Vanguard's core purpose is to take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. As part of this core purpose—and with diversity, equity, and inclusion engrained in everything we do—we’re committed to providing investors with disabilities access to our products and services.
And the commitment never stops, which is why we maintain an Accessibility Office to continually review and advocate for accessibility enhancements on our websites and apps.
Web accessibility
Vanguard believes that all people should have equal access to online information and functionality. We have adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Level A and AA for web and mobile.
Browser access with a screen reader
A screen reader is an assistive technology that reads content out loud. It tends to be optimized to work with a certain browser. For the best online experience at Vanguard, the following combinations are recommended.
• JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and Chrome.
• NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access) and Firefox or Chrome.
• VoiceOver and Safari.
Other browsers and assistive technology software may work, at least in part, with our website, but you may not have the best user experience if you decide to use other combinations.
Keyboard access
To navigate using the keyboard, press Tab, Shift + Tab, and (in some components) Arrow keys. Controls can be activated using either Space or Enter.
Low-vision support
Your web browser (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox etc.) can help support your view of most web pages, including page zoom, font size and color changes, and accessing Reader mode. More accessibility settings are available on your operating system too.
- In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, choose Internet Options, General, and the Fonts button to change the font face and the Accessibility button for more text options.
- In Firefox, go to Open menu then go to Options, Language and Appearance, then Font & Colors.
- In Chrome, open the Customize and Control Google Chrome menu, go to Settings, and then Appearance.
- In Safari, open the Safari menu and go to Preferences to change the text size.
Most mobile devices have accessibility settings that allow you to change font size, increase contrast, customize the zoom function, and more.
- On an Apple device, open Settings and Accessibility.
- On an Android device, open Settings and Accessibility.
Software is available that not only magnifies the screen, but also allows the user to choose special fonts, speak the entire screen or just the selection, echo typing or mouse movements, and adjust cursor, pointer and focus elements. Some software comes with a camera to look at your documents and magnify or speak the content.
Other accessible alternatives
Accessible document formats
Large print and screen reader-friendly PDF formats are available for personal account statements, certain tax forms, and the privacy policy notice at this time. The large-print version will provide documents in 16-18 point font. This will significantly increase the number of pages of each document. The screen reader-friendly version will provide documents compatible with common screen reader software.
Relay Service
Relay service calls allow people with speech or hearing limitations to use the telephone system to call Vanguard using a text telephone (TTY) or other Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD). Typed messages are relayed as voice messages by the operator; voice replies are converted to text.
Video relay service calls allow persons whose primary language is American Sign Language to communication in ASL using video conferencing equipment.
Learn more about Relay Services.
Contact us
We have a formal process for responding to disability-related requests on a case-by-case basis. Contact us by email.
Include the following information:
• Web page address/URL
• Directions on how to get to the page
• Specific accessibility problems you have encountered
• Browser name and version
• Operating system (desktop or mobile)