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Get the facts: Vanguard’s role as a passive investment manager

September 03, 2024

Vanguard is trusted by more than 50 million investors to help them achieve personal financial goals such as a secure retirement, a college education, or a new home.¹ As an investment manager owned by the investors in our funds, Vanguard has a proven approach that is focused on safeguarding and promoting their long-term financial returns.² Our mission is to generate long-term returns for investors.

In fact, an independent Morningstar analysis recently found that Vanguard funds have helped create $3.8 trillion in wealth and shareholder value over the past 10 years, more than double the next leading fund family.³

Table with 2 columns describing what Vanguard does and does not do. We invest on behalf of 50 million individual Vanguard investors; it’s their money, not ours. We focus on promoting long-term financial returns for the investors in our funds. We lower the cost and complexity of investing, letting investors keep more of their returns. We help everyday investors build wealth and achieve personal financial goals such as buying a home. We believe in investor choice and offer investors a range of products to meet their investment objectives and preferences. We vote at portfolio company shareholder meetings on proposals presented to all shareholders, with the objective of promoting long-term returns. We make independent, balanced judgments when voting proxies on behalf of our funds, weighing each ballot item on a case-by-case basis. We seek to engage with companies in our funds to understand their corporate governance practices and how their boards oversee material risks to shareholder returns. We do not invest in companies for the purpose of control. We do not have outside owners to satisfy or who can influence our decisions. We do not chase trendy products for short-term gain. We do not purchase single-family or multifamily housing. We do not dictate where, when, how, or how much investors invest, nor do we boycott any company, industry, or sector of the economy. We do not introduce shareholder proposals, launch proxy fights, or nominate directors. We do not rely on third-party proxy advisors or participate in third-party groups in ways that supersede our responsibility to our investors. We do not dictate company strategy or management decisions. Those are best decided by a company’s board and management team. Similarly, we do not have any objectives regarding public policy, which is the domain of elected officials and regulators.

1 As of December 31, 2023.

2 Vanguard is owned by its funds, which are owned by Vanguard’s fund shareholder clients.

3 Source: Morningstar, Inc. Morningstar’s analysis ranked U.S.-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds to determine how much growth a fund has created from market appreciation in dollars; available at www.morningstar.com/funds/15-top-wealth-creators-fund-industry-2.

Disclosure:

Visit vanguard.com to obtain a Vanguard fund or Vanguard ETF prospectus, or, if available, a summary prospectus, which contains investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other information; read and consider carefully before investing.

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

Vanguard is the trusted name in investing. Since our founding in 1975, we've put investors first.

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