, which will suggest an asset mix based on your results.
We offer several low-cost, all-in-one funds that invest in multiple asset classes to help simplify how you manage your portfolio.
Whether you’re saving for retirement, a loved one’s education, or any other financial goal, we’ve got you covered.
Yes. ESG funds are a great way to complement your portfolio with funds that reflect your values. We offer ESG investing options that consider environmental, social, and governance issues. Our ESG funds have differing investment styles and objectives and invest in stocks and bonds.
Sometimes, the term ESG is used interchangeably with “socially responsible investing (SRI)” and “sustainable investing.”
Opening a Vanguard investing account is free, easy—and fast! (It should only take around 5–10 minutes.) Start by choosing Open an account from the menu, then select Start your new account.
Most investors fund their new accounts with an electronic bank transfer. If you choose this option, make sure you have your bank account and routing numbers readily available.
Watch a brief demo about how to open an account
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For more information about Vanguard funds or ETFs, visit vanguard.com to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information about a fund are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.
*For the 10-year period ended March 31, 2022, 6 of 6 Vanguard money market funds, 69 of 86 Vanguard bond funds, 20 of 25 Vanguard balanced funds, and 155 of 183 Vanguard stock funds—for a total of 250 of 300 Vanguard funds—outperformed their Lipper peer-group averages. Results will vary for other time periods. Only mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) with a minimum 10-year history were included in the comparison. Source: Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company. The competitive performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results. View fund performance.
**For the 10-year period ended June 30, 2020, 9 of 9 Vanguard money market funds, 41 of 44 bond funds, 9 of 9 balanced funds, and 35 of 38 stock funds --or 94 of 100 actively managed Vanguard funds --outperformed their peer-group averages. Results will vary for other periods. Only funds with a minimum 10-year history were included in the comparison. Source: Lipper, a Thomson Reuters Company. The competitive performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results.
The experiences of these Vanguard clients may not be representative of the experience of other Vanguard clients and are not a guarantee of future investment performance or success.
Vanguard Personal Advisor Services and Vanguard Digital Advisor's services are provided by Vanguard Advisers, Inc. ("VAI"), a federally registered investment advisor. VAI is a subsidiary of The Vanguard Group, Inc. ("VGI"), and an affiliate of Vanguard Marketing Corporation ("VMC"). Neither Vanguard Personal Advisor Services, Vanguard Digital Advisor, VAI, VGI, nor VMC guarantees profits or protection from losses.
Vanguard Digital Advisor's services are provided by Vanguard Advisers, Inc. ("VAI"), a federally registered investment advisor. VAI is a subsidiary of VGI and an affiliate of VMC. All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Neither Vanguard Digital Advisor, VAI, VGI, nor VMC guarantees profits or protection from losses.
ESG funds are subject to ESG investment risk, which is the chance that the stocks screened by the index sponsor for ESG criteria generally will underperform the stock market as a whole or that the particular stocks selected will, in the aggregate, trail returns of other funds screened for ESG criteria.
You must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services (we offer them commission-free) or through another broker (which may charge commissions). See the Vanguard Brokerage Services commission and fee schedules directly with the issuing fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. ETFs are subject to market volatility. When buying or selling an ETF, you will pay or receive the current market price, which may be more or less than net asset value.
All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a given level of income.