When Your Survival Guy hears “digital advisor,” I run. Vanguard is “allowing” smaller accounts into “Digital Advisor” services. Alex Ortolani reports at Plan Adviser:
Vanguard announced Wednesday it will lower the asset minimum for its automatic advisory services to expand access to a broader swath of clients.
The asset management giant has lowered the minimum asset requirement to $100 from $3,000 to use Digital Advisor, its automated advisory offering, which provides a broader range of investing glide paths than its target-date funds, along with advice and planning tools.
The digital service, launched in 2020, is designed for clients to “identify their retirement and non-retirement goals, and [it] then crafts and manages customized, diversified and tax-efficient investment portfolios to achieve them,” according to Vanguard, which had more than $19 billion in assets under management, as of June 30.
Vanguard framed the move as broadening access to low-cost advice when personalization has become an industry buzzword for retirement saving and planning. It also comes a few months after Vanguard tapped Salim Ramji, formerly of BlackRock Inc., as its first external CEO hire. Ramji led BlackRock’s exchange-traded-fund investment offering, iShares.
Action Line: Understand the push to fee-based services. It’s the future at Vanguard. Read more about the future of Vanguard in my SPECIAL REPORT: The Trouble with BlackRo… er… ummm, Vanguard.
