Vanguard mutual fund fees and minimum investment

Find out how much you'll need to open an account and how much—or how little—you'll pay.

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Mutual fund fees & expenses at a glance

Expense ratios

The average Vanguard mutual fund expense ratio is 82% less than the industry average.*

See the difference low-cost mutual funds can make

See how Admiral™ Shares help keep your costs under control

Account service fees

$25 for each brokerage account. Vanguard Brokerage Services® won’t assess the fee if a client’s total qualifying Vanguard assets are at least $5 million. The fee can also be eliminated by signing up for e-delivery of statements and the annual privacy policy notice; confirmations; reports, prospectuses, and proxy materials; and notices, amendments, and other important account updates. In addition, Vanguard Brokerage Services does not charge the fee to clients who have an organization or a trust account registered under an employee identification number (EIN) or clients enrolled in an advisory program serviced by an affiliate of Vanguard.

$25 for each Vanguard mutual fund. The fee is waived if you have at least $5 million in qualifying Vanguard assets.

Avoid account service fees by signing up for e-delivery

Understanding the benefits of investing at Vanguard

Purchase & redemption fees

Very few Vanguard funds charge fees when you buy and sell shares. The fees are designed to help those funds cover higher transaction costs and protect long-term investors by discouraging short-term, speculative trading.

Fees vary from 0.25% to 1.00% of the amount of the transaction.

See which funds charge purchase & redemption fees

Fees you won't pay at Vanguard

Vanguard funds never charge front-end or back-end loads.

And you trade thousands of ETFs and mutual funds from Vanguard and other companies commission free online.**

Expense ratio

A mutual fund's or exchange-traded fund's (ETF's) annual operating expenses, expressed as a percentage of the fund's average net assets. It's calculated annually and removed from the fund's earnings before they're distributed to investors, directly reducing investors' returns.

An expense ratio includes management, administrative, marketing, and distribution fees. It doesn't include loads or purchase or redemption fees.

Back end load

A sales fee charged by some mutual funds when an investor redeems fund shares. It is also called a contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC). These fees typically decline over time, eventually disappearing if an investor holds the shares long enough. Because the fee is subtracted from the sale proceeds, a back-end load directly reduces the amount an investor receives from selling shares. Back-end loads are often associated with Class B shares.

Front-end load

A sales fee that's charged when you buy fund shares. Fees can be as high as 8.5% of your purchase amount—which would reduce a $100,000 investment to $91,500.

Purchase and redemption fees

Some funds charge a fee when you buy shares to offset the cost of certain securities. Some funds charge a fee when you sell fund shares, or when you buy or sell shares within a specific time period. These restrictions are an effort to discourage short-term trading.

Minimum investment requirements

The following minimums apply to individual and joint accounts, Roth and traditional IRAs, UGMA/UTMA accounts, and most other account types.

Investor Shares

  • $1,000 for Vanguard Target Retirement Funds and Vanguard STAR® Fund.
  • $3,000 for most actively managed Vanguard funds.***

Most Vanguard index funds are now available in lower-cost Admiral Shares.
 

Admiral Shares

  • $3,000 for most index funds.
  • $50,000 for most actively managed funds.
  • $100,000 for certain sector-specific index funds.

See a list of low-cost, minimum index funds

You can now own lower-cost Admiral Shares for 43 of our index mutual funds for a minimum of just $3,000 each. 

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Interested in ETFs?

All Vanguard clients pay $0 commissions to trade ETFs (exchange traded funds) online. Get broad access to the vast majority of ETFs — all commission-free online. 

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For more information about Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs, visit Vanguard mutual fund prospectuses or Vanguard ETF prospectuses to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.

*Vanguard average mutual fund expense ratio: 0.09%. Industry average mutual fund expense ratio: 0.50%. All averages are asset-weighted. Industry average excludes Vanguard. Sources: Vanguard and Morningstar, Inc., as of December 31, 2023.

**Commission-free trading of Vanguard ETFs applies to trades placed online; most clients will pay a commission to buy or sell Vanguard ETFs by phone. Commission-free trading of non-Vanguard ETFs applies only to trades placed online; most clients will pay a commission to buy or sell non-Vanguard ETFs by phone. Vanguard Brokerage reserves the right to change the non-Vanguard ETFs included in these offers at any time. All ETFs are subject to management fees and expenses; refer to each ETF's prospectus for more information. Account service fees may also apply. All ETF sales are subject to a securities transaction fee. See the Vanguard Brokerage Services commission and fee schedules for full details. 

***Some funds have higher minimums to protect the funds from short-term trading activity. Fund-specific details are provided in each fund profile.

You must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares through Vanguard Brokerage Services (we offer them commission-free online) or through another broker (who may charge commissions). See the Vanguard Brokerage Services Commission and Fee Schedules for limits. Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable 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.

Investments in Target Retirement Funds are subject to the risks of their underlying funds. The year in the fund name refers to the approximate year (the "target date") when an investor in the fund would retire and leave the workforce. The fund will gradually shift its emphasis from more aggressive investments to more conservative ones based on its target date. An investment in a Target Retirement Fund is not guaranteed at any time, including on or after the target date.

All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest.