Vanguard has reduced fees on Vanguard Retirement Trusts by 5% to 10%, which is equivalent to 0.25-0.50 basis points, depending on which Trust program a client is invested in.
The price cut, which took effect April 1, should save investors $20 million, according to the fund giant. The trusts, which are available to certain tax-qualified and government plans, offer multiple price points so that clients can reap the benefits of lower fees as plan assets grow, which is just one mechanism for reducing investor costs.
The second is broad fee reductions across all the Collective Investment Trust (CIT) programs, which include the Vanguard Retirement Trusts. Since 2006, Vanguard has issued broad CIT fee reductions four times.
Vanguard Target Retirement Trusts are separate from Vanguard Institutional Target Retirement Funds, which are mutual funds. In December, Vanguard lowered the minimum investment on Vanguard Institutional Target Retirement Funds to $5 million from $100 million, expanding low-cost options for participants in 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans.
Fintech Firm Seeds Partners With Paul Tudor Jones' Nonprofit
Seeds, a financial technology firm whose client experience platform helps advisors offer clients an intentional and personalized investing experience, has partnered with JUST Capital to deliver insights on impact investing to advisors and their clients.
JUST Capital, co-founded by Paul Tudor Jones, is a nonprofit that tracks and analyzes practices of large companies in an effort to build a more just economy for all stakeholders — workers, customers, communities, the environment and shareholders.
The new partnership helps advisors who are users of Seeds provide clients with an analysis of how their existing portfolios align with an investor's values on, say, human rights or efforts to address climate change and then present a more tailored portfolio as an alternative.
"A lot of impact reporting is either too generalized, too specific, or just generally misses the mark in trying to captivate the client," said Seeds CEO Zach Conway, in a statement. "Thanks to JUST's research, we can now select from metrics that we know will speak to a broad investor base. Then the platform can automatically tailor the message to each client."
"Anyone can put an ESG label on a product and claim it scores well," said Kristen O'Grady, Seeds' head of product and chief operating officer. "We wanted to partner with an outside firm to validate our portfolio impact, rather than just claim it ourselves."
