Why investors choose Vanguard

Laura: I remember, as a very young, little girl, seeing envelopes in the mail with the little ship in the return address label. And I remember saying to Dad, you know, "Why is there a ship in the return address label?" He said, "Oh, that's Vanguard."

Anthony (voiceover): I have a relationship with Vanguard that spans 30 plus years. And that's important to me. Whether you had $500, $5,000, or $500,000, I think their philosophy is to do right by their customers.

Joe (voiceover): I grew up and said I wanted to be wealthy but didn't understand what that meant. And then I realized I just wanted to be happy.

Kathleen: I was a Spanish teacher for 40 years.

Akilah: I am an IT project manager.

Chase: I'm an entrepreneur.

Joe: We're both civil engineers.

Allie: We just bought our current house two and half years ago.

Anthony: I like helping my neighbors out. Like if their mower is busted, I like going over there and helping them with their mowers. So I'm a fixer.

Ritu: Live a simple life. Keep moving. Do what you like and what you love.

Rich: I'm the kind of guy who plans long-term and really thinks about what do I want to do and how do I want to get there.

Kenneth: Vanguard is a company that I believe in, that I've seen work sustainably in a very positive manner. I don't see that a lot in life.

Rich: It's completely different in that it's owned by its shareholders.

Kathleen: I and the other investors, the other customers, own the company, so they have to keep us happy.

Kashif: It's very much a community base. We're all investing together.

Florence: We have people of all walks of life involved in this company.

Joe: Twenty million strong is a pretty big number.

Ritu: We're all connected. The more the merrier.

Rich: I'm a shareholder, I'm an owner. Which is pretty cool.

Anthony: Vanguard suits my personality, right? It's not intimidating, you know. It's not a big fancy place where they've got a lot of mahogany. So I feel comfortable there.

Florence: We're not being managed by the big shots.

Akilah: We're not just a number. They do a great job of just making sure that their customers feel like they're a part of it.

Donna: They really make me feel as though they want me to succeed.

Rich: If I'm talking to someone and they say, "Oh, I already deal with Vanguard," then I know we have something in common. Not only from a financial services standpoint, but also from, you know, a thought process as to, you know, how to go about life and how to plan for things.

Laura: There's a feeling of partnership, of we're all in this together.

Kenneth: They really have a concerted effort to be able to say to people, "Here's a variety of information that could be useful to you. It's your choice."

Rich: I think that Vanguard gives you the best of both worlds in that you can either team with an advisor [or] you can do it yourself.

Chase: Because of my nerdy interest in personal finance, I've done the research for myself. And for me, the low fees, the ease of use, the automation all point to Vanguard.

Joe: Yes, we think about the future, but we also live in the present.

Kashif: There are more important things than being a super-duper wealthy person. If that were to happen, I'd certainly take it.

Gerry: It's nice to have the money to do the things you want to do when you're retired, and it'd be nice to pass something on to our children.

Akilah: I'm the first in my family to build my home. Now I can have my family come over. I can do Thanksgiving dinners. Those things are very important to me.

Ritu: I'm happy. That's all I can say.

Rich (voiceover): I'm with a group of people who understand what it is to be part of something that is different than everything else in the financial services industry.

Anthony: When you're 25, who thinks they're ever going to retire? And so here we are. I made it.