Vanguard Goes Commission-Free on Its ETFs: Low Costs Keep Getting Lower
Monday, May 10th, 2010Morningstar submits:
By Paul Justice
Vanguard announced Tuesday that it will offer all 46 of its ETFs commission-free on the Vanguard platform. The move comes in response to similar actions taken by Fidelity and Charles Schwab (SCHW) over the past six months, but the Vanguard offering is the most comprehensive yet. The lineup nearly doubles the commission-free partnership that Fidelity inked with iShares, and it offers investors a comprehensive suite of low-cost and transparent index funds in the tax-efficient and liquid ETF wrapper. Because Vanguard ETFs were already separate share classes of existing mutual funds, Vanguard investors have long had the ability to gain the same asset exposure without incurring transaction fees by using the mutual funds. However, investors now have greater flexibility and choice, because transaction costs are out of the mix.
