What’s ahead for Vanguard Investor Choice in 2026?

Investor Choice is a program Vanguard began rolling out in pilot form in 2023. It empowers individual investors, their advisors, 529 plans, and retirement plan sponsors to direct how their equity index funds vote at companies on their behalf.

With 50 million investors, we know that every investor is unique and may have their own views on how their funds are voted.² Vanguard’s Investor Choice program is built on the belief that equity index fund investors should have the choice about how their proportion of the fund votes on public company proxy voting decisions. After all, it’s their money and it should be their choice.

With Investor Choice, an investor can choose from a balanced menu of proxy policies to select an option that best aligns with their personal preferences regarding proxy voting matters. That policy will determine how an investor’s share of the fund votes on corporate governance questions like executive pay and the election of board members.

We are excited to add 17 new funds to the program. The expansion increases the number of eligible investors to approximately 22 million, providing even more investors with the ability to elevate their voices at public company shareholder meetings. Vanguard more than doubled participation in Investor Choice in 2025, and we continue to build on that momentum with a significant increase in participation thus far in 2026, particularly by plan sponsors and state education savings plans.

With the new funds, Vanguard Investor Choice now spans all share classes of 32 Vanguard equity index funds, including our flagship Vanguard 500 Index Fund. And the program represents more than $3.6 trillion in eligible assets—over 55% of Vanguard’s total U.S.-based equity index assets.³

As with all areas of Vanguard, it starts with our mission: To take a stand for all investors, to treat them fairly, and to give them the best chance for investment success. Vanguard has made investing accessible to everyday investors for more than 50 years, and Vanguard Investor Choice continues this legacy.

Each iteration of our program has focused on enabling everyday investors to participate more easily in the proxy voting process. A key finding from our recent investor survey was that most investors (83%) believe it is important that asset managers consider investor preferences when casting votes for their equity funds.

And just like every Vanguard product launch is guided by a rigorous process and designed with our clients’ needs in mind, so too are the policy options included in our program. Vanguard Investor Choice offers a range of straightforward and distinct voting policy options that determine how investors’ proportionate shares are voted, enabling them to align their funds’ vote with their preferences. Participating individual investors expressed a range of perspectives on proxy voting matters in 2025, as illustrated by the dispersal of policy selections, with no single option on the Investor Choice menu garnering more than 35% adoption.

We believe that adding shareholder voices to proxy voting supports a healthy corporate governance ecosystem.

We continue to take steps to make participating simple and easy. Investors with a Vanguard brokerage account can access Investor Choice and select a proxy voting policy online. They can even select a voting policy via the Vanguard mobile app.

Investors who hold their participating Vanguard funds at another firm can participate through a unique link received by either email or traditional mail. No matter how an investor accesses Investor Choice, their policy selections will automatically be applied as additional Vanguard funds are added to the program.

Some retirement plans are also starting to participate, and a retirement plan sponsor can always work with its Vanguard representative to learn more.

We’re partnering with other firms in 2026 to release new digital experiences that will make it easier for even more investors to participate in Investor Choice and select a policy for their Vanguard holdings.

Outside of the U.S., we have launched a U.K. Investor Choice pilot for eligible professional investors in the U.K. The pilot will include four participating U.K.-domiciled equity index funds. We are encouraged by early interest in the pilot and look forward to gathering feedback from investors to best reflect their preferences.

We remain committed to expanding Investor Choice to all U.S. equity index fund investors and exploring program offerings in regions outside the U.S. 

Our Investor Choice webpage provides a wealth of information about the program and offers clear instructions for how to participate.

Details of proxy votes cast in Vanguard Investor Choice can be found in the Vanguard Investor Choice 2025 report.