Overview
- Headquarters
- Malvern, PA
- Average Client Assets
- $2.1 million
- Minimum Account Size
- $500,000
- SEC CRD Number
- 106715
Fee Structure
Primary Fee Schedule (VANGUARD PERSONAL ADVISOR SELECT)
| Min | Max | Marginal Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $5,000,000 | 0.30% |
| $5,000,001 | $10,000,000 | 0.20% |
| $10,000,001 | $25,000,000 | 0.10% |
| $25,000,001 | and above | 0.05% |
Illustrative Fee Rates
| Total Assets | Annual Fees | Average Fee Rate |
|---|---|---|
| $1 million | $3,000 | 0.30% |
| $5 million | $15,000 | 0.30% |
| $10 million | $25,000 | 0.25% |
| $50 million | $52,500 | 0.10% |
| $100 million | $77,500 | 0.08% |
Clients
- HNW Share of Firm Assets
- 47.74%
- Total Client Accounts
- 791,528
- Discretionary Accounts
- 592,636
- Non-Discretionary Accounts
- 198,892
Services Offered
Services: Financial Planning, Portfolio Management for Individuals, Portfolio Management for Pooled Investment Vehicles, Portfolio Management for Institutional Clients, Investment Advisor Selection
Regulatory Filings
Additional Brochure: STABLE VALUE (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Vanguard Stable Value Group Brochure
March 30, 2026
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Blvd
Malvern, PA 19355
www.vanguard.com
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Vanguard’s
Stable Value Group, a service of Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”). If you have any questions about
the contents of this brochure, please contact Christy Miller at 610-503-2735. The information in this
brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission (“SEC”) or by any state securities authority.
information about VAI also
is available on
the SEC’s website at
Additional
www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is a registered investment adviser with the SEC. Registration does not imply a certain level
of skill or training.
MATERIAL CHANGES:
Since Vanguard Stable Value Group’s Brochure annual update on March 31, 2025, the following material
changes have occurred.
As of September 2025:
• On August 29, 2025, VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC involving violations arising from VAI’s
failure to adequately disclose conflicts of interest in connection with and created by its
compensation structure. VAI, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, in a settled
proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and
any future violations, and to pay a penalty. The matter involved a VAI advisory offer separate from
the Stable Value Group services provided herein. (See “Disciplinary information”).
This is an annual amendment to the brochure updating VAI’s assets under management. Thre have been
no material changes made to the brochure.
Contents
MATERIAL CHANGES ........................................................................................................................ 1
FEES AND COMPENSATION .............................................................................................................. 3
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MANAGEMENT ........................................ 3
TYPES OF CLIENTS ............................................................................................................................. 3
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RISK OF LOSS .......................... 3
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION ........................................................................................................ 4
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS ........................................... 5
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS AND
PERSONAL TRADING ......................................................................................................................... 6
BROKERAGE PRACTICES .................................................................................................................. 6
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS ..................................................................................................................... 6
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION ................................................................... 6
CUSTODY .............................................................................................................................................. 7
INVESTMENT DISCRETION ............................................................................................................... 7
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES ........................................................................................................... 7
FINANCIAL INFORMATION .............................................................................................................. 7
REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE-REGISTERED ADVISERS .............................................................. 7
1
ADVISORY BUSINESS
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides investment advisory services to a wide variety of
clients, including the following:
Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate accounts that are
•
offered as investment options in state-sponsored education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
•
Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios composed of Vanguard Funds® and
exchange traded funds (ETFs) as well as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third-party asset
managers that are accessed by third-party intermediaries through third-party platforms;
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services and point-in-time
•
advice for retail clients;
Vanguard Digital Advisor®: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to
•
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans;
•
Vanguard Personal Advisor: discretionary advisory service, with access to an advisor,
offered to retail clients and to participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans;
•
Vanguard Situational Advisor: point-in-time, nondiscretionary advice services and
financial planning offered to participants in certain employer-sponsored retirement plans; and
•
Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and Personal Online Advisor (“POA”):
VMAP is a discretionary advisory service offered to participants of eligible employer-sponsored
retirement plans. POA is a nondiscretionary advisory service offered to participants of eligible
employer-sponsored retirement plans. VMAP and POA are sub-advised by Financial Engines
Advisors, LLC (“FE”).
As an SEC-registered advisor, VAI has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to abide by the
duties of care and loyalty. VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI is 100% owned
by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Goliath is 100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc.
(“Vanguard”). As such, VAI is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, the sponsor and manager
of the family of mutual funds and ETFs comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies
(“Vanguard Funds”), which VAI typically recommends as investments. Please see the section of this
brochure titled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for more information.
The Stable Value Group
The Stable Value Group (“Stable Value”) is comprised of a team of portfolio managers who provide
investment advisory and discretionary management services to Stable Value Accounts (“Accounts”),
which are separate accounts that are offered as investment options in state-sponsored education savings
plans (“529 Plans”) and other state-sponsored retirement plans (“State Plans”). Each Account seeks
income consistent with the preservation of principal through its ownership of funding agreements and
investment contracts issued by
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one or more insurance companies and other financial institutions, and other types of eligible fixed-income
investments, as well as shares of Vanguard money market mutual funds.
Under VAI, Stable Value is responsible for continuously reviewing, supervising, and administering the 529
Plans Accounts’ investment guidelines. These activities include managing and determining the investments
that are bought, sold, exchanged, converted and otherwise traded by the Accounts; and providing the
appropriate records and documentation concerning these activities.
As of December 31, 2025, Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”), had a total of $120,702,400,000 in discretionary
client assets under management and $223,917,200,000
in non-discretionary client assets under
management.
FEES AND COMPENSATION
VAI is paid a contractually negotiated fee based on a percentage of Account assets under management.
PERFORMANCE-BASED FEES AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MANAGEMENT
Neither VAI nor Stable Value receives performance-based fees for advisory services provided to clients.
TYPES OF CLIENTS
Stable Value provides advisory services to stable value accounts that are offered as investment options in
529 Plans.
METHODS OF ANALYSIS, INVESTMENT STRATEGIES AND RISK OF LOSS
The Stable Value Group provides advisory services to Stable Value Accounts that are included in Portfolios
that are offered as investment options in 529 Plans. Stable Value Accounts generally direct all assets into
short-term reserves initially, and then invest in funding agreements and investment contracts issued by
one or more insurance companies and banks, as well as in shares of Vanguard money market funds.
Funding agreements and traditional investment contracts are interest-bearing contracts that are
structured to preserve principal and accumulate interest earnings over the life of the investment. These
instruments generally pay interest at a fixed interest rate and have fixed maturity dates that normally range
from 2 to 5 years. Investments in these instruments are based upon available liquidity in the Stable Value
Accounts and the competitiveness of the interest rates offered by eligible high-quality issuers, and depend
on market conditions and trends.
Stable Value Accounts may also invest in synthetic investment contracts, commonly referred to as “wrap”
agreements, under which the 529 Plan owns a portfolio of generally investment-grade short- to
intermediate-term fixed-income securities, including shares of Vanguard mutual funds invested principally
in fixed-income securities, and an insurance company or other financial institution provides a benefit-
responsive guarantee for participant-directed transactions pursuant to the wrap agreement. The yield
under a wrap agreement is generally based on the crediting rate specified in the wrap agreement that takes
into account a number of factors, including but not limited to, the return on the underlying fixed- income
assets, the wrap issuer’s fees, and the average duration of the underlying securities.
3
There is a limited universe of high-quality insurance companies and other issuers that issue investments
eligible for purchase. Within certain constraints, VAI seeks to diversify among eligible issuers and
investments. VAI may invest all, or a large portion, of a Stable Value Account’s assets in Vanguard money
market funds to limit the Stable Value Account's exposure to any single issuer or to meet normal liquidity
needs.
The Stable Value Accounts have a longer average maturity than most money market funds, which should
result in higher yields when interest rates are stable or declining. However, because only a portion of the
Stable Value Accounts’ investment matures each year, its yield will change more slowly than that of a
money market fund. As a result, when interest rates are rising, the Stable Value Accounts’ yield may fall
below money market funds’ yields for an extended time period.
The Stable Value Accounts primarily are subject to inflation risk and industry concentration risk. It also has
low levels of credit risk, income risk, manager risk, and derivatives risk. Funding agreements and
investment contracts are backed by the financial strength of the financial institutions that issue the
contracts. Every effort is made to select high-quality institutions. However, the Stable Value Accounts may
lose value if a financial institution is unable to make interest or principal payments when due.
VAI's investment methodology
VAI's investment methodology incorporates our own investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the
benefits of cost-effective strategies, high-credit quality investments, and risk management. Our
methodology, which is approved and periodically reviewed by senior Vanguard management, is based on
Vanguard's own fundamental research, as well as research obtained from a wide variety of external
sources, both public and private. Our methodology is driven by long-term financial goals, not by market-
timing or short-term investment performance.
Please remember that all investments involve some risk, including possible loss of principal. Be aware that
fluctuations in the financial markets and other factors may cause declines in the value of your account.
There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet your investment
objectives or provide you with a given level of income. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect
against a loss in a declining market.
DISCIPLINARY INFORMATION
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the matter, which involved a VAI advisory
offer separate from the Stable Value services, the SEC found that VAI violated certain provisions of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), and the rules thereunder, because VAI made
misstatements and failed to adequately disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation
to prospects and clients to enroll in the legacy Personal Advisor Services (“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as
Personal Advisor Select.
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and, without admitting or denying the
SEC’s findings, in a settled proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing
any violations and any future violations of Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7
thereunder, and to pay a $19.5 million penalty.
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December 2023, PAS’ employee performance
review system considered metrics that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS. A PAS
advisor’s performance on these metrics factored into their year-end performance rating, which in turn
4
determined the advisor’s annual discretionary bonus and/or pay increases alongside a number of qualitative
factors including sharing expertise with and assisting colleagues, contributing to an inclusive and
collaborative work environment, communicating openly with colleagues, building subject matter expertise
and industry knowledge, understanding Vanguard’s business model and financials, deepening investment
acumen, and staying current with technological trends. The metrics and qualitative criteria were also factors
considered in PAS advisor promotions.
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that some advisors were eligible for the
discretionary bonus and that the employee performance review process created a financial incentive for
advisors to recommend PAS over other advisory programs and other brokerage services offered by VAI and
its affiliates, VAI’s Form CRS and Supplement to the PAS Brochure contained contradictory disclosures that
PAS advisors received no additional compensation. Additionally, the SEC also found that VAI’s marketing
materials contained related misleading statements regarding PAS advisors’ conflicts of interest and that VAI
failed to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent it from making misleading
statements to clients regarding incentive compensation or to ensure that it fully disclosed the conflicts of
interest created by its compensation structure.
Please see the “Fees and compensation” section above for detailed information about how the Stable Value
service is currently compensated.
OTHER FINANCIAL INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES AND AFFILIATIONS
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”) is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc. a Delaware corporation, which is wholly
owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard). Vanguard, also a registered investment adviser, provides
a range of investment advisory and administrative services to the Vanguard Funds.
When giving advice to clients, VAI will recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds serviced by VAI’s
corporate parent, Vanguard. VAI addresses the competing interests that could arise between us and our
clients as a result of recommending proprietary funds by relying on our time-tested investment
philosophies and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs, diversification, and indexing, when formulating
target allocations for clients. VAI discloses to prospective clients that it recommends Vanguard Funds prior
to, or at the establishment of, the advisory relationship. Acting in accordance with VAI’s advice to purchase
Vanguard’s proprietary funds will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds that are separate
from, and in addition to, any advisory fees assessed by VAI. Clients may separately arrange for the provision
of advice by another provider that has no material affiliation with and receives no compensation in
connection with the mutual funds, securities, or other property that is the subject of the advice.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC)
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC).
VMC's marketing and distribution services are conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of a
1981 exemptive order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which permits Vanguard
Funds to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard Fund (other than a fund of funds) or
each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s
marketing costs.
VMC does not receive transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard
5
Funds. When giving advice to clients under this Service, VAI will recommend the purchase of Vanguard
Funds distributed by VAI’s affiliate, VMC. Since VMC does not receive transaction-based compensation in
connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds, the competing interests that arise from VAI’s
affiliation with VMC in its role as distributor of the Vanguard Funds are mitigated.
Certain members of VAI’s management and the Stable Value Group are registered representatives of, or
are affiliated with, VMC. Please refer to the Supplement to the Vanguard Stable Value Group Brochure for
further information.
CODE OF ETHICS, PARTICIPATION OR INTEREST IN CLIENT TRANSACTIONS AND PERSONAL
TRADING
VAI operates under a Code of Ethics that complies with Rule 17j-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940
and Rule 204A-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The Code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply to all employees, incorporates Vanguard’s insider trading
policy, and governs outside employment and receipt of gifts.
Additionally, the Code imposes restrictions on the personal securities trading of Vanguard employees, as
well as reporting requirements. The trading restrictions and reporting requirements are more involved for
employees with access to information about Vanguard Fund trading activity or Vanguard client trading
activity and are designed to ensure that Vanguard employees do not misuse fund and/or client information
for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its Code of Ethics to any client or prospective client upon request at no
charge.
Please see the section of this Brochure entitled “Other Financial Industry Activities and Affiliations” for a
discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other Vanguard entities, and how those affiliations may impact clients
of VAI.
BROKERAGE PRACTICES
VAI does not recommend broker-dealers in connection with client transactions arising out of VAI’s advice
under this service.
REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS
Vanguard provides quarterly Account updates concerning the financial status of each Account, its current
assets, significant account activities, including guideline compliance, and other relevant information. In
addition, Vanguard provides investment reviews that include, but are not limited to total assets, trading
activities, portfolio holdings and performance reviews, and other measures.
CLIENT REFERRALS AND OTHER COMPENSATION
VAI receives no economic benefits from persons that are not clients for providing investment advice or
advisory services to its clients under this service.
VAI does not directly or indirectly compensate any person who is not a supervised person for client
6
referrals to the services provided herein.
CUSTODY
VAI does not have direct custody of client funds or securities through the Stable Value advisory service.
The Vanguard Group, Inc., in its capacity as a transfer agent, acts as the qualified custodian on behalf of
VAI for the assets invested in the products.
INVESTMENT DISCRETION
Stable Value has discretion over the assets invested in the Accounts, which are the separate accounts
offered as investment options in 529 Plans.
VOTING CLIENT SECURITIES
VAI will not vote client securities through this service. The exercise of all voting rights associated with any
security or other property held by a client shall be the responsibility of the client. VAI will not advise or act
for the client in any legal proceedings, including bankruptcies or class actions, involving securities held or
previously held by the client or the issuers of those securities. Proxies will be delivered to the client through
the issuer, by its custodian or its agent.
FINANCIAL INFORMATION
VAI is not aware of any financial condition that is reasonably likely to impair its ability to meet contractual
commitments to clients.
REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE-REGISTERED ADVISERS
VAI is a federally registered investment adviser.
7
Additional Brochure: VANGUARD DIGITAL ADVISOR AND VANGUARD PERSONAL ADVISOR (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal
Advisor Brochure
March 30, 2026
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Boulevard
Malvern, PA 19355
877‐ 662‐7447
vanguard.com
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Vanguard Digital
Advisor® and Vanguard Personal Advisor™, advisory services (each a “Service” and collectively the “Services”)
offered through Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”) (also referred to herein as “we,” “us,” and “our”). This
brochure also describes how VAI is compensated for the service provided to you. You should carefully consider
this information in your evaluation of each Service. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure,
please contact us at the phone number above. The information in this brochure hasn’t been approved or
verified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or by any state securities authority.
Additional information about VAI also is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Registration doesn’t imply a certain level of skill or
training.
Material Changes: Since Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor’s Brochure (“Brochure”)
annual update on March 31, 2025, the following material changes are planned or have occurred:
Starting in July 2025, VAI Financial Advisors in Vanguard Personal Advisor expanded their financial planning
capabilities by providing point‐in‐time account type recommendations, including cash management account
recommendations depending on individual client needs. (See “Advisory business – Ongoing advised accounts
services”)
Additionally in August 2025, an additional customization was available to customize your exposure to U.S. and
International markets within certain guardrails. (See “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risks”)
As of September 2025, you can set up a required minimum distribution service for your Individual Retirement
Accounts (“IRAs”) subject to certain limitations. (See “Review of Accounts”).
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025, in the matter, which involved a VAI advisory offer
separate from Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor (See “Disciplinary information”).
Starting March 2026, you can add goals other than retirement savings to your plan prior to enrollment. The Services
have also enhanced the goal planning user experience, methodology, and capabilities. These enhancements will
1
roll out gradually and are expected to be widely available in April 2026. (See “Methods of analysis, investment
strategies, and risks”)
Starting on or about April 2026, the Service plans to start to offer an advanced portfolio customization that allows
you to adjust your target asset allocation based on self‐managed asset allocations subject to certain limitations
and guardrails. (See “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risks”).
This brochure was updated with other non‐material changes, including annual updates to advisory assets
under management and other clarifying changes.
Table of Contents
Advisory business ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Fees and compensation ................................................................................................................................................. 17
Performance‐based fees and side‐by‐side management ................................................................................................. 24
Types of clients .............................................................................................................................................................. 24
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss ......................................................................................... 25
Disciplinary information ................................................................................................................................................. 48
Other financial industry activities and affiliations ............................................................................................................. 48
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading ........................................................ 50
Brokerage practices ....................................................................................................................................................... 50
Review of accounts ......................................................................................................................................................... 53
Client referrals and other sales professional compensation ............................................................................................. 56
Custody ........................................................................................................................................................................ 59
Investment discretion .................................................................................................................................................... 60
Voting client securities ................................................................................................................................................... 60
Financial information ..................................................................................................................................................... 60
Requirements for state‐registered advisors ..................................................................................................................... 61
Investment risks ............................................................................................................................................................. 61
2
Advisory business
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides clients with a wide variety of investment advisory services,
including the following:
•
Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate accounts that are offered as
investment options in state‐sponsored education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
• Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios comprised of Vanguard Funds and exchange traded
funds (ETFs) (as defined below) as well as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third party asset
managers that are accessed by third party intermediaries through third party platforms;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services and point‐ in‐time advice for retail
clients ;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to eligible
participants of certain employer‐sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Digital Advisor: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to eligible
participants of certain employer‐sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Situational Advisor: point‐in‐time, nondiscretionary advice services and financial
planning offered to participants in certain employer‐sponsored retirement plans; and
• Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and POA: VMAP is a discretionary advisory service
offered to participants of eligible employer‐sponsored retirement plans. POA is a
nondiscretionary advisory service offered to participants of eligible employer‐ sponsored
retirement plans. VMAP and POA are sub‐advised by Edelman Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.
(“FEA”).
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides clients with a wide variety of investment advisory
services. This Brochure provides information about the Vanguard Digital Advisor (“Digital Advisor”) and
Vanguard Personal Advisor (“Personal Advisor”) programs.
Information about the other investment advisory programs and services offered by VAI is available
through the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware
corporation. Goliath is 100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”). As such, VAI is an
indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, the sponsor and manager of the family of mutual funds
and ETFs (exchange‐traded funds) comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies (“Vanguard®
Funds”), which VAI typically recommends as investments for its investment advisory services. Please see the
section of this brochure entitled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for more information.
Vanguard Digital Advisor
Digital Advisor, launched by VAI in 2019, provides an automated investment advisory program that
offers eligible clients access to discretionary investment advisory services through a website and
digital interface (the “Site”). Digital Advisor also provides online financial planning tools designed to
help clients create a personalized, goals‐based financial plan.
3
Vanguard Personal Advisor
Personal Advisor, launched by VAI in June 2022, provides the same discretionary investment
advisory and financial planning services as Digital Advisor through the Site while also offering
financial planning consultations with a VAI investment adviser representative (“VAI Financial
Advisor”). VAI Financial Advisor financial planning consultations include point‐in‐time brokerage account
type recommendations, including cash management account recommendations, based on client needs.
As an SEC‐registered investment advisor, VAI has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to
abide by the duties of care and loyalty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”).
Additionally, when we provide investment advice to you regarding your Participant Account or IRA, we
are fiduciaries within the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and/or the
Internal Revenue Code, as applicable, which are laws governing retirement accounts. As fiduciaries, we act
in your best interest and do not put our interest ahead of yours. At the same time, certain aspects of the
Services create potential conflicts of interest, such as the way we make money inclusive of
recommending the use of proprietary products and investment accounts. See “Fees and compensation
“on page 17 for additional information.
VAI’s investment professionals include sales professionals who help you select the advisory service that best
meets your needs. These sales professionals dually serve as advisors for VAI and as Representatives of our
affiliated broker‐dealer, Vanguard Marketing Corporation, doing business as Vanguard Brokerage Services.
During the course of your discussion with one of our sales professionals, you might be referred to one of
Vanguard’s advisory services based on your expressed needs. When a sales professional refers you to one
of Vanguard’s advisory services, they do so as an associated person of VAI. Advice referrals, however, are
made in response to your expressed needs and do not constitute fiduciary advice. For more information
concerning potential conflicts of interest related to these sales professionals, please see the “Sales consultant
compensation” section of this brochure.
Our client relationship begins when you enter into Your Service Agreement for Vanguard Discretionary
Advice Services: Vanguard Digital Advisor, Vanguard Personal Advisor (the “Client Agreement”) and the
scope of our fiduciary relationship is defined in the Client Agreement.
Signatories of the Client Agreement are referred to as “Clients” for their respective Service. Goal
forecasting and other financial planning tools that are available prior to signing the Client Agreement,
are provided solely for your information and education, but your use of those tools prior to signing the
Client Agreement does not constitute a fiduciary relationship between you and VAI under the Advisers
Act.
Your participation in either Service requires internet access in order to enroll and to access program
documents. You should not interact with either Service if you do not have consistent internet access or do
not want to accept electronic delivery of documents and disclosures required to be delivered in connection
with the Services. You are required to maintain an active email address with us in order to remain enrolled
in a Services.
As the Site evolves over time, new content, capabilities, or features may be introduced at different times.
As new capabilities are introduced they may initially be available to a small population of Clients. At any
given time, not all Clients will have access to the same features and services.
Below is an overview of the Services, please refer to the sections of this Brochure that follow under
the heading entitled “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss” for more detailed
4
information.
Developing Your Investment Strategy
Our investment strategies are designed with a disciplined, long‐term approach that focuses on managing
risk through appropriate asset allocation and diversification. Our methodology uses a strategic and
personalized approach by first focusing on the mix of asset classes (i.e., stocks, bonds, cash) that aligns
with your willingness and ability to take risk and is appropriate to meet your financial goals over time. Each
Service relies on information you provide through the Site.
Across all your goals, we will gather information about your risk/reward preferences or risk tolerance to
determine your personalized investment strategy. This information helps us to provide an assessment of
your risk attitude (Very Conservative, Conservative, Moderate, Aggressive and Very Aggressive) for you to
consider.
You must set a retirement investment goal to enroll an account into either Service. Each Service captures
inputs around your retirement investment goal including your expected retirement age as well as your
anticipated spending needs, taxable income, and your savings depending on the onboarding journey that
you choose. The risk attitude you select, your current age, marital/partner status, and the expected
retirement age you provide are then used as inputs to our proprietary investment algorithm. Additionally,
your employer may provide certain salary and other savings information on your behalf. Other inputs could
also be considered as outlined in the detailed methodology descriptions below. Our proprietary algorithm
uses this data to recommend a particular investing track and glide path that correspond to your
retirement investment goal.
You can elect to plan and customize your investment strategy to include additional lump sum or certain
multi‐year financial goals, subject to availability. Unlike traditional approaches, where an individual
investment account is earmarked to a single goal, our multi‐goal capability treats accounts as fungible or
interchangeable assets and flexibly allocates those assets across goals based on the plan you set. We
determine the appropriate goal‐weighted asset allocation across all goals, dynamically managing assets and
anticipated contributions within an integrated multi‐goal framework. This approach is designed to help you
balance your retirement investment goal with other major financial goals. It is important to understand that
your target asset allocation and specific investments may change significantly upon the inclusion of financial
goals if a sizable portion of your account balances are required to fund financial goals on your target goal
dates and will result in decreasing your overall retirement savings.
In order to obtain a recommended asset allocation through a Service, you will need to open a new account
or enroll an eligible existing account that is either: (i) a Vanguard brokerage account (“Vanguard
Brokerage Account”) established with Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”), doing business as
Vanguard Brokerage Services (“VBS”), or (ii) a participant account in an eligible employer‐ sponsored
retirement plan (“Participant Account”) for which Vanguard affiliates provide recordkeeping services.
Vanguard Brokerage Accounts and Participant Accounts are referred to collectively in this brochure as
“Enrolled Accounts.” Once enrolled, we will recommend an asset allocation and specific investments that
can be maintained in your Enrolled Accounts to meet your target asset allocation. The Enrolled Accounts
that we manage on a discretionary basis through the Services are referred to as a “Portfolio.”
If you are enrolling an eligible account, you will also take a style assessment, also known as an active
risk assessment, to determine your investing patience and active risk tolerance. Based on the results of the
style assessment, we will make an active/index investment option available in addition to an all‐index
option. Additionally, you will have an opportunity to elect an optional environmental, social, and
5
governance (“ESG”) all‐index investment option for Vanguard Brokerage Accounts to further personalize
your Portfolio investments based on your preferences. We also offer an active/index investment strategy
methodology within certain participant accounts on a limited basis. Depending on the onboarding track you
select for the Site, these customization options and others could appear prior to or after enrollment.
You should carefully consider the tradeoffs against your retirement savings when setting your other
financial goals, including reviewing the interactive forecasts and projected investment glidepaths
displayed in the Site.
Goal Forecasting and Multiple Goals
In the Site, your inputs will enable you to use different interactive planning tools and visualizations
(leveraging inflation and return on capital models developed by VAI and its affiliates) to help you set
your financial goals. Additional data such as current contributions, tax filing status, various income sources
(lump sum, periodic, etc.), expenses, preferred age range of retirement options, and expected Social
Security benefits inform your retirement investment goal forecasting. You can also elect to include certain
spouse or partner inputs for a more complete household projection. For basic and enhanced households
(as defined below), the tax filing status and state of residence of the inviting or initiating partner who
completed the enrollment flow will be used across the Portfolio. Subject to availability, if you have
connected an account or manually entered information about an account that is not managed by us (“self‐
managed account” or “non‐ managed account”), you may plan additional financial goals that you anticipate
funding with your self‐managed accounts for purposes of hypothetical forecasting, including projected
tradeoffs with your retirement savings goal.
Projections and forecasts regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in
nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results. Goal forecasts,
including any suggestions to improve the likelihood of funding your goals, are based solely on your
account types (e.g., individual, IRA, Roth IRA) and do not incorporate specific projections of
investments that you hold at Vanguard or elsewhere. Any self‐managed accounts included in your goal
planning are assumed to have similar asset allocations as managed accounts. If you invest differently,
the goals forecast and any related suggestions, may not be realistic to meet your goals.
Each Service also provides projections to help you understand the tradeoffs between different goals
that influence the success of all your goals. Additionally, if you incorporate self‐managed accounts into
multiple goals, forecasting success probabilities and tradeoffs are limited by assumptions regarding
those accounts.
The retirement investment goal setting experience is based on a long‐term asset allocation strategy and
will not suit your needs if you are seeking a comprehensive retirement income strategy. Adding additional
financial goals is limited by the accounts you have linked or added to your plan.
Each Service provides access to calculators and interactive tools to help educate Clients about how to save
for emergencies, where to direct extra or idle cash and how to optimize debt repayment options. These
interactive tools are not integrated with the discretionary investment advisory and related online
financial planning services offered through the Services and do not impact your recommended
investment strategy.
Personal Advisor ‐VAI Financial Advisor consultations
Prior to enrollment, if you have any questions, you’ll have the option to speak with a VAI Financial Advisor.
You will also be given the opportunity to preview projected investment recommendations to determine
6
whether to enroll in Personal Advisor. You can also choose to forego scheduling an initial or follow‐up
VAI Financial Advisor consultation and instead enroll in Personal Advisor using an all‐digital enrollment
process. If you switch from Digital Advisor to Personal Advisor you must enroll in Personal Advisor prior to
scheduling a call.
Clients enrolled in Personal Advisor will have the ability to call and schedule an appointment with a VAI
Financial Advisor at any time. Employer‐sponsored retirement plan participants (“Participants”) with
Portfolio securities less than $500,000 and Vanguard Brokerage Account Clients are assigned to a team
of VAI Financial Advisors. Clients assigned to a team of advisors can schedule an appointment with a VAI
Financial Advisor by logging in to the Site and scheduling a convenient time for the VAI Financial Advisor
to call them, or by calling us at 877‐662‐ 7447.
Participants with Portfolio securities equal to or more than $500,000 receive an assigned VAI Financial
Advisor. Participants with Portfolio securities of $500,000 or more can contact their VAI Financial Advisor
directly by phone or by scheduling an appointment through the Site.
If you and your partner enroll in different Services, VAI Financial Advisors can provide general financial
planning assistance to your household, however, they will only provide investment guidance on the
accounts you have enrolled in Personal Advisor.
VAI reserves the right, in its discretion, to alter its service models without notice or grant exceptions to
the service models where it deems appropriate.
VAI Financial Advisor consultations also include point‐in‐time brokerage account type recommendations,
including cash management account recommendations, based on client needs.
Building your profile
Your financial goals will be specific to the inputs you set. The Services are not intended to provide
comprehensive tax advice or financial planning with respect to every aspect of your financial situation.
Our ability to optimize your Portfolio allocation is dependent on the information you enter into the Site,
including your planned savings, projections of future spending needs, and responses to visualizations of the
potential financial goal planning options. We will also use the information you provide to us through the Site
to generate goals‐based forecasting and recommendations on how to better meet your investing goals. Any
such goals‐based forecasting and recommendations are a point‐in‐time assessment based on your situation
and goals at the time you access the Site. We do not proactively update your forecasts, provide continuous
financial planning, or generally monitor your progress toward your financial goals on an ongoing basis. You
must interact with the Site for updated forecasts and personalized messaging about your plan progress.
If you elect to include self‐managed accounts in goal forecasts, including spouse’s or partner’s accounts,
these account types and balances may be considered for purposes of goals forecasting. Information
regarding self‐managed accounts does not influence or alter the investment recommendations unless you
affirmatively elect to adjust your asset allocation subject to availability. This adjustment election is also
subject to certain limitations. We do not make specific investment recommendations or manage
investments in self‐managed accounts, including those held at an entity outside of Vanguard.
If you switch between Services (either from Digital Advisor to Personal Advisor or from Personal Advisor to
Digital Advisor) then the information and elections that you provided to the prior Service will be used to
manage your Portfolio in the new Service unless you make additional changes.
7
Supplement
to
the
Agreement
on
the
Site
Enhanced Household Service
Clients with Vanguard Brokerage Accounts have an option to create a unified investment strategy and share
digital access with a partner by electing the enhanced household service (“Enhanced Household Service” or
“Enhanced Household”). In order to elect the Enhanced Household Service, you and your partner must agree
to specific terms including separately consenting to the Vanguard Discretionary Advice Enhanced Household
Agreement
at
Client
https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/vanguard‐discretionary‐advice‐household‐agreement.pdf. If you and a
partner elect to enroll in the Enhanced Household Service then certain parts of the service are limited as
disclosed on the Site. For example, currently Participant Accounts are not eligible for the Enhanced
Household Service. For purposes of the descriptions contained in this Brochure, “you” refers to you and
your partner if you have elected the Enhanced Household Service.
You should not elect the Enhanced Household Service if you have different investment goals, risk attitudes,
or investment preferences from your partner. Additionally, you should not make this election if you are not
comfortable with your partner having joint access to the Site, which includes seeing your detailed account
information and having limited agency ability to initiate money movement in your accounts. If you wish to
add information about a partner to your plan, but not share Site access or create a unified investment
strategy then you could opt to create a “Basic Household” profile.
Personal Advisor Transition Services
Personal Advisor offers additional transition services if you are unenrolling from Vanguard Personal Advisor
Select (“Select”) and enrolling into Vanguard Personal Advisor. If you are transitioning you will not be
required to enroll the aggregate account balance required for new clients. In this experience, you can
simultaneously confirm your unenrollment from Select and enrollment in Personal Advisor. If you previously
elected tax loss harvesting services in Select, your election will carry over to Personal Advisor.
Processing unenrollment, including any final Select fee assessments, will typically take VAI 4‐6 business
days after which you will gain access to the Site and your Portfolio will be rebalanced in accordance with
your Personal Advisor settings, if required under the Service’s methodology. Certain account settings
may result in a longer transition period, inclusive of additional VAI outreach to confirm Client
preferences. In the interim, Clients can schedule appointments with VAI Financial Advisors and request
transactions by calling 877‐662‐ 7447.
Vanguard Brokerage Account Clients
Enrollments in Vanguard Digital Advisor require at least a $100 balance in each eligible Vanguard
Brokerage Account. Enrollments in Personal Advisor require an aggregate $50,000 balance or greater
in eligible Vanguard Brokerage Accounts. Plan participants may also enroll Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts in Personal Advisor subject to the eligibility criteria described under “Participant Account
Clients” below.
Eligible Vanguard Brokerage Account types include taxable accounts (e.g., individual, revocable living
trusts subject to receipt of trustee consent, or joint accounts with rights of survivorship) as well as
certain tax‐advantaged accounts (e.g., traditional, Roth, SEP, or rollover IRAs). Inherited traditional or
Roth IRAs are also eligible. Revocable living trusts can be managed if you are the sole trustee or if you
elected an Enhanced Household Service you and your partner are the only trustees.
For each brokerage account you wish to enroll, the entire balance must be in certain investment types
(based on eligibility screening by a Service at the time of enrollment) and/or the brokerage account’s
settlement fund. The settlement fund includes both money market fund and bank sweep products
8
designated by Vanguard Brokerage Services. You are responsible for deciding the settlement fund
option you wish to utilize prior to enrollment. Selection of a settlement fund option is not part of the
Service. If your brokerage account holds investments that are not accommodated by a Service’s
breakeven analysis or trading capabilities, then such account will be ineligible for enrollment.
If an account is enrolled in a Service with pending trades, we reserve the right to cancel those trades as
needed to allocate assets to the recommended portfolio.
We recognize that you may experience costs and tax consequences associated with selling your existing
securities positions to implement our lead advice recommendations. As such, subject to eligibility
screening at enrollment of an account or when you make new investment elections, we’ll weigh the
costs of transitioning the securities you hold before enrolling in a Service using a breakeven cost analysis
(unless you’ve elected an ESG investment setting). We consider your costs by estimating the capital gains
tax impacts compared to the expense ratio benefits from selling securities that are inconsistent with
our lead recommendation.
We rely on cost information provided by third‐party data providers when performing our break‐even
analysis. In its discretion, we may change data providers and may revise the methodology used to perform
our break‐even analysis based on, among other things, data availability, our judgments about data quality,
and to ensure that portfolios are constructed in accordance with our investment philosophy. A change of
third‐party data providers can result in changes to the costs and tax consequences experienced when selling
existing securities. The breakeven analysis does not account for any fee offsets. If the securities you held
before enrolling in a Service pass our breakeven cost analysis, we’ll recommend that you continue to
hold all or a portion of such securities, subject to our portfolio construction guidelines. If they fail the
breakeven cost analysis, we’ll recommend that you sell those positions and implement our lead advice
recommendations. The breakeven analysis does not screen for investing style so your Portfolio could
hold investments for an extended period of time that are inconsistent with your selected investment
setting (i.e., retention of an actively managed fund with a total market all‐index investment setting.)
Read the section below titled “Customizations” for additional information about imposing restrictions
or requesting accommodations from the recommended investment strategy. Retention of existing
securities in your portfolio to minimize tax consequences will result in variance to the calculation of
your advisory fees. For example, if a non‐ Vanguard security is retained under the break‐even analysis,
you will incur any investment costs (e.g., expense ratios) that are not revenues to Vanguard in addition to
the advisory fees you pay to VAI. See “Fees and Compensation” below for more information on fees.
Even in situations where your Portfolio continues to hold securities you purchased before enrolling in
a Service, we’ll recommend that any additional purchases in your Portfolio be made into Vanguard
Funds, as applicable for your investment setting.
For enrolled Vanguard Brokerage accounts, our lead investment recommendations will normally be
limited to allocations in certain Vanguard Funds, based on cost, diversification and their ability to help
facilitate investment strategies, such as total market, active, or tax loss harvesting, in Portfolios. Our
include
investment recommendations for assets held in Vanguard Brokerage Accounts will not
recommendations to purchase individual securities or bonds, CDs, options, derivatives, annuities, third‐
party mutual funds, closed‐end funds, unit investment trusts, partnerships, or other non‐ Vanguard
securities. In particular, we will typically recommend varying combinations of Vanguard Total Stock Market
ETF, Vanguard Total International Stock Market ETF, Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and Vanguard Total
International Bond ETF (collectively referred to as the “Four Totals”) within Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
for passive index exposure, such as the total market all‐index investment option. Other investment
9
options also include combinations of other Vanguard mutual funds, including certain Vanguard Funds
exclusively available to advisory clients, and other Vanguard ETFs. If you hold mutual fund share classes
of a Vanguard ETF within your Vanguard Brokerage Accounts when you enroll, we may complete your
target asset allocation around those existing mutual fund share class positions if those holdings provide
appropriate asset allocation exposure. New investments will be allocated to the ETF share classes. See
“Fees and compensation” below, Clients do not collectively pay more to Vanguard and its affiliates if
their advised investments are held in mutual funds vs. ETFs due to the revenue offset.
Under certain circumstances (e.g., a Portfolio with Participant Accounts and Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts), we will recommend other Vanguard ETFs and funds other than the Four Totals to complete
your target asset allocations: including but not limited to Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF,
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, Vanguard Extended Market ETF,
Vanguard Growth ETF, Vanguard Value ETF, Vanguard Short‐Term Bond ETF, Vanguard Intermediate‐
Term Bond ETF, Vanguard Intermediate Term Tax Exempt Fund, Vanguard Limited Term Tax Exempt
Fund, Vanguard Long‐Term Bond ETF, Vanguard Long Term Tax‐Exempt Fund, and Vanguard Tax‐
Exempt Bond ETF. In certain circumstances, based on your Portfolio’s composition relative to your target
asset allocation as well as consideration of potential tax consequences of selling to achieve your target
asset allocation, we will recommend other ETFs such as Vanguard S&P 500 ETF or Vanguard Extended
Market ETF to better satisfy the sub‐asset class targets to achieve a diversified portfolio. Additionally,
you may elect into another investment option that uses other Vanguard ETFs or funds. More information
can be found under the heading entitled “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss”
below.
Vanguard offers a range of different solutions to help you meet your financial goals, including self‐
directed brokerage services, single fund investments (such as Vanguard’s Target Retirement Funds), and
different investment advisory programs. If you are considering investing through a total market index
investment setting, you should understand that each of the Four Totals is a share class of the mutual
funds that are used (or are substantially similar to the mutual funds used) in Vanguard’s Target
Retirement Funds. In certain circumstances, a total market investment setting portfolio will contain
identical allocations to the four Total Funds that are available in a Vanguard Target Retirement Fund,
which is generally available at a lower cost than the Services. You should consider the advisory fees and
Vanguard expense ratios you will incur upon enrollment as well as the personalized features and
additional services that are available through each Service in comparison to the lower costs and absence
of personalized services of Vanguard single fund solutions when considering the managed offer. When
considering whether to enroll in a Service, you should consider that you will pay both the advisory fees
and investment fees (e.g., Vanguard Fund or ETF expense ratios) upon enrollment in exchange for
receiving access to a Service’s personalized features and services offered to Clients. In comparison, an
investor who decides to not enroll would have access to many of the same Vanguard Funds without the
payment of advisory fees but would also not have access to each Service’s personalized features and
services offered to Clients.
Participant Account Clients
You may enroll your Participant Accounts, specifically a 401(k), Roth 401(k), 401 (a), or 403 (b) U.S. tax
qualified retirement plan account, in each Service only if the Service has been made available by your
plan fiduciary.
To enroll in Personal Advisor, Participants must have a minimum of $250,000 in their Participant
Account. If Participants elect to enroll Vanguard Brokerage Accounts, those balances will also satisfy
this minimum. Alternatively, Participants can also enroll their Participant Account at any asset level if
they elect to enroll Vanguard Brokerage Accounts that total $50,000 or more.
10
There is a $5 minimum Participant Account balance required to enroll an eligible Participant Account in
Digital Advisor. In some cases, your plan fiduciary may have enrolled your plan account in Digital Advisor and
provided certain information on your behalf that was necessary to create your Portfolio, such as risk
attitude, retirement age, length of retirement, retirement contributions, and retirement spending. You are
encouraged to access your account to personalize your risk attitude and complete your profile, which will
trigger Digital Advisor to reassess your asset allocation. Personalizing your enrollment will also give you
access to plan additional goals and use digital tools like the debt payoff calculator. If your plan fiduciary
enrolls your account and you do not take action to un‐enroll from Digital Advisor, your decision to remain
enrolled in the service will constitute your approval of the inputs provided by your plan sponsor and the
investment strategy selected for your Portfolio. Enrolled Accounts with no assets will automatically be un‐
enrolled from Digital Advisor.
Our investment recommendations for Participant Accounts will normally be limited to allocations in certain
Vanguard and non‐Vanguard: mutual funds, collective investment trusts, or stable value funds. We will
not include recommendations to purchase individual securities (except for reasonable accommodations
for company stock) or bonds, CDs, options, derivatives, annuities, closed‐end funds, unit investment
trusts, or partnerships. Plans and Participants will have the opportunity to provide a Service with
additional information about their desired allocation to company stock investments if the Participant’s
Account is invested in, or eligible to invest in (in the event a company match is available), such assets.
Additionally, if your Participant Accounts have multiple tax types or funding sources (i.e. pre‐tax or
after‐tax), then we will also seek to allocate future contributions to optimize tax efficiency. This
contribution allocation can automatically change when changes to your employee or employer
contributions become effective subject to your employer plan contributions and limits, as well as other
plan design considerations, if sufficient information is available to the Services. Typically, your employer
must authorize the Services to be offered to your Participant Account in order to receive automated
updates. Generally, 403(b) and 401(a) plan types are assumed to be substantially similar to 401(k)s within
the methodology. Depending on your employer plan, you may be able to manually enter contributions
to update your future contribution allocation.
For Participants in eligible employer‐sponsored retirement plans, we will recommend an asset
allocation based on the investment options selected by the plan fiduciary as the plan lineup and will
typically recommend a combination of specific Vanguard Funds or affiliated collective investment
trusts as well as investments that are unaffiliated with Vanguard and selected in order to invest based on
your financial goals.. We will select Participant Account investments based on their asset allocation
alignment with the methodology outlined in “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk
of loss” below. Our lead portfolio recommendations seek to be globally diversified across equity and fixed
income asset classes. However, if your plan fiduciary does not offer a currency‐hedged international
fixed income index fund, we will use a US aggregate bond index fund for fixed income asset allocation
exposure. By enrolling a Participant Account, you will be directing us to apply our asset allocation
methodology to invest in funds offered in your plan's lineup as it exists today and as that lineup may be
changed by your plan fiduciary in the future. Additionally, Participants in certain employer‐sponsored
retirement plans may not be eligible to enroll or remain enrolled if the plan lineup only includes company
stock or third‐party investments that lack the asset allocation exposure required by our investment
strategy.
Investments (e.g., mutual funds or collective investment trusts) that are not affiliated with Vanguard
may be included in your Portfolio to meet your allocation, if they are made available as part of your plan
lineup of investment choices and including them is necessary to meet our recommended investment
strategy and asset allocation for your Portfolio. Clients may be un‐enrolled from a Service if their plan
11
fiduciary changes the plan lineup and there are insufficient investment options to complete the
recommended investment strategy and asset allocation. Alternatively, the Service could modify your
investment strategy options due to changes in your plan lineup. If a plan fiduciary elects to change
recordkeeping service providers, your Participant Account will be un‐enrolled as part of the transition.
Additionally, Participants with self‐ directed brokerage accounts in their Participant Accounts will be
ineligible to enroll or stay enrolled in a Service.
All Clients
You will be given the opportunity to preview our initial recommended asset allocation and specific fund
recommendations to determine whether to enroll in the Services (except if your plan fiduciary has
enrolled your Participant Account in Digital Advisor). These recommendations are based on a point‐in‐
time assessment of our projected investment strategy for your selected investment settings as
applicable, to manage towards your financial goals. In the event you choose to implement these
recommendations without enrolling, we will not be held responsible for any losses resulting from any
delays or mistakes in such implementation caused by you.
Once you’ve agreed to enroll your Portfolio, we will provide discretionary management based on the
financial goals and investment settings you set in the Site. Enrollment starts on the day you
electronically execute the Client Agreement on the Site for an account unless you accept the Agreement
as part of a transfer of assets then that account’s enrollment will start on the date your Enrolled Account
is funded with the applicable minimum amount of assets (“Enrollment Date”). For example, rolling over
assets from an employer‐sponsored plan to open a new Vanguard Brokerage Account.
It is extremely important that you immediately notify us through the Site of material changes to your
willingness and ability to tolerate risk, financial situation, financial goals, and investment objectives.
The foregoing does not apply if your plan fiduciary enrolls your plan account in Digital Advisor and
provides certain information on your behalf that was necessary to create your Portfolio. You should also
compare the different fees and services that are offered through Digital Advisor and Personal Advisor
when deciding which Service is more appropriate for you. You can invest in Digital Advisor and receive
access to the same online financial planning tools and discretionary investment advice offered through
Personal Advisor at a lower fee. However, you will not have access to VAI Financial Advisor
consultations.
By enrolling in a Service, you’re granting us discretionary investment authority to purchase and sell
securities on your behalf. Accordingly, we will assess Portfolios using an algorithm (typically on each
business day that markets are open for trading, however, we may in our discretion for technical or
market infrastructure reasons forgo an assessment on a given day) to determine whether a rebalancing
opportunity exists consistent with our investment strategy.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we will not attempt to engage in market timing trading practices. We may
evolve our investment strategy described below under the heading “Methods of analysis, investment
strategies, and risk of loss” from time to time.
Each Service’s Site includes content based on your goals and provides personalized reporting. Once you
are enrolled, the Site is accessed by logging on to your account at vanguard.com.
For Clients enrolled in a Service, we will contact you, at least annually via the Site to validate your financial
goal(s) chosen for the Portfolio for the purposes of determining whether there have been any changes in
your financial situation, risk tolerance, tax situation, investment time horizon, investment objectives,
or desired customizations. Again, it is critical that you interact with us during these attempts to validate
12
your financial goals, needs, and the strategy chosen for the Portfolio, or whenever you believe that you
may have experienced material changes to your financial situation, investment objectives, restrictions,
and willingness and ability to tolerate risk, in order to ensure that our investment strategy is appropriately
tailored to your financial goals. If you fail to validate your current investor profile or respond to our
attempts to confirm your information, we’ll assume that there have been no changes, and we’ll continue
in accordance with the financial goals you set on the Site. VAI reserves the right to un‐enroll your
Portfolio from management if you fail to respond or interact with the Site.
Before enrolling in a Service, Clients should consider paying off high‐interest debt. If potential returns on your
investments are lower than your debt’s interest rate, it may be best to prioritize debt payments first. See
“Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss‐ Goals forecasting” for the investment
returns we assume for the asset classes in each Service’s portfolios.
Enrolled Account Restrictions and Defaults
When you enroll, you will no longer be able to independently purchase or sell securities in your Portfolio, and
you will be restricted from such activity until you terminate a Service.
Transactions performed in a Portfolio enrolled in a Service without prior notice to us may be reversed
or unwound by us to maintain the recommended allocation for your Portfolio (including any investment
setting elections). If you enroll while trades are pending, we reserve the right to cancel those trades or
otherwise take the actions necessary to invest your Enrolled Accounts into the target asset allocation.
Ineligible trades or transfers placed in a taxable Vanguard Brokerage Account may result in taxable
consequences. Other account transactions or services, like automatic trading services (such as recurring
investment into specific investments/withdrawal from multiple accounts), will be restricted or unavailable
through your traditional self‐directed account web experience. Subject to limitations in the Site, you will
be able to schedule automatic withdrawals for a single Vanguard Brokerage Account. This capability is
expected to expand over time. Specific Enrolled Account restrictions and default account requirements
for enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts and enrolled Participant Accounts are summarized below.
Enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
In connection with enrollment in a Service, you’ll retain the right to: (i) withdraw securities and take sales
proceeds as cash from the Portfolio; (ii) vote on shareholder proposals of beneficially owned securities or
delegate the authority to vote on such proposals to another person; (iii) be provided, in a timely manner,
with a confirmation or other notification of each securities transaction in the Portfolio and all other
documents required by law to be provided to security holders; and (iv) proceed directly as a security
holder against the issuer of any security in the Portfolio and not be obligated to join any person involved
in the operation of the service, or any other Client of the service, as a condition precedent to initiating
such proceeding.
If you enroll a brokerage account that is currently approved for margin, your approval to invest on margin
will be revoked. If you have any outstanding margin debt, that debt will need to be satisfied. We will
undertake to trade to satisfy any outstanding margin debt, however, additional collection may be required
if your assets are insufficient to do so. Due to certain limited functionality, Clients may need to un‐
enroll accounts from the service in order to perform certain functions as disclosed in the Site or call
Vanguard.
If you have not taken action to complete an automatic transition of a legacy mutual fund investment platform
account to Vanguard Brokerage Account, your provisional Vanguard Brokerage Account will carry trading
restrictions that limit the Services. You will be prevented from enrolling while a brokerage account is in
13
provisional status. In the event one of your Enrolled Accounts is in this status, then your assistance will be
required to ensure the Services operate as intended or any impacted Enrolled Account will be unenrolled.
MinTax cost basis method default for enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Election of the minimum tax (“MinTax”) cost basis method is required to enroll in the Service. The MinTax
cost basis method is generally designed to minimize the effective tax rate of a transaction and potentially
lower an individual’s tax burden by identifying selective units or quantities, also referred to as lots, of
securities to sell in any sale transaction (including rebalancing) based on specific ordering rules. MinTax
cost basis method may not minimize tax impacts of a given transaction. For example, if the taxable
accounts within your Portfolio hold a position with a small short‐term capital loss and a large long‐term
capital loss, the MinTax cost basis method will choose to sell the position held at a small short‐term
capital loss first. The method’s effectiveness at minimizing your taxes will vary depending on your
individual circumstances. You should consult with your tax advisor to discuss whether the election of
MinTax cost basis method as part of enrollment in the Service is appropriate for you given your
individual circumstances.
While we will consider the tax impact (because of the account type) of potential Portfolio changes,
transitioning the Portfolio based on our portfolio construction guidelines could result in realized taxable
gains or losses, or the generation of taxable dividend income or tax‐preference items that are taxable
under the alternative minimum tax. The Site discloses estimates of capital gains as part of enrollment and
as part of confirmation of other changes after enrollment. Neither VAI nor any affiliated entity shall have any
responsibility to pay these taxes.
We do not provide tax preparation advice, nor does a Service’s use of the MinTax cost basis method
constitute tax advice. We strongly urge you to consult with your tax advisor to discuss any tax concerns
related to the Services, including the appropriate cost basis method for you before enrollment or if you
elect to unenroll from a Service.
Cash in /Cash out for enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
While enrolled in a Service, you may transfer cash to and from the Portfolio at any time, and you may
add or un‐enroll eligible accounts at any time via the Site. You will be able to transfer funds from any
bank that you have linked to your Vanguard Brokerage Account Additionally, you are able to transfer
funds into your managed accounts from a settlement fund in a taxable Vanguard Brokerage Account or
from a Vanguard Cash Plus Account. All transaction requests are subject to processing times that vary
dependent on trade settlement as well as any related electronic transfers (or ACH) processing timelines.
Additionally, you will also be able request withdraws in cash to other taxable Vanguard Brokerage Accounts,
including another managed taxable Enrolled Account. For Enhanced Households, account to account
transfers are limited by account registrations and authority authorizations. As of the date of this brochure,
transfers in cash to tax‐deferred accounts (e.g. IRAs) are not offered. If you transfer funds between Enrolled
Accounts then multiple trades will likely occur to process the withdrawal and additional rebalancing could
occur in your Portfolio once funds are received in the destination account subject to the rebalancing polices
discussed below under Review of Accounts. The Service does not offer guidance or recommendations for in
kind securities transfers at this time. However, you can self‐direct specific gifts or transfers of securities in
kind between taxable Vanguard Brokerage Accounts including to and from taxable Enrolled Vanguard
Brokerage Accounts by contacting VMC directly. Assets transferred in kind to taxable Enrolled Brokerage
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Accounts will be assessed for potential sale or rebalancing consistent with your recommended investment
strategy. There is a risk of additional tax consequences associated with any rebalancing.
We reserve the right to un‐ enroll Clients that maintain a balance below $100 in Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts. We will un‐enroll your Vanguard Brokerage Account if the balance is $50 or less.
Clients seeking to withdraw an amount from their Vanguard Brokerage Account that would cause the
account balance to be less than $100 will be instructed to un‐enroll the account rather than use the “Get
Cash” functionality. Enrolled Accounts with no assets will automatically be un‐enrolled from a Service.
Transfers between Enrolled Accounts less than $300 will not be automatically reinvested unless another
Portfolio review trigger occurs.
Transfers of funds into your Enrolled Accounts typically are invested after two business days although
the specific circumstances of your transfer could result in longer processing times. Any amounts
transferred into an Enrolled Account will be allocated to the appropriate investments based on our
rebalancing methodology. To invest assets in Enrolled Accounts as quickly as possible, we will place trades
based on the availability of pending transfers of cash in your Vanguard Brokerage Account. If you set up
multiple financial goals, it typically takes one to two additional business days to invest your contribution
and for the Service’s algorithm to recognize your contribution relative to your planned savings.
Also, transfers of funds using methods outside of ACH transfers, wire transfers, check, or incoming rollover
transactions will not be automatically allocated as planned savings for purposes of calculating your
target asset allocation. In accordance with your VMC Custodial Account Agreement governing your
Vanguard Brokerage Account, your ability to use recently added funds may be restricted until they are
collected. In addition, if funds are unpaid, recalled, or otherwise not honored, then VMC may debit your
Vanguard Brokerage Account (including executing transactions) and/or charge your Vanguard
Brokerage Account a fee. Your account may also be subject to VMC trade limitations in the event a
transfer error results in insufficient funds. When cash is transferred to the Portfolio as a result of
automated account services (such as an recurring investment ) or investment earnings (such as interest
or dividend payments), the cash will be allocated in accordance with our investment strategy upon your
next rebalancing opportunity. Trades typically will be placed as soon as your account is credited with
the transfer not when funds have settled.
Rebalancing occurs periodically in your Portfolio based on a systematic review on whether particular
guardrails relative to your target recommended asset allocation are triggered. Upon enrollment,
Enrolled Accounts will be defaulted to receiving dividend and capital gain distributions in cash to
optimize rebalancing opportunities. Subject to the use of fractional share trading practices described
below, the Services are currently only able to purchase whole shares of ETFs in your Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts. We will monitor the assets in your settlement fund(s) in these accounts and will look for
opportunities to put them to work in accordance with our investment strategy. Balances may remain
in your settlement fund, generally less than $50 across your Portfolio. The lower your account balance
the more likely that cash equivalent balances may remain in your settlement fund due to ETF share
prices and consequently your settlement fund will represent a disproportionately higher percentage of
your Portfolio.
You will be able to request the sale of assets in your enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts and to have
the proceeds sent as cash to your authenticated and authorized linked bank account(s) via an electronic
bank transfer.
Transfers of cash out of your enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Account typically take two to four business days to
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occur (subject to the settlement of securities and other transactions in your managed account). Market
closures will delay the settlement of transactions, which will, in turn, delay the transfer of cash out of your
account. Additionally, due to market fluctuations it is possible that your withdrawal may require multiple
trading days to generate your requested amount. One‐time withdrawals cannot be scheduled to occur at
the same time as a scheduled withdrawal.
Taking out cash will have an impact on your financial goal progress. Unplanned withdrawals do not
automatically update your target goal amount when you take such a withdrawal, and you will also need
to separately update your plan to ensure that your needed goal amount remains accurate. If you do not
update your target goal amount when you take an unplanned withdrawal to meet a goal, then your
investments will not be efficiently invested for your needs, because we will assume you still need to fund
the full goal amount. If the balance of your settlement fund is sufficient to cover the withdrawal request,
shares of the settlement fund will be sold to cover the withdrawal rather than selling assets in your
enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Account otherwise your Portfolio will be reallocated within our
methodology guardrails to raise cash sufficient to satisfy your withdrawal request. More information
regarding the methodology used on the Site is provided in the sections of this Brochure that follow under
the heading entitled “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss” below.
Purchase and sale of securities in a Portfolio for enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
While enrolled in the Services, you are restricted from purchasing or selling securities in your Portfolio
until you terminate the Services. Ineligible transactions performed in a Portfolio enrolled in the Services
may be reversed or unwound by us in order to maintain the recommended allocation for your Portfolio.
Each Service currently does not accept the transfer of securities into enrolled Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts. When externally initiating transfers into your enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Account, all
transferred assets should be in cash, unless transferred through certain VMC transfer of assets
processes. If you transfer securities into an enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Account they will be sold as
soon as reasonably practicable, which will result in the realization of investment gains and losses and
may result in a taxable event in taxable accounts. Any charges or fees associated with the sale, such as
contingent deferred sales charges, that are not revenue to Vanguard remain your sole responsibly. If
we are unable to liquidate transferred investments, we will contact you to discuss your options.
Enrolled Participant Accounts
Any default investment, distribution, withdrawal, or loan transactions will continue to be subject to the
terms of your plan. While enrolled, you are prohibited from initiating investment exchanges and
directing the investment of new contributions in your plan account unless you terminate the service. In
certain situations, de minimis investments may be added to your account in accordance with plan terms
(for example, as a result of dividends or rebates from investments held in your account prior to the date
of enrollment). In addition, certain investments may be contributed to your Participant Account by your
employer in accordance with plan rules (e.g., upon auto‐ enrollment in the plan). Such investments
generally will be re‐ balanced from your account.
All Account Types
The Services may not be appropriate for all investors. Clients interested in other types of investment
advice services regarding assets held in the Portfolio may contact VAI to discuss alternative
arrangements or services. You may not receive third‐party discretionary advice on assets held in the
Portfolio. If you wish to receive third‐party discretionary advice regarding certain securities in the
Portfolio, you should terminate the Services. You may separately arrange for the provision of advice by
another provider that has no material affiliation with, and receives no compensation in connection with,
the securities held in your account(s).
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Enrolled Accounts with no assets will automatically be un‐enrolled. For Digital Advisor, you may
terminate the service at any time via the Site; however, in its discretion the Service may test alternative
methods to terminate including requiring you to contact Vanguard from time to time. You can unenroll
individual accounts from Personal Advisor on the Site, but final account termination must be completed
by contacting Vanguard. If you terminate your Portfolio will remain invested in the investment options
selected by us until you take further action. Upon requesting termination, your account will remain
restricted from trading for up to four business days to remove the managed status from your account if
there are pending transactions.
Restrictions will typically be lifted within one business day. Depending on the timing of your termination
relative to each Service’s automated trade process, additional trades could process prior to the removal of
the managed status from your account.
As of December 31, 2025, Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”), had a total of $120,702,400,000 in discretionary
client assets under management and $223,917,200,000
in non‐discretionary client assets under
management.
Fees and compensation
Clients are subject to a gross advisory fee but pay to VAI a net advisory fee. As detailed and computed below,
the fee is designed to mitigate conflicts of interest for any revenues that Vanguard receives on assets held
in the underlying investments (for example, revenues from Vanguard Funds). Each Service will reduce your
gross advisory fee by the amount of revenue that Vanguard (or a Vanguard affiliate) collects on your Portfolio
in order to calculate the net advisory fee. The net advisory fee is expected to be approximately 0.15%‐
0.16% or 0.30%‐0.31% across your Portfolio for a total market all‐ index investment option for Digital
Advisor and Personal Advisor, respectively, although actual expenses will vary based on the specific
holdings and investment settings in each Enrolled Account. Your net advisory fee can also vary by Enrolled
Account type. The combined annual costs of enrolling in a Service and investing in Vanguard Funds or
collective investment trusts will vary for Participants within a particular plan. As described in more detail
below, the gross advisory fees do not include investment expense ratios—such as fees paid to the funds'
third‐party managers, which aren't credited because they are not Vanguard revenues.
Gross Advisory fee
The gross advisory fee compensates us for the ongoing discretionary management of the Enrolled
Accounts and is inclusive of the services described in this brochure. The gross advisory fee will be
calculated across all securities in your Enrolled Accounts, except for money market fund securities (or
other cash equivalent assets like assets held in a bank sweep settlement account) held in the settlement
fund within your Enrolled Accounts.
The gross advisory fee does not include the expenses that you incur to invest in the underlying funds,
collective investment trusts, or ETFs in your Enrolled Accounts. You will be responsible for paying
underlying fund, collective investment trust, or ETF expenses charged at the individual holding levels
within your Enrolled Accounts. These underlying funds, collective investment trust, or ETF expenses vary by
fund and share class, and are expenses that all fund and ETF shareholders and collective investment trust
holders pay. Details of fund and ETF expenses can be found in each fund’s or ETF’s prospectus. These
expenses are not itemized or billed separately. The gross advisory fee is rounded to the nearest whole
penny using standard rounding for the purpose of calculating the net fee amount to be charged.
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Enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Your enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts will be subject to an annual gross advisory fee based
on your average daily balance of the assets held in your account.
Digital Advisor’s annual gross advisory fee for each Vanguard Brokerage Accounts is 0.20% for its all‐
index investment options or 0.25% for an active/index mix. Personal Advisor’s annual gross advisory
fee for Vanguard Brokerage Accounts is 0.35% for its all‐index investment options and 0.40% for an
active/index mix.
Enrolled Participant Accounts
Your enrolled Participant Accounts will be subject to an annual gross advisory fee based on your
average daily balance of funds and collective investment trusts held in your account. Digital
Advisor’s and Personal Advisor’s annual gross advisory fees for your Participant Account varies
by plan, investment setting, and Service. Please see your plan fee disclosure notices for the
applicable annual gross advisory fees that apply to your plan assets.
Net Advisory Fee (Credit Amount)
The annual gross advisory fee applied to each Enrolled Account is reduced by a credit of the actual revenue
Vanguard (or a Vanguard affiliate) accrues and retains from expense ratios of Vanguard Funds or other
Vanguard revenues received from Portfolio investments (e.g., 12b‐1 or revenue sharing fees) in each
Enrolled Account. Revenue sharing fees as well as certain other affiliated broker dealer fees are credited
manually and are not automated.
We will not credit de minimis amounts of revenue sharing or other affiliated revenues identified
through manual reviews less than $1.00 that we receive in the event you erroneously transfer securities
into a managed account, or, for Participant Accounts, securities added to the account in relation to
investments held prior to management of the account. Assets held in a Vanguard Brokerage Account’s
settlement fund (either money market or bank sweep) are not strategic allocations. Net advisory fees
will not be a negative amount.
Your resulting net advisory fee calculated for each account will be the actual fee collected. These actual
amounts will vary based on your unique asset allocation and fund investments within the Portfolio and
the holdings in each Enrolled Account. The credit amount will be rounded to the nearest whole penny
using standard rounding for the purpose of calculating the net advisory fee.
Account specific credit information
Enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts will be primarily composed of ETF shares and Vanguard
mutual funds that trade commission‐free through VMC, doing business as Vanguard Brokerage
Services, ® a registered broker‐dealer that’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard and an
affiliate of VAI. Expected net advisory fees will vary based on your selected investment setting.
A total market all‐index investment setting comprised of the Four Totals ETFs will be credited
approximately 0.04% as of the date of this brochure resulting in a net advisory fee of
approximately 0.16% for Digital Advisor and approximately 0.31% for Personal Advisor. For the
ESG all‐index investment setting, approximate net advisory fees are expected to range from
0.11% to 0.12% in Digital Advisor and approximately 0.26% to 0.27% in Personal Advisor. This is
due to the varied and higher‐cost of investments resulting in a higher credit amount due to the
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associated Vanguard revenues.
If you select an active/index mix, the net advisory fee you pay will vary based on the specific
funds included in your portfolio. That's because the expenses for these funds are varied and fees
paid to some active funds' third‐party managers aren't credited because they are not Vanguard
revenues. As of the date of this brochure, net advisory fees collected in Digital Advisor are
estimated to range from about 0.11% to 0.21% and in Personal Advisor are estimated to
range from about 0.26% to 0.36% for clients that elect an active/index investment setting.
In addition to investment setting elections, there are some other reasons that your net advisory
fees could vary. For example, if you hold mutual fund share classes of the Four Totals within IRA
accounts when you enroll, each Service will complete your target asset allocation around those
existing holdings resulting in a higher credit amount due to the associated Vanguard revenues. If
you enroll taxable Vanguard Brokerage Accounts with existing investments that are retained
under the breakeven analysis described above or elect to otherwise customize investments in your
Enrolled Accounts, then the credit amount will vary based on the Vanguard revenues, if any,
generated from the retained investments. Vanguard does not collect revenue from the advisory
fees paid to nonaffiliated external managers of Vanguard actively managed mutual funds and
unless there are revenue sharing payments Vanguard typically will not collect revenue from non‐
Vanguard investments. As a result, any investment fees and expenses associated with those
investments are not offset and Clients are responsible for those expenses in addition to the advisory
fees.
Additionally, as of the date of this brochure, Clients enrolled in an advisory program serviced by an
affiliate of Vanguard including the Services are exempt from the VMC account service fee. To the
extent that you incur account service fees, commission charges, other account charges and
processing fees in connection with establishing accounts with VAI affiliates or prior to enrollment,
you should review the terms of your account opening documents for details regarding fees that
are assessed in connection with these accounts. See the current VMC services commission & fee
schedules for Vanguard Brokerage Account details and your plan participant disclosures for
employer retirement plan details. If Vanguard or a Vanguard affiliate receives revenue from these
charges because of discretionary management of the account, they will be included in the credit
amount deducted from your gross advisory fee. Due to manual processing, the timing of the credit of
these other charges will differ from the automated process to credit revenues from Portfolio
holdings and certain credits and could take the form of a check reimbursement. From time to
time, Vanguard affiliates may jointly market products and services, revenue from affiliate
products and services will not be credited unless those charges are incurred due to the ongoing
discretionary management of your Portfolio.
Mutual fund trades in a Vanguard Brokerage Account held through VMC are limited to those fund
families with which VMC has entered into a selling agreement. VMC receives transaction fees, front‐
and back‐end loads, sales charges, and 12b‐1 fees in connection with certain transactions in third‐party
mutual funds through VMC’s FundAccess® program. VMC will also receive fees for the provisioning of
various shareholder services in connection with the participation of certain mutual funds in the
FundAccess program. These may be considered revenue sharing and represent a significant source of
revenue for VMC. Determined in accordance with an asset‐based formula, these payments may equal
up to 0.40% of a mutual fund’s assets under management at VMC on an annual basis. VMC will also
receive operational payments from mutual funds in the form of networking or per‐position fees of up
to $20 for each customer position in a mutual fund on an annual basis.
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These fees are reimbursed to VMC for the work it performs on behalf of the funds, which may include,
but is not limited to, sub accounting services, dividend calculation and posting, accounting,
reconciliation, client confirmation and statement preparation and mailing, and tax statement
preparation and mailing. Certain funds offered through the FundAccess program assess purchase and
redemption fees.
If the Portfolio transacts in a fund that assesses such fees or pays the aforementioned forms of
compensation to VMC, those fees will be imposed on your transaction(s) and the compensation will be
paid to VMC separate and apart from the advisory fees we assess. Notwithstanding, any transaction
fee charged by VMC in connection with a non‐Vanguard fund transaction will not apply to Vanguard
Brokerage Accounts enrolled in advice. Any assessed fee as a result of the discretionary management
of an Enrolled Account will be credited.
Certain types of trade processing fees assessed by Vanguard or a Vanguard affiliate, and any
related interest income will not be included in the credit amount. For example, fees charged to
recoup transaction fees paid by VMC to an exchange or other self‐ regulatory organization
(collectively, “SROs”) in connection with the sale of certain securities such as equities, options,
and other covered securities. The amount of this fee varies and is determined periodically by
the assessing SRO in accordance with Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. Section 31 requires SROs to pay transaction fees to the SEC based on the volume of
securities sold on their markets. SROs, in turn, have adopted rules charging their broker‐dealer
members the applicable amount of the fee charged to the SROs by the SEC. Broker‐ dealers are
not required to charge their clients these fees. These fees are intended to cover the costs
incurred by the government, including the SEC, for supervising the securities markets. The rate is
subject to adjustments that result in differences between the assessed amounts and the actual
amount applicable to your transaction. VMC retains any excess. Additionally, due to payment
timing, VMC may also receive interest income on these fees. To the extent that a Vanguard
Brokerage Account has margin interest accrued from positions bought prior to enrollment that
interest accrual is not credited. Additionally, if you hold American Depositary Receipts (ADRs)
that you direct us to sell down as part of your enrollment, fees associated with holding such
ADRs will not be included in the credit amount. Banks that custody ADRs are permitted to
charge ADR holders certain fees, as detailed in the ADR prospectuses. "Pass through" ADR fees
are collected from Vanguard Brokerage Services by the Depository Trust Company (DTC).
If you hold deposits in a bank sweep service in your Vanguard Brokerage Account or in a self‐
managed Vanguard Cash Plus Account, VMC will receive a fee from program banks that (I) is set by
VMC, (ii) may vary from program bank to program bank, (iii) may be changed by VMC at any time,
and (iv) will affect the yield clients receive. Clients enrolled in these bank sweeps receive a lower
yield on deposits under the bank sweep than if VMC had not earned this fee, because program banks
reduce the amount of interest they are willing to pay depositors by the amount of the fee they pay
to VMC. These VMC revenues are not included in the credit amount.
Enrolled Participant Accounts
Participants in employer‐sponsored retirement plans may also directly or indirectly bear the
fees assessed by Vanguard for recordkeeping services provided by Vanguard to the retirement
plan. In connection with its services, Vanguard receives fees that are separate from, and in
addition to, any advisory fees assessed by each Service. These fees for recordkeeping services
are not included in the credit amount. Thus, retirement plan Participants who receive advice
20
from us may directly or indirectly bear the fees assessed by Vanguard in connection with its
services to the plan, in addition to any advisory fees assessed by a Service. Participants in
employer‐sponsored retirement plans for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping or
investment services may be permitted to invest in collective trusts, company stock funds, or
certain customized investment options for which Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company (“VFTC”),
an affiliate of VAI, provides services and receives compensation. Because advice provided by
us may include recommendations to hold or purchase these investment options, acting in
accordance with such advice may result in the payment of fees to VFTC. Revenues generated
from these fees will be included in the credit amount. No fees will be charged with respect to
certain de minimis or fractional shares on investments held in Participant Accounts due to
plan rules or in relation to investments held prior to management. In addition, no fees shall be
charged with respect to less than 1/1000th of a share of a security.
Participants in employer‐sponsored retirement plans for which Vanguard provides
recordkeeping services are often permitted to invest in non‐Vanguard mutual funds. Because
the advice provided by us may include recommendations to transact in non‐ Vanguard
mutual funds, acting in accordance with such advice may result in payments to Vanguard or one
of its affiliates or subsidiaries as compensation for participant‐level recordkeeping and
administrative services provided by Vanguard for such funds. This payment may be made by
the fund company sponsoring the non‐ Vanguard mutual fund or an affiliate, by your employer or
plan sponsor, by the Participants investing in the non‐ Vanguard mutual fund, or some
combination thereof.
Payments to Vanguard or Vanguard affiliates for recordkeeping services will not be included in
the credit amount, but revenues received and retained as compensation (i.e., revenue sharing not
otherwise allocated to the sponsor to offset plan expenses or directly to Participant Accounts)
related to transactions in non‐Vanguard mutual funds will be included in the fee credit. Fee
credits will also vary among Participants of the same plan if investment options selected by the
plan fiduciary as the plan lineup generate different levels of revenue depending on the
recommended asset allocation.
Billing
Fees will be assessed quarterly (approximately every 90 days) and based on your average daily balance
in each holding of each Enrolled Account across the entire fee period after the completion of a fee period
and will generally be deducted within 30 days of assessment. Your fee period will start on the same day
as your first account enrollment. If you switch between Digital Advisor and Personal Advisor your billing
periods and frequency will not change (i.e. the date of your first account enrollment in either Service
will continue to be used to calculate your billing periods. For example, if you upgrade to Personal Advisor
on day 90 of your Digital Advisor billing period, then as of day 90 you will be assessed fees for 89 days
at the Digital Advisor fee rate and 1 day at the Personal Advisor fee rate.
VAI reserves the right to provide periodic fee waivers where it deems appropriate. VAI in its discretion,
can waive or reduce the gross advisory fee for any Client or group of Clients, including in connection with
promotional efforts. The gross advisory fee is waived or discounted for certain accounts of employees
of Vanguard or its affiliates.
We reserve the right to increase the annual gross advisory fee upon 30 days’ written notice to you. We may
offer periodic fee waivers where VAI deems appropriate and has negotiated custom fee waiver periods with
21
certain plan sponsors for the Services. As a result of fee waivers, similarly situated Clients pay different fees.
We will continue to monitor your Portfolio and goals to help keep you on track to meet your financial goals
and will therefore continue to charge all applicable fees, including periods of time when rebalancing isn’t
needed because the Portfolio is appropriately allocated.
Fee Collection
Accrued fees will not be collected for the portion of the gross advisory fee equal to the net advisory
fee for the period from the last quarterly fee collection upon termination of an account’s enrollment.
Accounts that switch between Digital Advisor and Personal Advisor are not considered terminated for fee
collection purposes. Accrued fees will be collected for the prior Service on a pro rata basis.
Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Each Service will systematically determine which securities to sell in order to raise proceeds
sufficient to cover the fee and reassess each Enrolled Account for alignment with the target
asset allocation. See Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss ‐‐ Portfolio
Rebalancing. In addition, when collecting fees from an Enrolled Account with a money market
fund, bank sweep account, or other cash equivalent asset balance, we’ll prioritize those assets
first.
Enrolled Participant Accounts
For Participant Accounts, fees will be deducted proportionally from the balance invested in each
investment in the enrolled Participant Account, excluding active loans. Please note that during
times of a plan‐initiated event, such as a plan termination or conversion to an alternate service
provider, fee handling will vary and will be communicated.
Introductory waiver for new Clients
This introductory 90‐day net advisory fee waiver is available for new Digital Advisor Clients. Participant
Accounts enrolled by a plan fiduciary in Digital Advisor are not eligible for this introductory fee waiver. The
90‐day advisory fee‐waiver period (the “fee‐waiver period”) will start when your first account is enrolled
(i.e. first Enrollment Date) in Digital Advisor (of either a Vanguard Brokerage Account or Participant
Account) and ends after the close of the first billing period (generally 90 days), which is specific to each Client.
Additional Accounts enrolled at a later date can still take advantage of any remaining fee‐waiver period.
However, each additional account enrolled will not trigger new fee‐waiver periods and any remaining fee‐
waiver period will be calculated based on the enrollment date of your first Enrolled Account. An Account’s
Enrollment Date could be delayed due to an asset transfer that completes subsequent to the first account
enrollment, which will result in a pro‐rated fee waiver period for that account. If you unenroll before your
fee‐waiver period has ended, you'll owe no net advisory fees. But if you choose to re‐enroll in Digital
Advisor during or after your fee‐waiver period, you will not be eligible for a second fee waiver period.
This first‐time fee waiver does not apply to Personal Advisor. If you previously enrolled accounts in other VAI
proprietary retail offers you will not be eligible for the introductory fee waiver. Other VAI proprietary retail
offers are defined as: Vanguard Personal Advisor Select; Vanguard Personal Advisor; and Vanguard Digital
Advisor. Additionally, you will not be eligible if you switch to Vanguard Digital Advisor from Vanguard
Personal Advisor.
This introductory advisory fee waiver is conditioned on your consent (or, for Participant Accounts, your plan
fiduciary) to the funds available for purchase in your account during the fee waiver period including changes
in fund fees and expenses. For Participant Accounts, if a plan sponsor does not provide consent the waiver
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may be terminated.
VAI reserves the right to change the waiver terms or terminate the waiver at any time without notice. VAI
also reserves the right to terminate this waiver at any time and to refuse a waiver or portion of waiver if we
determine that you obtained it under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that you provided inaccurate or
incomplete information in enrolling the account, that any rules or regulations would be violated, or that
you violated any terms of your Client Agreement.
Vanguard Fund and Collective Investment Trust fees
The advice provided by the Services will include recommendations to sell, hold, or purchase Vanguard
Funds and VFTC managed collective investment trusts. Where we transact to manage your Portfolio
and invest in Vanguard Funds, it will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds and to
Vanguard, an affiliate of VAI (see Net Advisory Fee (Credit Amount) above).
A purchase or sale of Vanguard Fund shares isn’t subject to a load, sales charge, or commission.
However, each Vanguard Fund incurs advisory and administrative fees as well as custodial fees and other
fees and expenses that it pays out of its own assets. Certain funds also pay advisory fees to third party
managers that are not affiliated with Vanguard. These advisory, administrative, custodial, and other
costs make up the Vanguard Funds’ expense ratios. Also, some Vanguard Funds impose purchase and
redemption fees. Vanguard collective investment trusts also charge expense ratios and may assess
purchase or redemption fees, which results in the payment of fees to the Vanguard collective investment
trusts and to VFTC, an affiliate of VAI. (Collective investment trusts are investment options only within
Participant Accounts.) Clients who invest in Vanguard Funds and Vanguard collective investment trusts
are subject to the applicable expense ratios and to any purchase and redemption fees. Please consult
the prospectus or collective investment trust document for information about the specific expense ratio
and any fees assessed by a Portfolio investment.
VAI does not consider the Digital Advisor or Personal Advisor programs to be wrap programs. As a leader
in reducing costs for all investors, VMC does not charge commissions to any investors for buying or
selling ETFs, and therefore there are no fees to be a wrap‐fee program. The net advisory fee charged by each
Service is solely for the advice provided.
Advisor compensation practices
The advice provided by our VAI Financial Advisors does not vary based on whether Vanguard or any of its
affiliates or subsidiaries will receive fees from any recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell Vanguard
Funds or non‐Vanguard investments. VAI Financial Advisors are not compensated for, or on the basis of,
any recommendation or sales of specific securities. We reserve the right, at our discretion and without
prior notice, to change the methods by which we compensate our advisors.
VAI Financial Advisors who deliver advice to clients of the Service are paid base compensation (either
salary/exempt or hourly/non‐exempt wages) and are eligible for an annual payment from an enterprise‐wide
compensation plan. This plan is made available to qualifying employees of Vanguard, not just to VAI Financial
Advisors. Payments from the plan are determined based on an employee’s level in the organization as well
as the overall investment performance of Vanguard funds and overall company performance of Vanguard
during the prior three years. Accordingly, payments from the plan do not create a conflict of interest
between you and the Service or VAI’s Financial Advisors.
In assessing the performance of a VAI Financial Advisor, Vanguard considers discretionary factors
including, but not limited to: (i) client satisfaction (client surveys, complaints), (ii) risk measures (such as
23
adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with regulatory standards and
avoidance of trading errors), (iii) implementation of key business initiatives, (iv) various subjective
criteria, such as corporate citizenship, subject matter proficiency and expertise, and contributions to the
advisor’s team and Vanguard, (v) the advisor’s overall completed consult (productivity) rate, (vi) number
and rate of transitions from Personal Advisor Select to Personal Advisor, (vii) the number of
consultations with prospective clients and consultations with Clients, (viii) number and rate of
enrollments in Personal Advisor resulting from prospective client consultations, (ix) the percentage of
Clients who unenrolled relative to total scheduled managed appointments, (x) measured frequency at
which the advisor discussed financial planning strategies to improve client utilization of tax efficiency,
automatic investment functionality, and other features, and (xi) rate at which consultations utilize video
technology and, at times, (xii) the amount of assets that existing clients retain in the service, new assets
that existing clients bring under advice, and the overall size of an advisor’s book measured by assets
and clients. Additionally, VAI Financial Advisors who are both exempt and non‐exempt employees are
eligible for annual merit increases to their base compensation based, in part, on the same factors listed
above. Salaried/exempt advisors who participate in the corporate bonus program are also eligible for
an annual bonus where payments are also based on the same discretionary factors.
Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due to the incentives they create for both the VAI
Financial Advisor and VAI. Specifically, factors (vi) through (ix) and xii in the paragraph above give a VAI
Financial Advisor and VAI an incentive to recommend advisory programs over other services offered by
Vanguard. In addition, VAI and its affiliates benefit through receipt of additional compensation when
clients enroll or remain enrolled in the Service.
VAI addresses these conflicts of interest by maintaining policies and procedures requiring that our VAI
Financial Advisors act in your best interest, reasonably supervising their activities, providing advisors
with training and disclosing these conflicts so that you can make informed decisions. The annual
discretionary bonus program includes performance measures designed to mitigate the conflicts of
interest caused by the program, including requirements for VAI Financial Advisors to abide by risk
measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with
regulatory standards and client usage of automated trading technology). Our employees are also
subject to Vanguard’s Code of Ethics Policy, which addresses personal trading, other business activities,
gifts and entertainment, and confidentiality of client information, among other topics.
Additionally, VAI Financial Advisors are provided with qualified leads to prospects who have previously
expressed an interest in learning more about the service before scheduling an appointment with
the advisor to consider enrollment. Finally, the performance measures are designed to mitigate the
conflicts of interest caused by the program, including requirements for VAI Financial Advisors to abide
by risk measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with
regulatory standards and avoidance of trading errors). The enterprise‐wide compensation plan
payments to advisors do not increase the advisory fees paid by clients.
Performance‐based fees and side‐by‐side management
VAI doesn’t receive any fees for advisory services provided to you that are based on a share of capital gains
on or capital appreciation of your investments.
Types of clients
Certain officers, directors, and substantial shareholders, including any employees subject to Rule 144 of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
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are not eligible for either Service (including both Participant Accounts and Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts). Additionally, clients of certain other VAI retail advisory service (e.g., Select,) are not eligible to
enroll. Clients may not be enrolled in both Digital Advisor and Personal Advisor at the same time. Clients
are required to maintain permanent residence in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and the
US Virgin Islands or have an APO/FPO/DPO mailing address in order to enroll and stay enrolled in a
Service.
Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Digital Advisor is made available to retail clients with a minimum of $100 in each eligible Vanguard
Brokerage Account. Enrollments in Personal Advisor require an aggregate $50,000 balance or greater in
eligible Vanguard Brokerage Accounts. For each brokerage account you seek to enroll, all assets in the
brokerage account's settlement fund or in certain investment types (based on eligibility screening by a
Service at the time of enrollment) and/or the brokerage account's settlement fund are eligible to enroll.
Eligible clients include those with individual accounts (including IRAs), revocable living trusts (subject to
trustee authorization), and joint accounts with rights of survivorship. Other account types may be
considered for purposes of goals forecasting, but we won’t invest or reallocate assets in those ineligible
accounts. If you enroll a revocable living trust we assume you intend to use those funds towards your
goals. We do not review any of the related trust documents.
Participant Accounts
Participants enrolled in eligible 401(k), or Roth 401(k), 401 (a), or 403 (b) employer‐sponsored
retirement plans, whose employers have approved Digital Advisor or Personal Advisor, are eligible to
use that Service. Other account types may be considered for purposes of goals forecasting, but the
Service won’t invest or reallocate assets in those other employer‐ sponsored accounts.
A Participant may enroll their account(s) in Personal Advisor if their eligible Participant Account meets the
$250,000 minimum. For Participants, eligible account types include 401(k), or Roth 401(k), 401(a), or
403(b).
Alternatively, a Participant may enroll Vanguard Brokerage Accounts and Participant Accounts if (in all
circumstances Participants must enroll their Participant Account):
• They elect to enroll Vanguard Brokerage Accounts that total $50,000 or more then they may also enroll
their Participant Account at any asset level; or
• Their eligible Vanguard Brokerage Accounts combined with an eligible Participant Account satisfy the
$250,000 minimum.
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss
VAI’s investment methodology incorporates our own investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the
benefits of having clear and appropriate investment goals, developing a suitable asset allocation using
broadly diversified funds (in other words, balance), minimizing costs, and maintaining perspective and long‐
term discipline. Our methodology, which is approved and periodically reviewed by VAI’s Advice Policy
Committee, is based on Vanguard’s own fundamental research, as well as research obtained from a wide
variety of external sources, both public and private. Our methodology is driven by long‐term financial goals,
not by market timing or short‐term investment performance. Rather than attempting to predict which
investments will provide superior performance at any given time, VAI believes that it can provide the best
opportunity for success by maintaining a broadly diversified Portfolio— including investments from a variety
of market sectors and asset classes. Additionally, we believe dependent on your appetite for financial risk,
an asset mix that balances a chance for higher returns from actively managed concentrated funds with the
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broad diversification of index fund could be appropriate.
We periodically review our investment methodology which may result in modifications that impact your
Portfolio’s asset allocation, security selection, or other aspects. Each Service supports the goal of investing
for retirement savings and additional financial goals. The objective of the retirement goal is to build
sufficient wealth to cover expected income needs through retirement. You may also set up multiple
financial goals after enrollment and prior to enrollment subject to availability in your onboarding flow.
This multi‐goal capability helps you balance your retirement goal with other financial goals. We apply
an overall long‐ term investment philosophy to the multi‐goal capability that allocates investable assets
to near‐ term goals first to ensure the funds needed to cover expenses when goals reach maturity.
We also treat accounts as fungible (or interchangeable) assets and allocates assets in those accounts across
goals based on the financial goal‐ based plan you set.
Investment strategy for the Portfolio
Our investment strategies are designed with a disciplined, long‐term approach that focuses on
managing risk through appropriate asset allocation and diversification. Our methodology uses a
strategic approach by first focusing on the mix of asset classes (i.e., stocks, bonds, cash) that aligns with your
willingness and ability to take risk and is appropriate to meet your financial goals over time regardless
of your investment setting. Subject to availability, you may be able to further customize your Portfolio
through certain elections. Regardless of the customization, we require that your Portfolio remains
diversified by asset class and within each asset class to ensure that no single security or class of securities
will impose an unreasonable level of risk.
As digital advisory experiences, each Service relies on information provided by you and on certain
assumptions based on our analysis about future financial factors, such as rates of return on certain types of
investments, inflation rates, your rate of savings, percentage of income needed in retirement, portfolio
withdrawals, tax rates, taxable capital gains and losses, and market returns, in order to develop an
investment strategy for you. All assumptions are estimates based on historical data and proprietary
forecasts that, in our opinion, serve as a useful and reasonable foundation on which to develop financial
strategies. As a Personal Advisor client, you will also have the opportunity to speak with a VAI Financial
Advisor about your financial situation.
If you have elected the Enhanced Household Service, a unified investment strategy will be created for you
and your partner across all Enrolled Accounts regardless of account registration. Pursuant to the Enhanced
Household Agreement, the inviting or initiating partner initially defines a household or portfolio‐level
objective including risk attitude, loss aversion, goals, elections (e.g. tax‐loss harvesting) and investment
settings as well as complete any related assessments for all enrolling accounts regardless of account
registration. You or your partner can unilaterally make or approve changes to the Service after the inviting
partner executes the Client Agreement. All Enrolled Accounts that the Service manages collectively for the
partners through the Enhanced Household Service are considered the “Portfolio,” as defined previously.
Developing an asset allocation ‐ Retirement Investment Strategy
First, we will gather information about your attitude towards risk. Risk tolerance is derived from your
selections within an assessment tool on the Site that uses your investment goal and leverages Vanguard
Capital Markets Model to create a personalized assessment of your risk aversion and loss aversion. The risk
tolerance measurement maps to the recommended risk attitudes (Very Conservative/Very Low,
Conservative/Low, Moderate/Medium, Aggressive/High and Very Aggressive/Very High) for you to
consider.
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You may choose to deviate from the result of the assessment based on your personal judgement of your
willingness and ability to tolerate risk by selecting a different risk attitude up to two steps away to make
your selected risk more conservative or aggressive, as applicable. If you wish to deviate more than two steps
you will have an option to retake the assessment. Changes to your risk attitude will impact your
recommended investment strategy.
Additionally, the assessment will seek to assess if you are very sensitive, somewhat sensitive, or less sensitive
to short‐term losses. Very sensitive means that you prefer to make changes to your portfolio during market
downturns or periods of market uncertainty. You may not choose to deviate the assessed loss aversion. If
the assessment results are inconsistent, then you will not be attributed with a low or high loss aversion. If
you have previously completed this or an equivalent risk assessment for another Vanguard advisory service
(i.e. Digital Advisor or Personal Advisor) then you will not be prompted to retake the assessment when
onboarding in another offer. We will rely on your final risk attitude selection in providing our guidance and
recommendations for our investment strategy.
Next, you may select the accounts that you want included for retirement planning. You will also‐ provide
inputs around your expectations and goal planning for retirement. Investment strategies are derived
based on your current age and expected retirement age, and additional data such as current
contributions, tax filing status, various income sources (lump sum, periodic, etc.), expenses, preferred
age range of retirement options, and expected Social Security to inform your retirement investment goal
forecasting. See Goals Forecasting below.
Your selected risk attitude and the retirement planning inputs are then used as inputs to our proprietary
investment algorithm. Our proprietary algorithm uses this data to recommend a suitable glide path that
embodies the risk tolerance, asset allocation, and time horizon for your retirement investment goal.
Glide paths are generated using the personalized glide path (“PGP”) service developed in partnership
between Vanguard’s Investment Strategy Group and Vanguard Enterprise Advice Group. Glide paths for
retirement PGPs were created using the Vanguard Life‐ Cycle Model (“VLCM”) and map a client to the
optimal asset allocation from over 1,000 possible glide path options. With the evolution of our
proprietary algorithm to include personalized glide path recommendations, your retirement investment
asset allocation will be selected based upon your stated retirement age, the risk attitude you selected, your
assessed loss aversion (if any), partner status/planning horizon, if your portfolio has low or high single stock
exposure, retirement savings rate, and expected retirement income (collectively, “Personal Characteristics”).
Your current age will determine your starting point on the glide path.
Retirement PGPs are designed to balance the risks of seeking wealth with your tolerance for portfolio
volatility. Customizing your glide path based on your Personal Characteristics will impact the amount of
equity exposure in your Portfolio. Very aggressive and aggressive risk attitudes will result in higher equity
exposure than a more conservative risk attitude. If we assess that you have a high loss aversion, then we will
reduce the equity exposure in your Portfolio relative to a client with low or no assessed loss aversion (all
other Personal Characteristics being equal). Additionally, PGPs will adjust your glide path if you have
elected to have a concentrated equity position in your Portfolio.
Your stated retirement age is a key factor determining the slope (or rate at which equity exposure is reduced)
in your Portfolio. We group potential retirement ages into five‐year age brackets between 50 and 75. If you
add a partner either by creating a basic household or an enhanced household then you will be able to select
the partner whose retirement age represents when your household plans to start withdrawing from your
investment accounts to cover your investment expenses. Your partner’s current age will be utilized to
construct your glide path if you select their retirement age. PGPs also factor in partner status and planning
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horizon for clients planning for their retirement savings to cover themselves and a partner based on an
assumption that a joint household leads to a longer period of retirement consumption, given the chance
that at least one person in the household may live longer. The later of your or your partner’s planning
horizons will determine the planning horizon used for the household. If you do not elect a basic or enhanced
household, however, you disclose that you file your taxes married filing jointly or married filed separately
then the PGPs will factor in that you are planning for joint life expectancy.
Retirement PGPs will also adjust the glide path based on assessing your retirement savings rate as either
low or normal, subject to data availability. We will calculate your retirement savings rate by dividing
your annual savings contribution to your Plan Participant Accounts by your employment income. A
lower savings rate will result in a higher equity exposure (all other Personal Characteristics being equal)
prior to your retirement age in most circumstances.
Retirement PGPs will also adjust your glide path based on assessing your expected retirement income
relative to your expected employment income at retirement into one of two categories medium or high,
subject to data availability. Final year of employment income is based on a forward projection of your
current employment income utilizing the Vanguard Life‐Cycle Investing Model. Retirement income includes
social security and pension income. Social security income is estimated using your provided retirement age
unless you edit your profile with a different amount. Pension Income includes both traditional pension
income and the annuitization of available cash balance pension plan information. A high anticipated
retirement income (all other Personal Characteristics being equal) typically results in a higher equity
allocation compared to an estimated retirement income that is considered medium.
Personalization based on retirement income and retirement savings is only available to Plan Participants
we determine that we sufficient data to assess. Additionally, personalization of these Personal
Characteristics will be removed if you add additional financial goals, enroll Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts, disclose your tax filing status is married filing jointly or married filing single, or we have
insufficient data. For Vanguard Brokerage Account clients or Plan Participants where personalization is
not available then we will use defaults of normal and medium for retirement savings and retirement
income, respectively.
Developing an asset allocation‐ Multiple Goal Strategy
After you enroll with a retirement goal, you can add additional financial goals, subject to the limitations
described below. Subject to availability, you will be able to add additional financial goals to your plan prior
to enrollment. This enhancement will gradually be made available to clients and is expected to be broadly
available by April 2026. For each financial goal, you will need to provide a target date (when you want to
reach your goal and withdraw funds for your goal) and the lump sum amount you need on that target
date, to determine where a goal’s asset allocation will be on your PGP. You can also add a multi‐year
education savings goal that allocates lump sum distributions over multiple goal target dates in a one‐to‐
four‐year period. For example, if you add a target goal amount of $100,000 for an education savings
goal over four years then your glidepath will be set for $25,000 goal amounts over four goal target
dates.
A financial goal PGP is created by leveraging VLCM, your goal amount, the goal’s target date, your
selected risk attitude, loss aversion, and spending duration. As a result, we generate additional financial
goal PGPs. Currently, we assume that you plan to fund your managed financial goals completely from
your Enrolled Accounts to set the financial goal PGPs.
Once you confirm the addition of a financial goal to your plan then we will determine a collective goal‐
weighted asset allocation across all goals (retirement and other financial goals) based on each goal’s
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individual PGP. Your taxable and IRA Enrolled Account balances as well as your planned future savings
in those accounts are used to determine your target asset allocation and investment strategy across
your Portfolio (referred to as weighted asset allocation glide path). As result of this logic any excess current
balance is allocated toward longer term goals, like a retirement investment goal, which will allocate more
assets to equities, in line with your risk attitude and Personal Characteristics. In contrast, if we project
a shortfall based on your current balance and planned contributions then your balance will be allocated
conservatively (e.g., in bonds and short‐term reserves) relative to your next goal target date unless your
planned savings will offset for the shortfall.
As your life changes, each Service will allow you to update your retirement planning inputs, financial
goal inputs, Personal Characteristics, and your risk attitude. When you enroll multiple accounts to
support your goals, our collective portfolio‐weighted asset allocation will be based on your managed
balances and planned savings. We will rely on the information you provide in formulating our investment
strategy for your overall Portfolio. Any inaccuracies in that information could affect our recommendations
and our discretionary management of your Portfolio. When recommending, setting, and managing your
asset allocation, we weigh “shortfall risk”— the possibility that a Portfolio will fail to meet longer‐term
financial goals— against “market risk,” or the chance that your Portfolio’s value will fluctuate based on
the market’s ups and downs.
An investment strategy that’s too conservative raises the risk that inflation will erode the purchasing
power of a long‐term portfolio. Investment strategies for different goals may reflect different trade‐
offs between shortfall and market risk. Our investment strategy is currently designed for Clients that
are seeking to invest their retirement savings and pool their assets to invest towards other financial
goals. Appropriate asset allocations for retirement investment goals may range from 100% stock to 72%
bonds. Appropriate asset allocations for financial goals may range from 100% stock to 100% cash. The
objective of the retirement investment goal strategy is to build sufficient wealth to cover expected
spending needs through retirement. This retirement investment strategy in isolation is not suitable for
Clients seeking comprehensive retirement income advice. The objective of financial goals is to
accumulate sufficient wealth to cover a Client’s desired sum on their financial goal target date.
Diversifying the Portfolio asset allocation across a variety of sub‐asset classes
We seek to provide adequate diversification within each asset class for all glide paths as deemed appropriate
for the goal target date. We recommend investing across different market segments to ensure sub‐asset
class diversification. Addition, removal, or adjustment of sub‐ asset class exposures could occur based on
continuing portfolio construction research performed by Vanguard or based on changes to your financial
situation or investment objectives. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. See the
“Diverse investments, primarily consisting of low‐cost Vanguard ETFs and Funds,” “Risks associated with
usage of an algorithm,” and “Investment risks” sections of this brochure below for further discussion of
risks.
Our equity methodology seeks to diversify across different market segments (e.g., domestic and
international; large‐, mid‐, and small‐capitalization; and growth and value as well as passive and active).
While investing in equity securities can help grow your wealth over the long term, stock markets are
also volatile, and you may lose money in a sharp downturn that can occur without warning. Our
investment strategy will generally diversify the domestic and international stock positions across
market capitalizations within those segments in similar proportion to their long‐term market weight. In
addition, we seek to balance growth and value investment styles when constructing a Portfolio and, if
appropriate, active investment style. We examine the industry segments represented in the Portfolio to
ensure the Portfolio isn’t too heavily concentrated in one or more industry sectors, countries, or market
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segments.
Our bond methodology emphasizes broad diversification across the bond market, both domestic and
international, and maintains an interest rate risk exposure in line with the broad bond market. Investments
in bonds are subject to multiple risks, including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. Diversification across
the domestic and global bond markets, as well as across market segments, issuers, and the yield curve, helps
mitigate these risks. Our investment strategy seeks to diversify across short‐, intermediate‐, and long‐
maturity bond funds and seeks to maintain an intermediate‐ term duration. An intermediate‐term duration
generally means that your Portfolio stays in the middle of the spectrum when measuring its sensitivity to
interest rate changes while maintaining exposure to all areas of the maturity range. We also recommend a
broad exposure to investment‐grade bond funds (both corporate and Treasury bonds). We seek to build a
high‐credit‐quality Portfolio of bond funds, including funds that hold corporate, Treasury, agency, and
mortgage‐backed bonds. Bond portfolios may incorporate a mix of domestic and foreign bond funds. As with
equities, we examine bond sector exposure to ensure a Portfolio isn’t concentrated in a single segment,
which could expose the Portfolio to a higher level of risk. Financial goal glide paths may include a strategic
allocation to short‐ term reserves or cash equivalents relative to your goal target date, risk attitude, and loss
aversion.
Regardless your risk attitude and other inputs, the glide path for a financial goal could be allocated to
approximately 100% short‐term reserves within 12 months of a goal target date. Depending on your tax
bracket, we may use tax‐exempt bond and money market funds for your taxable account(s). At the
Portfolio level, rounding the collective goal‐weighted asset allocation to the nearest whole percentage
across all of your goal glide paths could result in a mix of bond and short‐term investments available to
meet financial goals in your taxable account. Additionally, if your target goal amount is materially
smaller relative to the assets for other goals, it could result in 0% short‐term reserve investments as you
approach your goal target date. The consequences of holding cash equivalents over extended time periods
include extremely high capital stability; very low volatility and expected nominal returns; and low real returns
(with the possibility that cash may underperform inflation to create a negative nominal return). Thus,
inflation can be a significant risk to an investor’s Portfolio and ability to achieve their long‐term goals.
Retirement investment goals will not have strategic allocations to cash equivalents as part of their glide
path.
Diverse investments, primarily consisting of low‐cost Vanguard ETFs and Funds
After determining the overall asset mix and your stock, bond, and short‐term reserves sub‐ allocations, our
algorithm will recommend appropriate investments for your Portfolio. We approach fund selection with a
long‐term, buy‐and‐hold approach and discourage switching strategies based solely on recent
performance. As you update your information on the Site, we will adjust your investment strategy and
your glide path based on the new information. While updates like salary changes may not trigger
immediate rebalancing of your portfolio, it is important to take this information into account in planning
your long‐term investment trajectory. On the other hand, updating your savings plan, changing your risk
attitude or other key information would likely trigger an immediate rebalancing the next time we assess
your account.
If you are enrolling an eligible account, you will also take a style assessment, also known as an active risk
assessment, to determine your investing patience and active risk tolerance. For Enhanced Households, the
results of the most recent active risk assessment, completed by either partner, will be deemed to represent
the household’s active risk preference. This investment setting will determine the specific investments
used to achieve the target allocation determined by your PGP. Additionally, you should consider a
willingness to pay higher advisory and investment fees before selecting the active/index investment
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option. Clients are able to access the style assessment through the Profile and Settings section of the
Site. Based on the results of your style assessment, we will make available an active/index or all‐index
investment options as appropriate. Additionally, we offer of an active/index investment strategy
methodology on a limited basis within certain participant accounts. For the active/index portfolio, we use
the proprietary Vanguard Asset Allocation Model (“VAAM”) and the style assessment to map your
preferences to an appropriate balance of actively managed and passive index investments. VAAM is a
utility‐based model that assesses risk and return trade‐offs to arrive at optimal solutions relative to a client’s
risk tolerance. The style assessment informs a client’s active risk tolerance by assessing their degree of
comfort with the additional volatility and the potential for over performance or underperformance that can
come with actively managed products.
You should be aware that for retirement investment goals total market all‐index investment settings,
we implement an investment strategy founded in the same asset allocation that serves as the core of
Vanguard’s Target Retirement single mutual fund solutions; however, each Service will enable you to
provide personalized inputs that align our investment strategy to your needs.
To attain the lead target allocations for index exposure within Vanguard Brokerage Accounts, we
typically allocate the equity portion of the Portfolio to Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF and Vanguard Total
International Stock Market ETF. The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF and Vanguard Total International
Bond ETF typically will be core index holdings within Vanguard Brokerage Account fixed income allocations
and maintain an intermediate‐term duration. When short‐term reserves/cash is recommended as part of
the strategic asset allocation target for financial goals, the Vanguard Cash Reserves Federal Money Market
Fund will be used, subject to determination of your tax bracket. The Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund
or a VMC provided bank sweep service serve as the settlement fund options for Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts regardless of your tax bracket.
To attain the lead target allocations for the active/index mix within Vanguard Brokerage Accounts,
investments selected combine the broad diversification of the index investments with six Vanguard actively
managed equity and fixed income funds that each seek to outperform their respective market benchmarks.
These active investments present additional manager selection, concentration and non‐diversification risks
detailed in the Investment Risks section below.
The investments used to attain your target allocations are subject to any permitted elections,
customizations, or preferences. Different Vanguard funds than the standard funds listed above could be used
to achieve your target asset allocation depending on the specific accounts you enroll and any existing
investments in order to optimize your Portfolio for tax efficiency. To attain the lead target allocations
for Participant Accounts, we will recommend an allocation between investments available in the
applicable plan lineup that align with our investment strategy. However, for all Clients we may reallocate
holdings among different Vanguard Funds and collective investment trusts and other investments as we
periodically reassess the most appropriate investments to achieve the targeted asset allocation and sub‐
allocations.
Investment recommendations generated for Participants in eligible employer‐sponsored retirement
plans will recommend an allocation based on the investment options selected by the plan fiduciary as
the plan lineup and will typically recommend a combination of specific Vanguard Funds or affiliated
collective investment trusts based on their low cost and broad diversification for all‐index investment
strategies, if available in the eligible employer‐sponsored retirement plan. For active/index investment
strategies within Plan Participant Accounts, active funds in the fund lineup are analyzed using
quantitative (e.g. expense ratio or portfolio turnover) and qualitative (e.g. investment firm stability)
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assessment. We then utilize VAAM to optimize allocations between active and passive funds within
asset and sub‐asset classes in order to determine appropriate investment recommendations for a plan
participant’s target asset allocation and the results of the investment style assessment.
While our lead portfolio recommendation is to be globally diversified across equity and fixed income asset
classes, if your plan fiduciary does not offer a currency‐hedged international fixed income index fund or
comprehensive international equity exposure, we will use a US aggregate bond index fund for fixed
income asset allocation exposure or developed equity investments, and we will construct your Portfolio
using a US aggregate bond index fund or developed equity investments, respectively. By enrolling a
Participant Account, you will be directing us to apply our asset allocation methodology to invest in funds
offered in your plan's lineup as it exists today and as that lineup may be changed by your plan fiduciary
in the future. Availability of investment strategy options within your plan will be dependent on the plan
lineup composition. Additionally, subject to certain limitations, you may also request to customize the
balance of your global diversification between US. and international exposures for equity and fixed
income asset allocations.
Although our lead recommendation is to invest in a diversified Portfolio, certain plan fiduciaries may
elect to accommodate company stock holdings (a single stock or single stock fund) already held in
Participant Accounts up to a limited amount. This limitation may not exceed 10% of the total equity
exposure in company stock in a Portfolio unless a company match is available in an all‐index investment
setting. If your company stock holdings exceed the accommodation limit, then your company stock
holdings will need to be sold down subject to plan rules. You will need to choose to sell down your company
stock holdings to your desired amount. The proportion of company stock relative to your total equity
exposure that you request to hold will fluctuate over time due to market movements. We will not buy
additional company stock to maintain a particular percentage, nor will we sell company stock to maintain
a particular percentage (unless it exceeds the accommodation limitation). Company stock may
represent more than 10% of the total equity exposure in your Portfolio due to market movements if
your Portfolio is not otherwise outside of our guardrails. In an active/index plan participant account,
Company stock remains constrained to 10% of the equity target allocation but could deviate based on
a risk assessment of the company stock attributes. Additionally, the existence of company stock will not
impact the optimized balance of active exposure in your portfolio, however, the passive mix of stocks
and bonds will be adjusted within +/‐ 5% of your target allocation.
Currently active/index investment settings are not available if you enroll both Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts and Plan Participant Accounts in the Service. You should carefully weigh your preference for
an investment strategy that seeks outperformance compared to the value of enrolling additional
accounts.
When analyzing the asset and sub‐asset allocation of securities that may be held in a Portfolio (including any
securities held as a result of a customizations), we’ll rely on Vanguard’s asset classification assessments
based partially on information received from third‐party data providers to categorize these investments. In
its discretion, VAI may change data providers and may revise the methodologies used to assess and set the asset
classifications of securities based on data availability, our judgments about data quality, and to ensure that
portfolios are constructed in accordance with our investment philosophy. A change of third‐party data
providers or methodologies can result in changes to the asset classification assessments of securities in your
portfolio, which could contribute to the need to rebalance your Portfolio.
Considering tax efficiency in allocating assets
For Portfolios containing both taxable and tax‐advantaged accounts, our investment strategy will aim to
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optimize the tax efficiency of the Portfolio by recommending or allocating investments strategically
among taxable and tax‐advantaged accounts. Additionally, if your Participant Accounts have multiple
tax types or funding sources (i.e. pre‐tax, after‐tax, or Roth), then we will also seek to allocate future
contributions to optimize tax efficiency. Certain employer‐plan contribution hierarchy rules prevent
optimizing future contributions for certain participants. The objective of this “asset location” approach
is to hold relatively tax‐efficient investments, such as broad‐market stock index products, in taxable
accounts while keeping relatively tax‐inefficient investments, such as taxable bonds and active equity
funds, in tax‐advantaged accounts.
We will attempt to construct your Portfolio to fulfill your fixed income allocation in tax‐advantaged
accounts. This methodology does not preclude the purchase of taxable bonds outside of tax‐
advantaged accounts, but rather favors the placement of such investments into tax‐advantaged
accounts when possible. If it becomes necessary to hold bonds in a taxable account, tax‐exempt
municipal bond funds may be used depending on your tax bracket. For active/index investment settings,
active equity funds allocations in your tax‐ advantaged accounts are subject to remaining capacity after
your Portfolio’s target bond allocation has been fulfilled in those accounts. For Enhanced Households,
asset location will be applied collectively at the Portfolio level without regard to account registration
and marital status.
If your financial goal target date is seven years or less, then we will likely recommend holding bond or cash
asset allocations within a taxable account or tax deferred account, depending on your goal target date, to
minimize the impact of market volatility on an upcoming funding need for your financial goals. When
you are ready to withdrawal for your financial goal, generally we recommend spending from taxable
accounts prior to IRAs to limit tax impact.
The Services will attempt to be more tax efficient and reduce the number of wash sales you could
experience in your Portfolio of recommended Vanguard Funds in certain scenarios. You can consult
Appendix A to the Client Agreement between you and VAI for the complete list of funds that may be
purchased. A wash sale occurs when a taxpayer sells a security at a loss and has purchased or purchases
the same security, or a substantially similar security, over a 61‐ calendar day period (the 30 days before the
sale and the 30 days after sale). Trades that occur in your accounts (or a spouse’s) not managed by the
Services could also result in a wash sale. For Enhanced Households, wash sale logic will be applied to both
partners as if those partners are married spouses and jointly subject to the wash sale rule, regardless of
actual marital status.
The effects of a purchase in a taxable account that leads to a wash sale may only be temporary, as you
are permitted to add the loss from the sale to the cost basis of the security purchased, and the holding
period of the security sold will also be added to the holding period of the purchased security. A purchase
in a tax‐advantaged account leading to a wash sale, though, will cause you to permanently lose the
ability to claim the original loss. If a wash sale occurs, the IRS may disallow or defer the loss for current
tax reporting purposes. For more information on the wash sale rule, consult the IRS website or your tax
advisor. Transferring funds between Enrolled Accounts could result in wash sales, in particular, moving
funds between taxable Enrolled Accounts.
Where you previously sold a Vanguard Fund at a loss (that would otherwise be recommended for
purchase by the Service) in an Enrolled taxable Vanguard Brokerage Account in the Portfolio within the prior
30 days, we will, where necessary and appropriate, recommend the purchase of an alternate Vanguard
Fund (a “surrogate Vanguard fund”) if such purchase is planned to take place in an Enrolled taxable or IRA
Vanguard Brokerage Account in the Portfolio and if the Service would have otherwise recommended a
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repurchase of the same Vanguard Fund that was originally sold at a loss. By recommending the purchase
of a surrogate Vanguard Fund, we are attempting to mitigate the circumstances when you will
experience a wash sale in your Portfolio.
If you previously purchased a Vanguard fund in an Enrolled taxable or IRA Vanguard Brokerage Account in
the Portfolio and we recommend the sale of a security within the same asset or sub‐ asset class within 30
days of such purchase, we will, where necessary and appropriate, attempt to sell another holding in lieu of
selling the recently purchased Vanguard Fund if such sale is planned to take place in an advised taxable
account and would result in a loss. By attempting to avoid the sale of the recently purchased Vanguard
Funds, we are attempting to mitigate the circumstances when you will experience a wash sale in your
Portfolio.
There are several limitations on our ability to perform Vanguard fund transactions in a Portfolio in a
manner that attempts to reduce the number of wash sales:
•
If you have enrolled Participant Accounts in addition to Vanguard Brokerage
Accounts, we will not attempt to reduce the number of wash sales due to
limitations on our ability to monitor described in more detail below.
•
• We will only monitor for wash sale compliance in Enrolled taxable or IRA Vanguard
Brokerage Accounts that are part of a Portfolio governed by the same Service
Agreement. Any accounts you include on the Site solely for forecasting or modelling will
not be monitored.
If your spouse or partner is separately enrolled in a Service we are not able to
monitor those accounts collectively with yours.
• We are not currently able to monitor the transaction history in any employer‐
sponsored retirement plan accounts, including enrolled Participant Accounts. This means
that we will not look at any recent activity performed in an Enrolled Participant Account in
determining whether to sell a Vanguard Fund in an advised taxable account at a loss.
Further, we will not recommend the purchase of a surrogate Vanguard Fund in your
enrolled Participant Account where you recently sold a Vanguard Fund in an Enrolled
Vanguard Brokerage Account at a loss.
• We will not seek to avoid wash sales in situations where you previously instructed us to sell
a particular Vanguard Fund in order to customize your Portfolio for your investment
setting.
• We will not seek to avoid wash sales when we are attempting to locate investments in
account types that are appropriate for that security type (see the section entitled “Portfolio
Rebalancing” for more information).
• We will not seek to avoid wash sales in situations where the only alternative to a wash
sale is to sell another holding at a taxable gain.
• We will not seek to avoid wash sales in situations where we are required to transact to
maintain your target asset allocation and the only Vanguard Fund available for sale will cause
a wash sale.
While the avoidance of wash sales provides tax benefits for you, some of the surrogate Vanguard Funds
have higher expense ratios than the lead Vanguard funds we normally recommend. Further, the underlying
securities owned by the surrogate Vanguard funds are different from the holdings of the typically
recommended Vanguard Funds for your investment setting, which introduces some tracking error into your
Portfolio. We will modify our approach to tax‐efficient investing based on continuing portfolio
construction research performed by the Vanguard Investment Strategy Group and Vanguard Enterprise
Advice Group or relevant changes in tax laws.
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Multi‐goal Limitations
You can plan and use Enrolled Account assets to invest towards a financial goal with a single goal target date
or certain multi‐year target date goals (i.e. education goals) subject to certain limitations. Goals are
presumed to be managed unless you set a target goal date prior to 59 ½ and do not have any Enrolled
taxable Accounts or you link a self‐directed education savings account to an education goal.
You can plan and manage towards financial goals using individual retirement account (“IRA”) assets.
Once you turn 59 ½, you can withdraw from your retirement accounts (IRA, 401[k], 403[b], etc.) without
tax penalties. Because of this, investors over 59 ½ may benefit from using money from these accounts
to fund goals other than retirement. However, at this time, we only consider your IRA assets to help fund
financial goals other than retirement after this age. Other employer sponsored retirement accounts (e.g.
401[k] or 403 [b]) are currently only included in retirement savings projections and glidepaths. Given
simplifying assumptions for inherited IRAs, these accounts could be invested more aggressively than a
taxable account would for the same target date and bonds or cash equivalents could be allocated to
other accounts with withdrawal penalty on your goal date.
You should keep in mind that using your IRA assets to fund new financial goals will impact your
likelihood of successfully saving for your retirement spending, including how those savings are invested.
This means the financial goal target dates you set after 59 ½ will result in the corresponding goal
amounts being invested in accordance with a financial goal PGP rather than the retirement savings PGP.
Additionally, if your goal is flexible or aspirational, or you don’t want to commit cash or invest your tax
advantaged investment accounts more conservatively than your retirement PGP, you may want to
consider the goal as an expense as part of planning rather than a financial goal to avoid impacting your
longer‐term goals like retirement savings. Also, if you are thinking about a goal amount that is relativity
small compared to your total portfolio that could also be better suited as an expense.
Inherited traditional and Roth IRA accounts have contribution limitations and withdrawal requirements
that will impact the investment and availability of funds towards your goals. As described below, certain
simplifying assumptions are made regarding these requirements. You should consult a tax advisor if you
have questions regarding your specific account.
Portfolio Rebalancing
On each day that the markets are open for trading, we will typically look to assess Portfolios for whether a
rebalancing opportunity exists consistent with our
investment strategy and the following criteria
(“Rebalance”). Under normal circumstances, if any asset class (stocks, bonds, or cash) is off the target asset
allocation by more than 5%, the Portfolio will be rebalanced to its target allocations (asset and sub‐asset)
or, in the future, within allowable guardrails pending embedded tax cost.
Additionally, we will check to see if the target asset allocation has changed as prescribed by our
investment strategy, as applicable. For Participant Accounts, your future contribution allocation will be
rebalanced to your target asset allocation. For cash equivalent positions in the Portfolio, rebalancing
for Vanguard Brokerage Accounts will only occur if there are sufficient funds to purchase whole shares
of the required ETFs, subject to the implementation of fractional share trading described below. If your
plan includes multiple goals then we will calculate and use an overall weighted asset allocation to
rebalance the Portfolio, if needed, based on whether the current asset allocation is off from the
weighted target asset allocation for all of your goals collectively by +/‐5%. Additionally, if your plan
includes financial goal target dates prior to age 59 ½ and your taxable account asset allocation is off its
target asset allocation by +/‐5%, a rebalance will occur.
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As a result of additional rebalancing checks for Portfolios with multiple goals, it is likely that rebalancing
will be more frequent. However, controls have been put into place to limit Rebalances by rounding bond
and short‐term reserve allocations based on your collective goal‐ weighted asset allocation. Bond
allocations at the Portfolio level will be rounded up and short‐term reserve allocations will be rounded
down. Each Service will monitor the assets in your settlement fund(s) in these accounts and will look
for opportunities to put them to work in accordance with our investment strategy. Balances may
remain in your settlement fund in Vanguard Brokerage Accounts for an extended period of time,
generally less than $50. An additional partial rebalance trigger that prioritizes buying of any
underweighted sub‐asset allocation is in place to monitor for balances in excess of $300 in the settlement
fund. Fractional share brokerage trading practices are expected to lower these balances over time when
rebalances are triggered.
In certain situations, additional amounts may be added to Participant Accounts in accordance with plan rules
(for example, as a result of dividends or rebates from investments held in your account prior to
enrollment). We will sell down these investments and rebalance to the target allocation, as described
above as soon as administratively feasible, with the exception of situations where the quantity is less
than one full share.
VAI reserves the right to abstain from assessments on a given day for technical or market
infrastructure reasons. For example, if your Vanguard Brokerage Account is on hold or in a restricted
status, for any reason, including waiting for confirmation of an address change or other client identification
information then we will not be able to assess your Portfolio. In the event that your Vanguard Brokerage
Account(s) remains on hold or restricted for longer than 45 days then those accounts will be un‐
enrolled, unless you have responded to communications that you are taking action to remove the
restriction. If your ability to bear risk, your investment time horizon, your financial situation, or your
overall investment objectives change, you should update your information on the Site so that we can
take these considerations into account when reviewing your asset allocation target. We won’t change
the recommended asset allocation based on current or prevailing market conditions, but changes to
your Personal Characteristics and goal inputs may warrant a change in our recommended asset
allocation in order to align with your financial goals if your resulting PGP shifts beyond guardrails.
Investing Risk
Although our investment strategy is designed to be prudent and diversified, please remember that all
investments, including mutual funds, ETFs, and collective investment trusts involve some risk, including
possible loss of principal. Be aware that fluctuations in the financial markets and other factors may
cause declines in the value of your account(s). There’s no guarantee that any particular asset allocation
or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a given level of income. We make
investment recommendations using historical information. There’s no guarantee that an investment
strategy based upon historical information will meet your investment objectives, provide you with a
given level of income, or protect against loss, particularly when future market conditions are drastically
different from the information used to create your strategy. Diversification doesn’t ensure a profit or
protect against a loss. There’s no assurance that you’ll achieve positive investment results by using our
service. We can’t guarantee the future performance of your investments. Please consult a fund’s
prospectus or plan disclosures for more information about fund or investment specific risks. You should
carefully consider all of your options before enrolling or acting upon any advice you receive.
Customizations
Depending on the account types that you enroll, you may have the option to customize or
personalize the management of your Portfolio beyond the lead recommendations. Regardless of the
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customization, we require that your Portfolio remain at least partly diversified by asset class and
within each asset class to ensure that no single security or class of securities will impose an
unreasonable level of risk. If we believe that the customizations are inappropriate for you, we
reserve the right to modify the customization accordingly. Frequent changes to these settings would
result in repeated rebalancing of your Portfolio and increase the potential for realizing short‐term and
long‐term capital gains in any enrolled taxable Brokerage Accounts.
Smart Sell down (tax efficient rebalancing)
Subject to eligibility screening at the time of enrollment as well as an ongoing breakeven analysis, you
will be permitted to retain investments purchased prior to enrollment that differ from our lead
advice recommendation. In particular for assets held in taxable brokerage accounts, if you hold
securities at enrollment that provide a portion of the target asset allocation then you will be permitted to
retain those securities subject to a breakeven analysis. Although these securities are only retained if
they meet a target asset allocation, their investment strategies may present different risks,
diversification, liquidity, and performance than our lead advice recommendations. For example, a
large‐cap value active fund could be retained to satisfy that portion of your target asset allocation
subject to the breakeven analysis even if you selected a total market all‐index portfolio option. To the
extent a non‐Vanguard investment is retained in your Portfolio after enrollment it will reduce the typical
net advisory fee credit described above.
Specialized Portfolio ESG Investment Setting
For Enrolled Brokerage Accounts, you may elect to an investment setting (also referred to as
“specialized portfolio”) that substitutes ETF investments whose investments strategy is to apply pre‐
screened ESG criteria based on your personal preference (“ESG investment option”) to meet the U.S and
international equity as well as the U.S. domestic bond exposure for your target asset allocation. In
order to maintain diversified asset allocation, electing an ESG investment option includes non‐ESG
ETF investments. Vanguard Total International Bond ETF will remain the recommended international
bond exposure in your portfolio as an adequate ESG ETF equivalent for this asset class that meets
VAI’s investment strategy criteria has not yet been determined as available. Additionally, we may
also use other non‐ESG treasury funds to mirror the duration of our lead total market portfolio
construction methodology (i.e., Vanguard Short‐ Term Treasury ETF (VSGH) and Vanguard
Intermediate‐Term Treasury ETF (VGIT)). These non‐ESG investments are referred to as completion
holdings.
Finally, depending on your goals and how close you are to your goal target dates, your ESG Portfolio
may also include a money market fund to help minimize investment risk. If you elect the ESG
investment option then the Service will substitute certain Vanguard ESG (environmental, social, and
governance) ETFs: ESG U.S. Stock ETF (ESGV), ESG International Stock ETF (VSGX), and ESG U.S.
Corporate Bond ETF (VCEB) to help achieve your target asset allocation within enrolled Vanguard
Brokerage Accounts. Each of these ETFs track indices that are pre‐screened to exclude certain
companies based on specific environmental, social, and governance criteria. The exclusionary screening
methodology is determined by each ETF’s third‐ party index provider. There is the chance that the stocks
or bonds screened by the index provider for ESG criteria generally will underperform the market as a
whole or, in the aggregate, will trail returns of other funds screened for ESG criteria. The index provider’s
assessment of a company, based on the company’s level of involvement in a particular industry or the
index provider’s own ESG criteria, may differ from that of other funds or of the advisor’s or an investor’s
assessment of such company. As a result, the companies deemed eligible each ESG ETF’s index provider
may not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor and may not exhibit positive or
favorable ESG characteristics. VAI does not have an ability to influence the proxy voting or corporate
37
engagement for ETFs within the ESG investment option.
The ESG investment option will apply to the Vanguard Brokerage Accounts. The investment options
available through your Participant Account will be determined by your employer and typically don’t offer
access to the Vanguard ESG ETFs used in the ESG investment option.
Once you elect the ESG investment option, we will seek to promptly rebalance your investments by
selling non‐ESG holdings and buying the corresponding ESG funds (and any related non‐ ESG
completion holdings listed above) to invest towards your target asset allocation. We will not apply
the smart sell down methodology described above and prioritize your election over tax efficiency.
This could result in realization of capital gains or losses.
If you elect to revert to a standard portfolio after electing an ESG investment option, then we will seek to
utilize smart sell down methodology to rebalance your Portfolio. As result you may continue to hold
ESG funds subject to the break‐even analysis described above.
Company Stock
Participants may, if the option is permitted by your plan fiduciary, request to hold company stock in a
Participant Account (a single stock) if it was obtained prior to enrollment.
Restrictions on company stock holdings are subject to the policies outlined under the subheading
“Diverse investments, primarily consisting of low‐cost Vanguard ETFs and Funds”. Additionally, a plan
fiduciary may request asset allocation modifications to require a minimum fixed income allocation as
a reasonable restriction for Participants enrolled by the plan fiduciary. These restrictions do not
apply once a Participant enrolls directly into a Service.
U.S./International
You may also elect to customize the balance of U.S. and International exposure in your Portfolio. Your
election is subject to our rebalancing methodology which seeks to minimize trading within your
accounts so your U.S. / International exposure may fluctuate more than 10% different than the elected
target percentage.
In making this election you should carefully consider the risks before deviating from the lead
recommendation to balance U.S. and international exposure aligned with Vanguard thought
leadership. Additionally, you understand if you customize your U.S. / International exposure that you
will not receive any adjustments in the event the Service’s lead recommendation changes with respect
to balancing U.S. and International market exposure. If you have a Participant Account enrolled, our
ability to implement your U.S./International preferences will be limited by the investment options
selected by your plan fiduciary. Your ability to customize your fixed income mix between U.S. and
International exposure has additional limitations if we recommend municipal fund exposure due to
your tax bracket. Customizing your U.S. and International exposure will not impact the index return
assumptions in your goal projections because those assumptions are based off your recommended
target asset allocations.
Investing solely in domestic or international securities carries idiosyncratic risk, even if a portfolio is
broadly diversified for a particular market. Markets do not always rise and fall at the same time, so
owning pieces of both international and U.S. markets can help balance volatility in a portfolio and
spread risk across a broader range of securities. The Service is not appropriate for you if you are
seeking to customize your U.S./International exposure to time market performance.
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In other words, an all‐U.S. Portfolio or an all‐International Portfolio would lose not just investment
opportunities, but also the diversification benefits of a portfolio that’s more evenly distributed across
markets.
Adjusted target asset allocation
Subject to availability on or about April 2026, you can request to adjust your portfolio target asset
allocation for your retirement goal within specified guardrails based on the asset classification of the
self‐managed accounts included in your retirement goal plan. This accommodation will only be
available after enrollment on the Site. Adding goals or modifying account enrollment could require you
to remove the adjustment.
You are solely responsible for providing and updating point in time categorizations of your self‐
managed accounts into the categories we request. The asset mix for self‐managed Brokerage Accounts
held at VMC will be prepopulated using the same data providers and asset classification methodologies
as the Service. However, these accounts are not monitored by the Service and updates to the target
asset allocation adjustment are dependent on your engagement with the Site to confirm a change in
asset mix. You will also be expected to review and update (if applicable) your self‐managed account
information, including asset allocation mix, at least annually. The Service is only responsible for
ongoing monitoring of Enrolled Accounts. VAI reserves the right to remove the adjustment if you do
not respond to requests to confirm information required for this customization. Removal of the
adjustment will cause your Portfolio to be managed using our recommended investment strategy
without consideration of any prior self‐managed account asset classification data. As a result, trading in
your account could occur (including creating potential tax consequences) if your current asset
allocation is outside of the rebalancing guardrails described in the Review Accounts section below.
This customization is not designed to create a completion portfolio around your self‐managed
accounts, rather it permits a limited adjustment to your managed asset allocation while ensuring your
Enrolled Accounts remain proportionately diversified. As a result, your collective accounts (self‐
managed and Enrolled accounts) may not reach the exact recommended target asset allocation when
guardrails are imposed. The managed portfolio’s target equity is adjusted in whole‐percentage
increments, subject to a ±20% guardrail. Additionally, self‐directed cash is treated as fixed income
when adjusting the managed portfolio’s allocation because asset allocation targets for retirement goals
are comprised of only equity and fixed income.
Automated tax loss harvesting
The Services offer a tax loss harvesting service (“TLH Service”) election for taxable individual, eligible
revocable living trusts, and joint brokerage accounts. TLH involves selling a security at a loss and
purchasing another security to maintain your asset allocation. Depending on your personal
circumstances, a TLH strategy can add value in the form of reduced taxes when harvested losses are
used to lower your tax bill and potentially grow your savings if you are able to reinvest those tax
savings. For Enhanced Households the TLH Service applies to all eligible Enrolled Accounts in the
Portfolio.
However, before electing the TLH Service, you should consult with your tax advisor to discuss any
concerns related to your participation in the TLH Service or consult your tax preparation software
in light of your particular circumstances and their impact on your individual tax return. In order to
elect the TLH Service you must consent to the Tax Loss Harvesting Addendum to the Agreement
(“Addendum”) on the Site at https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/vanguard‐discretionary‐advice‐Tax‐
39
loss‐harvesting‐ addendum.pdf. You should carefully consider the TLH Service description on the Site
and in the related disclosures in the Addendum including the TLH Service’s risks and limitations prior to
electing the TLH Service. Any account restrictions on your account could limit your TLH opportunities
until the account restriction is lifted.
Certain investments that you may request such as holding individual stocks may not offer the
same degree of diversification, liquidity, or performance consistency that may be available with
the Vanguard Funds we normally recommend.
Risks associated with usage of an algorithm
Our proprietary algorithms are based on Vanguard’s market assumptions and analysis. The algorithms don’t
consider prevailing market conditions when making recommendations to you. While we have standards
governing the development, testing, and monitoring of our algorithms, there is a risk that the algorithms and
associated software may not perform as intended for various reasons, including unintended consequences
due to modifying the algorithms or underlying software code. While we oversee the algorithms on an ongoing
basis, your Enrolled Accounts or Portfolio are not monitored unless it is identified as part of testing or
monitoring processes.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has provided further information for investors to
consider when engaging digital advice services. The guidance can be found at investor.gov/introduction‐
investing/general‐resources/news‐alerts/alerts‐bulletins/investor‐bulletins‐45.
Goals forecasting – Retirement Investment inputs
We will also provide projections to help you assess your ability to achieve your personalized financial goals.
In assisting you with projecting your potential success of accumulating a sufficient amount of savings in order
to meet your projected expenses in retirement, each Service will ask you about 1) your annual contribution
amounts, 2) your projected retirement income or spending needs, and 3) an age range when you plan to
retire (“Retirement Investment Inputs”). In order to help you to explore combinations of the Retirement
Investment Inputs, the Site will allow you to explore forecasts that leverage different combinations of the
Retirement Investment Inputs. You will have an option to vary any of the Retirement Investment Inputs to
see different forecasts using a projection visualization in the Site. Additionally, both taxable and tax‐
advantaged accounts are projected to pool towards funding retirement savings subject to setting any
other financial goals.
Goals forecasting – financial goal inputs
When you start planning a new financial goal, each Service will ask you when you want to reach your goal
and how much money you need for your goal. Pooling of a particular accounts funds towards a particular
goal will depend on the goal target date (management of financial goals depends on enrolled account
types). Goals prior to age 59 ½ are projected only using taxable accounts. Additionally, currently only IRA
accounts will be considered as fungible or interchangeable for projecting financial goals (other than
retirement savings) after 59 ½. The foregoing does not apply to inherited IRA accounts.
If your plan financial goals that are defaulted to funding from self‐managed accounts those goals are
incorporated for purposes of forecasting only (subject to the limitations detailed below) and that
information will not impact your investments. Using the self‐managed accounts, you connected as well
as managed accounts to project your retirement goal, you can use the interactive forecast to model how
increasing your savings in your taxable accounts could impact the likelihood of success of achieving your
financial goal as well as project potential impact on your retirement goal. Each Service’s multiple goal
projection forecast seeks to visualize tradeoffs and interdependency of goal choices. Goals are
projected to be funded based on the order in which they are due, and funding should be available within
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a year of the goal target date to conservatively provide early liquidity and minimizing volatility as a goal
approaches distribution. For financial goals, managed and self‐managed accounts will be included as
available assets to fund goals and provide goal projections for goal success rates based on pooling all
accounts.
Assumptions about non‐Portfolio accounts in goals forecasting
For prospective Clients without an existing Enrolled Account, we will make a default assumption that the
amount you enter for your retirement savings is taxable for purposes of providing you an initial goal forecast
if we are unable to determine the account type associated with the contributions and balances you input
to avoid overstating financial projections until we learn more about you and your accounts.
You will also have the option to add balances of accounts held outside of the Portfolio (including other
Vanguard accounts) into goals forecasting, but not enroll those accounts. If you wish you can obtain a more
holistic projection of your potential goal success by including these self‐ managed assets, however,
there will be additional assumptions, see below, made about self‐ managed accounts that limit the
quality of the hypothetical forecasts. In particular, all taxable (managed and self‐managed) accounts
aligned with your retirement goal will be assumed to be available for custom goals for purposes of goal
projections. All taxable account planned contributions and balances will be treated as fungible or
interchangeable assets that can be applied toward custom goals. However, our investment strategy
assumes financial goals are 100% funded using only your Enrolled Accounts. As a result, your funding
status could be overstated if your projections include self‐managed and managed accounts. However,
if you link self‐managed education account to an education financial goal or plan financial goals prior to
age 59½ without enrolling a taxable account then these goals are assumed to be self‐managed (not
impacting your recommended investment strategy).
We will use the same index returns noted in the section below entitled “Goals forecasting – projected
success rates” for the forecasting model to project your likelihood of success based on both outside
accounts and accounts held in the Portfolio (or projected to be held in the Portfolio as part of the goal
forecasting). However, any self‐managed accounts we are able to identify as banking or savings, including
Cash Plus Accounts, are assumed to be invested 100% in cash and associated balances will be projected using
VCMM cash rates of return. We may not be able to identify these account types depending how they are
added to your plan.
If your accounts held outside the Portfolio (either at Vanguard or at another financial institution) aren’t
invested in a similar manner as the Portfolio, your actual investment results may vary significantly from
our likelihood of success projections. A variance in the actual asset allocation of your accounts held
outside of the Portfolio could significantly impact your likelihood of reaching a goal within the indicated
time frame and with the exception of the account balance, such a variance would not be reflected in the
projections. As with any other self‐ managed account included in your goal plan, we assume your
education savings has the same asset allocation and glidepath as the accounts that the Service
manages. As a result, the projections could be more aggressive compared to the actual investments
within your education savings account.
If your goals are forecasted using accounts held outside of the Portfolio (including other Vanguard accounts),
the projections are calculated based solely on the information that you provide us with respect to the dollar
amount of securities held in those accounts and your rate of contributions to those accounts. You may
provide us with such information manually or through the usage of certain third‐party financial data
aggregation services. We will continue to rely upon the information you provide for as long as your goals
are supported by such accounts. We will not independently verify or update this information. You are
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responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide whether manually or through third‐party
services. You may update the dollar amount of securities in accounts held outside of the Portfolio and your
rate of contributions within the Site or by authorizing a third‐party financial data aggregation service to
refresh the data. The Services do not take this information about non‐ Portfolio accounts into account
to manage your asset allocation and recommend investments for your Portfolio.
Limitations to incorporate spousal or partner information into projections
Subject to availability, you will be able to incorporate a spouse or partner’s retirement age, investment
accounts, planned contribution amounts, and planning horizon into goal projections for a more
complete household forecast. Any spouse or partner accounts you tell us about are not able to be
managed by Vanguard as part of your enrollment unless you elect the Enhanced Household Service.
If your projections do not include spousal or partner information, a few key limitations to the projections
could occur. In particular, the projections account for the spending needs using a single life expectancy
(assumed life expectancy is 100 unless you chose to modify it) as a result your retirement goal and any
related spending projections and recommendations could be overstated if your spouse or partner has a
materially longer life expectancy. Also, if you are not able to include your partner’s individual investment
accounts that could be available to fund your goals, your projections will not include those household assets.
As a result, the goal projections, including retirement spending recommendations, will likely understate the
likelihood of meeting your goals if your full household expenses or household goal amounts are input, but
the projections are missing assets or income that could help fund those goals.
Special assumptions for education savings accounts
The projections assume that all education savings accounts are 529 plans subject to a 10% penalty on
earnings if used for something other than qualified higher‐education expenses. Other account types,
such as Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, have differing tax structures not accounted for in the
projections. Additionally, the projections do not account for contribution limitations or state specific
education savings account limitations or advantages.
If an education savings account is linked to a specific education goal, any savings you enter for that
account are assumed to start on the date entered and end at the education goal date (for multi‐
duration goals savings are assumed to end the first year of your target goal end dates) or your
retirement date, whichever is earlier. Any adjustments to your linked education goal target date will
modify the savings assumptions for your education savings account.
If an education savings account is included in your plan, but not linked to an education savings goal then
future contributions are assumed to start on the date entered and end at your retirement date (similar
to the assumptions made for other accounts).
As with any other self‐managed account included in your goal planning, we assume your education
savings has the same asset allocation and glidepath as the accounts that the Service manages. As a
result, the projections could be more aggressive compared to the actual investments within your
education savings account.
Goals Forecasting – projected success rates
To cover a broad range of outcomes, the Services’ forecasts will generate 10,000 scenarios to measure your
likelihood of success of reaching your goals. Projections use forecasted index returns for equities, bonds, and
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cash, which are used to represent the hypothetical returns of the asset classes in your Portfolio (or potential
portfolio for Clients who have not yet enrolled).
These forecasted index returns as well as inflation rates are provided through the Vanguard Capital
Markets Model® (“VCMM”), developed by the Vanguard Investment Strategy Group, which is discussed in
more detail later. Projections are based upon the account types and the balances of those accounts that you
include in your goal planning. You may elect, in your discretion, whether to use the interactive tools to
model only Enrolled Accounts or also accounts held outside of your enrolled Portfolio which could
introduce additional imprecision into the model. This election is made by selecting the accounts that are
connected to all of your goals and cannot be modified at the individual goal level. Our goals forecasting
model uses the same asset class return assumptions to represent estimated returns of the asset classes
in all of your accounts supporting your goals in your Portfolio. A projected funding status (well‐funded,
moderately‐funded, and under‐funded) will be estimated on the Site. Funding status for retirement goals
vary based on your life expectancy age and other goal funding status is anchored based on how many
scenarios the projections show achieving your target goal amount by the goal date.
For Digital Advisor, asset class returns for fixed income and equity allocations are reduced by 0.30%
annually, and asset class returns for money market/cash/short‐term reserves are reduced by 0.26%
annually to account for hypothetical expenses and advisory fees. For Personal Advisor, asset class
returns for fixed income and equity products are reduced by 0.45% annually, and asset class returns for
money market/cash/short‐term reserves are reduced by 0.41% annually to account for hypothetical
expenses and advisory fees.
Because our forecasting model uses index returns it does not use actual returns of specific investments
held within your accounts. The forecasting model is based on your projected target asset allocation,
which does not differ if you elect a specialized portfolio. We do not calculate the tax consequences of
rebalancing the accounts each year to maintain the target asset allocation. For clients with taxable
accounts, we apply asset location logic when modeling returns.
The likelihood of success projections for your goals do not attempt to predict or portray the future
performance of any securities held in accounts supporting your goals rather they are market projections
aligned with your expected asset allocations. The forecasts are hypothetical projections based on statistical
modeling of current and historical data. They aren’t a guarantee of future results or a guarantee of the
success rate of the simulated outcomes. Although we believe that the forecasts may reasonably project
your likelihood of reaching your goals as supported by accounts invested in a diversified portfolio of
Vanguard Funds or collective investment trusts, such projections may not correlate well to other assets
held by you in any accounts that are not invested in accordance with our lead advice methodology.
Accordingly, your actual investment results may vary significantly from our projections.
We also project your lifetime cash flows—inflows from investment income and other sources and outflows
from spending—to assess whether your investments can adequately support your retirement income needs
over your lifetime as well as your financial goals, as applicable. We evaluate many factors in assessing
your current and future cash flows and make certain corresponding assumptions, including but not
limited to:
• Your planned contributions, income, and expenses will increase over time to
match the rate of inflation as forecasted by our internal Vanguard Capital Markets
Model (VCMM)
• Projected and known expenses include annual living expenses and other
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periodic expenses identified by you.
• Projected income include employment, Social Security, pension, and
income from investments.
• Planned contributions include account contributions you enter as well as
employer sponsored retirement plan savings data that may be
prepopulated if available.
• Funding financial goals required by the beginning of the year of the goal target date.
• Planned contributions to your retirement and taxable accounts cease at retirement,
unless you’ve otherwise specified a specific start and end year for contributions.
Projected savings for an entire year, and any contribution already made during the year
will be adjusted against the projected savings amount. If that’s not the case, projections
of success toward reaching your goals could be overstated. If your circumstances
change and you go back to work, you can only return to pre‐retired status by
unenrolling and re‐enrolling your accounts.
• Projected planned contribution are for an entire year, and any contributions already
made during the year will be adjusted against the projected planned contribution
amount. Your projections update when changes to your employee or employer
contributions become effective subject to managed employer plan contributions and
limits, as well as other plan design considerations, when that information is available
to the Services.
• The impact of variables, such as inflation and income taxes.
• The impact of different market scenarios on the rates of return used to project
the likelihood of success of reaching your goals.
• If you indicate that you are taking a partial withdraw related to a specific
financial goal, the goal target amount will be reduced. For multi‐year education
goals, as those withdrawals are taken, the annual “goal target” is decremented
with any remaining amount rolling over into the subsequent year’s goal target
amount. Any excess withdrawal amounts in the current year beyond the goal
target are assumed to not impact the planned future years “goal target” amounts.
• For both traditional and ROTH inherited IRAs we assume an RMD drawdown schedule
of 10% the projected balance each year. Note: your actual RMD requirements will differ
from our assumptions and we will not take into account withdrawal deadlines beyond
this 10% withdrawal rate.
Depending on the onboarding track you select for the Site, certain default assumptions (i.e., Social Security
income estimates) are included as a starting point for your projections. For example, unless you’ve
selected a different option, we will estimate your Social Security benefit assuming you begin receiving
benefits at the initial retirement age you selected. You can adjust this by using the Social Security tools
available when you edit the estimate. Partners included as a part of a basic or enhanced household do
not have access to the social security estimation tools. Additional details about the assumptions used in
the projections can be found in the “Learn more about your projections ‐‐ Your Goal Outlook” section of
the Site, including additional limitations of the projections.
We simulate your expected inflows and outflows each year through your expected planning horizon, and
using each individual scenario’s unique forecasted return and inflation assumptions, we project your
likelihood of reaching your retirement goal as well as your non‐ retirement investment goals, as applicable.
As part of your projected outflows, the Services forecast your annual expenses based on our inflation
projections and does not factor in market appreciation or depreciation. Additionally, after your planned
retirement age, any projected spending shortfall is assumed to be taken from your non‐retirement assets to
make up the difference. Additionally, any surplus is assumed to be consumed in the year it occurs rather
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than reinvested. Once you reach your retirement age, each Service will provide details of your income and
spending projections for the next five years based on these assumptions. In projecting the asset allocation
for multiple goals, the forecast allocates funding to goals in the order in which they are due. If two goals are
planned for the same goal target date, then funding is projected to be allocated to the goal with the lowest
dollar amount. Multi‐goal projections also assume funding should be available at the beginning of the
year of your goal target date to conservatively provide early liquidity and minimizing volatility as a goal
approaches distribution. Subject to availability, the goal planning features also provide a savings timeline that
illustrates projections of savings towards different goals.
The overall likelihood of success measure for your retirement goal represents the percentage of the 10,000
hypothetical scenarios in which your balance in your accounts is above zero at the end of the planning
horizon you select as part of the goal planning unless you elect to plan for a different ending balance in
the Site. For the retirement goal, we assume a time horizon for retirement (time in retirement) of age
100 unless you input a different age. In other words, our projections represent the percentage of
hypothetical scenarios in which the accounts supporting your retirement goal have at least a $1 balance
remaining as of your 100th birthday. The overall likelihood of success measure for your financial goal
represents the percentage of the 10,000 hypothetical scenarios in which the balance in your accounts
available to fund the goal more than or equal to the target goal amount you indicated.
We use historical index data for U.S. stock market returns to forecast future equity market returns
correlated with your expected equity allocation. For U.S. stock market returns, we use the MSCI US Broad
Market Index. For international stock market returns, we use the MSCI All Country World ex USA Index.
Additionally, if your Portfolio contains investments that deviate from an investment allocation that does
not seek to track the market (see Customizations above) or you elect to include accounts held outside
of the Portfolio (including other Vanguard accounts) the historical index data we use to forecast the stock
and bond markets and the expected asset allocations will differ from your actual investment exposure.
As a result, to the extent your investments deviate from diversified market exposure (including more
concentrated exposure or a specialized investment setting) your actual experience will be less correlated
with the market forecasts in the goal projections.
Vanguard Capital Markets Model (“VCMM”)
The projections and other information generated by VCMM regarding the likelihood of various investment
outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of
future results. VCMM results will vary with each use and over time.
The VCMM projections are based on a statistical analysis of historical data. Future returns may behave
differently from the historical patterns captured in the VCMM. More importantly, the VCMM may be
underestimating extreme negative scenarios unobserved in the historical period on which the model
estimation is based.
The Vanguard Capital Markets Model® is a proprietary financial simulation tool developed and maintained
by Vanguard’s primary investment research and advice teams. The model forecasts distributions of future
returns for a wide array of broad asset classes. Those asset classes include U.S. and international equity
markets, several maturities of the U.S. Treasury and corporate fixed income markets, international fixed
income markets, U.S. money markets, U.S. municipal bonds, commodities, and certain alternative
investment strategies. The theoretical and empirical foundation for the Vanguard Capital Markets Model is
that the returns of various asset classes reflect the compensation investors require for bearing different
types of systematic risk (beta). At the core of the model are estimates of the dynamic statistical relationship
between risk factors and asset returns, obtained from statistical analysis based on available monthly financial
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and economic data from as early as 1960. Inflation is modeled based on historical data from 1990 through
the most recent year‐end and simulated going forward. Using a system of estimated equations, the model
then applies a Monte Carlo simulation method to project the estimated interrelationships among risk factors
and asset classes as well as uncertainty and randomness over time. The model generates a large set of
simulated outcomes for each asset class over time. Forecasts represent the distribution of geometric returns
over different time horizons. Results produced by the tool will vary with each use and over time.
The primary value of the VCMM is in its application to analyzing potential client portfolios. VCMM asset‐class
forecasts— comprising distributions of expected returns, volatilities, and correlations—are key to the
evaluation of potential downside risks, various risk‐return trade‐offs, and the diversification benefits of
various asset classes. Although central tendencies are generated in any return distribution, Vanguard
stresses that focusing on the full range of potential outcomes for the assets considered, such as the data
presented in this paper, is the most effective way to use VCMM output.
The VCMM seeks to represent the uncertainty in the forecast by generating a wide range of potential
outcomes. It is important to recognize that the VCMM does not impose “normality” on the return
distributions, but rather is influenced by the so‐called fat tails and skewness in the empirical distribution of
modeled asset‐class returns. Within the range of outcomes, individual experiences can be quite different,
underscoring the varied nature of potential future paths. Indeed, this is a key reason why we approach asset‐
return outlooks in a distributional framework.
Limitations of the quantitative analysis
Projections generated by the VCMM are based both on estimated historical relationships and on
assumptions about the risk characteristics of various asset classes. As a result, the accuracy of VCMM
forecasts depends on the relevance of the historical sample in simulating future events. The projections are
hypothetical in nature, don’t reflect actual investment results, and aren’t guarantees of future results.
Goals forecasting optimization
The Services offer goal optimization tools that help you explore different scenarios for contributions,
retirement age, retirement spending, or other financial goals (“Goal Inputs”) to optimize your plans.
Additionally, the tools enable you to model variations of your current income and expenses and the resulting
impact on your projections. Our models will assess whether there are alternative Goal Inputs that result in
forecasts that your planned investments will cover your estimated expenses in retirement and fund the
amounts needed for other financial goals in sufficient number of projections to be well‐funded as defined
on the Site. (See “Goals forecasting – projected success rates”) We will prioritize suggesting different
combinations of the Goal Inputs that result in projecting you will be on track that are close to your original
Goal Inputs.
The optimizer tools and corresponding suggestions illustrate the tradeoffs you may need to make to
achieve different goal combinations. For example, you can model different retirement ages (increased
contributions and/or decreased monthly income at retirement), lower monthly contributions and/or
changing the dates or amounts of financial goals. Additionally, the modeling tool can provide suggestions
for modifying different levels of contributions by account type, either: taxable or retirement tax‐
advantaged account types. The contribution suggestions while based on an assumption that assets will
be managed as a Service will, however, are not account specific suggestions. These suggestions will not
be realistic for self‐managed accounts that you invest differently than the Services’ investment
strategies. Additionally, goal optimizer suggestions assume savings in your education savings accounts
will stop a year prior to the final education goal target. In contrast, the goal projections will assume you
continue to save until the first goal target date. For example, if you plan a four‐year education savings
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goal the Service provides savings suggestions that end in year three of the goal, but the projections chart
will reflect saving through year 1.
Implementing any changes to your financial goal plan after using the goal optimization tools are your
responsibility (e.g., increase your investment account contributions or confirm all of your modeled goal
amount or date changes have been modified as you wish). You are solely responsible for the success of any
goals not managed by a Service.
Emergency savings and next dollar guidance:
The Services provide guidance on how to set emergency savings goals, as well as a tool that helps define
target thresholds for cash or cash equivalent holdings that could be liquidated at no cost, such as assets at
a loss in a taxable account or where basis equals market value to address potential spending shocks.
Furthermore, the Services also provide guidance on how to balance competing financial objectives, such as
wanting to contribute more money to your retirement accounts, pay down debt, or save for an emergency.
VAI Financial Advisors ‐‐ Point‐in‐time account recommendations for financial planning needs
VAI Financial Advisors’ financial planning consultations could incorporate point‐in‐time brokerage account
type recommendations, including cash management account recommendations, based on client needs.
To the extent you elect to implement these account type recommendations by opening a self‐managed
brokerage account with VMC, you are solely responsible for the ongoing review and monitoring of the
investments held in those accounts. Any compensation to VMC for self‐managed accounts or to our
affiliates for investments in self‐managed accounts is separate from, and in addition to, the advisory
fees payable to us. Read the sections titled “Fees and compensation” and “Brokerage practices” for
more information standard brokerage fees that apply to these accounts.
Keep in mind that the point‐in‐time nature of account type recommendations means that the Service
is not required to update any previously provided account type recommendations and will not monitor
any such recommendation made to you, or the investments held in your self‐managed accounts.
Additionally, as a non‐discretionary recommendation, any Vanguard revenues are not credited to offset
your Service advisory fee.
In particular, VAI Financial Advisors may recommend that you open a self‐managed Vanguard Cash Plus
Account (“Cash Plus Account”) to help you effectively managing short‐term cash needs as part of
financial planning where you have expressed the need: (i) for an ongoing spending account; (ii) to
accumulate and hold an emergency savings fund to cover potential spending shocks; or (iii) to
accumulate and hold funds required for anticipated near‐term expenditures. Point‐in‐time
recommendations will also be given for specific underlying investment products within the Cash Plus
account with consideration given to a client’s need/preference for functionality, asset protection, and
tax efficiency. The Cash Plus Account is not eligible for enrollment in the Service.
VMC will receive a fee from program banks that accept bank sweep deposits that (i) is set by VMC, (ii)
may vary from program bank to program bank, (iii) may be changed by VMC at any time, and (iv) will
affect the yield clients receive from the bank sweep service. If you invest in the bank sweep you will
receive a lower yield on deposits under the bank sweep than if VMC had not earned this fee, because
program banks reduce the amount of interest they are willing to pay depositors by the amount of the
fee they pay to VMC. If you invest in any of the Vanguard money market funds available in Cash Plus
Accounts, you will also be subject to the applicable expense ratios and to any purchase and redemption
fees assessed by those funds.
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Your Cash Plus Account may be subject to various restrictions to reduce the risk of fraud. Your
transactions may be subject to a 7‐day holding period as well as daily transaction limits. Generally, VMC
requires that new accounts will be subject to a 60‐day holding period for cash deposits. During this time,
you can invest with this cash, but cash deposits into your Vanguard brokerage account may only be
returned to the bank account from which the cash was withdrawn. After the holding period is complete,
your funds will be fully available to transfer or withdraw.
VAI Financial Advisors may also refer participants to affiliated wealth planning consultations, if available
to your employer sponsored retirement plan. These wealth planning consultations are educational in
nature and do not constitute fiduciary, legal, or tax advice.
Disciplinary information
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the matter, which involved a VAI advisory offer
separate from Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard Personal Advisor, the SEC found that VAI violated certain
provisions of the Advisers Act, and the rules thereunder, because VAI made misstatements and failed to adequately
disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to prospects and clients to enroll in the legacy
Personal Advisor Services (“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as Personal Advisor Select.
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and, without admitting or denying the SEC’s
findings, in a settled proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations
and any future violations of Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)‐7 thereunder, and to pay
a $19.5 million penalty.
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December 2023, PAS’ employee performance review
system considered metrics that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS. A PAS advisor’s
performance on these metrics factored into their year‐end performance rating, which in turn determined the
advisor’s annual discretionary bonus and/or pay increases alongside a number of qualitative factors including sharing
expertise with and assisting colleagues, contributing to an inclusive and collaborative work environment,
communicating openly with colleagues, building subject matter expertise and industry knowledge, understanding
Vanguard’s business model and financials, deepening investment acumen, and staying current with technological
trends. The metrics and qualitative criteria were also factors considered in PAS advisor promotions.
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that some advisors were eligible for the
discretionary bonus and that the employee performance review process created a financial incentive for advisors to
recommend PAS over other advisory programs and other brokerage services offered by VAI and its affiliates, VAI’s
Form CRS and Supplement to the PAS Brochure contained contradictory disclosures that PAS advisors received no
additional compensation. Additionally, the SEC also found that VAI’s marketing materials contained related
misleading statements regarding PAS advisors’ conflicts of interest and that VAI failed to adopt written policies and
procedures reasonably designed to prevent it from making misleading statements to clients regarding incentive
compensation or to ensure that it fully disclosed the conflicts of interest created by its compensation structure.
Please see the Advisor compensation practices above for detailed information about how your advisors and any sales
professionals who refer prospects to the Services are currently compensated.
Other financial industry activities and affiliations
The Vanguard Group, Inc.
VAI is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which is wholly owned by Vanguard.
Vanguard, also a registered investment advisor, provides a range of investment advisory and
administrative services to the Vanguard Funds.
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When giving advice to Clients, we will recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds serviced by our
corporate parent, Vanguard. We address the competing interests that arise between us and our Clients
as a result of recommending proprietary funds by relying on our time‐tested investment philosophies
and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs, diversification, and indexing, when formulating target
allocations for Clients. We disclose to prospective Clients that we recommend Vanguard Funds prior to,
or at the establishment of, the advisory relationship. Acting in accordance with our advice to purchase
Vanguard’s proprietary funds will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds that are separate
from, and in addition to, any advisory fees assessed by us.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by VMC. VMC’s marketing and distribution
services are conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of a 1981 exemptive order from
the SEC, which permits Vanguard Funds to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard
Fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share
classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s marketing costs. VMC doesn’t receive transaction‐based
compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds.
When giving advice to Clients, we will recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds distributed by our
affiliate, VMC. Since VMC doesn’t receive transaction‐based compensation in connection with the
distribution of the Vanguard Funds, the competing interests that arise from our affiliation with VMC in its
role as distributor of the Vanguard Funds are mitigated. However, to the extent that you maintain a
retail brokerage account with VMC as part of the Portfolio, VMC may receive compensation from you that’s
separate from, and in addition to, the advisory fees payable to us.
Please see the section of this brochure entitled “Brokerage practices” for more information about
brokerage charges and other fees and expenses you may experience as a result of enrolling your
Vanguard Brokerage Account in our service. The Services will not use information that you provide
solely VMC (e.g., purpose of account opening) as the basis for the
management of your Portfolio.
Certain members of our management and our advisors are registered representatives of, or are
affiliated with, VMC. Please refer to the Supplement to the Vanguard Digital Advisor and Vanguard
Personal Advisor Brochure for further information.
Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company
We are also affiliated with VFTC, a limited‐purpose trust company incorporated under the banking laws of
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard. VFTC serves as trustee
and investment advisor for certain collective investment trusts offered by Vanguard as eligible investment
options by some retirement plans. We may recommend the purchase of Vanguard collective investment
trusts serviced by VFTC. Additionally, VFTC serves as directed trustee for certain employer‐sponsored
retirement plans covering participants. VFTC also serves as custodian for traditional IRAs, SEP‐IRAs, and Roth
IRAs (collectively referred to as “Vanguard IRAs”). VFTC may charge reasonable custodial fees with respect
to the establishment and maintenance of your Vanguard IRAs at any time during the calendar year. You
should consult the Disclosure Statement and Custodial Account Agreement governing your Vanguard IRAs,
or your Annual Plan Fee Disclosure Notice, for more information relating to VFTC’s fees and services
provided.
Vanguard National Trust Company
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Vanguard National Trust Company (“VNTC”) is a federally chartered, limited‐purpose trust company
regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which serves as corporate trustee and provides
investment advisory services to certain high net worth clients of Vanguard’s Personal Investor Group under
Vanguard Personal Advisor Services. VNTC was chartered in 2001, but its business has been in operation
since 1996. VNTC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard.
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading
VAI operates under a code of ethics that complies with Rule 17j‐1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940
and Rule 204A‐1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply
to all employees, incorporates Vanguard’s insider trading policy, and governs outside employment and
receipt of gifts. Additionally, the code imposes restrictions on the personal securities trading of Vanguard
employees, as well as reporting requirements. The trading restrictions and reporting requirements are more
involved for employees that have access to information about Vanguard Fund trading activity or Vanguard
client trading activity and are designed to ensure that Vanguard employees don’t misuse fund or client
information for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its code of ethics to any Client upon request at no charge.
Please see the previous section of this brochure above entitled “Other financial industry activities and
affiliations” for a discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other Vanguard entities and how those affiliations may
impact clients of VAI.
Brokerage practices
Enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
This section regarding Brokerage practices applies to Clients with enrolled Vanguard Brokerage Accounts.
You will be required to establish or use an existing Vanguard Brokerage Account held through our affiliated
broker‐dealer, VMC, for those securities, and you’ll agree in your Client Agreement to execute all Portfolio
brokerage transactions through VMC. Transactions executed in a Vanguard Brokerage Account will be
subject to any fund purchase and redemption fees as well as VMC’s usual and customary fees, markups,
commissions, and charges, as well as bid‐ask spreads, separate and apart from the gross advisory fees
assessed by us. (However, if these fees are assessed and retained for purposes of generating revenue, they
are included in the fee credit described above if they are incurred because of discretionary management
of the account).
The Services typically start sending trade orders for execution to our trading venues, at or near 10:00
a.m. each day, and, depending on trading volumes and appropriateness, may trade throughout the day.
It is important to note that, you give investment discretion to us to manage and make trades in your
account(s), and, as such, we will initiate or pause trading at our discretion at any time and for any reason,
including pausing trading when we believe that continuing trading may pose undue risk of harm to your
Portfolio. If we suspend or delay trading, requests to withdraw and transfer cash from Enrolled Accounts
continue to be honored. However, there may be a delay in our ability to liquidate securities to cover
requests for withdrawals in excess of the cash in Enrolled Accounts, or to invest existing or new cash
balances.
To limit adverse price effects that you could experience if VAI submitted brokerage trades in bulk to the
secondary markets at a single point in time, we’ve designed a fair and equitable system for handling
automated brokerage trades that doesn’t systematically disadvantage any Client. We aggregate trades of
Vanguard ETFs among Clients and other retail advisory service clients (i.e., PAS) for the purpose of
minimizing transaction costs while seeking best execution on behalf of our clients. When VAI aggregates
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trades, they may be aggregated along with trades recommended for clients of VNTC, an affiliate of VAI.
This means trades of certain VAI and VNTC clients may be combined for execution in the secondary
market.
Except as provided below, where we aggregate trades in Vanguard ETFs, we first seek to reduce
transaction costs by employing cross trading among the advised accounts of VAI and VNTC clients who
are buying or selling a particular Vanguard ETF capable of being cross traded on that business day. To do
so, we determine the net amount of our clients’ buys and sells that can be aggregated for a particular
Vanguard ETF on that business day and match up the trades of as many of those buyers and sellers as
possible on a pro rata basis across all the clients participating in the aggregate trade. With this practice,
individual advised clients are selling their Vanguard ETFs to other advised clients and thereby avoiding
having those trades sent to the secondary markets for execution. We’ll price all crossed trades at the
then‐prevailing market price as determined by the midpoint between the national best bid and offer.
Any portion of the aggregate trade unable to be executed through cross trading will be submitted as a
residual aggregate trade to the secondary markets in an attempt to complete any unfilled orders for
that Vanguard ETF.
Where VAI aggregates trades, VAI will calculate an average price for all of the Vanguard ETFs bought or
sold together, and Clients who participated in the aggregated trade will receive that average price for
the Vanguard ETFs traded for them. The average price we assign to individual trades that were
aggregated may be greater or less than the price an individual Client’s order would’ve received if not
traded using aggregation and cross trading.
Further, if we’re unable to completely fill the residual aggregate trade, we’ll distribute the Vanguard
ETFs purchased or the proceeds received from such aggregate transaction to the Clients who
participated in the residual aggregate trade on a pro rata basis. We’ll initiate or pause automated trading
at our discretion at any time and for any reason, including pausing trading when we believe that
continuing trading may pose undue risk of harm to your Portfolio.
Aggregation and cross trading are not available to all account types, security types, or order types. You’ll
only be able to participate in aggregation and cross trading in certain automated trades of Vanguard
ETFs submitted on your behalf from your Vanguard Brokerage Account. Accounts that are governed by
ERISA generally are not permitted to engage in cross trading. Clients who are not permitted to participate
in aggregation and cross trading might receive a different, possibly worse, price for the securities bought
and sold on their behalf.
Additionally, you won’t participate in aggregation and cross trading where:
• Trades are submitted manually instead of through our automated brokerage trading systems
(typically triggered as part of error correction processes).
• Trades submitted for Vanguard ETF trades are submitted for an individual client along with an
order to transact in securities that are ineligible for aggregation and cross trading.
Fractional share trading
The Service will seek to utilize fractional share trading for automated trading in Vanguard ETFs. Clients may
also hold fractional shares in Vanguard Brokerage Accounts as a result of self‐directed dollar‐based
transactions prior to enrolling their brokerage account in the Service. The potential benefits of fractional
share trading include, but are not limited to, allowing for greater portfolio diversification by enabling
Vanguard Brokerage Accounts to be allocated more closely to their target asset allocation; participating in
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fractional dividend distribution; and the opportunity to reduce cash holdings. Fractional shares typically do
not trade directly in the market. When trading in fractional shares, VAI will “trade along” with Client's
fractional shares in order to facilitate the trading (alternatively, fractional share recommendations may be
offset through the aggregation and cross trading practices described above). This means that VAI will
complete a fractional order from VAI’s facilitation account inventory by adding the proportional shares or
dollars needed to make a whole share market order. In this case, the order will be routed for execution in
an agency capacity, and VAI will not be trading these orders as principal. Orders will be prioritized to fill
Client orders and VAI will absorb any residual shares or proceeds from the sale of residual shares in its
facilitation account. It is not the intent of VAI to profit while trading along with its Clients; however, VAI
might realize a profit or loss in connection with trading fractional shares.
VAI’s facilitation account will be held with VMC, its affiliated broker‐dealer. VMC will receive no commissions
or other compensation in connection with the trading of fractional shares.
In the event trades are processed manually, if VAI is directing the sale of your entire position in stocks
or ETFs and the position includes fractional shares, then fractional shares liquidate automatically on the
settlement date at no additional cost to you. In this case, VMC will purchase the fractional shares from you
on a principal basis at the same price at which the whole shares executed without obtaining your positive
consent prior to automatic liquidation. In the event of an operational contingency during which the
trade along process above is unavailable, your consent may be required for this type of manual trade
and rebalancing your account or withdrawals could be delayed or paused until consent is obtained.
Fractional shares cannot be transferred to another brokerage firm. In situations where a fractional share
cannot be transferred, it would need to be sold and a taxable gain or loss incurred if such sale occurs in
a taxable account. Clients are entitled to receive any dividends paid on their fractional share positions.
The dividends payable in respect of their fractional share position will be an amount proportionate to
their ownership interests. Fractional shares will be eligible to participate in both mandatory corporate
actions (e.g., stock splits, mergers) as well as voluntary corporate actions (e.g., tender offers). However,
clients may not have voting rights for any of the fractional shares held in their accounts depending on
the issuer or tabulator. Clients will only be permitted to vote in respect of their whole share positions.
Upon termination of an advisory service, fractional share positions will remain in your Vanguard
Brokerage Account until the positions are fully liquidated.
We reserve the right, at any time in our sole discretion, and without prior notice to clients, to limit or stop
trading fractional shares or to change our policies and procedures governing fractional share trading,
including, without limitation, allocation and trade along procedures. Certain securities may be or may
become ineligible for fractional share investing, as determined by us in our discretion. If previously eligible
securities become ineligible for fractional share investing, we will process a liquidation of such fractional
share positions and credit the proceeds to your account.
Periodically, we conduct due diligence to review the execution quality of any transaction services provided
by VMC for Clients’ Portfolios, primarily to oversee VMC’s compliance with its best execution practices. VMC
routes equity and option orders to various markets. VMC uses a top‐ down approach in selecting market
participants with which VMC will establish a relationship. This approach includes a review of system
availability and quality of service, as well as financial and regulatory standing. The designated market
participants to which orders are routed are selected based on the consistent high quality of their executions
in one or more market segments. In analyzing quality of executions, VMC considers factors such as liquidity
enhancement, price improvement, execution speed, and overall effective price compared with the national
best bid or offer (“NBBO”). VMC regularly conducts analysis and reviews reports in order to evaluate quality
of execution.
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Other investment advisors may not require you to direct brokerage transactions through a specified
broker‐dealer. By directing brokerage transactions to VMC, we may be unable to achieve most favorable
execution of your transactions, and this practice may cost you more money.
Enrolled Participant Accounts
We will not provide recommendations on individual securities held through a brokerage window.
Therefore, we do not select or recommend broker‐dealers for client transactions for Participant
Accounts.
Review of accounts
This section regarding the review of accounts applies to those Clients who have Enrolled Accounts in the
Services. Clients of the Services will have access to their Portfolio information through the Site. As part of
the Rebalance (as described above), we will evaluate and monitor the Portfolio. For account types subject
to required minimum distributions, it is your responsibility to take the minimum required amount. However,
you can opt into a reoccurring RMD series service subject to certain limitations outlined below.
We don’t perform ongoing account monitoring or offer account reviews for users who enter information on
the Site to plan financial goals, but who do not enroll their accounts and receive ongoing discretionary advice
services under the terms of your Client Agreement. Additionally, we do not monitor self‐managed accounts
included in an adjusted target asset allocation accommodation. Financial planning tools that are available
prior to signing a Client Agreement are provided solely for your information and education. Ongoing use of
the financial planning tools depends on you to update manually added account information or keep linked
account information up to date. The adjusted target asset allocation accommodation depends on your
point in time review and update of categorization of your self‐managed accounts.
Initial Enrollment
After your enrollment, each Service will place trades, typically within 1‐2 business days, based on the
funds available in your account in order to rebalance your account into our recommended asset allocation
for you. By enrolling an account, you are giving us an express order to sell any full or partial positions in
that account that do not fit in with our recommended asset allocation, and invest the proceeds
according to our investment strategy. These initial sells, directed by you, are subject to commissions and
fees. VMC does not charge commissions on ETF, stock, and most fund trades, but you may be subject to
purchase and redemption fees), and standard settlement time frames.
We will place those initial trades typically after 10 a.m. on the following business day without
consideration of the current market value or all tax implications (if applicable). In the event that we are
unable to sell any of the positions in your account, we will attempt to contact you; if we are unable to reach
you, we reserve the right to terminate your enrollment.
Adjusting the asset allocation
For Clients, we will re‐assess your target asset allocation if you inform us that your Personal Characteristics
have changed including your ability to bear risk changes, you change your investment settings or other
elections, or if you modify your financial goal plan, but we won’t change your asset allocation based on
market conditions. Each business day, we will review your target allocation in relation to your investment
time horizon to determine if changes to the allocation are necessary. VAI reserves the right to abstain from
assessments on a given day for technical or market infrastructure reasons. The Portfolio’s target allocation
will also change based on changes to your financial situation and financial goals, in particular, changes to
your Personal Characteristics.
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In our discretion, the Service may change data providers and may revise the methodologies used to
determine the asset classification assessments of securities based on, among other things, data availability,
our judgments about data quality, and to ensure that portfolios are constructed in accordance with our
investment philosophy. A change of third‐party data providers or methodologies can result in changes to the
asset classification assessments of securities in your portfolio. A change of third‐party data providers or
methodologies can result in changes to the asset classification assessments of securities in your portfolio,
which could contribute to the need to rebalance your Portfolio.
Changes in your target asset allocation will cause us to recommend and effect the purchase or sale of
securities in your Portfolio in order to meet the new target asset allocation, subject to the rebalancing
guardrails below.
Rebalancing the Portfolio
If your Portfolio is found to deviate from the target asset allocation by more than 5% in any asset class during
a daily Rebalance, under normal market circumstances, we will rebalance your Portfolio using our
investment methodologies and strategies aligned with your financial goals. Securities contributing to over‐
weighted sub‐asset classes will be sold and the proceeds invested in underweighted sub‐asset classes in
accordance with your financial goal.
We will attempt to minimize the tax costs associated with rebalancing your Portfolio. If the Portfolio
consists of both taxable and tax‐advantaged account registrations, we’ll first attempt to rebalance within
the tax‐advantaged accounts to attempt to limit tax costs. In addition, we’ll follow a tax‐ efficient “asset
location” strategy to consider the tax implications of repositioning investments within the taxable
accounts and among the taxable and tax‐advantaged accounts. Additionally, if your Participant
Accounts have multiple tax types or funding sources (i.e. pre‐tax, after‐tax, or Roth), then we will also
seek to allocate future contributions to optimize tax efficiency. This strategy will follow similar practices
as those used during implementation of your Portfolio to hold relatively tax‐efficient investments, such as
broad‐market stock index products, in taxable accounts while keeping relatively tax‐inefficient investments,
such as taxable bonds, in tax‐ advantaged accounts. In the event your Portfolio is found to deviate from
the target asset allocation by 5% or less in all asset classes, individual investments may still be reviewed and
sold, if determined to be appropriate. An additional partial rebalance trigger is also in place to monitor
for balances in excess of $300 in the settlement fund, material tax bracket changes, and risk tolerance
changes. Additionally, in the coming weeks changes to your goal plan that impact your recommended
investment strategy will also trigger a partial rebalance.
If, during a rebalance, the proceeds resulting from the sale of securities are designated to purchase
additional shares of a Vanguard ETF in a Vanguard Brokerage Account, the amount of the recommended
purchase will set at a minimum of $1of such Vanguard ETF. If the amount of the recommended purchase(s)
are less than $1, we will instead aggregate and purchase additional shares of the largest existing holding of
any one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate Vanguard Fund, or another diversified Vanguard Fund already held
in the account for which the purchase recommendation was generated. If the account for which the purchase
recommendation was generated does not contain an existing holding of one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate
Vanguard Fund, or another diversified Vanguard Fund, or if the proceeds are insufficient to purchase
additional shares of such existing holdings, then the proceeds will be invested in the settlement fund or bank
sweep established for the account.
Sale instructions during a rebalance will be reviewed systematically in order to facilitate efficient trade
execution when there are minimal order amounts. See the “Brokerage practices” section above for more
information. During any rebalance, if there is an instruction to sell 95% or more of a position in a Vanguard
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ETF, the instruction will be converted to a sell‐all order unless the remaining value of the ETF position is
$25,000 or more. During a full or periodic rebalance, any sales of a Vanguard ETF for less than $1 will be
cancelled and the position will be maintained until the next rebalance opportunity. During a rebalance due
to fee collection or a one‐time withdrawal, any sales of a security less than $1 will be rounded to $1 if the
shares remaining will be at least $1, or the sale will be converted to a sell‐all order.
If, during a rebalance, the proceeds resulting from the sale of securities are designated to purchase securities
worth less than one dollar ($1.00) in a Vanguard Brokerage Account, then the proceeds will instead be
invested in the settlement fund or bank sweep established for the account.
Additionally, we will use cash flows as an opportunity to adjust your holdings towards your target
allocation. That is, we will invest your contributions or liquidate your withdrawals in a manner that
adjusts your overall allocation back towards your target allocation, in order to minimize transaction and
tax costs. If your contribution or additional proceeds are designated to purchase new ETF shares, we
will rebalance in a manner that purchases whole shares of the needed ETFs (subject to the
implementation of fractional share trading practices described above) in your Vanguard Brokerage
Account. If you have residual cash in your Vanguard Brokerage Account and it’s not enough to purchase
the necessary shares of ETFs, then the cash will continue to be held until the next rebalancing opportunity.
Optional reoccurring RMD series service
If you are required to take a minimum distribution from your Enrolled IRA accounts, you can opt to create a
reoccurring RMD series through the Site to automate your withdrawals. While you can customize the
frequency for the withdrawals, the timing is subject to certain limitations. Your RMD amount is calculated at
the time you set up the service and then recalculated annually in January based on the IRAs that our affiliate,
Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company is custodian. Creating a RMD series service for your Enrolled IRA accounts
will restrict the ability to utilize similar options through VMC. We do not include IRA accounts held at another
financial institution, even if you added those accounts to your goal plan and projections. If you have multiple
Enrolled IRA accounts the RMD will be taken from the one with the largest balance. At least annually, we will
reassess which Enrolled IRA account has the highest balance.
Our calculation of your RMD is based upon Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a)(9) and the regulations
thereunder, as amended. RMD calculations are not provided based upon any rights you may have under a
qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) or any court order or agreement. We will rely on the information
you provided as part of your IRA account setup for the calculation. Calculations are also limited for inherited
IRA accounts. Account changes (for example, changing your federal withholding or modifying account
enrollments) require terminating the RMD service and setting up a new series. We will not be responsible
for your failure to take action or oversee the RMD series service in a manner that results in an under
distribution from your retirement account.
The RMD series will not automatically adjust if you elect to take additional distributions from your IRA
accounts and result in total withdrawals in excess of your RMD unless you adjust your RMD series service.
We strongly encourage you to verify with your own tax advisor whether you have met your obligations in
any given year and to determine the tax consequences to you of taking distributions from any retirement
plan accounts. Any account trading restrictions placed on your Enrolled IRA accounts will prevent or delay
receipt of a scheduled RMD.
As a discretionary advisor, VAI reserves the right to refine these rebalancing and trading practices overtime.
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Error Correction Practices
Errors, including trade errors and operational errors, may occur in connection with our handling of client
accounts. We maintain policies and procedures that address the identification and correction of errors
consistent with applicable standards of care. In the event an error occurs, we will seek to correct the error
in a fair, timely and reasonable manner and we will make an appropriate correction or otherwise refund
losses to your Portfolio resulting from the correction of errors.
We determine whether an error has occurred on a case‐by‐case basis, in our discretion, taking into
consideration factors we deem reasonable, including, without limitation, applicable legal and regulatory
requirements, our contractual obligations to clients and the applicable standard of care. Not all incidents will
be considered errors and not all errors will have a financial impact on your Portfolio.
When we determine that there is an error, we may, in accordance with our policies and procedures, cancel
or modify trades prior to settlement or reallocate to our error account. Where it is not permissible or
practicable to correct an error prior to settlement, we will engage in such transactions as may be necessary
to correct the error. When we determine that compensation is appropriate, we will determine the amount
in good faith and in accordance with our error correction policies and procedures. If an error, after
correction, results in a gain to a client's account, the client account will retain the gain. Unless prohibited by
applicable laws, we may choose to net a Portfolio’s gains and losses arising from a single incident, or if there
are a series of related errors stemming from the same root cause. If an error, after correction, results in a
gain to our error account, the error account will retain the gain to net against other Vanguard losses
sustained in the error account. The error account is most likely to experience a gain because of a correction
where the market has moved positively while the trades made to satisfy the correction are settling or when
a client chooses to engage in the correction process even though the share price of the security sold in error
has decreased.
Reimbursement is limited to direct losses and does not include any amounts we determine to be speculative
or uncertain, including potential opportunity losses. In calculating any reimbursement amount, we may but
are not required to consider tax implications for, or the tax status of, any affected client.
Communications
As owners of Vanguard Funds or other Vanguard Brokerage Account investments, Clients will receive or have
access to communications with respect to those securities. These communications include transaction
confirmations, quarterly account statements, prospectus updates, annual and semiannual reports, and
proxy statements relating to their holdings (as appropriate), as well as general Vanguard newsletters,
emails, and other communications. For Participant Accounts, you will receive investment documents through
your plan disclosures.
Client referrals and other sales professional compensation
We don’t receive compensation or other economic benefits from persons other than clients for
providing investment advice or advisory services to clients. We’ll run prospecting and promotional
campaigns from time to time to attract new clients to the Services (“Referral Programs”). These Referral
Programs may include compensating Clients, affiliates, strategic partners, or third‐party solicitors for
referring the Services to prospects. Compensation will include flat fees or payments based on certain
performance triggers, like enrolling in the Services. Certain promotional programs also offer Clients the ability
to have future advisory fees waived if qualifying criteria are met for referral promotional programs. Clients
aren’t charged any fees, nor do they incur any additional costs for us running these Referral Programs. We
have oversight of third parties involved in the Referral Programs, and prospects will be informed of any
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such Referral Programs receiving compensation prior to becoming a Client.
Note that Vanguard affiliates will also receive compensation in the form of expense ratios from Vanguard
Funds and revenue sharing with third party funds as discussed in the “Fees and Compensation” section
above.
Similar to the Advisor compensation described above, sales professionals are compensated based on
assessment of several factors that vary depending on their role:
Sales consultant compensation
Sales Consultants who handle inbound calls to Vanguard are paid hourly wages and are eligible to receive
annual increases to their wages based on discretionary factors, including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice
service implementations; (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard that are attributable
to the sales professional; (iii) the percentage of client interactions that lead to aligning prospects and clients
to certain product, account and service solutions offered by or through VBS; (iv) the sales professional’s
demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (v) compliance with
supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards.
Salaried Sales Consultants who conduct outbound calls for Vanguard participate in the corporate bonus
program and are eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors, including: (i) the number
of Vanguard advice service implementations; (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard
that are attributable to the sales professional; (iii) the sales professional’s demonstration of employee
competencies as established by Human Resources; and (iv) compliance with supervisory, security and privacy
procedures as well as regulatory standards.
Financial consultant compensation
Financial Consultants are sales professionals that serve as a dedicated point of contact for clients with
$1,000,000 to $5,000,000 invested with Vanguard. Salaried Financial Consultants who conduct outbound
calls for Vanguard participate in the sales incentive plan (in lieu of the corporate bonus program) and are
eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors, including (i) the Financial Consultant’s
demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (ii) compliance with
supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. These Financial Consultants are
also eligible for bonuses where payments are based on nondiscretionary and discretionary factors. The
nondiscretionary factors include (i) the number of Vanguard advice service implementations and (ii) the
amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard that are attributable to the Financial Consultant. The
discretionary factors include (i) demonstrating employee competencies as established by Human Resources;
(ii) compliance with supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards; (iii)
professional sales skills; (iv) the number and quality of needs assessments conducted; and (v) various client
engagement factors such as personalized outreach to the Financial Consultant’s book of business.
Sales executive compensation
Sales Executives are sales professionals who specialize in working with Ultra High Net Worth prospects and
clients – defined as investors with over $5,000,000 in investable assets – who have highly complicated
financial situations. Sales Executives are eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors,
including (i) the sales professional’s cultivation of referral networks such as through estate planning
attorneys or CPAs that can lead to new Vanguard prospects; (ii) the ability to educate prospects and clients
with regard to account types, services or securities offered by or through Vanguard, VBS and the Vanguard
Charitable; (iii) demonstrating employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (iv)
compliance with supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. Sales
Executives are also eligible for bonuses where payments are based on discretionary and non‐discretionary
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factors. The nondiscretionary factors include: (i) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard
attributable to the sales professional; and (ii) the amount of client assets invested through any of Vanguard’s
proprietary advice offerings. The discretionary factors are the same as those used to assess salary increases
for Sales Executives.
Wealth Management relationship manager and relationship executive compensation
Wealth Management Relationship Managers serve as dedicated points of contact to Vanguard’s non‐advised
Wealth Management clients holding over $5,000,000 in assets. Salaried Wealth Management Relationship
Managers participating in the corporate bonus program are eligible to receive salary increases based on
discretionary factors, including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice service implementations; (ii) the amount
of new client assets transferred to Vanguard; (iii) the number of certain VBS product, account and retail
service solutions positioned to clients; (iv) the number of client interactions that lead to a needs assessment;
(v) client satisfaction; (vi) various client engagement factors such as the number of quality engagements,
breadth and depth of engagements, percent of client follow up, and percent of personalized outreach to the
sales professional’s book of business; (vii) enabling a full transition of any transfer agent accounts remaining
in the sales professional’s book of business to the VBA platform; (viii) the sales professional’s demonstration
of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (ix) compliance with supervisory,
security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. These sales professionals are also eligible
for an annual bonus where payments are based on the same discretionary factors.
Wealth Management Relationship Executives attempt to enhance existing non‐advised Wealth Management
client relationships who have highly complex financial situations and to cultivate opportunities to expand
those clients’ understanding of and access to Vanguard products, accounts and services. Salaried Wealth
Management Relationship Executives participating in the corporate bonus program are eligible to receive
salary increases based on discretionary factors including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice service
implementations; (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard; (iii) the number of certain
VBS product, account and retail service solutions positioned to clients; (iv) the number of completed
engagements with a client to position a product or service; (v) client satisfaction; (vi) the number of client
referrals that lead to a new account being added to the sales professional’s book of business or to assets
transferring to Vanguard; (vii) the sales professional’s demonstration of employee competencies as
established by Human Resources; and (viii) compliance with supervisory, security and privacy procedures as
well as regulatory standards. These sales professionals are also eligible for an annual bonus where payments
are based on the same discretionary factors.
Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due to the incentives they create for both the sales
professionals and VAI. VMC addresses the conflicts of interest arising from our compensation practices by
maintaining supervisory policies and procedures, maintaining policies requiring that our sales professionals
who provide you with recommendations act in your best interest, reasonably supervising their activities,
providing sales professionals with training, and disclosing these conflicts so that you can make informed
decisions.
Additionally, certain Vanguard sales professionals who promote Vanguard services to employer sponsored
plan sponsors or their consultants are also eligible to receive variable compensation based on discretionary
factors including the number of plan sponsors that elect to offer an eligible VAI advisory program (either
proprietary or sub‐advised) to their plan participants. These sales professionals receive additional
discretionary bonus credit if an employer sponsored plan sponsor elect a VAI advisory program as a default
investment option. This variable compensation structure creates a financial incentive for sales professionals
engaging with employer plan sponsors to promote VAI advisory services over other investment products
offered by Vanguard and its affiliates.
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financial advisors
Also, Vanguard Situational Advisor
(“VSA advisors”) provide point‐in‐time,
nondiscretionary advice services and financial planning to participants in certain employer‐sponsored
retirement plans. VSA advisors who are exempt employees of Vanguard are also eligible to receive an annual
variable discretionary bonus. The annual variable discretionary bonus program is based on both Vanguard’s
company performance over the prior year and an employee’s performance over the prior year. It is also
based on an employee’s level and position in the organization. In assessing the performance of a VSA advisor,
Vanguard considers discretionary factors including: (i) participant action rates from consultations (e.g.,
adding a beneficiary, increasing your 401(k) contribution amount, adjusting asset allocations to better align
with Vanguard methodology to reach your goals, staying the course making no asset allocation changes as
recommended by the advisor, etc.), (ii) risk measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy
procedures, compliance with regulatory standards and avoidance of trading errors), (iii) implementation of
key business initiatives, (iv) an advisor’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human
Resources, such as corporate citizenship, subject matter proficiency and expertise, and contributions to the
advisor’s team and Vanguard, (v) the advisor’s overall utilization (productivity) rate; and (vi) client
satisfaction. Additionally, VSA advisors who are both exempt and non‐exempt employees are eligible for
annual merit increases to their base compensation determined, in part, on the same discretionary factors
used to measure discretionary bonus compensation. Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due
to the incentives they create for both the VSA advisor and VAI. Specifically, factors (i) and (vi) in the paragraph
above give an advisor and VAI an incentive to recommend an increase in contributions or an allocation
adjustment, which could benefit VAI and/or an affiliate of Vanguard. Additionally, VAI and its affiliates
benefit through receipt of additional compensation when clients enroll in a Vanguard advisory service or
program.
Our employees are also subject to Vanguard’s Code of Ethics Policy, which addresses personal trading, other
business activities, gifts and entertainment, and confidentiality of client information, among other topics.
These sales professionals are also eligible for an annual payment from an enterprise‐wide compensation
plan. This plan is made available to all qualifying employees of Vanguard, not just sales professionals.
Payments from the plan are determined based on an employee’s level in the organization as well as a
multiplier based on overall company performance during the prior three years. Accordingly, payments from
the plan do not create conflicts of interest between you and our employees.
Custody
If you hold a mutual fund account directly with Vanguard, you will receive quarterly or more frequent
account statements from Vanguard, the transfer agent of the Vanguard Funds, in lieu of a qualified
custodian. Vanguard will also transmit transaction confirmations to you in connection with purchases and
sales made in your Vanguard mutual fund account.
If you enroll a Participant Account, VFTC serves as the qualified custodian for the plan’s assets. You will
receive quarterly, or more frequent, plan account statements from Vanguard, in its capacity as plan
recordkeeper.
If you enroll a Vanguard Brokerage Account, VMC serves as qualified custodian and will send quarterly
or more frequent account statements directly to you. VMC will also transmit transaction confirmations to
you in connection with purchases and sales made in your Vanguard Brokerage Account (provided that
VMC may furnish periodic statements of account activity in lieu of transaction confirmations in compliance
with Rule 10b‐10 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).
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You should carefully review and compare all account statements and reports from Vanguard and VMC
with any account information made available by us and contact the appropriate entity with any
questions.
Investment discretion
When you decide to enroll accounts, you are providing VAI through the Services full discretionary trading
and investment authority over those accounts subject to the Client Agreement. As a result, VAI will have full
discretionary authority over the investments selected for your Portfolio, and the timing and size of
purchases and sales within your Portfolio. The Services are not designed to provide a comprehensive
financial plan to Clients. Rather, their Sites seek to help Clients define their financial goals and designate
investment accounts for which they would like VAI to exercise discretionary management to invest to
help reach those goals. Personal Advisor Clients also have access to seek additional financial planning
guidance from a Financial Advisor. While these Financial Advisors will be able to assist you with changing
your financial profile and other inputs on Personal Advisor’s Site, ultimately any trading and investment
decisions within your Enrolled Accounts will be made by our algorithms.
In order to manage your accounts, we will have the authority, on your behalf, to purchase, sell,
exchange, or transfer assets; rebalance and reallocate assets; modify our investment strategies; and
execute other necessary and appropriate transactions, including transmitting verbal, written, or online
instructions to effect transactions, at the times and according to the terms established in the Client
Agreement. We may change our investment strategy at any time and without prior notice to you,
including changing the investments used for purposes of rebalancing the Portfolio.
We don’t exercise any investment discretion with respect to users who use the financial planning tools and
decide not to enroll in the ongoing advised service.
Voting client securities
Vanguard Brokerage Accounts
Upon request, the Services will provide additional information regarding proxy votes and corporate actions
for Clients enrolled in the Services, upon request. The information could include details on the security itself,
impact on the Client’s Portfolio, and recommended voting by Vanguard or third parties. We won’t vote or
exercise similar rights for your securities. The exercise of all voting rights associated with any security or other
property held by you shall be your responsibility. We won’t advise or act for you in any legal proceedings,
including bankruptcies or class actions, involving securities held or previously held by you or the issuers of
those securities. Proxies will be delivered directly by the issuer of the security, the custodian, or its agent.
Participants in certain employer‐sponsored retirement plans
The responsibility for the exercise of all voting or similar rights associated with any security or other property
held in the enrolled Participant Account will be outlined by your plan. Proxies related to plan holdings will be
delivered directly by the issuer of the security, the custodian, or its agent.
An Investor Choice program is available to you if you hold certain Vanguard U.S. equity funds. This program
offered by our affiliated Vanguard Funds allows eligible clients to direct how their proportionate share of
fund‐level voting power is cast by selecting from five predefined proxy‐voting policies. The Service, including
VAI Financial Advisors, will not provide recommendations or influence your decisions, but they can discuss
the program options. You can obtain more information on the Investor Choice program and the applicable
Vanguard Funds at: https://investor.vanguard.com/investor‐choice.
Financial information
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We aren’t aware of any financial condition that’s reasonably likely to impair VAI’s ability to meet contractual
commitments to you.
Requirements for state‐registered advisors
VAI is a federally registered investment advisor.
Investment risks
Cybersecurity risks: The increased use of technology to conduct business could subject VAI and its third‐party
service providers to risks associated with cybersecurity. In general, a cybersecurity incident can occur as a
result of a deliberate attack designed to gain unauthorized access to digital systems. If the attack is successful,
an unauthorized person or persons could misappropriate assets or sensitive information, corrupt data, or
cause operational disruption. A cybersecurity incident could also occur unintentionally if, for example, an
authorized person inadvertently released proprietary or confidential information. Vanguard has developed
robust technological safeguards and business continuity plans to prevent, or reduce the impact of, potential
cybersecurity incidents. Additionally, Vanguard has a process for assessing the information security and/or
cybersecurity programs implemented by third‐party service providers, which helps minimize the risk of
potential incidents.
Despite these measures, a cybersecurity incident still has the potential to disrupt business operations, which
could negatively impact VAI and/or Clients (including prospective Clients).
Data risk: Data risk is the chance that the Service receives inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated data. The
Services rely on data provided by vendors and Clients or authorized by Clients to be provided by third
party vendors. The Services do not independently verify the accuracy or completeness of provided data.
If a client decides to aggregate or integrate external accounts, there is no guarantee that information
provided by the third‐party vendor regarding non‐ Vanguard accounts will be accurate or complete.
Additionally, to the extent each Service’s projections and calculations are based on historical market
data, labor statistics, or other historic economic data, models are not updated real‐time and there will
be a delay in incorporating significant events into models.
Digital risk: Each Service provide its investment advisory services through digital services (e.g., the Site or
the underlying algorithms). It is possible that a digital service or capability may not perform as intended
or as disclosed despite diligent design and testing before those services and capabilities are put into
production. VAI will monitor and test for potential defects and seek to correct capabilities that do not
perform as intended or disclosed.
Discretionary manager risk: It is possible that poor security selection or focus on securities in a particular
sector, category, or group of companies will cause one or more of the fund’s or ETF’s underlying funds—
and, thus, the fund or ETF itself—to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar
investment objective.
Tax Loss Harvesting risk: Tax‐loss harvesting involves certain risks, including, among others, the risk that the
new investment could have higher costs than the original investment and could introduce portfolio tracking
error into your accounts. There may also be unintended tax implications. We recommend that you carefully
review the optional tax‐loss harvesting service terms and consult a tax advisor before taking action.
Vendor risk: The Services use a number of vendors to provide capabilities that are required by VAI to
deliver the Services. An outage or interruption of, or defect in, a capability provided by these vendors
could adversely impact VAI’s ability to deliver the Service. Third‐party vendors may limit their liability to
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Clients.
The following summarizes the principal risks of using equity and bond index funds, ETFs, or collective investment
trust recommended to achieve the asset allocations in the Services’ investment strategy. For conciseness the risk
description references to “fund” describe risks associated with funds, ETFs, or collective investment trusts.
Asset concentration risk: Funds that invest a high percentage of their assets in a few companies are subject
to the chance that their performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of
relatively few investments. Index sampling risk: is the chance that the securities selected for an index
fund, in the aggregate, will not provide investment performance matching that of a fund‘s target index.
Diversification risk: Diversification doesn’t ensure a profit or protect against a loss. There’s no guarantee that
any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a
given level of income.
ETF risk: Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable directly with the issuing fund other than in very large
aggregations worth millions of dollars. ETFs are subject to market volatility. When buying or selling an ETF,
you will pay or receive the current market price, which may be more or less than net asset value.
ESG risk (applicable to ESG all‐index investment option): is the chance that the stocks or bonds screened by
the index provider for ESG criteria generally will underperform the market as a whole or, in the aggregate,
will trail returns of other funds screened for ESG criteria. There are significant differences in interpretations
of what it means for a company to meet ESG criteria. The index provider’s assessment of a company, based
on the company’s level of involvement in a particular industry or the index provider’s own ESG criteria,
may differ from that of other funds or of the advisor’s or an investor’s assessment of such company. As a
result, the companies deemed eligible by the index provider may not reflect the beliefs and values of any
particular investor and may not exhibit positive or favorable ESG characteristics.
The evaluation of companies for ESG screening or integration is dependent on the timely and accurate
reporting of ESG data by the companies. Successful application of the screens will depend on the index
provider’s proper identification and analysis of ESG data. In addition, an ESG fund’s target index may, at times,
become focused on stocks of a particular market sector, which would subject the fund to proportionately
higher exposure to the risks of that sector.
Manager risk: is the chance that poor security selection or focus on securities in a particular sector, category,
or group of companies will cause a fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar
investment objective.
Ownership Limitations and Regulatory Relief
As the Vanguard funds continue to grow, they may be increasingly impacted by ownership limitations that
apply to certain securities held by the Vanguard funds (“limited securities”). An ownership limitation restricts
the amount of a security that funds within the same fund complex, or funds advised by the same investment
advisor can own. These limitations may apply even where an external manager or different affiliate of
Vanguard provides investment advisory services to a fund. Ownership limitations restrict the amount that
funds can invest in certain securities, due to either regulatory limits that apply to certain industries (for
example, banking and utilities) or mechanisms that some issuers have in place to deter takeover attempts
(for example, poison pills). These restrictions can have negative impacts on funds, including the inability of
an index fund to track its index, the inability of a fund to meet its investment objectives, negative
performance impacts, and unanticipated tax consequences. The impact of a particular ownership limitation
on a Vanguard fund will vary based on several factors, including, but not limited to, a fund’s investment
62
strategy and its current and desired exposure to limited securities, the industry to which the limitation
applies, the country or region of a particular issuer, and the regulatory body imposing the limitation. In
addition to the impacts of specific ownership limitations, the Vanguard funds are also subject to the risk of
multiple ownership limitations applying at one time, which could increase the likelihood of a fund
experiencing the negative impacts listed above. The Vanguard funds attempt to mitigate the impacts of
ownership limitations through the various methods discussed below in “Methods to address ownership
limitations.” However, it is possible that these methods will be unsuccessful and could also expose the
Vanguard funds to other potential risks and negative consequences.
Impacts of ownership limitations
When an ownership limitation applies, the Vanguard funds may need to allocate ownership of impacted
securities across impacted Vanguard funds, and a Vanguard fund may not be able to buy additional securities
or continue to hold existing securities above its allocated amounts. For index funds, this can result in tracking
error if a fund cannot buy or hold the securities it needs in order to replicate or sample its target index. For
active funds, this can result in a fund not being able to take advantage of favorable opportunities to invest in
securities that are subject to limitations. For both index and active funds, the inability to buy or hold securities
could prevent a fund from being able to meet its investment objective or invest in accordance with its
investment strategy, and/or could negatively impact the fund’s performance. In addition, the steps taken to
address ownership limitations could result in additional costs and/or unanticipated tax consequences to a
fund that affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to the fund’s shareholders. The more
assets the Vanguard funds hold, the more likely it is that ownership limitations will negatively impact
Vanguard funds because they will not be able to purchase additional shares of limited securities above their
allocated amounts in order to fully invest their assets in accordance with their investment strategy.
Methods to address ownership limitations
The Vanguard funds try to manage the negative impacts of these ownership limitations on the Vanguard
funds by seeking permission (relief) from regulators and/or issuers to purchase or hold more securities than
the amount allowed by ownership limitations. However, it is not always possible to secure relief and such
relief could be revoked if the Vanguard funds are unable to satisfy the applicable conditions, or if the
regulator or issuer changes its position or policy or if the applicable legal requirements become more
restrictive. There is an increasing amount of uncertainty around how much ownership limitations relief
regulators will grant to asset managers like Vanguard. Given this uncertainty, there is no guarantee that
Vanguard or the Vanguard funds will be able to maintain their existing relief or obtain additional relief from
ownership limitations in the future. A regulator may impose certain conditions on the Vanguard funds in
connection with granting relief from an ownership limitation, including, for example, that the funds vote in a
certain way with respect to shares of the limited security that the Vanguard funds hold in excess of the
ownership limitation. In addition, the relief upon which Vanguard and the Vanguard funds currently rely,
which has allowed Vanguard to exceed certain ownership limitations, could be reduced or revoked, forcing
the Vanguard funds to sell down one or more securities to comply with the ownership limitations. If a fund
has to sell securities, there could be negative impacts to fund performance as well as unanticipated tax
consequences that could impact the amount, timing, and character of distributions to the fund’s
shareholders.
When a Vanguard fund cannot buy or hold securities directly due to ownership limitations, the fund will
typically try to get indirect exposure to impacted securities. The fund does this so that it can replicate as
closely as possible the returns the fund would get if it directly owned the impacted securities. Indirect
exposure can be accomplished through the use of derivatives, such as total return swaps, or by investing in
wholly‐owned subsidiaries that hold the impacted securities. Both of these methods of obtaining indirect
exposure increase fund costs, and, depending on the extent to which these alternatives are used by a fund
63
to avoid exceeding ownership limits, the added costs could have a negative impact on the fund’s
performance. With respect to an index fund, these added costs could also result in tracking error relative to
the fund’s target index. The risks associated with derivatives use are discussed in more detail elsewhere in
the prospectus.
There is no guarantee that laws and regulations always will allow that indirect exposure to limited securities
may be omitted for purposes of determining the Vanguard funds’ exposure to limited securities and
compliance with the applicable ownership limitations. In such circumstances, the Vanguard funds could not
use these techniques and would be required to sell down the indirect and/or direct holdings in the applicable
limited securities.
Equity‐specific risks:
Stock market risk: is the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles,
with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
Industry concentration risk: is the chance that there will be overall problems affecting a particular industry.
Sector risk: is the chance that significant problems will affect a particular sector or that returns from that
sector will trail returns from the overall stock market. Daily fluctuations in specific market sectors are
often more extreme than fluctuations in the overall market. Because a fund invests all, or substantially all, of
its assets in a particular sector, the fund’s performance largely depends—for better or for worse—on the
general condition of that sector.
Company stock funds: concentrate on a single stock and are therefore considered riskier than
diversified stock funds.
Currency risk: is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease
because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging
markets. In fact, this could have the opposite effect, and could be related to international or regional risk.
Investment style risk: is the chance that:
• Returns from large‐capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Large‐ cap
stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or
the stock market in general.
Returns from small‐ and mid‐capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market.
Historically, small‐ and mid‐cap stocks have been more volatile in price than the large‐ cap stocks that
dominate the overall market, and they often perform quite differently.
• Returns from dividend‐paying large‐capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock
market. Large‐cap stocks tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than other segments of
the stock market or the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as
several years.
• Returns from non‐U.S. growth stocks and, to the extent that the Fund is invested in them, small‐ and
mid‐cap stocks, will trail returns from global stock markets. Historically, non‐U.S. small‐ and mid‐cap
stocks have been more volatile in price than the large‐cap stocks that dominate the global markets, and
they often perform quite differently.
International risk or country/regional risk: is the chance that world events—such as political upheaval,
financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in
64
foreign countries or regions. Because a fund may invest a large portion of its assets in securities of companies
located in any one country or region, including emerging markets, its performance may be hurt
disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area. Country/Regional risk is
especially high in emerging markets. The performance of companies who are not located in these countries
or regions, but whose supply chains rely heavily on them, can also be negatively impacted.
Emerging markets risk: is the chance that the stocks of companies located in emerging markets will be
substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the stocks of companies located in more
developed foreign markets.
Nondiversification risk: which
is the chance that the Fund’s performance may be hurt
disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few stocks or even a single stock. The Fund is
considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in the
securities of particular issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
Bond‐specific risks:
Call risk: is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem)
securities with higher coupons or interest rates before their maturity dates. The fund would then lose any
potential price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated
proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s income. Such redemptions and subsequent
reinvestments would also increase a fund‘s portfolio turnover rate.
Call risk is generally low for short‐term bond funds, moderate for intermediate‐term bond funds, high for
long‐term bond funds, and high for high‐yield bond funds.
Prepayment risk: is the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, homeowners will refinance their
mortgages before their maturity dates, resulting in prepayment of mortgage‐ backed securities held by the
fund. The fund would then lose any price appreciation above the mortgage’s principal and would be forced
to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s income.
Such prepayments and subsequent reinvestments would also increase a bond fund’s portfolio turnover rate.
Extension risk: is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid
off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall. This
will lengthen the duration or average life of those securities and delay a fund’s ability to reinvest proceeds
at higher interest rates, making a fund more sensitive to changes in interest rates. For funds that invest
in mortgage‐backed securities, extension risk is the chance that during periods of rising interest rates,
homeowners will repay their mortgages at slower rates.
Credit risk: is the chance that the issuer of a convertible security will fail to pay interest or dividends and
principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will
cause the price of that security to decline.
Income risk: is the chance that the fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income
risk is generally high for short‐term bond funds, low for long‐term bond funds, and high for limited‐
term bond funds.
Interest rate risk: is the chance that bond and loan prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates.
65
Liquidity risk: is the chance that the fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired
price. Liquidity risk is generally low for short‐term bond funds, moderate for intermediate‐ term bond funds,
and high for long‐term bond funds.
Regional risk: Regional risk, which is the chance that economic, political or regulatory occurrences within
a certain state may adversely affect the value of securities offered by issuers located within that state.
Because a Fund (in particular tax‐exempt municipal bond funds) may invest a large portion of its assets
in securities located in any one state, that Fund’s performance may be hurt disproportionately by the
poor performance of its investments in that area.
Tax risk: is the chance that all or a portion of the tax‐exempt income from municipal bonds held by a Fund
will be declared taxable, possibly with retroactive effect, because of unfavorable changes in tax laws,
adverse interpretations by the Internal Revenue Service or state or local tax authorities, or noncompliant
conduct of a bond issuer.
Currency hedging risk: is the risk that the currency hedging transactions entered into by a fund may not
perfectly offset the fund’s foreign currency exposure. In fact, this could have the opposite effect, and
could be related to international or regional risk.
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Additional Brochure: VANGUARD MANAGED ACCOUNT PROGRAM AND PERSONAL ONLINE ADVISOR (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Advisory Service Disclosure
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Blvd.
Malvern, PA 19355
Vanguard Managed Account Program (VMAP™)
& Personal Online Advisor (POA)
March 30, 2026
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of the Vanguard Managed Account
Program and Personal Online Advisor, offered through Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (VAI). This brochure also describes how VAI is
compensated for the service provided to you. You should carefully consider this information in your evaluation of the service.
If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please contact us at 800-310-9228. The information in this
brochure has not been approved or verified by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or by any state
securities authority.
Additional information about VAI also is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.
Material Changes
This document includes updates to the brochure that have occurred since the last annual update was filed on March 28,
2025. On September 29, 2025, the brochure was amended for the following:
• Additional details regarding the oversight of managed accounts in the “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and
risk of loss” and “Review of accounts” sections of the brochure.
• Information was provided within the “Disciplinary information” section of the brochure.
This brochure was also updated with other non-material changes, including an expanded description of the advisory business
and other clarifying changes.
Contents
Advisory business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Fees and compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Types of clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Disciplinary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Other financial industry activities and affiliations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Brokerage practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Review of accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Client referrals and other compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Custody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Investment discretion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Voting client securities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Financial information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Requirements for state-registered advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Investment risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1
Advisory business
Vanguard Advisers, Inc., (VAI) is a Pennsylvania corporation that
provides investment advisory services to a wide variety of clients.
These advisory services include:
Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate
accounts that are offered as investment options in state-sponsored
education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios composed of Vanguard®
Funds and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) (as defined below) as well
as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third-party asset managers
that are accessed by third-party intermediaries through third-party
platforms;
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services
and point-in-time advice for retail clients;
The services VAI provides are elective, additional services powered by
Edelman Financial Engines, LLC (“EFE”), which are adopted by the
plan sponsor and made available to plan participants where Vanguard
acts as recordkeeper to the retirement plan. VMAP offers portfolio
management services to participants of eligible employer-sponsored
retirement plans who want to delegate ongoing, discretionary
investment management decisions to a professional investment
advisor. In making investment management decisions for participants,
VAI relies exclusively on the proprietary software, systems, and
methodology developed and maintained by Financial Engines Advisors
L.L.C. (FEA)*, an independent investment advisor unaffiliated with
Vanguard, to create target allocations for participants. FEA is a wholly
owned subsidiary of EFE and serves as a sub-advisor to VAI. While
Vanguard exercises care and diligence in its selection of FEA as the
independent sub-advisor for the Program, FEA is solely responsible for
the investment methodology and investment advice provided.
Vanguard Digital Advisor®: discretionary advisory service offered
to retail clients and to participants of eligible employer-sponsored
retirement plans;
Vanguard Personal Advisor®: discretionary advisory service, with access
to an advisor, offered to retail clients and to participants of eligible
employer-sponsored retirement plans;
Vanguard Situational Advisor™: point-in-time, nondiscretionary
advice services and financial planning offered to participants in certain
employer-sponsored retirement plans; and
Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and Personal Online
Advisor (“POA”): VMAP is a discretionary advisory service offered to
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans. POA is
a nondiscretionary advisory service offered to participants of eligible
employer-sponsored retirement plans. VMAP and POA are sub-advised
by Edelman Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. (“FEA”).
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides clients with a wide
variety of investment advisory services. This Brochure provides
information about the Vanguard Managed Account Program (VMAP)
and Personal Online Advisor (POA).
Information about the other investment advisory programs and
services offered by VAI is available through the SEC’s website at http://
adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
Based on profile information concerning the participant, including age
and current investment holdings, the Program uses FEA’s software
to choose a default risk level for the participant based on the median
risk level for the participant’s peer group (a set of investors with the
same investment horizon) and determines the participant’s target
allocation. The Program then invests the participant’s account assets
in accordance with the target allocation using investments selected
from among the participant’s retirement plan’s investment options,
which may include Vanguard Funds and collective investment trusts
and third-party mutual funds, or collective investment trusts, but
excludes investments held through any plan brokerage window or other
restricted investments. Participants have the opportunity to provide
VAI with additional information about their desired maximum allocation
to company stock investments (not to exceed 20% of the unrestricted
balance of a participant’s account) if the participant’s account is
invested in, or eligible to invest in, such assets. Participants may also
alter certain assumptions used by the Program, such as the age at
which the participant plans to retire (if different from the Program’s
assumption) and the participant’s desire to take on more or less risk
than the target allocation developed by the Program. Additionally,
participants may input information regarding any savings and
investments held outside of their plan that the Program may consider
when making investment decisions for the participant’s plan account
(although the Program will not be responsible for providing investment
advice or management for such outside assets). For outside assets to
be considered, the Program relies on participants to provide ongoing
and updated data to their account.
VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI
is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Goliath is
100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”). As such, VAI
is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, the sponsor and
manager of the family of mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded
funds) comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies
(“Vanguard® Funds”).
Please see the section of this brochure titled “Other financial industry
activities and affiliations” for more information.
Vanguard Managed Account Program
The Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP” or “the Program”),
launched originally in 2004, is an online investment advisory service
offered by VAI. As an SEC-registered investment advisor, VAI has a
fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to abide by the
duties of care and loyalty. Additionally, when we provide investment
advice to you regarding your participant account, VAI is a fiduciary within
the meaning of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act,
which governs retirement accounts. As fiduciaries, we act in your best
interest and do not put our interest ahead of yours.
The Program maintains discretionary authority over each participant’s
account to achieve the target risk level and provides ongoing portfolio
monitoring to maintain the target risk level through time. Participants
are unable to independently transact on their plan accounts unless
they terminate their participation in the Program. Participants receive
ongoing account Progress Reports and have telephone access to a
VMAP specialist at Vanguard. Unless otherwise agreed upon by a plan
sponsor and Vanguard, FEA Series 65 licensed advisors (the “Advisor
Center”) will make outcalls to program participants to: discuss available
services; conduct annual check-up calls to participants over the age of
45; provide participants the opportunity to personalize their account or
to unenroll from VMAP; and provide high-level guidance and education
on retirement-related topics. FEA employees conducting Advisor
Center outcalls are not considered representatives or employees of
Vanguard. The Advisor Center will not call participants who have an
aligned Vanguard advisor relationship under a different Vanguard
advice service. Participants may terminate their Program participation
at any time via telephone, but account assets remain invested in the
investment options then selected for the account until the participant
takes further action.
Back to table of contents
2
If elected, the Program is designed to integrate with a broad range of
employer-sponsored retirement plan types, including, but not limited
to, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Defined Benefit Plans,
and Non-Qualified Plans, where such plans have been elected and
made available by the retirement plan sponsor. VMAP’s portfolio
management methodology considers these plan types as part of the
participant’s overall retirement strategy, subject to plan eligibility and
investment option availability. To be clear, however, the Program does
not provide investment management of any such plans.
POA provides participants the option of inputting information regarding
any savings and investments held outside of their plan, via an online
portal. After inputting their pertinent financial information, Participants
receive point-in-time advice and information on the holding within their
household’s tax-deferred and taxable assets. POA is nondiscretionary in
nature, that is, no holdings are purchased or sold for participants using
POA by VAI unless the participant initiates trading activity at their own
discretion. Once certain information is provided by the client into the
POA service, or upon that information being provided automatically
where available, the POA service generates the following items.
Income Beyond Retirement
Participants enrolled in the VMAP service may also have the ability
to access the Income Beyond Retirement (“IBR”) feature of the
service. The availability of IBR will vary based on the plan and the
availability of certain payout options is dependent upon the plan’s
withdrawal provisions.
Financial Goal Forecasting. POA generates a forecast, or estimate, of
the chance of reaching a participant’s financial goals. Forecasts are
based on information in our systems and personal information supplied
by the participant including: (1) current account balance(s), (2) current
savings or contribution rates, (3) time horizon (i.e., years until goal), and
(4) investment goals (i.e., desired account balance at the close of time
horizon). The forecasts generated by POA are reasonable estimates
based on information supplied by participants and are not guarantees
of future results. Reliance on historical and current data necessarily
involves certain inherent limitations.
IBR is a feature of VMAP available to all participants age 55 or older
and within seven years of their stated retirement age. For those who
elect this feature, VMAP manages the participant’s portfolio to balance
between safety and growth, seeking to protect the ability of the account
to generate future income. IBR also allows additional flexibility for a
participant to select what portion of their managed account is managed
on a standard “growth” objective, and what portion is managed on an
“income” objective. Variables – such as retirement age, Social Security
claiming age, and annual contributions – can be adjusted to determine
how different choices impact a participant’s safe spending plan.
Investment Recommendations. POA provides specific buy and sell
recommendations to help allocate assets among a limited universe of
investments (generally, Vanguard Funds and other investment company
securities, separate accounts, or collective investment trusts) available
for investment. In the case of eligible retirement plans, the plan’s
sponsor selects the universe of investments available to accounts using
the POA service.
Once a participant in or near retirement elects to draw down plan
assets, the Program will calculate and facilitate withdrawals from a
Program participant’s plan account post-retirement through the plan
provider. FEA has developed a proprietary optimization framework that
can structure a suitable investment strategy using the fixed income and
equity options available through typical 401(k) plan investment menus to
provide income payouts matching a participant’s preferences.
Account Reviews and Monitoring. POA enables participants to review
their account(s), monitor progress toward financial goals, receive
forecasts and investment recommendations, and access educational
materials. Although POA updates the values of most holdings in a
participant’s account(s) daily, it is the participant’s responsibility to
review and update account(s) to adjust for significant changes in
investments or personal circumstances. FEA does not actively monitor or
provide unsolicited recommendations relating to Online Advice accounts.
For members who desire guaranteed lifetime payments, an account
balance is maintained for an optional out-of-plan annuity purchase.
The failure of a POA participant to review and periodically update their
personal and financial information can materially affect the value of
the service. POA does not recommend allocations of individual stocks,
even if they are available for investment in a participant’s account.
An in-plan annuity need not be included in a plan’s investment lineup for
a plan sponsor to offer IBR to its participants. While general educational
information regarding an out-of-plan annuity may be provided, the
Program does not sell or distribute annuities and does not receive any
compensation related to out-of-plan annuity purchases made in relation
to the IBR features.
POA does not select the investment alternatives available for
investment in a participant’s plan account.
Participants in certain plans may have had access to Income+, a
predecessor feature to IBR, which offered many of the same features as
IBR but managed the account on an “income” objective only.
By recommending allocations among the available investments, POA
does not endorse the selection of particular investments as available
investments for a participant’s plan account.
POA will not take into consideration any favorable tax treatment on a
participant’s company stock investment when providing advice.
As of December 31, 2025, VAI had a total of $120,702,400,00 in
discretionary client assets under management and $223,917,200,000 in
nondiscretionary assets under management.
Personal Online Advisor
POA only offers nondiscretionary investment advice through POA.
Participants have no obligation to accept any suggestions provided
by POA and neither VAI, Vanguard, nor FEA is authorized to make
decisions regarding participant account(s) or investments. Since VAI
does not provide ongoing discretionary or nondiscretionary account
management services through the POA service, it does not track its
assets under management.
VAI offers POA to participants who want access to online investment
advice. To provide investment recommendations through POA, VAI relies
exclusively on the proprietary software, systems, and methodology
developed and maintained by FEA. FEA is a wholly owned subsidiary of
EFE and serves as a sub-advisor to VAI. While Vanguard exercises care
and diligence in its selection of FEA as the independent sub-advisor for
the POA, FEA is solely responsible for the investment methodology and
investment advice provided.
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3
VMAP
Fees and compensation
The Program fee schedule is set forth in the Program Plan Sponsor
Service Agreement with VAI and is disclosed to plan participants on
their quarterly retirement plan account statements.
Each VMAP participant pays fees to VAI based on a percentage of
assets in each account managed by VAI (excluding loan balances)
according to the following schedule:
The advice provided by the Program or POA will include
recommendations to sell, hold, or purchase the Vanguard Funds
and/or collective investment trusts. The purchase or sale of Vanguard
investments through Vanguard (whether or not suggested by VMAP or
POA) is not subject to a load, sales charge, or commission. However, each
Vanguard investment incurs advisory, administrative, and custodial fees,
as well as other fees and expenses that it pays out of its own assets.
• 40 basis points (0.4%) per year for assets up to $100,000.
• 30 basis points (0.3%) per year for assets between $100,000
and $250,000.
The advisory, administrative, custodial, and other costs make up
the funds’ expense ratios. Also, some Vanguard Funds and collective
investment trusts impose purchase and redemption fees.
• 20 basis points (0.2%) per year for any assets over $250,000.
The fee schedule above reflects the standard schedule of fees for
VMAP, which became effective on January 1, 2019. This schedule may
not reflect certain discounted fees or other legacy or promotional
fee schedules previously negotiated by retirement plan sponsors.
Participants should refer to their specific fee schedule.
The legacy fee schedule for participants whose retirement plan sponsor
adopted the VMAP program prior to January 1, 2019, is as follows:
• 40 basis points (0.4%) per year for assets up to $100,000.
Participants who are invested in Vanguard Funds and collective trusts
are subject to the applicable expense ratios and any purchase and
redemption fees. Thus, acting in accordance with the Program’s or
POA’s advice to purchase Vanguard Funds or collective investment
trusts will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds or
collective investment trusts, in addition to any advisory fees assessed
by VAI, if the Vanguard Funds and collective trusts are among the
participant’s retirement plan’s investment options.. Please consult the
funds’ prospectuses or other investment disclosures for information
about a specific investment expense ratio.
• 30 basis points (0.3%) per year for assets between $100,000
and $250,000.
• 20 basis points (0.2%) per year for assets between $250,000
and $500,000.
• 10 basis points (0.1%) per year for any assets over $500,000.
If applicable, there is a minimum annual fee of $60 per account.
Investments held in a participant’s portfolio are subject to the
normal management expenses associated with ownership of mutual
funds and other investments as disclosed in the prospectus or other
investment disclosures. Such fees are paid at the fund or trust level
and do not reduce the account level fees described on this schedule.
Participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans may also
directly or indirectly bear the fees assessed by Vanguard for
recordkeeping services provided by Vanguard to a retirement plan.
In connection with its services, Vanguard receives fees that are
separate from and in addition to any fees assessed by VAI. Thus,
retirement plan participants who are receiving advice through POA
and the Program may directly or indirectly bear the fees assessed by
Vanguard in connection with its services to the plan, in addition to any
fees assessed by VAI. Participants in employer-sponsored retirement
plans for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping services may be
permitted to invest in collective trusts, company stock funds, or
certain customized investment options for which Vanguard Fiduciary
Trust Company (VFTC) provides services and receives compensation.
Because advice provided by FEA may include recommendations to hold
or purchase these investment options, acting in accordance with such
advice may result in the payment of fees to VFTC.
Subject to terms of the Program Plan Sponsor’s Advice Agreement
with VAI, if any Program Plan Sponsor achieves a ratio of greater than
twenty percent (20%) of their eligible participants enrolling in the
Program, a five basis point (0.05%) reduction of the first three tiers
in their fee schedule will be applied. However, the lowest pricing tier
will never be lower than 10 basis points (0.10%).
Participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans for which
Vanguard provides recordkeeping services often are permitted to
invest in non-Vanguard mutual funds. Because the advice provided by
FEA may include recommendations to hold or purchase non-Vanguard
mutual funds, acting in accordance with such advice may result in
payments to Vanguard as compensation for participant-level record-
keeping and administrative services provided by Vanguard for such
funds. This payment may be made by the fund company sponsoring the
non-Vanguard mutual fund, by the plan sponsor, or by the participant
investing in the non-Vanguard mutual fund.
Generally, the fee is charged monthly for each full month a participant
is enrolled in VMAP. The fee is determined based on the balance of the
accounts on the 22nd of each month and scheduled to be deducted
on the 23rd of each month or first business day thereafter. The fee is
deducted proportionally from the balance invested in each investment
held by the participant’s account. VAI reserves the right to increase or
decrease the amount of the fees charged, but will notify participants
enrolled in VMAP in advance of any change in the fee structure. VAI
also reserves the right to offer certain retirement plan sponsors or
participants discounted fees or other promotional pricing. The fee will
be charged monthly for each full month a participant is enrolled in the
Program except during times of a plan-initiated event, such as a plan
termination or conversion to an alternate service provider, where the
fees may be charged for a partial month.
IBR
Participants enrolled in VMAP pay no additional fee to utilize IBR.
POA
Vanguard participants do not pay a fee to use POA.
The purchase or sale of third-party fund shares through Vanguard
may be subject to a load or sales charge. Additionally, participant
account assets that are invested in third-party mutual funds or
collective investment trusts are subject to the applicable expense
ratios charged by those investments. An investment’s expenses are
detailed in the fund’s prospectus or other investment disclosures. In
the event that VMAP or POA recommends the purchase or sale of
non-Vanguard investments, participants may incur additional fees,
including transaction fees, brokerage charges, loads, sales charges,
commissions, markups, or other fees or expenses. In addition, Vanguard
or its affiliates may receive other compensation, including asset-based
sales charges, service fees, revenue sharing payments, 12b-1 fees, or
other fees, in connection with such investments. FEA does not take into
consideration whether Vanguard or any of its affiliates would receive
fees from its recommendation to purchase, hold, or sell non-Vanguard
investments. Participants should review any plan fee disclosure notices
for details about fees that may be assessed on their plan account.
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4
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management
FEA’s investment process is built around mean-variance portfolio
optimization. This portfolio construction process includes the following
elements:
VAI does not charge and does not receive performance-based fees for
advisory services provided to participants.
• Estimation of asset class expected returns, volatilities,
and correlations.
Types of clients
• Modeling of specific investment alternatives available to the investor.
VMAP
• Simulation of possible investment outcomes for investment strategies.
• Generation of personalized portfolio recommendations; and
• Ongoing monitoring of portfolio efficiency and rebalancing as a result
of a shortening of the participant’s time horizon.
VMAP offers portfolio management services to participants of eligible
retirement plans. Certain plan sponsor “insiders,” as defined under
applicable regulations, and non-U.S. participants in plans may not
be eligible to participate in the Program. If a participant’s account
balance is less than $15,000, the participant may call and speak with
a Managed Account Program specialist at 800-310-9228 to determine
whether VMAP is right for them.
The main sources of information analyzed include historical returns
for mutual funds, individual equities, and broad asset categories (e.g.,
large-capitalization U.S. equity returns, money market returns, foreign
equity returns), security-specific information, such as mutual fund
expense ratios, and current market data and information.
POA
Personal Online Advisor is available to participants who want access to
online investment advice.
Methods of analysis, investment strategies,
and risk of loss
Generally, the methodology used takes a long-term view of investment
management. However, it may recommend trading or short-term
purchases depending on market conditions, changes in individual
preferences, and other relevant criteria. Unless otherwise elected by
the sponsor or altered by the participant, the Program will assume
that the participant plans to retire at age 65. Participants may update
their intended retirement age at any time, and the Program will adjust
portfolio recommendations accordingly.
The Program and POA generally recommend investments in mutual
funds and investment company securities and/or collective investment
trusts. Although the Program and POA will recommend investment
strategies designed to be prudent and diversified, please remember
that all investments, including mutual funds, investment company
securities, and collective investment trusts, involve some risk, including
possible loss of the money you invest. Be aware that fluctuations in the
financial markets and other factors may cause declines in the value of
your account. There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation
or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you
with a given level of income. Diversification does not ensure a profit
or protect against a loss. There is no assurance that you will achieve
positive investment results by utilizing the Program or POA. VAI cannot
guarantee the future performance of your investments. Please consult
the funds’ prospectuses (or other such investment guidelines) for more
information about specific risks to a fund or collective investment trust.
The Program will invest a participant’s account assets only in
investments available through the employer retirement plan, which
often are primarily mutual funds, but also may include collective
investment trusts, exchange-listed equity securities, guaranteed
investment contracts issued by insurance companies and banks, or
other securities. The Program includes target date funds (or similar
investments) based on FEA’s analysis of the available investments
through the employer retirement plan unless the employer or plan
sponsor otherwise directs. The Program will not invest account assets
in the following types of securities but can consider them as part of
its portfolio analysis if such securities are already held in an account:
securities traded over-the-counter, securities traded in foreign markets,
warrants, corporate debt securities, commercial paper, certificates of
deposit, municipal securities, variable life insurance products, variable
annuities, U.S. government securities, options contracts on securities,
and futures contracts on intangibles.
VMAP
The Program offers investment advice based on an investment
methodology developed by FEA. VMAP uses FEA’s proprietary
software to analyze historical and current returns, volatility,
cross-correlations, expenses, manager performance, and other
factors to develop individualized target allocation recommendations
for a participant’s account.
To the extent that company stock investments are permitted in a
participant’s account, such investments may not exceed 20% of the
unrestricted account balance (or such other maximum allocation
applicable to the Program for an account). Participants may direct
VAI to effect transactions involving unrestricted company stock
investments in an account. However, VAI may decrease the amount
of company stock investments held in an account, if any, taking into
consideration any preferred maximum target allocation that the
participant has specified. VAI may be precluded from making allocation
changes with respect to company stock investments at any time that
VAI may have material nonpublic information about such employer
or its securities. As stated above, the Program’s analysis of equity
securities generally assumes an efficient market in which stock prices
are fairly valued. Thus, VAI does not change allocations with respect
to company stock investment based on fundamental analysis of the
security value compared to current prices. Instead, VAI determines the
allocation for company stock investments after analyzing the risk/
return impact of concentrated holdings of such assets. The Program will
not take into consideration any favorable tax treatment on company
stock investment when providing advice.
FEA’s approach to portfolio construction is to recommend a consistent
diversified investment strategy that is tailored to the needs and time
horizon of each participant. The approach explicitly avoids any form
of market timing in the recommendations by using market consensus
estimates of asset class expected returns. The recommendations
assume that asset classes are fairly priced by the market and that
market consensus expectations are the best predictor of future
expected returns. FEA explicitly does not attempt to identify asset
classes that may be overvalued or undervalued. Rather, FEA uses
forward-looking risk premium assumptions that are consistent with the
currently observed global market portfolio allocation. As the observed
market portfolio allocation changes, the risk premium assumptions are
updated. This approach prevents subjective market timing biases from
entering into the investment allocation process, which otherwise might
introduce unwanted volatility. It also ensures that the forward-looking
risk premium assumptions are more stable over time and always
consistent with current market conditions.
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5
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that
some advisors were eligible for the discretionary bonus and that the
employee performance review process created a financial incentive
for advisors to recommend PAS over other advisory programs and
other brokerage services offered by VAI and its affiliates, VAI’s Form
CRS and Supplement to the PAS Brochure contained contradictory
disclosures that PAS advisors received no additional compensation.
Upon enrollment into the Program, participants’ accounts are
transitioned to an optimal portfolio allocation as determined by FEA’s
proprietary methodology, incorporating any additional information
that you may have submitted during the initial two-week review
period detailed in the Program’s Service Agreement. This immediate
transition is intended to align the participant’s investments with their
personalized risk profile and retirement objectives, utilizing the full
suite of eligible investment options available through the employer
retirement plan. If the employer-sponsored plan includes company
stock or stable value funds, the transition period may extend up to six
months, unless otherwise elected by the plan sponsor.
POA
Additionally, the SEC also found that VAI’s marketing materials
contained related misleading statements regarding PAS advisors’
conflicts of interest and that VAI failed to adopt written policies
and procedures reasonably designed to prevent it from making
misleading statements to clients regarding incentive compensation or
to ensure that it fully disclosed the conflicts of interest created by its
compensation structure.
Please see the “Fees and compensation” section above for detailed
information about the VMAP fee methodology and fee schedule.
Other financial industry activities and affiliations
POA offers investment advice based on an investment methodology
developed by FEA. POA uses FEA’s proprietary software to analyze
historical and current returns, volatility, cross-correlations, and other
factors to develop individualized target allocation recommendations.
The FEA software employs returns-based style analysis and
optimization, among other techniques, to develop its target allocation
recommendations. The main sources of information analyzed include
historical returns for mutual funds, individual securities, and broad asset
categories (e.g., large-capitalization U.S. equity returns, money market
returns, foreign equity returns), security-specific information (such as
mutual fund expense ratios), and current market data and information.
The Program and POA mitigate the conflicts of interest that arise
between Vanguard and its affiliates and our clients as a result of
recommendations to hold or purchase Vanguard Funds or trusts and
non-Vanguard mutual funds by relying exclusively on the proprietary
systems and methodology developed and maintained by FEA. FEA is
a wholly owned subsidiary of EFE and serves as an independent sub-
advisor to VAI in its administration of the Program and POA.
Specific VAI affiliations follow:
The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard)
POA generates a forecast using simulations, which are hypothetical
economic scenarios based upon analysis of historic and current returns,
volatility, cross-correlations, and other factors. POA creates thousands
of hypothetical future economic scenarios to evaluate how account
investments might perform under a variety of circumstances, including
changing interest rates, inflation, and market conditions. The forecast
is a percentage figure representing the number of scenarios in which
the participant’s account(s) would be sufficient to meet or exceed the
investment goal at the end of the time horizon. POA also can include
information about stock options in a financial goal forecast.
For more detailed information on FEA and its investment methodology,
please go to edelmanfinancialengines.com for a copy of its brochure.
Disciplinary information
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the
matter, which involved a VAI advisory offer separate from VMAP
and POA, the SEC found that VAI violated certain provisions of
the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), and the rules
thereunder, because VAI made misstatements and failed to adequately
disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to
prospects and clients to enroll in the legacy Personal Advisor Services
(“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as Personal Advisor Select.
VAI is 100% owned by Goliath Inc., a Delaware corporation, which is
wholly owned by Vanguard. Vanguard, also a registered investment
advisor, provides a range of investment advisory and administrative
services to the Vanguard Funds. When giving advice to participants,
POA and the Program may recommend the purchase of Vanguard
Funds or collective investment trusts serviced by VAI’s corporate
parent, Vanguard. Because the advice provided by the Program and
POA may include recommendations to hold or purchase Vanguard
Funds or collective investment trusts, acting in accordance with such
advice will subject the participant to the expense ratios charged by any
Vanguard Funds or collective investment trusts held in the participant’s
account, as well as any purchase or redemption fees assessed by those
Vanguard Funds. These competing interests that may arise between
us and participants as a result of any advice provided by the Program
and POA are addressed and mitigated through the use of FEA as an
independent sub-advisor. FEA relies on its own investment philosophies
and utilizes its own proprietary methodology in providing investment
advice. Furthermore, the plan fiduciary ultimately determines whether
Vanguard Funds are made available in the plan lineup.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC)
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and,
without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, in a settled proceeding
agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing
any violations and any future violations of Sections 206(2) and 206(4)
of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder, and to pay a $19.5
million penalty.
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by
Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC), a registered broker-dealer
that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard and an affiliate of VAI.
VMC’s marketing and distribution services are conducted in accordance
with the terms and conditions of a 1981 exemptive order from the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which permits Vanguard Funds
to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard Fund
(other than a fund of funds) or each share class of a fund (in the case
of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s
marketing costs.
When giving advice to participants, POA and the Program may
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December
2023, PAS’ employee performance review system considered metrics
that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS.
A PAS advisor’s performance on these metrics factored into their
year-end performance rating, which in turn determined the advisor’s
annual discretionary bonus and/or pay increases alongside a number
of qualitative factors including sharing expertise with and assisting
colleagues, contributing to an inclusive and collaborative work
environment, communicating openly with colleagues, building subject
matter expertise and industry knowledge, understanding Vanguard’s
business model and financials, deepening investment acumen, and
staying current with technological trends. The metrics and qualitative
criteria were also factors considered in PAS advisor promotions.
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6
Review of accounts
recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds distributed by VAI’s
affiliate, VMC. However, no competing interests arise from VAI’s
affiliation with VMC due to VMC’s cost structure (described above)
and because neither VMC nor VAI receives transaction-based
compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard
Funds. Certain members of VAI’s management are registered
representatives of or are affiliated with VMC.
Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company (VFTC)
VMAP provides participants with automatically generated quarterly
progress reports that show transactions, if any, and account
performance. The Program also provides ongoing monitoring of
portfolio efficiency and makes portfolio adjustments through time
as a result of a shortening of the participant’s time horizon. The
investment allocations will generally not rebalance to fixed proportions,
but instead to proportions that vary depending on those observed in
the composition of the global market portfolio. For an investor with
average risk tolerance who is invested in a portfolio that replicates the
market portfolio, there will generally be minimal rebalancing required.
Their portfolio allocations will have shifted due to market movements in
the same proportions as their preferences. FEA typically targets a 3%
rebalance threshold as part of its monthly review.
POA enables participants to review their account(s), monitor
progress toward financial goals, receive forecasts and investment
recommendations, and access educational materials. Although POA
updates the values of most holdings in a participant’s account(s) daily,
it is the participant’s responsibility to review and update account(s) to
adjust for significant changes in investments or personal circumstances.
FEA does not actively monitor or provide unsolicited recommendations
relating to Online Advice accounts.
As owners of mutual fund shares through an employer-sponsored
retirement plan, participants enrolled in VMAP will receive or have access
to communications with respect to those funds. These communications
include transaction confirmations, quarterly account statements, and
proxy statements relating to their fund holdings (as appropriate), as well
as general Vanguard newsletters, emails, and other communications.
VAI is also affiliated with VFTC, a limited-purpose trust company
incorporated under the banking laws of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard. VFTC serves
as trustee and investment advisor for certain collective investment
trusts offered by Vanguard as eligible investments options by some
retirement plans. POA and the Program may recommend the purchase
of Vanguard collective investment trusts serviced by VAI’s affiliate,
VFTC. Because the advice provided by the Program and POA may
include recommendations to hold or purchase Vanguard collective
investment trusts, acting in accordance with such advice will subject
the participant to the expense ratios charged by any Vanguard
collective investment trusts held in the participant’s account, as well as
any purchase or redemption fees assessed by those Vanguard collective
investment trusts. These competing interests that may arise between
us and participants as a result of any advice provided by the Program
and POA are addressed and mitigated through the use of FEA as an
independent sub-advisor. FEA relies on its own investment philosophies
and utilizes its own proprietary methodology in providing investment
advice. Furthermore, the plan fiduciary ultimately determines whether
Vanguard collective investment trusts serviced by VFTC are made
available in the plan lineup.
Client referrals and other compensation
Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. (FEA)
VAI does not receive referrals or other compensation from any third
party with respect to the investment advisory activity.
VAI does not directly or indirectly compensate any person who is not a
supervised person for client referrals to the services offered herein.
The Vanguard Group has engaged FEA to provide sub-advisory services
to the Program and POA. FEA is an independent, third-party, federally
registered investment advisor that does not sell investments or receive
commission for the investments it recommends.
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client
transactions, and personal trading
VAI operates under a Code of Ethics that complies with Rule 17j-1 of the
Investment Company Act of 1940 and Rule 204A-1 of the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940.
Additionally, certain Vanguard sales professionals who promote
Vanguard services to employer-sponsored plan sponsors or their
consultants are also eligible to receive variable compensation based
on discretionary factors, including the number of plan sponsors that
elect to offer an eligible VAI advisory program (either proprietary or
sub-advised) to their plan participants. These sales professionals receive
additional discretionary bonus credit if an employer-sponsored plan
sponsor elects a VAI advisory program as a default investment option.
This variable compensation structure creates a financial incentive for
sales professionals engaging with employer plan sponsors to promote
VAI advisory services over other investment products offered by
Vanguard and its affiliates.
The Code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply to all employees,
incorporates Vanguard’s insider-trading policy, and governs outside
employment and receipt of gifts. Additionally, the Code imposes
restrictions on the personal securities trading of Vanguard employees,
as well as reporting requirements. The trading restrictions and reporting
requirements are more involved for employees that have access to
information about Vanguard Fund trading activity or Vanguard client
trading activity and are designed to ensure that Vanguard employees
do not misuse fund and/or client information for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its Code of Ethics to any client or
prospective client upon request at no charge.
VAI addresses these conflicts of interest by maintaining policies
and procedures requiring that our sales professionals act in your
best interest, reasonably supervising their activities, providing sales
professionals with training, and disclosing these conflicts so that you
can make informed decisions. We reserve the right, at our discretion
and without prior notice, to change the methods by which we
compensate our sales professionals. Note that Vanguard affiliates will
also receive compensation in the form of expense ratios from Vanguard
Funds and Vanguard collective investment trusts.
Please see the section of this brochure titled “Other financial industry
activities and affiliations” for a discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other
Vanguard entities, and how those affiliations may impact clients of VAI.
Brokerage practices
VMAP and POA do not provide recommendations on individual
securities. Therefore, VAI does not select or recommend broker-dealers
for client transactions in connection with these services.
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7
Discretionary manager risk
Custody
It is possible that poor security selection or focus on securities in a
particular sector, category, or group of companies will cause one
or more of the funds or underlying funds—and, thus, the fund—to
underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar
investment objective.
Index sampling risk
For participants enrolled in VMAP through employer-sponsored
retirement plans for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping services
and VFTC provides trustee services, VFTC will serve as qualified
custodian of the plan assets. Participants will receive quarterly
plan account statements from Vanguard, in its capacity as plan
recordkeeper. Participants may also receive reports or progress reports
from the VMAP service. Participants should carefully review and
compare these account statements and contact VAI with any questions.
There is the chance that the securities selected for a fund in the
aggregate won’t provide investment performance matching the fund’s
target index.
Investment discretion
VMAP
ETF risk
Vanguard ETF shares are not redeemable directly with the issuing fund
other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. ETFs are
subject to market volatility. When buying or selling an ETF, you will pay
or receive the current market price, which may be more or less than net
asset value.
Stock market risk
Funds that invest in stocks are subject to the chance that stock prices
overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods
of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
VMAP is a discretionary service that maintains full authority to
invest retirement plan account assets from among the participant’s
retirement plan’s investment options as the Program deems advisable
relying on the proprietary software, systems, and methodology
developed and maintained by FEA. Participants grant full discretion
by agreeing to the terms of the VMAP Service Agreement. The
Program has the discretionary authority (subject to the terms of
the participant’s plan) to (1) invest any monies that the participant
designates for inclusion within their plan account; and (2) initiate
exchange transactions among the participant’s retirement plan’s
eligible investment options.
Asset concentration risk
VAI’s discretionary authority to buy or sell securities, including the
amount to be bought or sold, is based on the participant’s risk
preferences, restricted plan account positions, participant-specified
constraints, outside account information (if provided), or other factors
determined by the Program to be appropriate.
Funds that invest a high percentage of their assets in a few
companies are subject to the chance that their performance may be
hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few
investments.
POA
Sector risk
POA does not have discretion over participants’ accounts.
Voting client securities
Funds that invest all or substantially all of their assets in a particular
sector are subject to the chance that significant problems will affect a
particular sector or that returns from that sector will trail returns from
the overall stock market. Daily fluctuations in specific market sectors
are often more extreme than fluctuations in the overall market. If a
fund invests all, or substantially all, of its assets in a particular sector,
the fund’s performance largely depends—for better or for worse—on the
general condition of that sector.
Company stock funds
Funds that are invested exclusively in a single stock are concentrated
and therefore considered riskier than diversified stock funds.
VAI will not vote or exercise similar rights for client securities. For
participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans, the responsibility
for the exercise of all voting or similar rights associated with any
security or other property held in the portfolio shall be outlined by
the plan. VAI will not advise or act for the participant in any legal
proceedings, including bankruptcies or class actions, involving securities
held or previously held by the portfolio or the issuers of those securities.
Proxies related to plan holdings will be delivered directly by the issuer of
the security, the custodian or its agent.
Investment-style risk
Financial information
VAI is not aware of any financial condition that is reasonably likely to
impair its ability to meet contractual commitments to clients.
Requirements for state-registered advisors
VAI is a federally registered investment advisor.
Investment risks
Funds that invest in companies based on their level of capitalization
are subject to the chance that returns from large-, mid-, and small-
capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market.
Large- and mid-cap stocks each tend to go through cycles of doing
better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or the
stock market in general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as
long as several years. Historically, mid- and small-cap stocks have been
more volatile in price than large-cap stocks. The stock prices of mid-
and small-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because,
among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to
changing economic conditions.
The following summarizes the risks associated with the mutual funds,
collective investment trusts, ETFs, and other pooled investments
(these investments are collectively referred to herein as “funds”)
recommended by VMAP and POA.
Back to table of contents
8
International risk or country/regional risk
Interest rate risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that bond and loan
prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates.
State-specific risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance
that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles, or
natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued
by companies in foreign countries or regions. If a fund invests a large
portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one
country or region, including emerging markets, its performance may be
hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in
that area. Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
Emerging markets risk
Funds that invest in bonds from a specific state or municipality are
subject to the chance that developments in that state or municipality
will adversely affect the securities held by the fund. Because the fund
invests primarily in securities issued by the state and its municipalities,
it’s more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in the state than are
funds that invest in municipal securities of many states. Unfavorable
developments in any economic sector may have far-reaching
ramifications on the overall state municipal market.
Liquidity risk
Funds that invest in securities of companies that are located in
developing nations are subject to the chance that the prices of these
securities will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less
liquid, than the securities of companies located in more developed
foreign markets.
Currency risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund
may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.
Liquidity risk is generally low for short-term bond funds, moderate for
intermediate-term bond funds, and high for long- term bond funds.
Currency hedging risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance
that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will
decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates.
Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
Call risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the risk that the currency
hedging transactions entered into by a fund may not perfectly offset
the fund’s foreign currency exposure.
Ownership Limitations and Regulatory Relief
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that during periods
of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem)
securities with higher coupons or interest rates before their maturity
dates. The fund would then lose any potential price appreciation above
the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated
proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s
income. Call risk is generally low for short-term bond funds, moderate
for intermediate-term bond funds, high for long-term bond funds, and
high for high-yield bond funds.
Prepayment risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that during periods
of falling interest rates, homeowners will refinance their mortgages
before their maturity dates, resulting in prepayment of mortgage-
backed securities held by the fund. The fund would then lose any price
appreciation above the mortgage’s principal and would be forced to
reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in
a decline in the fund’s income.
Extension risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that, during
periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid off
substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of
those securities may fall. This will lengthen the duration or average
life of those securities and delay a fund’s ability to reinvest proceeds
at higher interest rates, making a fund more sensitive to changes in
interest rates. For funds that invest in mortgage-backed securities,
extension risk is the chance that, during periods of rising interest rates,
homeowners will repay their mortgages at slower rates.
The ability of Vanguard and external advisors to purchase or dispose
of certain fund investments, or to exercise rights on behalf of a fund,
is or may be restricted or impaired because of limitations imposed by
law, regulation, or by certain regulators or issuers. As a result, Vanguard
and external advisors, on behalf of certain funds currently and other
funds potentially in the future, are required to limit purchases, sell
existing investments, or otherwise limit the exercise of shareholder
rights by a fund, including voting rights. These ownership restrictions
and limitations can impact a fund’s performance. For index funds,
this impact generally takes the form of tracking error, which can arise
when a fund is not able to acquire its desired amount of a security. For
actively managed funds, this impact can result, for example, in missed
investment opportunities otherwise desired by a fund’s investment
advisor. If a fund is required to limit its investment in a particular issuer,
then a fund may seek to obtain regulatory or corporate consents or
ownership waivers. Other options a fund may pursue include seeking
to obtain economic exposure to that issuer through alternative means,
such as through a derivative or through investment in a wholly owned
subsidiary, both of which may be more costly than owning securities
of the issuer directly. In the event a derivative, such as a swap, is
used as an alternative means of exposure, Vanguard and external
advisors on behalf of a fund are not able to guarantee the availability
of derivatives necessary to allow economic exposure to the security,
sector, or industry. This limited availability may have additional impacts
to fund performance. Additionally, use of derivatives as an alternative
means of exposure subjects a fund to derivatives-related risks.
Ownership restrictions and limitations could result in unanticipated
tax consequences to a fund that may affect the amount, timing, and
character of distributions to shareholders.
Credit risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the issuer of
a convertible security will fail to pay interest or dividends and principal
in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to
make such payments will cause the price of that security to decline.
Income risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund’s
income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk is
generally high for short-term bond funds, low for long-term bond funds,
and high for limited-term bond funds.
Back to table of contents
9
Connect with Vanguard® • 800-310-9228
© 2026 Edelman Financial Engines, LLC. Financial Engines® and Edelman Financial Engines® are registered
trademarks of Edelman Financial Engines, LLC. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Edelman Financial Engines, LLC.
FEA is a trademark of Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.
All rights reserved. Used with permission.
*Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Edelman Financial Engines, LLC.
© 2026 Vanguard Advisers, Inc., a registered investment advisor and Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.
All rights reserved.
BBBBCZYK 032026
P.O. Box 2900
Valley Forge, PA 19482-2900
Additional Brochure: VANGUARD MODEL PORTFOLIOS (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Vanguard Model Portfolios
March 30, 2026
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Boulevard
Malvern, PA 19355
This brochure describes the qualifications and business practices of Vanguard Model Portfolios, an advisory
service offered through Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (VAI), which provides model portfolios to third-party
intermediaries for their use in managing their underlying clients’ accounts. VAI does not have an advisory,
fiduciary or other relationship with any underlying client of a third-party intermediary, nor are VAI’s model
portfolios designed to meet the needs or objectives of any underlying client of a third-party intermediary. The
third-party intermediary assumes responsibility in determining the suitability of the model portfolio for their
underlying client. If you have any questions about this brochure, please contact us at 800-997-2798. The
information presented here has not been approved or verified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) or by any state securities authority.
Additional information about VAI is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is registered with the SEC as an investment advisor. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or
training.
1
Material changes
Since Vanguard Model Portfolios Brochure (“Brochure”) last updated the following material changes have occurred:
Addition of six new Fixed Income focused portfolios
Fixed Income - Active Total Return
Fixed Income - Total Return
Fixed Income - Income Focused
Fixed Income – Capital Preservation
Fixed Income – Risk Diversification
Fixed Income – Risk Diversification Tax-Aware
2
Table of Contents
Advisory business ................................................................................................................................................ 4
Fees and compensation ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management .................................................................................. 5
Types of clients .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss .............................................................................. 5
Disciplinary information .................................................................................................................................... 11
Other financial industry activities and affiliations ............................................................................................. 11
Code of Ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading ....................................... 12
Brokerage practices .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Review of accounts ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Client referrals and other compensation ........................................................................................................ 13
Custody ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Investment discretion ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Voting client securities ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Financial information ........................................................................................................................................ 13
Requirements for state-registered advisers ...................................................................................................... 13
Investment Risk ................................................................................................................................................. 14
3
Advisory business
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides investment advisory services to a wide variety of clients. These
advisory services include:
•
Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate accounts that are offered as
investment options in state-sponsored education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
• Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios comprised of Vanguard Funds and exchange-traded funds
(ETFs), as well as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third-party asset managers that are accessed by third-
party intermediaries through third-party platforms;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services and point-in-time advice for certain retail
clients;
• Vanguard Digital Advisor: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor: discretionary advisory service, with access to an advisor, offered to retail
clients and to participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Situational Advisor: point-in-time, nondiscretionary advice services and financial planning offered to
participants in certain employer-sponsored retirement plans; and
• Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and POA: VMAP is a discretionary advisory service offered to
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans. POA is a nondiscretionary advisory service
offered to participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans. VMAP and POA are sub-advised by
Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.
As an SEC-registered advisor, VAI has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to abide by the duties
of care and loyalty. VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI is 100% owned by Goliath,
Inc., a Delaware corporation. Goliath is 100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”). As such, VAI is an
indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, the sponsor and manager of the family of mutual funds and ETFs
comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies (“Vanguard® Funds”), which VAI typically
recommends as investments. Please see the section of this brochure entitled “Other financial industry activities
and affiliations” for more information.
Vanguard Model Portfolios
Through the Vanguard Model Portfolios service (the “Service”), VAI produces model portfolios (the “Portfolios”),
some of which may be customized for registered investment advisors and other financial institutions, comprised
of Vanguard mutual funds (“Funds”), Vanguard exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), and mutual funds and ETFs
offered by third-party asset managers (“Third Party Funds”). The Portfolios are accessed by third-party
intermediaries through third-party platforms. Advisors from these third-party intermediaries use the Portfolios as
investment strategies for managing their underlying clients’ accounts.
The Service is delivered to third-party platforms, including turn-key asset management programs (“TAMPs”), by
VAI. TAMPs are often sponsored and administered by a registered investment adviser. TAMPs allow financial
advisors to outsource the management of their clients’ assets. VAI may act as a sub-advisor to a registered
investment adviser sponsoring a TAMP, or as a strategist to other third-party platforms through which the
Portfolios are made available. VAI does not directly provide advisory services to retail clients or manage client
assets through the Service.
VAI administers the Portfolios in accordance with pre-determined allocations that may be adjusted from time to
time. VAI does not manage assets on behalf of individual financial advisors or individual clients and does not tailor
the Portfolios to meet the needs of individual clients.
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Most of VAI’s investment strategies offered under the Service will be limited to allocations in Vanguard’s
proprietary Funds and ETFs. However, VAI may offer investment strategies that include allocations to Third Party
Funds and may include a minimum allocation to Vanguard funds and ETFs. If Third Party Funds are included in a
model portfolio, Vanguard will not evaluate all products in the universe. Instead, Vanguard will limit inclusion
based on products reviewed and approved by Vanguard at its sole discretion. As a result, there may be one or
more Third Party Products that would be a more appropriate inclusion to the model portfolio than the product
selected. Customized portfolios are provided without a fee paid directly by a Financial Intermediary to Vanguard,
however Vanguard expects and in certain instances requires a minimum amount of Vanguard products to be
included in customized model portfolios in order to provide such services. In certain instances, a Financial
Intermediary will instruct Vanguard to include certain Third Party Products or Vanguard products in the model
portfolio.
VAI also may provide the Portfolios to managed account platforms. On such platforms, VAI will provide
investment advice to the platform regarding the Portfolios. The administrator of the platform in turn delivers
the Portfolios to financial advisors that may include the Portfolios in wrap fee or non-wrap fee managed
account programs. A wrap fee program is an arrangement under which financial advisors provide investment
advisory and brokerage services for a specified fee or fees not based upon transactions in their accounts. VAI
does not serve as the sponsor of wrap fee programs.
As of December 31, 2025, the Service had $0 in regulatory assets under management. As of the same period, VAI,
across its other services, had a total of $120,702,400,00 in discretionary client assets under management and
$223,917,200,000 in nondiscretionary assets under management.
Fees and compensation
VAI does not currently charge a fee for the Service. The advice provided by VAI through the Service will include
Portfolios invested in Vanguard Funds or ETFs that are part of The Vanguard Group of Investment Companies®.
Use of the Portfolios will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds and to Vanguard, an affiliate of
VAI. The purchase or sale of Vanguard Funds or ETFs through Vanguard (whether or not suggested by the Service)
is not subject to a load, sales charge, or commission. However, each Vanguard Fund incurs advisory,
administrative, and custodial fees, as well as other fees and expenses that it pays out of its own assets. The
advisory, administrative, custodial, and other costs make up the Funds’ expense ratios. Please consult the
Funds’ prospectuses for information about a specific Fund’s expense ratio.
Third-party intermediaries’ underlying clients may also purchase Vanguard Funds and ETFs through other
broker-dealers or agents that are not affiliated with VAI.
Third-party intermediaries’ underlying clients may be charged fees separate from those identified above, such
as a bundled platform fee that may include transaction and custodial fees. Portfolios sold through TAMPs may
also be subject to additional fees charged by the TAMP. Individual retail clients may be subject to separate
fees charged by their financial advisor.
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management
VAI does not receive performance-based fees for advisory services provided to clients through this Service.
Types of clients
VAI offers the Service to third-party platforms, including TAMPs, through which financial advisors invest their
clients’ assets using the Portfolios.
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss
In constructing Portfolios for the Service, VAI relies on information from a wide variety of sources, both public
5
and private, regarding short-term and long-term economic and financial market characteristics and trends.
VAI’s approach starts with broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international equities and global fixed income
in a portfolio framework. Portfolio construction for the majority of portfolios reflects either a strategic or
dynamic approach to asset allocation.
The Strategic Model Portfolios maintain a strategic asset allocation and therefore do not typically make tactical
allocation adjustments throughout the year. Within the sub-asset allocations, the portfolios follow a market
proportional approach, with exposures generally determined by the benchmarks selected for the models.
The Dynamic Model Portfolios employ a dynamic asset allocation strategy, where allocations are adjusted on a
regular basis to capture Vanguard’s changing market forecasts. Portfolio adjustments are driven by Vanguard’s
economic and market outlook.
Some of our Portfolios use multiple Funds and/or ETFs to represent a single asset class (e.g., U.S. equities as
represented by the CRSP US Total Market Index).
Vanguard Asset Allocation Model®
Certain Portfolios utilize the Vanguard Asset Allocation Model (“VAAM”) to assist in the creation of the
Portfolio allocations. VAAM is a proprietary portfolio optimization tool created to help make effective asset
allocation decisions.
One of the key inputs VAAM utilizes is the Vanguard Capital Market Model’s (“VCMM”) forecast distributions,
which are based on the empirical foundation that the returns of various asset classes reflect the compensation
investors receive for bearing different types of systemic risk (or beta risk). To reasonably forecast the potential
distribution of future asset returns, VCMM is designed to identify the primary macroeconomic and financial risk
factors and how they influence asset returns over time. Using a long span of monthly financial and economic data
from as early as 1960, the VCMM estimates a dynamic statistical relationship between risk factors and asset
returns. Based on these calculations, the model uses regression-based Monte Carlo simulation methods to project
these relationships in the future.
Projections generated by the VCMM are based both on estimated historical relationships and on assumptions about the
risk characteristics of various asset classes. As a result, the accuracy of VCMM forecasts depends on the relevance of the
historical sample in simulating future events. The VCMM’s simulated return distributions are used as inputs to construct
efficient portfolio combinations in VAAM.
IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by the VCMM regarding the likelihood of various
investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of
future results. Results may vary with each use and over time.
Portfolio-level analysis
Portfolios constructed using VAAM are intended to maximize the expected utility of wealth at maturity coming
from different risk sources (systematic, alpha and factor risk), allowing the model to simultaneously consider
various portfolio construction decisions. One of the key tenets underlying VAAM is utility theory, which is
calculated relative to a risk aversion parameter, representing an investor’s aversion to taking different types of risks
(i.e., systematic, alpha and factor risk) by assessing the trade-off between expected risk, return, and uncertainty. In
addition to inputs from VCMM, VAAM also considers portfolio specific inputs such as alpha expectations and
tracking error for the active funds, along with investor preferences toward uncertainty (systematic, active, and
factor risk aversions), along with any additional specific preferences, such as home bias or other portfolio
6
constraints.
The process starts by selecting a set of weights that constitute a hypothetical asset allocation. Then, given a specific
level of risk-aversion, the utility function incorporates components of behavioral theory to more accurately depict
the preferences of the typical investor. Given the amount and types of each risk in the various portfolio solutions,
an investor can achieve a certain level of expected wealth depending on the type of risks involved, and their
attitude or preference for those risks. VAAM then calculates the expected utility of the portfolio. This process is
repeated thousands of times through an algorithm to choose the portfolio that has the highest utility score.
After optimizing for a range of risk aversion coefficients, VAAM determines the subset of portfolios that maximizes
the distribution of wealth (return) outcomes at the end of an investment horizon for each portfolio—the efficient
frontier for the client’s investment portfolio. This efficient frontier quantifies the trade-offs that clients face in the
portfolio selection process. More aggressive portfolios yield higher returns on average, but they are also more
volatile and thus subject to more downside risk. Based on this portfolio optimization and considering investment
horizon and risk tolerance, VAAM can narrow down the menu of possibilities to a few potential portfolios on the
frontier. Several measures of expected investment performance— such as a portfolio’s return, volatility, extreme-
risk events, and terminal asset values—can be computed.
VAAM was not designed as a short-term tactical asset allocation model. Generally, portfolio analyses based on
VAAM output focus on expected long-run returns over horizons of 10 years or more.
Risk Management of the Portfolios
The Vanguard Investment Strategy Group manages the strategy risk. Risk is primarily determined and managed
through the asset allocations, extremely broad diversification, and use of investment-grade bonds within the
fixed income exposure of the Portfolios.
The Portfolios
Vanguard’s Strategic All-Passive Portfolios
Vanguard's Strategic Portfolios are offered across the risk-reward spectrum from 100% fixed income up to
100% equity. These Portfolios are static asset allocations delivered via increments of 10% equity (EQ) and fixed
income (FI). These asset allocations are offered for all Portfolios, including the Core, CRSP, S&P, and Russell
Series. Our Core line-up includes exposure to the broad asset classes using CRSP indices, while our expanded
Portfolios use multiple Funds or ETFs to construct the different components of the market.
1. Core Series
Vanguard's Core strategic model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks,
and global investment-grade bonds in a strategic, index-centric framework. To ensure broad diversification
within each asset class, the model portfolios are comprised of funds that track broad market indexes. Each index
is capitalization-weighted, meaning that its components are weighted according to their market capitalization
and reflect the composition of the market it tracks.
2. Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) Series
Vanguard's CRSP strategic model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks,
and global investment-grade bonds in a strategic, index-centric framework. To ensure broad diversification
within each asset class, the model portfolios are comprised of funds that track broad market or market segment
indexes. Each index is capitalization-weighted, meaning that its components are weighted according to their
market capitalization and reflect the composition of the market or market segment it tracks. The CRSP series of
models are distinguished by their tracking of CRSP benchmarks for the domestic equity allocation.
7
3. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Series
Vanguard's S&P strategic model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks,
and global investment-grade bonds in a strategic, index-centric framework. To ensure broad diversification
within each asset class, the model portfolios are comprised of funds that track broad market or market segment
indexes. Each index is capitalization-weighted, meaning that its components are weighted according to their
market capitalization and reflect the composition of the market or market segment it tracks. The S&P series of
models are distinguished by their tracking of S&P benchmarks for the domestic equity allocation.
4. Russell Series
Vanguard's Russell strategic model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international
stocks, and global investment-grade bonds in a strategic, index-centric frameworks. To ensure broad
diversification within each asset class, the model portfolios are comprised of funds that track broad-market or
market segment indexes. Each index is capitalization-weighted, meaning that its components are weighted
according to their market capitalization and reflect the composition of the market or market segment it tracks.
The Russell series of models are distinguished by their tracking of Russell benchmarks for the domestic equity
allocation.
US Equity Allocations: US Equity allocations targeted by the Strategic Portfolios are weighted according to
target sub-allocations described above and are adjusted to remain on target by making modifications due to
prevailing market capitalizations. Applicable Portfolios will have exposure to all segments of the broad U.S.
Stock market (large, mid, and small-cap stocks; growth and value stocks).
International Equity Allocations: The Strategic All-Passive Portfolios will also diversify a U.S. stock portfolio with
international stocks, leveraging ISG research to set optimal ratios of domestic to international allocations. Non-US
stocks are represented by market-cap-weighted Funds or ETFs that seek to track the performance of a benchmark
index that measures the investment return of stocks in developed and emerging markets, excluding the United States.
US Fixed Income Allocations: The Strategic All-Passive Portfolios follow a market-proportional approach,
consistent with the target sub-allocations described above, within the U.S. investment-grade bond market to
match the market's risk and return characteristics. We focus fixed income allocations on investment-grade bonds
to provide diversification to the primary risk of equity exposure.
Hedged International Fixed Income Allocations: The Strategic Portfolios include investment-grade international bonds
for long-term diversification benefit. Since currency fluctuations account for a significant portion of the volatility in
international bonds, we mitigate this volatility by hedging to the US dollar. VAI leverages research from Vanguard
Investment Strategy Group (ISG) to set optimal ratios of domestic to international sub-asset class allocations.
Vanguard’s Strategic Active/Passive Portfolios
Vanguard’s Strategic Active/Passive Model portfolios seek long-term capital appreciation with varying risk
targets. The model portfolios include an allocation to ETFs that track the broad-market indexes. Each index is
capitalization-weighted, meaning that its components are weighted according to their market capitalization
and reflect the composition of the market it tracks. In addition, the model portfolios include an allocation to
actively managed funds, including those managed by third-party asset managers, in effort to outperform the
relative benchmarks.
1. Strategic Active/Passive Multi-Manager Series
The Strategic Active/Passive Model is built using active and passive funds and ETFs from Vanguard and third-party
manager(s) and includes four sub-asset classes: US equity, non-US equity, US fixed income, and non-US fixed
income. VAI leverages research from Vanguard Investment Strategy Group (ISG) to set optimal ratios of
domestic to international asset class allocations, while sub-asset class allocations are proportional to market
capitalization This model series is optimized without sensitivity to tax implications.
8
2. Strategic Active/Passive Tax-Aware Multi-Manager Series
The Strategic Active/Passive Tax-Aware Multi-Manager Model is built using active and passive funds and ETFs from
Vanguard and third-party manager(s) and includes three sub-asset classes: US equity, non-US equity, and US fixed
income. VAI leverages research from Vanguard Investment Strategy Group (ISG) to set optimal ratios of domestic to
international asset class allocations. This model series is optimized for sensitivity to tax implications; only tax-exempt
fixed income funds are considered for the fixed income components of the model.
3. Strategic Active-Passive Total Return Series
The Strategic Active/Passive Total Return Model is built using active and passive funds and ETFs from
Vanguard and includes four sub-asset classes: US equity, non-US equity, US fixed income, and non-US fixed
income. The sub-asset class weights are determined by VAAM.
Vanguard’s Dynamic Model Portfolios
Vanguard’s Dynamic Model portfolios provide diversified exposure to the global stock and bond market using
a dynamic asset allocation strategy to capture Vanguard’s changing market forecasts. Portfolio adjustments are
driven by Vanguard’s quarterly economic and market outlook. VCMM and VAAM account for changing drivers,
valuation, risk and other attributes that can impact returns and volatility. Stock and bond reallocations are
limited to help manage overall portfolio risk and variability of returns. The model portfolios vary in number
and their range of asset allocation spans from conservative to aggressive. The primary focus of the portfolios is
total return, however some of the portfolios incorporate additional investor preferences like higher income or
tax-efficiency.
1. Dynamic ETF Series
Vanguard’s Dynamic ETF Series model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks and
U.S. and international investment-grade bonds using a dynamic asset allocation strategy to capture Vanguard’s changing
market forecasts. The portfolio is designed to maximize risk-adjusted returns. The portfolio is systematically optimized
for total returns within a risk aware framework. The portfolios will adjust 4x/year to reflect changes in expected
investment outcomes based on VCMM forecast data. Stock and bond allocations are limited to 5% shifts from the target
weight to help manage overall portfolio risk and variability of returns versus the benchmark.
2. Tax-Aware
Vanguard’s Tax-Aware ETF Series model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks
and U.S. investment-grade bonds using a dynamic asset allocation strategy to capture Vanguard’s changing market
forecasts. The portfolio is designed to maximize risk-adjusted after-tax returns. The portfolio is systematically optimized
for after-tax wealth by using VCMM 10-year forecasts for income and price returns, and then by assessing the after-tax
risk and return trade-offs. The portfolios will adjust 2-4x/year to reflect changes in expected investment outcomes based
on VCMM forecast data. Stock/bond reallocations are limited to 5% shifts from the target weight, to help manage overall
portfolio risk and variability of returns.
3.
Income
Vanguard’s Income series model portfolios provide broad asset class exposure to U.S. and international stocks and global
bonds using a dynamic asset allocation strategy to capture Vanguard’s changing market forecasts. The portfolios seek to
generate a higher yield than the broad market and maximize wealth accumulation using dynamic (time-varying)
active/passive asset allocation optimized utilizing VAAM. Every quarter, the model portfolios will be recalibrated to
reflect the changes in the VCMM 10-year asset class forecast. Stock/bond reallocations are limited to 10% shifts from
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the target weights, to help manage overall portfolio risk and variability of returns.
4. Fixed Income- Active Total Return
The Fixed Income- Active Total Return model portfolio provides exposure to fixed income securities across the credit and
duration spectrum as well as both U.S. and non-U.S. domiciled bonds. The portfolios is designed to maximize wealth
accumulation while seeking to outperform a passive benchmark through the use of active management. The portfolio
will adjust up to 4x/year.
5. Fixed Income- Total Return
The Fixed Income- Total Return model portfolio provides exposure to fixed income securities across the credit and
duration spectrum as well as both U.S. and non-U.S. domiciled bonds. The portfolio seeks targeted opportunities outside
of the U.S. Agg in a dynamic asset allocation framework to outperform a passive benchmark. The portfolio will adjust up
to 4x/year.
6. Fixed Income- Income Focused
The Fixed Income- Income Focused model portfolio is designed for investors seeking higher income versus the broad U.S.
fixed income market while upholding a total-return efficient asset allocation. The portfolio maintains higher exposures
to credit, emerging markets, and below investment grade bonds. The portfolio will adjust up to 4x/year.
7. Fixed Income- Capital Preservation
The Fixed Income- Capital Preservation model portfolio focuses on high-quality, short-duration bonds seeking better risk-
adjusted returns relative to cash. The portfolio seeks to balance preservation of capital while generating modest returns
with minimal volatility. The portfolio will adjust up to 4x/year.
8. Fixed Income- Risk Diversification
The Fixed Income- Risk Diversification model portfolio focused on providing high credit quality, longer duration
exposures to reduce overall portfolio volatility when paired with traditional equities or separately managed accounts.
The portfolio will adjust up to 4x/year.
9. Fixed Income- Risk Diversification Tax-Aware
The Fixed Income- Risk Diversification Tax-Aware portfolio seeks to provide broad diversification to the fixed income
market and provide ballast to equities in down markets through a dynamic asset allocation framework. Additionally, this
portfolio seeks to maximize risk adjusted after-tax returns. This portfolio will adjust up to 2x/year.
VAI may, in its sole discretion, make changes to the asset allocations of the Portfolios to add new asset classes in
order to provide additional diversification benefits.
Under this Service, VAI recommends investments that include Vanguard Funds and ETFs, as well as select
investments from third-party asset managers. Although VAI will recommend investment strategies designed to be
prudent and diversified, please remember that all investments, including ETFs, involve some risk, including
possible loss of principal. Be aware that fluctuations in the financial markets and other factors may cause declines
in the value of the Portfolios.
There is no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet stated investment objectives
or provide a given level of income. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss in a declining
market.
There is no assurance that positive investment results will be achieved by using the Service. VAI cannot guarantee the
future performance of investments. Please consult a fund’s prospectus for more information about fund-specific risks.
10
Disciplinary information
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the matter, which involved a VAI advisory offer
separate from Vanguard Model Portfolios, the SEC found that VAI violated certain provisions of the Investment
Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), and the rules thereunder, because VAI made misstatements and failed to
adequately disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to prospects and clients to enroll in the
legacy Personal Advisor Services (“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as Personal Advisor Select.
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and, without admitting or denying the SEC’s
findings, in a settled proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and
any future violations of Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder, and to pay a
$19.5 million penalty.
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December 2023, PAS’ employee performance review system
considered metrics that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS. A PAS advisor’s performance on
these metrics factored into their year-end performance rating, which in turn determined the advisor’s annual
discretionary bonus and/or pay increases alongside a number of qualitative factors including sharing expertise with
and assisting colleagues, contributing to an inclusive and collaborative work environment, communicating openly with
colleagues, building subject matter expertise and industry knowledge, understanding Vanguard’s business model and
financials, deepening investment acumen, and staying current with technological trends. The metrics and qualitative
criteria were also factors considered in PAS advisor promotions.
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that some advisors were eligible for the discretionary
bonus and that the employee performance review process created a financial incentive for advisors to recommend PAS
over other advisory programs and other brokerage services offered by VAI and its affiliates, VAI’s Form CRS and
Supplement to the PAS Brochure contained contradictory disclosures that PAS advisors received no additional
compensation. Additionally, the SEC also found that VAI’s marketing materials contained related misleading statements
regarding PAS advisors’ conflicts of interest and that VAI failed to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably
designed to prevent it from making misleading statements to clients regarding incentive compensation or to ensure
that it fully disclosed the conflicts of interest created by its compensation structure.
Other financial industry activities and affiliations
The Vanguard Group
Through an intermediary entity, VAI is 100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (Vanguard). Vanguard, also a
registered investment advisor, provides a range of investment advisory and administrative services to the Vanguard
family of mutual funds (Vanguard Funds). It is owned jointly by the funds it services and thus indirectly by the
shareholders in those funds. Most other mutual funds are operated by management companies that may be
owned by one person, by a private group of individuals, or by public investors who own the management
company’s stock. The management fees charged by these companies include a profit component over and above
the companies’ cost of providing these services. By contrast, Vanguard provides services to its member funds on an
at-cost basis, with no profit component, which helps to keep the funds’ expenses low.
When giving advice to clients, VAI will recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds serviced by VAI’s corporate parent,
Vanguard. VAI addresses the competing interests that could arise between us and our clients as a result of
recommending proprietary funds by relying on our time-tested investment philosophies and beliefs—such as the
benefits of low costs, diversification, and indexing—when formulating target allocations for clients. VAI discloses to
prospective clients that it recommends Vanguard Funds prior to or at the establishment of the advisory relationship.
Although acting in accordance with VAI’s advice to purchase Vanguard’s proprietary funds will result in the payment of
fees to the Vanguard Funds and ETFs that are separate from, and in addition to, any fees assessed by VAI, any
11
competing interests that could arise are mitigated by the at-cost nature of Vanguard’s services to the funds.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by Vanguard Marketing Corporation (VMC), a
registered broker-dealer that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard and an affiliate of VAI.
VMC’s marketing and distribution services are conducted on an at-cost basis in accordance with the terms and
conditions of a 1981 exemptive order from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which permits Vanguard Funds
to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard Fund (other than a fund of funds) or each share class
of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s marketing costs. VMC
does not receive transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds.
When giving advice to clients, VAI will recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds distributed by VAI’s affiliate,
VMC. Since VMC performs its marketing and distribution services on an at-cost basis and does not receive
transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds, no competing interests
arise from VAI’s affiliation with VMC. Certain members of VAI’s management are registered representatives of or are
affiliated with VMC.
Code of Ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading
VAI operates under a Code of Ethics that complies with Rule 17j-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and
Rule 204A-1 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The Code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply to all employees, incorporates Vanguard’s insider trading
policy, and governs outside employment and receipt of gifts. Additionally, the Code imposes restrictions on the
personal securities trading of Vanguard employees, as well as reporting requirements. The trading restrictions
and reporting requirements are more involved for employees that have access to information about Vanguard
Fund trading activity or Vanguard client trading activity and are designed to ensure that Vanguard employees do
not misuse fund and/or client information for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its Code of Ethics to any client or prospective client upon request at no charge.
Please see the section of this Brochure entitled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for a
discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other Vanguard entities and how those affiliations may affect clients of VAI.
Brokerage practices
Under this Service, VAI does not recommend broker-dealers in connection with investing in the strategies.
Review of accounts
VAI does not review the accounts of retail clients as part of the Service. Financial advisors are responsible for
reviewing their clients’ portfolios on an individual client basis, given the client's specific circumstances.
On a monthly or quarterly basis, VAI rebalances or recalibrates the Portfolios based on each individual series’
objectives and constraints. For third-party platforms that do not allow financial advisors to individually rebalance
client accounts, VAI will recommend that the third-party platforms rebalance or recalibrate the Portfolios on a
quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis depending on the model’s objective and constraints. For strategic model
series, VAI will monitor asset allocation drift of each portfolio on a quarterly basis. If the portfolio is outside of
the threshold, VAI may recommend a rebalance back to target. TAMPs using the Service may impose their own
tolerance parameters which could trigger the Portfolios to be rebalanced without a rebalancing recommendation
12
by VAI.
Vanguard Strategic Asset Allocation Committee (“SAA Committee”) and Time-Varying Sub-Committee
The SAA Committee has overall responsibility for the investment methodology of certain VAI advisory services.
The purpose of the SAA Committee is to conduct an ongoing review and analysis of the investment methodology
of VAI’s advisory solutions with the aim of ensuring that consistent investment methodologies are employed that
incorporate market considerations.
The SAA Committee may review and reconcile asset allocation strategies used by VAI’s advisory services. Based on
any review and reconciliation process, the SAA Committee may also recommend asset allocation changes for the
Service.
For Dynamic model portfolios, the SAA Committee’s Time-Varying Sub-Committee reviews and validates allocations
on a quarterly basis after they are generated by VAAM.
Client referrals and other compensation
VAI receives no economic benefits from persons who are not clients for providing investment advice or
advisory services to its clients.
VAI does not directly or indirectly compensate any person who is not a supervised person for client referrals.
Custody
VAI does not have custody of client assets through the Service.
Investment discretion
VAI does not have any investment discretion over assets held in the Vanguard Funds and ETFs associated with
the Portfolios or the Service. VAI sets the allocations of the Vanguard Funds or ETFs underlying the Portfolios as
VAI deems advisable. The Portfolios are made available through third-party platforms, including TAMPs.
Voting client securities
VAI will not vote or exercise similar rights for client securities. The exercise of all voting rights associated with
any security or other property held in the portfolio shall be the responsibility of the client. Proxies will be
delivered to the client by the issuer of the security, the custodian or its agent.
VAI will not advise or act for the client in any legal proceedings, including bankruptcies or class actions,
involving securities held or previously held by the portfolio or the issuers of those securities.
Financial information
VAI is not aware of any financial condition that is reasonably likely to impair its ability to meet contractual commitments
to clients.
Requirements for state-registered advisers
VAI is a federally registered investment advisor.
Investment Risks
The following summarizes the risks associated with the mutual funds and ETFs (these investments are collectively
referred to herein as “funds”) recommended by the Service:
13
Discretionary manager risk
It is possible that poor security selection or focus on securities in a particular sector, category, or group of companies
will cause one or more of the funds or underlying funds—and, thus, the fund—to underperform relevant benchmarks
or other funds with a similar investment objective.
Index sampling risk
There is the chance that the securities selected for a fund in the aggregate won’t provide investment performance
matching the fund’s target index.
ETF risk
Vanguard ETF shares are not redeemable directly with the issuing fund other than in very large aggregations worth
millions of dollars. ETFs are subject to market volatility. When buying or selling an ETF, you will pay or receive the
current market price, which may be more or less than net asset value.
Stock market risk
Funds that invest in stocks are subject to the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move
in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
Asset concentration risk
Funds that invest a high percentage of their assets in a few companies are subject to the chance that their performance
may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few investments.
Sector risk
Funds that invest all or substantially all of their assets in a particular sector are subject to the chance that significant
problems will affect a particular sector or that returns from that sector will trail returns from the overall stock market.
Daily fluctuations in specific market sectors are often more extreme than fluctuations in the overall market. If a fund
invests all, or substantially all, of its assets in a particular sector, the fund’s performance largely depends—for better
or for worse—on the general condition of that sector.
Company stock funds
Funds that are invested exclusively in a single stock are concentrated and therefore considered riskier than
diversified stock funds.
Investment-style risk
Funds that invest in companies based on their level of capitalization are subject to the chance that returns from large-,
mid-, and small-capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Large- and mid-cap stocks each
tend to go through cycles of doing better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or the stock market in
general. These periods have, in the past, lasted for as long as several years. Historically, mid- and small-cap stocks have
been more volatile in price than large-cap stocks. The stock prices of mid- and small-size companies tend to experience
greater volatility because, among other things, these companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic
conditions.
International risk or country/regional risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance that world events—such as political upheaval,
financial troubles, or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign
countries or regions. If a fund invests a large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country
or region, including emerging markets, its performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of
its investments in that area. Country/Regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
14
Emerging markets risk
Funds that invest in securities of companies that are located in developing nations are subject to the chance that the
prices of these securities will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the securities of
companies located in more developed foreign markets.
Currency risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance that the value of a foreign investment,
measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is
especially high in emerging markets.
Call risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable
bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupons or interest rates before their maturity dates. The fund would
then lose any potential price appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the
unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s income. Call risk is generally low for
short-term bond funds, moderate for intermediate-term bond funds, high for long-term bond funds, and high for
high-yield bond funds.
Prepayment risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that during periods of falling interest rates, homeowners will
refinance their mortgages before their maturity dates, resulting in prepayment of mortgage-backed securities held by
the fund. The fund would then lose any price appreciation above the mortgage’s principal and would be forced to
reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s income.
Extension risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that, during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt
securities will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may
fall. This will lengthen the duration or average life of those securities and delay a fund’s ability to reinvest proceeds at
higher interest rates, making a fund more sensitive to changes in interest rates. For funds that invest in mortgage-
backed securities, extension risk is the chance that, during periods of rising interest rates, homeowners will repay
their mortgages at slower rates.
Credit risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the issuer of a convertible security will fail to pay interest or
dividends and principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments
will cause the price of that security to decline.
Income risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund’s income will decline because of falling interest
rates. Income risk is generally high for short-term bond funds, low for long-term bond funds, and high for limited-
term bond funds.
Interest rate risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that bond and loan prices overall will decline because of rising
interest rates.
State-specific risk
Funds that invest in bonds from a specific state or municipality are subject to the chance that developments in that
15
state or municipality will adversely affect the securities held by the fund. Because the fund invests primarily in
securities issued by the state and its municipalities, it’s more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in the state
than are funds that invest in municipal securities of many states. Unfavorable developments in any economic sector
may have far-reaching ramifications on the overall state municipal market.
Liquidity risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely
manner at a desired price. Liquidity risk is generally low for short-term bond funds, moderate for intermediate-term
bond funds, and high for long- term bond funds.
Currency hedging risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the risk that the currency hedging transactions entered into by a fund may not
perfectly offset the fund’s foreign currency exposure.
Ownership Limitations and Regulatory Relief
The ability of Vanguard and external advisors to purchase or dispose of certain fund investments, or to exercise
rights on behalf of a fund, is or may be restricted or impaired because of limitations imposed by law, regulation, or
by certain regulators or issuers. As a result, Vanguard and external advisors, on behalf of certain funds currently and
other funds potentially in the future, are required to limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise limit the
exercise of shareholder rights by a fund, including voting rights. These ownership restrictions and limitations can
impact a fund’s performance. For index funds, this impact generally takes the form of tracking error, which can arise
when a fund is not able to acquire its desired amount of a security. For actively managed funds, this impact can
result, for example, in missed investment opportunities otherwise desired by a fund’s investment advisor. If a fund is
required to limit its investment in a particular issuer, then a fund may seek to obtain regulatory or corporate
consents or ownership waivers. Other options a fund may pursue include seeking to obtain economic exposure to
that issuer through alternative means, such as through a derivative or through investment in a wholly owned
subsidiary, both of which may be more costly than owning securities of the issuer directly. In the event a derivative,
such as a swap, is used as an alternative means of exposure, Vanguard and external advisors on behalf of a fund are
not able to guarantee the availability of derivatives necessary to allow economic exposure to the security, sector, or
industry. This limited availability may have additional impacts to fund performance. Additionally, use of derivatives
as an alternative means of exposure subjects a fund to derivatives-related risks. Ownership restrictions and
limitations could result in unanticipated tax consequences to a fund that may affect the amount, timing, and
character of distributions to shareholders.
© 2026 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
16
Additional Brochure: VANGUARD PERSONAL ADVISOR SELECT (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select Brochure
March 30, 2026
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Boulevard
Malvern, PA 19355
877-662-7447
vanguard.com
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Vanguard Personal Advisor Select, an
advisory service offered through Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”), (also referred to herein as “we,” “us,” and “our”). This brochure
also describes how VAI is compensated for the service provided to you. You should carefully consider this information in your
evaluation of the service. If you have any questions about the contents of this brochure, please call us at the phone number
above. The information in this brochure hasn’t been approved or verified by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(“SEC”) or by any state securities authority.
Additional information about VAI is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Registration doesn’t imply a certain level of skill or training.
Material changes: Since Vanguard Personal Advisor Select’s Brochure annual update on March 31, 2025, the following material
changes have occurred.
As of September 2025:
• The service enhanced its financial planning capabilities by providing point-in-time cash management account recommendations
(See “Ongoing advised account services”)
• Clients enrolled in the ongoing advised service who failed to proactively transition accounts held on Vanguard’s legacy mutual
fund investment platform to a Vanguard Brokerage Account were unenrolled from the service.
• Trust accounts are no longer an exception to the Advice Platform Fee beginning in October 2025. (See “Exceptions from the
Advice Platform Fee” and “Types of clients”)
• On August 29, 2025, VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC involving violations arising from VAI’s failure to adequately
disclose conflicts of interest in connection with and created by its compensation structure. VAI, without admitting or denying the
SEC’s findings, in a settled proceeding agreed to censure, to cease and desist from continuing to cause any violations and any
future violations, and to pay a penalty. (See “Disciplinary information”)
The brochure was updated with other non-material changes.
Connect with Vanguard®
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1
Contents
Advisory business ...........................................................................................................................................................................3
Fees and compensation Advisory fee ............................................................................................................................................8
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management ...........................................................................................................13
Types of clients ..............................................................................................................................................................................13
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss .......................................................................................................13
Disciplinary information .................................................................................................................................................................19
Other financial industry activities and affiliations ........................................................................................................................20
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading .................................................................21
Brokerage practices ......................................................................................................................................................................21
Review of accounts .......................................................................................................................................................................23
Client referrals and other compensation ......................................................................................................................................25
Custody ..........................................................................................................................................................................................25
Investment discretion .....................................................................................................................................................................25
Voting client securities ...................................................................................................................................................................26
Financial information .....................................................................................................................................................................26
Requirements for state-registered advisors .................................................................................................................................26
Investment risks .............................................................................................................................................................................26
Connect with Vanguard
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2
Advisory business
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides investment advisory services to a wide variety of clients.
These advisory services include:
• Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate accounts that are offered as investment options in
state-sponsored education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
• Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios composed of Vanguard® Funds and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”) (as
defined below), as well as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third-party asset managers, that are accessed by third-party
intermediaries through third-party platforms;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services and point-in-time advice for retail clients;
• Vanguard Digital Advisor®: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to participants of eligible employer-
sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor: discretionary advisory service, with access to an advisor, offered to retail clients and to
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans;
• Vanguard Situational Advice: point-in-time, nondiscretionary advice services and financial planning offered to participants
in certain employer-sponsored retirement plans; and
• Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and Personal Online Advisor (“POA”): VMAP is a discretionary
advisory service offered to participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans. POA is a nondiscretionary advisory
service offered to participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans. VMAP and POA are sub-advised by Edelman
Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. (“FEA”).
As an SEC-registered advisor, VAI has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to abide by the duties of care
and loyalty.
VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation.
Goliath is 100% owned by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”). As such, VAI is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of
Vanguard, the sponsor and manager of the family of mutual funds and ETFs comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment
Companies (“Vanguard Funds”), which VAI typically recommends as investments. Please see the section of this brochure titled
“Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for more information.
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select, launched originally as Vanguard Personal Advisor Services by VAI in 2015, provides ongoing
advised account services for Vanguard Personal Investor (“Personal Investor”) clients (“Personal Investor Clients”) who enroll
in Vanguard Personal Advisor Select. The service also provides point-in-time cash management account recommendations for
Personal Investor Clients enrolled in Vanguard Personal Advisor Select.
VAI’s associated persons who interact with clients and prospects include Personal Advisor Select investment advisors who
provide ongoing advice through Personal Advisor Select and Sales Consultants, Financial Consultants, Sales Executives
Wealth Management Relationship Managers and Wealth Management Relationship Executives (Sales Consultants, Financial
Consultants, Sales Executives, Wealth Management Relationship Managers and Wealth Management Relationship Executives
are collectively referred to herein as “sales professionals”) who provide referrals to VAI’s advisory services. Personal Advisor
Select advisors who provide ongoing advice through Personal Advisor Select act as a fiduciary within the meaning of Section
206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Sales professionals who refer prospects to VAI’s advisory offers do not act as a
fiduciary within the meaning of Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Instead, sales professionals help you select
the advisory service that best meets your needs. Advice referrals are made in response to your expressed needs and do not
constitute fiduciary advice. For more information concerning conflicts of interest related to these Personal Advisor Select advisors
and sales professionals, please see the “Advisor compensation” section of this brochure.
Ongoing advised account services
By choosing to engage Personal Advisor Select for ongoing advised services, you’ll provide us with information relating to your
financial situation, investment objectives, and willingness and ability to take risk. The client relationship in the ongoing advised
service begins when you enter into the Service Agreement for Personal Advisor Select (“Service Agreement”) and the scope of
our fiduciary relationship is defined in the Service Agreement. A financial plan will then be formulated for you that will recommend
an asset allocation, and investments will be maintained in your account(s) to meet that allocation. In order to enroll, Personal
Investor Clients are required to open a new account, or enroll an eligible existing account, that is a Vanguard brokerage account
(“Vanguard Brokerage Account”) established with Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”).
For Personal Investor Clients, our lead investment recommendations will normally be limited to allocations in certain Vanguard
Funds, based on their low cost and broad diversification, and won’t include recommendations to purchase individual securities or
Connect with Vanguard
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3
bonds, CDs (certificates of deposit), options, derivatives, annuities, third-party mutual funds, closed-end funds, unit investment
trusts, partnerships, or other non-Vanguard securities. In particular, we’ll recommend varying combinations of Vanguard Total
Stock Market Index Fund, Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund, and Vanguard
Total International Bond Index Fund, or their respective ETF share classes (collectively referred to as the “Four Totals”) for clients
who select our lead investment methodology for passive index investing. You will also be presented an active risk assessment tool
to determine if active investing is an appropriate complement to a passive allocation. The assessment will evaluate a Personal
Investor Client’s cost sensitivity, investing patience, and active risk tolerance, which are important characteristics in determining
the suitability of including active equity in a Portfolio. The results of the active risk assessment are an input into the proprietary
Vanguard Asset Allocation Model (“VAAM”) which allows Personal Advisor Select to access a Personal Investor Client’s risk
tolerance, inclusive of active versus passive preference, and map those preferences to an appropriate model-driven equity
allocation target. Personal Investor Clients are also able to impose reasonable restrictions on our investment strategy, which
may include the ability to accommodate non-Vanguard securities in their financial plans (read the section of this brochure titled
“Reasonable restrictions” for more information).
In certain circumstances, the recommended Portfolio for a client who selected our lead investment methodology for passive index
investing will contain identical allocations to the Four Totals that would’ve been used as the underlying investments in a Vanguard
single-fund solution purchased by that investor. Each of the Four Totals is a share class of mutual funds that are used or are
substantially similar to the mutual funds used to meet the allocations underlying certain Vanguard single-fund solutions, such as
Vanguard Target Retirement Funds. When deciding whether to enroll in the ongoing advised service versus a single-fund solution,
you should consider that you will pay both the advisory fee and any Vanguard Fund expense ratios in exchange for receiving
access to an advisor, personalized features, and additional services offered to Personal Advisor Select clients. In comparison, an
investor who decides not to enroll would have access to many of the same Vanguard funds without the payment of the advisory
fee, but would also not have access to an advisor, personalized features, and additional services offered to Personal Advisor
Select clients.
We recognize that Personal Investor Clients may experience costs and tax consequences associated with selling their existing
securities positions to implement our lead advice recommendations. As such, we’ll weigh the costs of transitioning the securities
a Personal Investor Client holds before enrolling in the ongoing advised service using a break-even cost analysis. If the securities
held before enrolling in the ongoing advised service pass our break-even cost analysis, we’ll recommend that a Personal
Investor Client continue to hold all or a portion of such securities, subject to our portfolio construction guidelines. If they fail the
break-even cost analysis, we’ll recommend that a Personal Investor Client sell those positions and implement our lead advice
recommendations. We rely on cost information provided by third-party data providers when performing our break-even analysis.
In its discretion, VAI may change data providers and may revise the methodology used to perform our break-even analysis
based on, among other things, data availability, our judgments about data quality, and to ensure that portfolios are constructed
in accordance with our investment philosophy. A change of third-party data providers can result in changes to the costs and tax
consequences experienced when selling existing securities. If a Personal Investor Client wants to retain some or all of those
positions that fail the breakeven cost analysis, we may accommodate such requests provided they don’t violate our Portfolio
construction guidelines. Read the section below titled “Reasonable restrictions” for additional information about imposing
restrictions on our investment strategy. Even in situations where a Portfolio continues to hold securities purchased before enrolling
in the ongoing advised service, we’ll recommend that any additional purchases in a Personal Investor Client’s advised Portfolio
(as defined below) be made into Vanguard Funds.
A financial plan for a Personal Investor Client will be finalized after the opportunity to consult with an advisor from Personal
Advisor Select. If you have any questions throughout the process, you’ll always have the option to speak with an advisor. You’ll
also be given the opportunity to preview our initial financial plan to determine whether to enroll in the ongoing advised service.
Be aware, however, that we may not have an opportunity to refine and tailor the initial financial plan if you decline to enroll in the
ongoing advised service, and the initial financial plan’s suitability to your financial situation may be limited as a result.
Within five business days of accepting the terms of the financial plan and enrolling in the ongoing advised service, we’ll initiate
steps to begin the necessary transactions to create the mix of Vanguard Funds or other securities recommended to meet the
asset allocation selected for your account(s) designated as part of your financial plan. Changes to the investment strategy set
forth in the financial plan will be made only with your input and consent, which makes it extremely important that you immediately
notify us of material changes to your financial situation, investment objectives, and willingness and ability to take risk. Collectively,
the accounts enrolled in the ongoing advised service where we make recommendations to maintain your target allocation will be
referred to herein as the “Portfolio.” Once you’ve agreed to ongoing advisement of the Portfolio, we’ll provide regular monitoring
and quarterly review of the financial plan, and rebalancing, if needed, of the Portfolio pursuant to the standing instructions you
approve in the financial plan.
By enrolling in the ongoing advised service, you’re granting us authority to purchase and sell the securities identified in your
financial plan on your behalf. Accordingly, we may recommend changes to the investments used to effect the investment strategy
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set forth in the financial plan, including changing the investments used for purposes of rebalancing the Portfolio or substituting a
particular investment for another investment you previously approved. If we recommend such a change, we’ll notify you at least
30 days before the change is implemented. Any notice of a proposed change in investments will include the effective timeline for
the proposed change, instructions you can follow to avoid the proposed change, and a reminder that your failure to respond by a
specified date will be deemed your consent to the proposed change in investments.
Within the financial plan, we’ll also use the information you provide to us to create goals-based forecasting and
recommendations on how to better meet your investing goals, based on your situation at the time you engage the service. Your
financial plan can include multiple investing goals that meet your particular financial situation, such as planning for college,
saving for a home, establishing a rainy-day fund, saving for retirement, or managing your assets in a trust. Your goals may be
supported by your Portfolio as well as accounts held outside of the Portfolio. More information about the methodology used
in creating the financial plan is provided in the sections of this brochure under the heading “Methods of analysis, investment
strategies, and risk of loss” below.
The ongoing advised service also offers a web experience that includes content based on your goals and provides personalized
reporting. The web experience is accessed by logging in to your account at vanguard.com. Certain account registrations, such
as certain types of trusts or entity-type registrations, may prevent you from using the web experience. For clients enrolled in
the ongoing advised service, we’ll contact you, at least annually, via email, digital interface, or phone, to validate your financial
planning needs and the strategy chosen for the Portfolio for the purposes of determining whether there have been any changes
in your financial situation, risk tolerance, tax situation, investment time horizon, investment objectives, or desired reasonable
restrictions that may require a new financial plan for your review and approval. Again, it’s critical that you interact with us during
these attempts to validate your financial planning needs and the strategy chosen for the Portfolio, or whenever you believe that
you may have experienced material changes to your financial situation, investment objectives, and willingness and ability to take
risk, to ensure your financial plan is appropriately tailored. If you fail to validate your current investor profile or respond to our
attempts to schedule and conduct an annual review, we’ll assume there have been no changes, and we’ll continue in accordance
with your approved financial plan.
In connection with the ongoing advised service, you’ll retain the right to: (i) withdraw securities and take sales proceeds as cash
from the Portfolio; (ii) vote on shareholder proposals of beneficially owned securities or delegate the authority to vote on such
proposals to another person; (iii) be provided, in a timely manner, with a confirmation or other notification of each securities
transaction in the Portfolio and all other documents required by law to be provided to security holders; and (iv) proceed directly
as a security holder against the issuer of any security in the Portfolio and not be obligated to join any person involved in the
operation of the service, or any other client of the service, as a condition precedent to initiating such proceeding.
All Personal Advisor Select clients have the ability to call and schedule an appointment with an advisor at any time. Additional
information about fee tiers based on Portfolio size are included below in the “Fees and compensation” section.
Before enrolling in the ongoing advised service, potential clients should consider paying off high-interest debt.
Point-in-time account recommendations
The ongoing advised service also provides point-in-time brokerage account type recommendations, including cash management
account recommendations, for Personal Investor Clients enrolled in Personal Advisor Select. Effectively managing short-term
cash needs is a fundamental aspect of financial planning, and Personal Advisor Select financial advisors may recommend that
you open a Vanguard Cash Plus Account (“Cash Plus Account”) where you have expressed the need: (i) for an ongoing spending
account; (ii) to accumulate and hold an emergency savings fund to cover potential spending shocks; or (iii) to accumulate and
hold funds required for anticipated near-term expenditures. Any Cash Plus Account opened by you will not be part of your advised
Portfolio, which means that you will be solely responsible for the initial and ongoing funding of such account, and for directing any
funding sent to the account to either the bank sweep feature or the Vanguard money market funds made available for purchase in
Cash Plus Accounts.
Keep in mind that the point-in-time nature of the Cash Plus Account recommendation means that Vanguard Personal Advisor
Select is not required to update any previously provided Cash Plus Account recommendations and will not monitor any such
recommendation made to you, or the investments held in your Cash Plus Account. The Cash Plus Account is a self-managed
brokerage account offered by VMC, and you are solely responsible for the ongoing review and monitoring of the investments held
in your Cash Plus Account. VMC will receive a fee from program banks that accept bank sweep deposits that (i) is set by VMC,
(ii) may vary from program bank to program bank, (iii) may be changed by VMC at any time, and (iv) will affect the yield clients
receive from the bank sweep service. Personal Investor Clients who enroll in the bank sweep receive a lower yield on deposits
under the bank sweep than if VMC had not earned this fee, because program banks reduce the amount of interest they are willing
to pay depositors by the amount of the fee they pay to VMC. If you invest in any of the Vanguard money market funds available in
Cash Plus Accounts, you will also be subject to the applicable expense ratios and to any purchase and redemption fees assessed
by those funds. This compensation is separate from, and in addition to, the advisory fees payable to us. However, since any
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Cash Plus Account opened by you will not be part of your advised Portfolio, you will not be assessed any advisory fees by us for
balances maintained in a Cash Plus Account. Read the sections titled “Account Fees,” “Vanguard Fund Fees,” and “Brokerage
practices” for more information about brokerage charges and other fees and expenses you may pay as a result opening and
maintaining a Cash Plus Account.
Your Cash Plus Account may be subject to various restrictions to reduce the risk of fraud. Your transactions may be subject to
a 7-day holding period as well as daily transaction limits. Generally, new accounts will be subject to a 60-day holding period for
cash and check deposits. During this time, you can invest with this cash, but cash deposits into your Vanguard account may only
be returned to the bank account from which the cash was withdrawn. After the holding period is complete, your funds will be fully
available to transfer or withdraw.
Spending Fund
The ongoing advised service will recommend that Personal Investor Clients establish a new money market fund, or designate an
existing money market fund, to facilitate cash flow into and out of the Portfolio, herein defined as a “Spending Fund,” unless the
client indicates a preference for certain cash savings features that would make a Cash Plus Account appropriate. If a Personal
Investor Client establishes a Spending Fund, any additional cash added to their Portfolio will remain in the Spending Fund until
the total amount of assets in the Spending Fund exceeds their agreed-upon maximum limit (the “Upper Threshold”). When
the Upper Threshold is exceeded, their Spending Fund balance will be reduced to the agreed-upon target amount (the “Target
Balance”) and the additional assets will be invested according to the terms of their current financial plan. A Personal Investor
Client can also establish an agreed-upon minimum limit for the Spending Fund (the “Lower Threshold”). When the balance of the
Spending Fund falls below the Lower Threshold, an advisor will act in accordance with the current financial plan to rebalance and/
or sell securities to meet the Target Balance in the Spending Fund. Spending Fund processes don’t apply to those participants
who engage the service for one-time advice.
Automated tax loss harvesting
Personal Investor Clients enrolled in the ongoing advisory service can choose to implement our automated tax loss harvesting
(“TLH”) service (“TLH Service”) in advised taxable accounts. Depending on a Personal Investor Client’s personal circumstances,
a TLH strategy can add value in the form of reduced taxes when harvested losses are used to lower a tax bill and potentially grow
savings if those tax savings are reinvested. However, before electing the TLH Service, a Personal Investor Client should consult
with a tax advisor to discuss any concerns related to participation in the TLH Service in light of their particular circumstances
and their impact on their individual tax return. In order to elect the TLH Service, you must consent to the Tax Loss Harvesting
Addendum to the Service Agreement (“Addendum”). A Personal Investor Client should carefully consider the TLH Service
description and the related disclosures in the Addendum, including the TLH Service’s risks and limitations, prior to electing the
TLH Service.
Portfolio transactions
While enrolled in the ongoing advised service, Personal Investor Clients can transfer cash or securities to and from the Portfolio
at any time, and can add or remove accounts at any time, provided they give us prior notice by contacting us. Transfers of cash
out of a Portfolio typically take two business days to occur (subject to the settlement of securities transactions in your Portfolio).
Market closures will delay the settlement of securities transactions, which will, in turn, delay the transfer of cash out of an account.
For Personal Investor Clients, cash transferred to the Portfolio will be deposited into their Spending Fund (as defined above), an
existing money market fund, bank sweep service or a money market settlement fund in a Vanguard Brokerage Account where a
Spending Fund has not been established. If Personal Investor Clients don’t have a Spending Fund, existing money market fund,
bank sweep service, or money market settlement fund in a Vanguard Brokerage Account, they hereby agree to establish, at the
time of transfer, an account in Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund for the purpose of accepting their transfer of cash into the
Portfolio. Within two business days of cash being deposited (except for deposits resulting from automated account services or
cash less than $100) by a Personal Investor Client, the advisor will be notified of the available cash and will take steps to begin
investing the cash within five days in accordance with the financial plan and our procedures for rebalancing. See the section of
this brochure entitled “Rebalancing the Portfolio” for details. When cash is transferred to the Portfolio as a result of automated
account services (such as a recurring investment) or investment earnings (such as interest or dividend payments), or where the
amount transferred is less than $100, the cash will be allocated in accordance with the Personal Investor Client’s financial plan
upon their next rebalancing opportunity, or as otherwise agreed upon with an advisor.
For purchases into Vanguard Funds in the Portfolio and other transfers of securities worth more than $100 by Personal Investor
Clients, we will initiate steps to begin investing within five business days of the purchase or transfer according to the terms of the
current financial plan and our procedures for rebalancing. See the section of this brochure entitled “Rebalancing the Portfolio” for
details. If securities are transferred that aren’t part of the established financial plan or haven’t been authorized through Attachment
A to the Service Agreement for Vanguard Personal Advisor Select, an advisor will initiate steps within five business days to
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contact the Personal Investor Client regarding the handling of those securities. The advisor will not sell or move these securities
without the Personal Investor Client’s consent. Any transfers of securities worth less than $100 will be allocated in accordance
with the Personal Investor Client’s financial plan upon their next rebalancing opportunity.
If you haven’t established a financial plan, securities will be held in kind until you establish a financial plan for such assets. We
reserve the right to reject the transfer of certain securities. Personal Investor Clients may work with an advisor to establish an
alternate timing for the investment of additional cash, Vanguard Funds, or other securities transferred to your Portfolio. The
processes regarding the transfer of cash and securities to and from the Portfolio don’t apply to those clients who only receive a
financial plan and decide not to enroll in the ongoing advised service.
If a Personal Investor Client processes a transaction in a Vanguard Brokerage Account enrolled in the ongoing advised service
and doesn’t have sufficient funds to settle the transaction, an advisor will raise settlement proceeds by selling a portion of
the largest position in the affected account based on our drawdown hierarchy methodology discussed below. The processes
regarding the purchase of securities in a Portfolio don’t apply to those clients who only receive a financial plan and decide not to
enroll in the ongoing advised service.
When selling securities from the Portfolio during rebalancing or a Spending Fund replenishment, or when raising cash for a
onetime withdrawal, securities will be sold according to the following drawdown hierarchy, as applicable: securities held in IRAs
subject to required minimum distributions (RMDs) up to the RMD limit, securities held in taxable accounts, securities held in
tax-deferred accounts, and then securities held in tax-free (Roth) accounts. You can work with an advisor to customize your
drawdown hierarchy for each goal when you need to sell securities. The client designated as the “Primary Advice Client” under
the Service Agreement for Vanguard Personal Advisor Select can accept or customize the drawdown hierarchy for each goal and
direct withholding elections for all accounts in the Portfolio, including accounts owned solely by the Secondary Advice Client. The
drawdown hierarchy aims for tax efficiency but may not be equitable in relation to the accounts owned by a Primary Advice Client
versus those owned by a Secondary Advice Client, meaning that one individual’s account could be depleted before securities are
sold from the other’s accounts. Security selection will vary depending upon the account from which it is being withdrawn.
Personal Investor Clients will be notified within 45 days of an identified goal’s targeted end date. Once the goal end date has
been reached, we will initiate steps to remove the goal from the Portfolio and unenroll any accounts supporting that goal from the
Service unless an adjustment is agreed upon with an advisor. Accounts supporting retirement goals will be the only exception;
they will not be removed from the Portfolio or unenrolled from the Service once the targeted retirement date is reached.
Tax efficient trading
We will perform certain Vanguard fund transactions in your Portfolio in a manner that attempts to reduce the number of wash
sales you may experience. A wash sale results from selling a security at a loss in a taxable account and repurchasing it, or one
the IRS considers “substantially identical,” in the same or another account within 30 days before or after the sale is effected.
Since the IRS won’t allow a taxpayer to claim the loss generated by the sale on that year’s tax return, it’s important to limit these
transactions.
The effects of a purchase in a taxable account that leads to a wash sale may only be temporary, as you are permitted to add the
loss from the sale to the cost basis of the security purchased, and the holding period of the security sold will also be added to the
holding period of the purchased security. A purchase in a tax-advantaged account leading to a wash sale, though, will cause you
to permanently lose the ability to claim the original loss.
Where you previously sold a Vanguard Fund at a loss in an advised taxable account in the Portfolio within the prior 30 days, we
will, where necessary and appropriate, recommend the purchase of an alternate Vanguard Fund (a “surrogate Vanguard Fund”)
if such purchase is planned to take place in an advised taxable account or advised IRA in the Portfolio and if the Service would
have otherwise recommended a repurchase of the same Vanguard Fund that was originally sold at a loss. By recommending the
purchase of a surrogate Vanguard Fund, we are attempting to mitigate the circumstances when you will experience a wash sale in
your Portfolio.
Where you previously purchased a Vanguard Fund in an advised taxable account or advised IRA in the Portfolio and we recommend
the sale of a security within the same asset or sub-asset class within 30 days of such purchase, we will, where necessary and
appropriate, attempt to sell another holding in lieu of selling the recently purchased Vanguard Fund if such sale is planned to take
place in an advised taxable account and would result in a loss. By attempting to avoid the sale of the recently purchased Vanguard
Funds, we are attempting to mitigate the circumstances when you will experience a wash sale in your Portfolio.
There are several limitations on our ability to perform Vanguard Fund transactions in a Portfolio in a manner that attempts to
reduce the number of wash sales. First, we will only monitor for wash sale compliance in advised taxable accounts and advised
IRAs that are part of a Portfolio governed by the same Service Agreement for Personal Advisor Select. Second, we will not seek
to avoid wash sales in situations where you previously instructed us to sell a particular Vanguard Fund. Third, we will not seek to
avoid wash sales when we are attempting to locate investments in account types that are appropriate for that security type (see
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the section entitled “Rebalancing the Portfolio” for more information). Fourth, we will not seek to avoid wash sales in situations
where the only alternative to a wash sale is to sell another holding at a taxable gain. Finally, we will not seek to avoid wash sales
in situations where we are required to transact to maintain your recommended asset allocation and the only Vanguard Fund
available for sale will cause a wash sale.
While the avoidance of wash sales provides tax benefits for you, some of the surrogate Vanguard Funds have higher expense
ratios than the lead Vanguard Funds we normally recommend. Further, the underlying securities owned by the surrogate Vanguard
Funds are different from the holdings of the lead Vanguard Funds, which introduces some tracking error into your Portfolio.
Restrictions on Portfolio accounts
While enrolled in the ongoing advised service, you shouldn’t purchase or sell securities in your Portfolio without prior assistance
from an advisor, and you will be restricted from submitting trades in your Portfolio accounts online until you terminate the ongoing
advised service. Upon your instruction to terminate the ongoing advised service, we’ll initiate steps to begin restoring full access
to your accounts, and during such transition back to a self-directed portfolio you can contact a Vanguard representative at any
time to place orders.
Transactions performed in a Portfolio enrolled in the ongoing advised service without prior notice to us may be reversed or
unwound to maintain the recommended allocation for your Portfolio. Other account transactions or services, like automatic
trading services (such as a recurring investment or sell/withdrawal), will be restricted or unavailable through the web experience
but can be processed or enabled with the assistance of an advisor. Other actions requiring advisor assistance include cost basis
provisioning, dividend and capital gains distribution elections, and setting RMD payments.
You may not receive third-party discretionary advice on securities held in the Portfolio under the ongoing advised service. If
you want to receive third-party discretionary advice on certain securities in the Portfolio, we can assist you in transferring those
securities to an account outside of the Portfolio, or you can choose to terminate the ongoing advised service. You can arrange
separately for the provision of advice by another provider that has no material affiliation with, and receives no compensation in
connection with, the securities held in your account(s).
As of December 31, 2025, Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”), had a total of $120,702,400,000 in discretionary client assets under
management and $223,917,200,000 in non-discretionary client assets under management.
Estimated capital gains
For Personal Investor Clients, we’ll provide an estimate of the capital gains and/or losses you may realize if you implement the
recommendations in your financial plan. If the cost basis of a particular security is unknown, we’ll assume the entire position is
held at a gain (meaning we’ll assume the cost basis for that security is zero). Actual capital gains and/or losses may differ from the
estimates because they’re based on the price of the security at the time of sale. While the ongoing advised service will weigh the
tax effect of potential Portfolio changes Portfolio transactions in advised taxable accounts could result in realized taxable gains or
losses, or the generation of taxable dividend income or tax-preference items that are taxable under the alternative minimum tax.
Neither VAI nor any affiliated entity will have any responsibility to pay these taxes.
Additional information for Vanguard individual retirement account (“IRA”) holders
VAI intends Vanguard Personal Advisor Select to be a level-fee-eligible investment advice arrangement and to comply with
the conditions of the statutory exemption for eligible investment advice arrangements under Sections 408(b)(14) and (g) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) and Sections 4975(d)(17) and (f) (8) of the Internal Revenue Code (the
“Code”). In providing advice for assets held in IRAs, or with respect to assets held in eligible employer-sponsored retirement
plans as defined in Section 3(2) of ERISA, VAI will act as a fiduciary advisor as defined under Section 408(g)(11) of ERISA and
Section 4975(f)(8)(J) of the Code and, therefore, VAI must act prudently and only with clients’ interests in mind when providing
clients recommendations about investment of those assets. Additionally, Personal Advisor Select will be audited annually by an
independent auditor for compliance with the requirements of the statutory level-fee exemption and related regulation. Clients who
have received our advice with respect to securities held in IRAs or Plan Accounts during a calendar year will receive a copy of the
most recent version of the auditor’s findings published in the next calendar year within 30 days of our receipt of the report.
Fees and compensation Advisory fee
The annual advisory service fee paid to VAI for clients enrolled in the ongoing advised service will be tiered as follows:
0.30% on Portfolio’s assets below $5 million
0.20% on Portfolio’s assets between $5 million and $10 million
0.10% on Portfolio’s assets between $10 million and $25 million
0.05% on Portfolio’s assets above $25 million
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For example, consider a client with $15 million in a Portfolio of advised assets under the Service. The client would generally
experience the following fee:
0.30% on the first $5 million = $15,000
0.20% on the next $5 million = $10,000
0.10% on the next $5 million = $5,000
For a total advisory fee of $30,000 annually.
In most cases, Portfolios of $5 million and above will be serviced by Vanguard National Trust Company (“VNTC”), an affiliate
of VAI that offers its own version of ongoing advised services to its client base. Read the section below titled “Other financial
industry activities and affiliations” for additional information about VNTC.
The advisory fee will be calculated on a rolling 90-day period based on your average daily balance in the Portfolio
across the entire fee period and will begin accruing on your plan implementation date (the first day after enrollment in the
Service when we begin processing trades in your Portfolio). The advisory fee for each fee period will be assessed on the
first business day (a list of observed U.S. holidays is available on the New York Stock Exchange’s website, available at
nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars) after the last calendar day within each fee period and will generally be deducted within two
weeks of assessment.
A total advisory fee will be calculated across all securities in the Portfolio, with the exception of money market fund positions or
deposits in a bank sweep service, or any Cash Plus Accounts opened by you. VAI won’t assess an advisory fee on the balance
of money market fund securities or deposits in a bank sweep service held within the Portfolio, or on any Cash Plus Account
opened by you. Unless you speak with your advisor about setting up a customized method for withdrawing the advisory fee from
your Portfolio, VAI will select the designated fee account(s) of the Portfolio from which the advisory fee will be deducted and then
will systematically determine which securities to sell to raise proceeds sufficient to cover the advisory fee. When we choose to
withdraw the advisory fee from your taxable accounts, we’ll first sell any money market funds or deposits in a bank sweep service
held in those accounts. If we still need to raise proceeds, we’ll next sell any securities held in your Portfolio at a loss. When we
look for securities held at a loss, we’ll prioritize the sale of any nondiversified securities held in your taxable accounts before the
sale of diversified holdings. We’ll continue to sell securities held at a loss until the advisory fee is covered, until you no longer hold
any securities at a loss, or if additional sales of such securities held at a loss will cause a sub-asset class of securities to become
underweighted relative to the other sub-asset classes of the Portfolio (e.g., if we sell too many domestic equity securities causing
your Portfolio to become out of balance). In either case, if we need to raise additional proceeds, we’ll next sell any securities held
in your Portfolio at a taxable gain.
In the event we’re unable to systematically remove the advisory fee from your taxable accounts, we’ll employ a manual process
for determining which securities to sell. Our manual process is based on a fee withdrawal hierarchy of expected fund volatility
from least to most volatile. The fee withdrawal hierarchy prioritizes the sale of mutual funds with relatively low volatility and
expected tax consequences over funds with higher volatility and potentially embedded gains.
Please be advised that our systematic and manual advisory fee withdrawal hierarchies for taxable accounts aren’t designed to
withdraw fees proportionally from the accounts in your Portfolio; in some circumstances our fee logic will cause all of the Portfolio’s
advisory fee to be withdrawn from a single taxable account. When a Portfolio is comprised of accounts owned by different advice
clients, this may mean the account or accounts of one advice client will bear the advisory fee for the entire Portfolio.
Unless the only account in the Portfolio is an IRA or you speak with your advisor about setting up a customized methodology for
withdrawing the advisory fee from your Portfolio, we won’t select the IRA as the account from which the advisory fee should be
deducted. In the case of multiple IRAs only in the Portfolio, the advisory fee will be taken proportionally from all of the IRAs in the
Portfolio. When we choose to withdraw the advisory fee from your IRAs, we’ll sell any securities held in an overweight sub-asset
class, prioritizing the sale of any nondiversified securities held in your IRAs before the sale of diversified holdings. During the fee
collection process, if the designated fee account has been depleted, we will attempt collection from an alternative eligible account.
This will also result in each account previously covered by the designated fee account covering its own fees until such time as you
contact us to reestablish a funded designated fee account.
We reserve the right to change the annual service fee upon 30 days’ written notice to you. Upon removal of an account, or
termination of the ongoing advised service, we’ll require payment of any accrued fees from the time of the last quarterly payment
until the termination date. We may offer a negotiated fee schedule to clients solely at our discretion, including fee structures based
on combined assets of related clients. In these cases, clients will be notified in writing that they qualify for a lower fee tier. Clients
using a lower fee tier will still follow the same calculation and fee assessment processes outlined above. The ongoing advised
service reserves the right to provide periodic fee waivers when deemed appropriate.
There may be periods when rebalancing isn’t needed because the Portfolio is appropriately allocated. The ongoing advised
service will continue to monitor your Portfolio and goals to help keep you on track to meet your investment objectives and you’ll
maintain access to your advisor and tools and will therefore continue to charge all applicable fees during these times of inactivity.
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Advisory fees for the ongoing advised service are in addition to the Advice Platform Fee, Vanguard Fund fees, account-related
fees and compensation, non-Vanguard fund fees, and retirement plan fees described in the paragraphs below. You should review
this information and carefully consider the effect of our advisory fees before you approve your financial plan or implement any
recommendations provided through a financial plan or the ongoing advised service.
Advice platform fee
As-of January 1, 2024, an advice platform fee (“Advice Platform Fee”) is effective. This $75 quarterly fee will be assessed on
enrolled Vanguard Personal Advisor Select Portfolios with assets less than $450,000. Your level of Portfolio assets will be
measured, and any Exceptions (see below) will be determined on the day that your quarterly advisory fee is calculated. Balances
contained within any Cash Plus Account opened by you will not be counted in measuring your level of Portfolio assets. If your
Portfolio is subject to the Advice Platform Fee, it will be added to your advisory fee and collected in the same manner as your
advisory fee. See the “Type of Clients” Section for further information on service minimums.
Exceptions from the Advice Platform Fee
Clients who are in retirement and taking distributions from the Portfolio such that Portfolio assets are less than $450,000 will not
be assessed the Advice Platform Fee, provided that the Portfolio had qualifying assets above $500,000 at any point in time and is
serviced by a dedicated advisor. Clients who maintain accounts under an Agent Certification for Incapacitated Person (ACIP) as
part of their Portfolio will be excluded from the Advice Platform Fee. Over time, specific exceptions from the Advice Platform Fee
will be removed. You will be provided with notice prior to becoming subject to the Advice Platform Fee and will also be notified
when the fee becomes applicable to your Portfolio.
Vanguard Fund fees
The advice provided by VAI will include recommendations to sell, hold, or purchase Vanguard Funds. Where we transact to
implement your financial plan or you act in accordance with our advice and invest in Vanguard Funds, it’ll result in the payment
of fees to the Vanguard Funds and to The Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”), an affiliate of VAI. A purchase or sale of Vanguard
Fund shares isn’t subject to a load, sales charge, or commission. However, each Vanguard Fund incurs advisory, administrative,
and custodial fees, as well as other fees and expenses it pays out of its own assets. The advisory, administrative, custodial, and
other costs make up the Vanguard Funds’ expense ratios. Also, some Vanguard Funds impose purchase and redemption fees.
Clients who invest in Vanguard Funds are subject to the applicable expense ratios and to any purchase and redemption fees.
Please consult the prospectus for information about a specific Vanguard Fund’s expense ratio and any fees assessed by that fund.
Account fees
You may also incur account service fees, commission charges, and other account charges and processing fees in connection
with establishing accounts with VAI affiliates. See the current Brokerage services commission & fee schedules for details. You
should review the terms of your account-opening documents or any plan fee disclosure notices for details about fees that may be
assessed in connection with these accounts. Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”), doing business as Vanguard Brokerage
Services® (VBS®), a registered broker-dealer and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, and an affiliate of VAI, offers
commission-free online trading for Vanguard Funds, Vanguard ETFs, non-Vanguard ETFs, no-transaction-fee (NTF) mutual funds,
and stocks to clients who open Vanguard Brokerage Accounts. Clients with qualified assets above $1 million also receive a limited
number of commission-free transactions on transactions that normally carry a commission cost and are eligible for additional
service level benefits. If you’re an eligible Personal Investor Client currently enrolled in one of these services, transactions
performed by the ongoing advised service will be eligible for the commission-free benefit, but any such executed transactions will
reduce the number of commission-free transactions available to you in your self-directed accounts held outside of your Portfolio.
If a Personal Investor Client holds deposits in a bank sweep service in the Portfolio, VMC will receive a fee from program banks
that accept bank sweep deposits that (i) is set by VMC, (ii) may vary from program bank to program bank, (iii) may be changed by
VMC at any time, and (iv) will affect the yield clients receive from the bank sweep service. Personal Investor Clients who enroll in
the bank sweep receive a lower yield on deposits under the bank sweep than if VMC had not earned this fee, because program
banks reduce the amount of interest they are willing to pay depositors by the amount of the fee they pay to VMC.
Non-Vanguard fund fees
Mutual fund trades in a Vanguard Brokerage Account held through VMC are limited to those fund families with which VMC
has entered into a selling agreement. VMC receives transaction fees, front- and back-end loads, sales charges, and 12b-1
fees in connection with certain transactions in third-party mutual funds through VMC’s FundAccess® program. VMC will also
receive fees for the provisioning of various shareholder services in connection with the participation of certain mutual funds in
the FundAccess program. These may be considered revenue sharing and represent a significant source of revenue for VMC.
Determined in accordance with an asset-based formula, these payments may equal up to 0.40% of a mutual fund’s assets
under management at VMC on an annual basis. VMC will also receive operational payments from mutual funds in the form of
networking or per-position fees of up to $20 for each customer position in a mutual fund on an annual basis.
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These fees are reimbursed to VMC for the work it performs on behalf of the funds, which may include, but isn’t limited to,
subaccounting services, dividend calculation and posting, accounting, reconciliation, client confirmation and statement preparation
and mailing, and tax statement preparation and mailing. Certain funds offered through the FundAccess program assess purchase
and redemption fees.
If the Portfolio transacts in a fund that assesses such fees or pays the aforementioned forms of compensation to VMC, those fees
will be imposed on your transaction(s) and the compensation will be paid to VMC separate and apart from the advisory fees we
assess. Notwithstanding, any transaction fee charged by VMC in connection with a non-Vanguard fund transaction will not apply
to Personal Investor Client accounts enrolled in advice.
Advisor compensation
Advisor and sales professional compensation practices
The advice provided by our Personal Advisor Select advisors, and the advice referrals provided by Sales Consultants,
Financial Consultants, Sales Executives Wealth Management Relationship Managers and Wealth Management Relationship
Executives (Sales Consultants, Financial Consultants, Sales Executives, Wealth Management Relationship Managers and
Wealth Management Relationship Executives are collectively referred to herein as “sales professionals”) who refer prospects
to Personal Advisor Select does not vary based on whether Vanguard or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries will receive fees
from any recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell Vanguard Funds or non-Vanguard investments. Advisory fees received
by Personal Advisor Select don’t vary on the basis of any investment options recommended to clients. Personal Advisor Select
advisors and sales professionals who refer prospects to Personal Advisor Select are not compensated for, or on the basis of,
any recommendation or sales of specific securities offered to clients as part of their enrollment in the service. Advisors and sales
professionals are eligible for annual payment from an enterprise-wide compensation plan. This plan is made available to qualifying
employees of Vanguard, and not just advisors and sales professionals. Payments from the plan are determined based on an
employee’s level in the organization as well as a multiplier based on overall company performance during the prior three years.
Accordingly, payments from the plan do not create conflicts of interest between you and our employees. We reserve the right, at
our discretion and without prior notice, to change the methods by which we compensate our advisors and sales professionals.
Advisor compensation
Advisors who deliver advice to Personal Advisor Select clients are paid base compensation (either salary/exempt or hourly/
non-exempt wages) and are eligible to receive annual increases to that base compensation on discretionary factors, including:
(i) the percentage of Personal Advisor Select clients an advisor retains in the service; (ii) the number of initial consultations with
prospective clients completed by an advisor; (iii) the percentage of prospective clients an advisor enrolls into Personal Advisor
Select; (iv) the percentage of existing clients an advisor meets with during the twelve month performance period; (v) the number
of untimely trades performed in the client portfolios during the twelve month performance period; (vi) risk measures (such as
adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with regulatory standards and client usage of automated
trading technology; (vii) an advisor’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; (viii)
reviewing methodology features, such as tax-loss harvesting, active equity methodology and tax-efficient portfolio drawdown
capabilities with clients for whom those options may be suitable; (ix) client satisfaction (client surveys, complaints); and, at times,
(x) the amount of assets that existing clients retain in the service, new assets that existing clients bring under advice, and the
overall size of an advisor’s book measured by assets and clients. Salaried/exempt advisors who participate in the corporate bonus
program are also eligible for an annual bonus where payments are based on the same discretionary factors.
Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due to the incentives they create for both the advisor and VAI. Specifically,
factors (i) through (iv), (ix) and (x) in the paragraph above give an advisor and VAI an incentive to recommend Personal Advisor
Select to clients and to seek to retain clients in Personal Advisor Select over other advisory programs and services offered by
Vanguard. In addition, VAI and its affiliates benefit through receipt of additional compensation when clients enroll or remain
enrolled in Personal Advisor Select or adopt certain features such as active equity methodology.
VAI addresses these conflicts of interest by maintaining policies and procedures requiring that our Personal Advisor Select
advisors act in your best interest, reasonably supervising their activities, providing advisors with training and disclosing these
conflicts so that you can make informed decisions. Additionally, Personal Advisor Select advisors are provided with qualified leads
to prospects who have previously expressed an interest in learning more about the service before scheduling an appointment with
the advisor to consider enrollment. Finally, the annual discretionary bonus program includes performance measures designed
to mitigate the conflicts of interest caused by the program, including requirements for Personal Advisor Select advisors to abide
by risk measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with regulatory standards
and client usage of automated trading technology). Our employees are also subject to Vanguard’s Code of Ethics Policy, which
addresses personal trading, other business activities, gifts and entertainment, and confidentiality of client information, among
other topics.
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Sales consultant compensation
Sales Consultants who handle inbound calls to Vanguard are paid hourly wages and are eligible to receive annual increases to
their wages based on discretionary factors, including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice service implementations; (ii) the amount
of new client assets transferred to Vanguard that are attributable to the sales professional; (iii) the percentage of client interactions
that lead to aligning prospects and clients to certain product, account and service solutions offered by or through VBS; (iv) the
sales professional’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (v) compliance with
supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards.
Salaried Sales Consultants who conduct outbound calls for Vanguard participate in the corporate bonus program and are
eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors, including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice service
implementations; (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard that are attributable to the sales professional; (iii)
the sales professional’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (iv) compliance with
supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards.
Financial consultant compensation
Financial Consultants are sales professionals that serve as a dedicated point of contact for clients with $1,000,000 to $5,000,000
invested with Vanguard. Certain salaried Financial Consultants who conduct outbound calls for Vanguard participate in the sales
incentive plan (in lieu of the corporate bonus program) and are eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors,
including (i) the Financial Consultant’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (ii)
compliance with supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. These Financial Consultants
are also eligible for bonuses where payments are based on nondiscretionary and discretionary factors. The nondiscretionary
factors include (i) the number of Vanguard advice service implementations and (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred
to Vanguard that are attributable to the Financial Consultant. The discretionary factors include (i) demonstrating employee
competencies as established by Human Resources; (ii) compliance with supervisory, security and privacy procedures as well as
regulatory standards; (iii) professional sales skills; (iv) the number and quality of needs assessments conducted; and (v) various
client engagement factors such as personalized outreach to the Financial Consultant’s book of business.
Sales executive compensation
Sales Executives are sales professionals who specialize in working with Ultra High Net Worth prospects and clients – defined
as investors with over $5,000,000 in investable assets – who have highly complicated financial situations. Sales Executives are
eligible to receive salary increases based on discretionary factors, including (i) the sales professional’s cultivation of referral
networks such as through estate planning attorneys or CPAs that can lead to new Vanguard prospects; (ii) the ability to educate
prospects and clients with regard to account types, services or securities offered by or through Vanguard, VBS and Vanguard
Charitable; (iii) demonstrating employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (iv) compliance with supervisory,
security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. Sales Executives are also eligible for bonuses where payments
are based on discretionary and non-discretionary factors. The nondiscretionary factors include: (i) the amount of new client
assets transferred to Vanguard attributable to the sales professional; and (ii) the amount of client assets invested through any
of Vanguard’s proprietary advice offerings. The discretionary factors are the same as those used to assess salary increases for
Sales Executives.
Wealth Management relationship manager and relationship executive compensation
Wealth Management Relationship Managers serve as dedicated points of contact to Vanguard’s non-advised Wealth
Management clients holding over $5,000,000 in assets. Salaried Wealth Management Relationship Managers participating in
the corporate bonus program are eligible to receive salary increases and annual bonus payments based on discretionary factors
attributable to the relationship manager, including: (i) the number of Vanguard advice service implementations; (ii) the amount of
new client assets transferred to Vanguard; (iii) the number of certain VBS product, account and retail service solutions positioned
to clients; (iv) the number of needs assessments conducted; (v) client satisfaction; (vi) various client engagement factors such
as the number of quality engagements, breadth and depth of client engagements across the relationship manager’s book of
business, and percent of personalized outreach to the sales professional’s book of business; (vii) enabling a full transition of
any transfer agent accounts remaining in the relationship manager’s book of business to the VBA platform; (viii) the relationship
manager’s demonstration of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (ix) compliance with supervisory,
security and privacy procedures as well as regulatory standards. Wealth Management Relationship Executives attempt to
enhance existing non-advised Wealth Management client relationships who have highly complex financial situations and to
cultivate opportunities to expand those clients’ understanding of and access to Vanguard products, accounts and services.
Salaried Wealth Management Relationship Executives participating in the corporate bonus program are eligible to receive salary
increases and annual bonus payments based on discretionary factors attributable to the relationship executive, including: (i)
the number of Vanguard advice service implementations; (ii) the amount of new client assets transferred to Vanguard; (iii) the
number of certain VBS product, account and retail service solutions positioned to clients; (iv) the number of client engagements;
(v) client satisfaction; (vi) the number of client referrals successfully implemented; (vii) the relationship executive’s demonstration
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of employee competencies as established by Human Resources; and (viii) compliance with supervisory, security and privacy
procedures as well as regulatory standards.
Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due to the incentives they create for both the sales professionals and VAI to
assist clients and prospects to transfer new assets to Vanguard and to enroll in VAI’s advisory offers. VMC addresses the conflicts
of interest arising from our compensation practices by maintaining supervisory policies and procedures requiring that our sales
professionals who provide you with recommendations act in your best interest, reasonably supervising their activities, providing
sales professionals with training, and disclosing these conflicts so that you can make informed decisions. Our employees are also
subject to Vanguard’s Code of Ethics Policy, which addresses personal trading, other business activities, gifts and entertainment,
and confidentiality of client information, among other topics.
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management
VAI and its advisors don’t receive any fees for advisory services provided to you based on a share of capital gains on or capital
appreciation of your investments.
Types of clients
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select is made available to Personal Investor Clients and prospects with a minimum of $500,000
of investable cash or securities in the Portfolio. Eligible account types for Personal Investor Clients include individual accounts
(including certain IRAs and Roth IRAs), joint accounts, and certain trust accounts. In order to enroll, Personal Investor Clients
will be required to open a new account, or enroll an eligible existing account, that is a Vanguard brokerage account (“Vanguard
Brokerage Account”) established with Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”).
Other account types may be considered for purposes of goals forecasting, but VAI won’t invest or reallocate assets in those
other accounts.
Clients of Vanguard Digital Advisor, Vanguard Personal Advisor, Vanguard Personal Advisor Select, and Vanguard Personal
Advisor Wealth Management are not eligible to be enrolled in two programs simultaneously. If a client of another Vanguard
advisory service chooses to move to Personal Advisor Select, an advisor can help them with enrollment. Certain officers,
directors, and substantial shareholders, including any employees subject to Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
or Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or that are otherwise identified as company insiders, are not
eligible for Personal Advisor Select (including both participant account and Vanguard Brokerage Accounts).
Clients are generally required to maintain permanent residence in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the U.S.
Virgin Islands. Clients that are temporarily abroad, such as those in the military or on government duty, may be eligible under
consideration of additional information.
If your assets fall below $450,000, you will have the option to (i) add more assets to the Portfolio to meet the initial eligibility
requirement, (ii) transition to another one of our advisory services, if eligible, (iii) choose to be subject to the ongoing Advice
Platform Fee discussed above, and be serviced by a pool of advisors, or (iv) decide to terminate the advisory relationship. Clients
that at any point had qualifying assets and are serviced by a dedicated advisor, with an existing Retirement Goal, may remain
aligned to a dedicated advisor during retirement when distributions are expected from the Portfolio and will not be subject to the
Advice Platform Fee or required to add more assets to the Portfolio. We will contact you if action needs to be taken.
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select reserves the right, in its discretion, to alter its service models without notice or grant exceptions
to the service models where it deems appropriate, for example in the case of certain life events.
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss
VAI’s investment methodology incorporates our investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs,
diversification, and indexing. Our methodology, which is approved and periodically reviewed by senior Vanguard management,
is based on Vanguard’s fundamental research, as well as research obtained from a wide variety of external sources, public and
private. Our methodology is driven by long-term financial goals, not by market-timing or short-term investment performance.
Rather than attempting to predict which investments will provide superior performance at any given time, VAI believes it can
provide the best opportunity for success by maintaining a broadly diversified financial plan or Portfolio—including investments
from a variety of market sectors and asset classes. If, as a result of its periodic review, VAI makes material changes to our
methodology that affects your financial plan, you’ll be informed of the changes and then given the opportunity to approve them.
Investment strategy for the Portfolio
VAI’s investment strategies are designed with a disciplined, long-term approach focused on managing risk through appropriate
asset allocation and diversification. Our methodology uses a strategic approach by first focusing on the mix of asset classes (i.e.,
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stocks, bonds, and cash) that align with your willingness and ability to take risk and are appropriate to meet your financial goals
over time. The methodology is designed to then recommend specific investments for your financial plan or Portfolio.
We rely on information you provide and on certain assumptions based on our analysis about future financial factors, such as
rates of return on certain types of investments, inflation rates, client rate of savings, percentage of income needed in retirement,
portfolio withdrawals, tax rates, taxable capital gains and losses, college costs, and market returns, to develop an investment
strategy for you. All assumptions are estimates based on historical data and proprietary forecasts that, in our opinion, serve as a
useful and reasonable foundation on which to develop financial strategies.
Developing an asset allocation
First, we’ll gather information through the use of a risk quiz or risk questionnaire, an active risk assessment tool, an investor profile,
and consultation with an advisor (unless you choose to forego scheduling an advisor consultation) to understand your financial
objectives. We’ll also gather information such as your age, risk tolerance, specific financial goals, investment time horizon, current
investments, tax status, other assets and sources of income, investment preferences, and planned spending from the Portfolio
or accounts covered by the financial plan. A proprietary algorithm uses this data to recommend a particular investing track and
corresponding glide path (unless you select a static glide path where the asset allocation will remain fixed throughout the life of
the advised relationship) that embodies the risk tolerance, asset allocation, and time horizon suitable for your goals. The investing
tracks range from very conservative, conservative, moderate, aggressive, to very aggressive, and the glide paths within each
track are designed to change over time to adjust your risk exposure and asset allocation to match the time remaining for each of
your specified goals (except for the static glide path where the asset allocation will remain fixed throughout the life of the advised
relationship). You have the option to discuss your investing track and glide path with an advisor at any time, and the advisor will
have the ability to adjust your investing track to more conservative or aggressive if you both deem such change to be appropriate.
Your investment strategy may include separate asset allocation strategies tailored to each of your financial goals. If you use
multiple accounts to support a goal, the asset mix of any single account may vary, but collectively the accounts will achieve the
target asset allocation for the goal. We’ll rely on the information you provide to formulate the financial plan for the Portfolio.
Inaccuracies in the information you provide us with could affect our recommendations, your financial plan, and/or your Portfolio.
When recommending, setting, and adjusting your asset allocation, we weigh “shortfall risk”—the possibility that a financial plan or
Portfolio will fail to meet longer-term financial goals—against “market risk,” or the chance that a financial plan or Portfolio’s value
will fluctuate based on the market’s ups and downs. An investment strategy that’s too conservative raises the risk that inflation will
erode the purchasing power of a long-term portfolio. Appropriate asset allocations may range from 100% stock to 100% short-
term reserves based on the risk tolerance and remaining investment time horizon for a particular financial goal.
We acknowledge there’s a segment of clients that may require flexibility in our methodology and would prefer a static allocation
rather than an allocation along a glide path. While we reaffirm that our best advice is to maintain an asset allocation based on
your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance, we will permit certain static allocations as a client accommodation. For example,
retiree and pre-retiree clients with a retirement goal and a desire to modify their investment objective to preserve their wealth
may decide on a shift in their bond allocation towards a cash allocation. A static allocation may also be appropriate in the case
of a legacy goal, charitable distribution, or discretionary expense that is constant with no set investment horizon. We will not
permit static allocations for clients attempting to tactically choose an asset class they believe will outperform the current market
or remove themselves temporarily from a market. These accommodations for static allocations will remain constant until the client
directs a change. All cash flow projections will reflect the static asset allocation over the entire lifetime of the goal, if a lifetime has
been identified. The unique risk involved with setting a static allocation is that the tradeoff between shortfall risk and market risk
is measured at a distinct point in time when the asset allocation is chosen; unless you periodically reassess your static allocation
with an advisor, the chosen trade-off decision may not best reflect future changes to your (i) ability to bear risk, (ii) investment
time horizon, or (iii) financial situation or overall investment objectives.
Investment strategies for different goals may reflect different trade-offs between shortfall and market risk.
Diversifying the Portfolio asset allocation across a variety of sub-asset classes
We seek to provide adequate diversification within each asset class. We recommend investing across different market segments
to ensure sub-asset class diversification. We’ll establish allowable sub-asset class ranges. The ongoing advised service will
adjust your Portfolio to position sub-asset classes within our allowable ranges. We may propose the addition, removal, or
adjustment of sub-asset class exposures based on continuing portfolio construction research performed by Vanguard Investment
Strategy Group or based on changes to your financial situation or investment objectives.
Our equity methodology seeks to diversify across different market segments (e.g., domestic and international; large-, mid-,
and small-capitalization; growth and value; and passive and active). While investing in equity securities can help grow your
wealth over the long term, stock markets are also volatile, and you may lose money in a sharp downturn that can occur without
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warning. The financial plan and the Portfolio will generally diversify the domestic and international stock positions across market
capitalizations within those segments in similar proportion to their long-term market weight. In addition, we seek to balance
growth and value investment styles when constructing a Portfolio. We examine the industry segments represented in the Portfolio
to ensure the Portfolio isn’t too heavily concentrated in one or more industry sectors, countries, or market segments. Read the
“Investment risks” section of this brochure below for further discussion of risks.
Our bond methodology emphasizes broad diversification across the bond market, both domestic and international, and maintains
interest rate risk exposure in line with the broad bond market. Investments in bonds are subject to multiple risks, including interest
rate, credit, and inflation risk. Diversification across the domestic and global bond markets, as well as across market segments,
issuers, and the yield curve, helps mitigate these risks. Our lead bond recommendation builds diversified financial plans and
Portfolios across short-, intermediate-, and long-maturity bond funds and seeks to maintain an intermediate-term duration. An
intermediate-term duration generally means your financial plan or Portfolio stays in the middle of the spectrum when measuring
its sensitivity to interest rate changes while maintaining exposure to all areas of the maturity range. We also recommend a broad
exposure to investment-grade bond funds (both corporate and Treasury bonds). We’ll seek to build a high- credit-quality financial
plan or Portfolio of bond funds, including funds that hold corporate, Treasury, agency, and mortgage- backed bonds. Depending
on your tax bracket, we may recommend tax-exempt bond funds for your taxable account(s). Bond portfolios may incorporate a
mix of domestic and foreign bond funds. As with equities, we examine bond sector exposure to ensure a financial plan or Portfolio
isn’t concentrated in a single segment, which could expose the financial plan or Portfolio to a higher level of risk. Read the
“Securities recommendations and risk,” “Risks associated with algorithm usage,” and “Investment risks” sections of this brochure
below for further discussion of risks.
Diverse investments, primarily consisting of low-cost Vanguard Funds
After determining the overall asset mix and your stock and bond sub-allocations, our algorithm will then recommend appropriate
investments for your financial plan or Portfolio. We approach fund selection with a long-term, buy-and-hold approach and
discourage switching strategies based solely on recent performance. However, we may recommend reallocating holdings among
different Vanguard Funds as we periodically reassess the most appropriate investments to achieve the targeted asset allocation
and sub-allocations. When analyzing the targeted asset allocation and sub-allocations of securities that may be held in a Portfolio
(including any securities held as a result of a reasonable restriction), we will rely on Vanguard’s asset classification assessments
based on information received from third-party data providers to categorize these investments. In its discretion, VAI may change
data providers and may revise the methodologies used to determine the asset classification assessments of securities based
on, among other things, data availability, our judgements about data quality, and to ensure that portfolios are constructed in
accordance with our investment philosophy. A change of third-party data providers or methodologies can result in changes to the
asset classification assessments of securities in your portfolio, which could contribute to the need to rebalance your Portfolio.
Considering tax efficiency in allocating assets across multiple Portfolio accounts
For Personal Investor Client Portfolios containing both taxable and tax-advantaged accounts, the financial plan will aim to
optimize the tax efficiency of the Portfolio by recommending or allocating investments strategically among taxable and tax-
advantaged accounts. The objective of this “asset location” approach is to hold relatively tax-efficient investments, such as broad-
market stock index products, in taxable accounts while keeping relatively tax-inefficient investments, such as taxable bonds and
active equity funds, in tax-advantaged accounts. This tax-efficient asset location methodology is demonstrated through a tiered
approach. First, the ongoing advised service will attempt to construct your Portfolio to fulfill your fixed income allocation in tax-
advantaged accounts, unless you already hold individual bond positions that align with our portfolio construction methodology
but are held in the wrong asset location. If it becomes necessary to hold bonds in a taxable account, tax-exempt municipal bond
funds may be used.
Second, the ongoing advised service will recommend holding any active equity funds in your Portfolio in your tax-advantaged
accounts, subject to remaining capacity after your Portfolio’s target bond allocation has been fulfilled in those accounts. We’ll
modify our approach to tax-efficient investing based on continuing portfolio construction research performed by Vanguard
Investment Strategy Group or changes in tax laws.
Reasonable restrictions
When requesting a financial plan, you’ll have the ability to impose reasonable restrictions on the investments recommended for
the financial plan or Portfolio. Specifically, you can request that certain alternate Vanguard Funds and certain non-Vanguard
securities be held as part of the financial plan or in the Portfolio, provided those securities meet certain standards imposed by
VAI, including our portfolio construction and diversification standards established by us for such holdings. You will also have the
ability to designate certain securities that shouldn’t be recommended for the financial plan or Portfolio or that shouldn’t be sold if
held in the Portfolio.
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Personal Investor Clients can consult with an advisor to discuss certain investing preferences they may have. For example, an
active versus passive tilt, or limits on certain sub-asset allocation percentages, among other preferences. Specifically, Personal
Investor Clients can request:
• A variance in the percentages of your equity allocation invested in domestic versus international funds (subject to our allowable
variance ranges).
• A variance in the percentages of your international equity allocation invested in developed versus emerging markets (subject to
our allowable variance ranges).
• A variance in the percentages of your bond allocation invested in domestic versus international funds (subject to our allowable
variance ranges).
• An active domestic bond allocation instead of an indexed approach (subject to available shelf space in tax- advantaged
accounts, such as IRAs).
• A variance in the domestic bond sub-asset allocation to accommodate a greater percentage investment in corporate bond funds
(subject to available shelf space in tax-advantaged accounts, such as IRAs).
If you request reasonable restrictions in the financial plan or the Portfolio, we’ll analyze whether the requested securities fit into
the overall stock or bond allocations recommended for the financial plan or the Portfolio.
Any restriction you want to impose is subject to our review and approval. Restrictions will be allowed as long as they aren’t
inconsistent with our methodology. The financial plan or Portfolio will remain diversified by asset class and within each asset
class to ensure no single security or class of securities will impose an unreasonable level of risk. We won’t be responsible,
however, for performing due diligence on any non-Vanguard security included in your financial plan or Portfolio as a result of a
requested restriction, including assessing share class eligibility and appropriateness. If your desired restrictions are unreasonable
or if we believe the restrictions are inappropriate for you, we’ll notify you that, unless the instructions are modified, we’ll remove
particular securities from the financial plan or the Portfolio, remove particular accounts from the Portfolio of the ongoing advised
service, or terminate the ongoing advised service.
Certain investments you may request, such as individual stocks and bonds, stock sector funds, and other Vanguard or non-
Vanguard funds, may not offer the same degree of diversification, liquidity, or performance consistency available with the
Vanguard Funds we normally recommend.
Adjusting the Portfolio asset allocation
This section about adjustments to the Portfolio asset allocation applies to those clients who have enrolled in the ongoing advised
service. Each quarter (with timing determined by your contract anniversary date, or otherwise agreed upon with an advisor), the
ongoing advised service will review your target allocation as illustrated in the asset allocation schedule found in your financial
plan in relation to your investment time horizon to determine if any changes in the target asset allocation you approved as part
of your ongoing financial plan are recommended. If the ongoing advised service recommends changes to the Portfolio’s target
allocation, we may also make recommendations with respect to the purchase or sale of securities in the Portfolio to meet the new
target asset allocation and reflect your progress along the asset allocation schedule. If you have selected a static asset allocation
for a particular goal, however, then we will not perform a review to see if changes to your target allocation are warranted for this
goal as the target allocation is fixed to a set proportion of equity, bonds and cash throughout the life of your advised relationship.
If your ability to bear risk, your investment time horizon, your financial situation, or your overall investment objectives change,
you should notify an advisor or update your information so the ongoing advised service can take these considerations into
account when reviewing your asset allocation target. We won’t change the recommended asset allocation based on current or
prevailing market conditions but may recommend a different asset allocation based on changes to your financial situation or
investment objectives.
If we recommend a different asset allocation, you’ll receive a new financial plan for your review and approval.
In its discretion, VAI may change data providers and may revise the methodologies used to determine the asset classification
assessments of securities based on, among other things, data availability, our judgments about data quality, and to ensure that
portfolios are constructed in accordance with our investment philosophy. A change of third-party data providers or methodologies
can result in changes to the asset classification assessments of securities in your portfolio, which could contribute to the need to
rebalance your Portfolio. This section about adjustments to the Portfolio asset allocation doesn’t apply to participants of employer-
sponsored retirement plans or those clients who decide not to enroll in the ongoing advised service.
Goals forecasting
We’ll also provide projections to help you assess your ability to achieve your personalized financial goals. To cover a broad range
of outcomes, our forecasts will generate 10,000 scenarios to measure your likelihood of success in reaching your goals. The
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projections use forecasted index returns for equities, bonds, and cash, which are used to represent the hypothetical returns of
the asset classes in your financial plan or Portfolio. These forecasted index returns as well as inflation rates are provided through
the Vanguard Capital Markets Model® (“VCMM”), developed by Vanguard Investment Strategy Group, which is discussed in more
detail later.
Projections may be based on accounts included within the financial plan or Portfolio or on accounts held outside of the financial
plan or Portfolio. Our goals-forecasting model uses the same index returns to represent the returns of the asset classes in all
of your accounts supporting your goals in your financial plan or Portfolio. Index returns for fixed income and equity products
are reduced by 0.50% annually, and index returns for money market/cash/short-term reserves are reduced by 0.20% annually
to account for hypothetical expenses and advisory fees. For equities, the model forecasts assume a ratio of 60% US and 40%
international, and for fixed income a ratio of 70% US and 30% international, which may or may not reflect your actual investment
strategy. For modeling municipal bonds returns, we apply a 20% reduction to the forecasted returns of the taxable bonds.
The likelihood-of-success projections forecast for your goals don’t attempt to predict or portray the future performance of any
securities held in accounts supporting your goals. The forecasts are hypothetical projections based on statistical modeling
of current and historical data. They aren’t a guarantee of future results or a guarantee of the success rate of the simulated
outcomes. Although we believe the forecasts may reasonably project your likelihood of reaching your goals as supported by
accounts invested in a diversified portfolio of Vanguard Funds, such projections may not correlate well to other assets you hold in
any accounts that are not invested in accordance with our lead advice methodology. Accordingly, your actual investment results
may vary significantly from our projections.
Outside accounts and cost assumptions used in goals forecasting
For any accounts held outside of the financial plan or Portfolio, we’ll assume the asset allocation held in those outside accounts
is the same as in the accounts held within the financial plan or Portfolio. Accordingly, we’ll use the same index returns noted
in the section above titled “Goals forecasting” for the forecasting model to project your likelihood of success based on both
outside accounts and accounts held in the financial plan or Portfolio. However, any Cash Plus Accounts are assumed to be
invested 100% in cash and associated balances will be projected using VCMM cash rates of return. If your outside accounts
aren’t invested in a similar manner to the accounts in your financial plan or Portfolio, your actual investment results may vary
significantly from our likelihood-of- success projections. A variance in the actual asset allocation of your accounts held outside of
the financial plan or Portfolio could significantly affect your likelihood of reaching a goal within the indicated time frame.
Any forecasted goals using accounts held outside of the financial plan or Portfolio (including other Vanguard accounts, such as
Cash Plus Accounts) are calculated based solely on the information you provide us with respect to the dollar amount of securities
held in those accounts and your rate of contributions to those accounts. You may provide us with such information manually or
through the usage of certain third-party financial data aggregation services. We’ll continue to rely on the information you provide
for as long as your goals are supported by such accounts. We won’t independently verify or update this information. You can
update the dollar amount of securities in accounts held outside of the financial plan or Portfolio and your rate of contributions by
contacting us or by authorizing a third-party financial data aggregation service to refresh the data.
Retirement goals forecasting
We project your lifetime cash flows—inflows from investment income and other sources and outflows from spending—to assess
whether your investments can adequately support your retirement income needs over your lifetime. We evaluate many factors in
assessing your current and future cash flows, including:
• Projected and known expenses, including annual living expenses and other periodic expenses you identify.
• The effect of adjusting your annual living expenses based on inflation or our Dynamic Spending model (discussed below).
• Projected income, including employment, Social Security, pension, and income from investments.
• The effect of variables, such as inflation and income taxes.
• The effect of different market scenarios on the rates of return used to project the likelihood of success of reaching your
retirement goal.
It’s important that the accounts supporting your retirement goal be able to endure a variety of market conditions. To assess your
ability to meet your expenses throughout retirement and through variable market conditions, our cash flow analysis shows how
your accounts supporting this goal would perform under various hypothetical scenarios.
There are certain variables we’re unable to take into account in the cash flow analysis, including some retirement plan design
considerations, such as a plan’s implementation of the 401(a)(17) limit, payroll deferral limits, and certain nonelective employer
contributions.
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We simulate your expected inflows and outflows each year through your expected planning horizon and, using each individual
scenario’s unique forecasted return and inflation assumptions, we project your likelihood of reaching your retirement goal.
As part of your outflows, your annual expenses are projected each year using either a “dollar plus inflation” approach or our
Dynamic Spending model. “Dollar plus inflation” means that each year we’ll take your projected annual expenses in dollars and
adjust that value to account for expected inflation in each year. Dynamic Spending considers hypothetical fluctuations in the
three-year annualized balance of the accounts supporting your retirement goal and is bound by annual increase and decrease
thresholds you establish with an advisor. Dynamic Spending is one factor in determining your forecast and doesn’t cause an
advisor to take any action in your Portfolio. If you elect to use Dynamic Spending, we assume you’ll adjust your spending to match
the new annual living expense allowance you’ll be provided with at the beginning of each year.
The overall likelihood-of-success measure for your retirement goal represents the percentage of the 10,000 hypothetical
scenarios in which the balance in your retirement accounts is at least $1 at the end of your planning horizon, which is usually set
to age 100 as our default.
Goals forecasting for custom goals
A custom goal, including a goal that is set using a static allocation, is one in which you’re currently saving for a future event.
Custom goals can focus on saving for a single lump-sum distribution (such as saving for a home) or on saving a sum to draw
down over an extended period (such as saving for retirement). We’ll illustrate the process using an accumulator goal with an
extended drawdown.
The first step involves estimating the amount of assets you’ll need to accumulate at the beginning of the spending phase. To
do so, you’ll need to inform us of the annual amount you expect to spend, the year in which you expect spending to begin, the
number of years during which you expect to spend, and any sources of income you have during the spending phase. After
adjusting for inflation, we’ll arrive at the estimated sum needed at the beginning of the spending phase by running the VCMM
Monte Carlo simulations using the underlying asset allocation assumption for the goal. Read the section below titled “Vanguard
Capital Markets Model” for more information about the Monte Carlo simulations. The calculations will be performed with the aim
of estimating a sum that will allow you to meet your spending needs in 85% of the Monte Carlo simulations (meaning we estimate
that, in 85% of the hypothetical scenarios projected, you’ll have at least $1 left at the end of the spending phase).
The second step involves determining whether you’re on track in the accumulation phase to meet your overall goal of arriving at
the sum needed at the outset of the drawdown phase. To model the accumulation phase, you must provide us with the current
amount of assets you have in support of the goal and the amount you intend to save annually until the start of the drawdown
phase. Using the underlying asset allocation for the goal, we’ll run the VCMM Monte Carlo simulations and calculate what
percentage of scenarios had an ending balance, without considering any taxes, greater than or equal to your target amount at the
outset of the spending phase. We’ll quantify the ability to meet a goal using a success rate. A successful outcome is defined as
one in which the projected ending account balance, without considering any taxes, either meets or exceeds the Target Balance by
the target goal year. For example, if a goal has a success rate of 80%, then 80% of the simulations resulted in a projected ending
balance that met or exceeded the target goal amount.
Trust goals forecasting
For Personal Investor Clients, we can provide investment recommendations and advised account services for certain trust
accounts. We’ll collect information concerning current and future income and distributions from the trust. We consider future
inflows and distributions throughout the projected duration of the trust planning horizon. We’ll assess cash flows—inflows from
investment income and other sources and outflows from distributions—to assess whether the trust investments can adequately
support the trust needs over the intended duration.
We evaluate many factors to assess the trust’s current cash flow and to create future cash flow projections, including:
• Projected and known distributions from the trust, as a percentage of the income of a Portfolio, or a fixed dollar amount, as
provided by the trustee(s).
• Projected inflows to the trust from investment and noninvestment income sources, identified by the trustee(s).
• The effect of variables, such as inflation and income taxes. The trust cash flow model will factor in trust-specific income tax
considerations.
• The effect of different market scenarios on the rates of return of trust assets.
The validity of these assumptions is based exclusively on the information the trustee(s) has provided.
It’s important that the accounts supporting the trust’s goal can endure a variety of market conditions. To assess the ability of the
trust to meet future distribution goals through a variety of market conditions, our cash flow analysis projects how the trust assets
would perform under various hypothetical scenarios.
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We simulate the trust’s expected inflows and outflows each year through its expected planning horizon and, using each individual
scenario’s unique forecasted return and inflation assumptions, we project the trust Portfolio’s ending balance. The trust’s
estimated success rate is simply the percentage of these scenarios in which the trust balance is at least $1 at the end of its
planning horizon.
Vanguard Capital Markets Model (“VCMM”)
IMPORTANT: The projections and other information generated by the Vanguard Capital Markets Model (VCMM) regarding
the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not
guarantees of future results. VCMM results will vary with each use and over time.
The VCMM projections are based on a statistical analysis of historical data. Future returns may behave differently from the
historical patterns captured in the VCMM. More importantly, the VCMM may be underestimating extreme negative scenarios
unobserved in the historical period on which the model estimation is based.
The Vanguard Capital Markets Model® is a proprietary financial simulation tool developed and maintained by Vanguard’s primary
investment research and advice teams. The model forecasts distributions of future returns for a wide array of broad asset classes.
Those asset classes include U.S. and international equity markets, several maturities of the U.S. Treasury and corporate fixed
income markets, international fixed income markets, U.S. money markets, U.S. municipal bonds, commodities, and certain
alternative investment strategies. The theoretical and empirical foundation for the Vanguard Capital Markets Model is that the
returns of various asset classes reflect the compensation investors require for bearing different types of systematic risk (beta). At
the core of the model are estimates of the dynamic statistical relationship between risk factors and asset returns, obtained from
statistical analysis based on available monthly financial and economic data from as early as 1960. Inflation is modeled based on
historical data from 1990 through the most recent year-end and simulated going forward. Using a system of estimated equations,
the model then applies a Monte Carlo simulation method to project the estimated interrelationships among risk factors and asset
classes as well as uncertainty and randomness over time. The model generates a large set of simulated outcomes for each asset
class over time. Forecasts represent the distribution of geometric returns over different time horizons. Results produced by the
tool will vary with each use and over time.
The primary value of the VCMM is in its application to analyzing potential client portfolios. VCMM asset-class forecasts—
comprising distributions of expected returns, volatilities, and correlations—are key to the evaluation of potential downside risks,
various risk-return trade-offs, and the diversification benefits of various asset classes. Although central tendencies are generated
in any return distribution, Vanguard stresses that focusing on the full range of potential outcomes for the assets considered, such
as the data presented in this paper, is the most effective way to use VCMM output.
The VCMM seeks to represent the uncertainty in the forecast by generating a wide range of potential outcomes. It is important to
recognize that the VCMM does not impose “normality” on the return distributions, but rather is influenced by the so-called fat tails
and skewness in the empirical distribution of modeled asset-class returns. Within the range of outcomes, individual experiences
can be quite different, underscoring the varied nature of potential future paths. Indeed, this is a key reason why we approach
asset-return outlooks in a distributional framework.
Limitations of the quantitative analysis
Projections generated by the VCMM are based both on estimated historical relationships and on assumptions about the risk
characteristics of various asset classes. As a result, the accuracy of VCMM forecasts depends on the relevance of the historical
sample in simulating future events. The projections are hypothetical in nature, don’t reflect actual investment results, and aren’t
guarantees of future results.
Disciplinary information
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the matter, the SEC found that VAI violated certain provisions
of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), and the rules thereunder, because VAI made misstatements and failed
to adequately disclose conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to prospects and clients to enroll in the legacy
Personal Advisor Services (“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as Personal Advisor Select.
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, in a
settled proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future violations of
Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder, and to pay a $19.5 million penalty.
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December 2023, PAS’ employee performance review system
considered metrics that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS. A PAS advisor’s performance on these
metrics factored into their year-end performance rating, which in turn determined the advisor’s annual discretionary bonus and/
or pay increases, alongside a number of qualitative factors including sharing expertise with and assisting colleagues, contributing
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to an inclusive and collaborative work environment, communicating openly with colleagues, building subject matter expertise
and industry knowledge, understanding Vanguard’s business model and financials, deepening investment acumen, and staying
current with technological trends. The metrics and qualitative criteria were also factors considered in PAS advisor promotions.
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that some advisors were eligible for the discretionary bonus
and that the employee performance review process created a financial incentive for advisors to recommend PAS over other
advisory programs and other brokerage services offered by VAI and its affiliates, VAI’s Form CRS and Supplement to the PAS
Brochure contained contradictory disclosures that PAS advisors received no additional compensation. Additionally, the SEC also
found that VAI’s marketing materials contained misleading statements regarding PAS advisors’ conflicts of interest and that VAI
failed to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent it from making misleading statements to clients
regarding incentive compensation or to ensure that it fully disclosed the conflicts of interest created by its compensation structure.
Please see the Advisor Compensation section above for detailed information about how Personal Advisor Select advisors and
sales professionals who refer prospects to Personal Advisor Select are currently compensated.
Other financial industry activities and affiliations
The Vanguard Group, Inc.
VAI is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which is wholly owned by Vanguard. Vanguard, also a registered
investment advisor, provides a range of investment advisory and administrative services to the Vanguard Funds.
When giving advice to clients, we’ll recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds serviced by our corporate parent, Vanguard. We
address the competing interests that arise between us and our clients as a result of recommending proprietary funds by relying
on our time-tested investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs, diversification, and indexing, when
formulating target allocations for clients. We disclose to prospective clients that we recommend Vanguard Funds prior to, or at the
establishment of, the advisory relationship. Acting in accordance with our advice to purchase Vanguard’s proprietary funds will
result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds that are separate from, and in addition to, any advisory fees assessed by us.
In the case of Vanguard Funds being recommended in Plan Accounts, the plan fiduciary has selected the Vanguard Funds to be
made available in the plan lineup.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”). VMC’s marketing and
distribution services are conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of a 1981 exemptive order from the SEC, which
permits Vanguard Funds to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard Fund (other than a fund of funds) or
each share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s marketing costs.
VMC doesn’t receive transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds. When giving
advice to clients, we’ll recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds distributed by our affiliate, VMC. Since VMC doesn’t receive
transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds, the competing interests that arise from
our affiliation with VMC in its role as distributor of the Vanguard Funds are mitigated. However, to the extent that you maintain
a brokerage account with VMC as part of the Portfolio, VMC may receive compensation from you that’s separate from, and in
addition to, the advisory fees payable to us. Read the section titled “Brokerage practices” for more information about brokerage
charges and other fees and expenses you may pay as a result of enrolling your Vanguard Brokerage Account in our service.
Certain members of our management and our advisors are registered representatives of, or are affiliated with, VMC. Please refer
to the Supplement to the Vanguard Personal Advisor Select Brochure for further information.
Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company
We’re also affiliated with Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company (“VFTC”), a limited-purpose trust company incorporated under the
banking laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard. VFTC serves as trustee and
investment advisor for certain collective investment trusts offered by Vanguard as eligible investment options by some retirement
plans. We may recommend the purchase of Vanguard collective investment trusts serviced by VFTC. Additionally, VFTC serves
as directed trustee for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans covering participants. VFTC also serves as custodian for
traditional IRAs, SEP-IRAs, and Roth IRAs (collectively referred to as “Vanguard IRAs”). VFTC may charge reasonable custodial
fees with respect to the establishment and maintenance of your Vanguard IRAs at any time during the calendar year. You should
consult the Disclosure Statement and Custodial Account Agreement governing your Vanguard IRAs, or your Annual Plan Fee
Disclosure Notice, for more information about VFTC’s fees and services provided.
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Vanguard National Trust Company
Vanguard National Trust Company (“VNTC”) is a federally chartered, limited-purpose trust company regulated by the Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency, which provides corporate trustee services and investment advisory services to its high-net-worth
client base. VNTC’s investment advisory services use the Vanguard Personal Advisor brand but are provided separately from
VAI’s Personal Advisor Select. VNTC was chartered in 2001, but its business has been in operation since 1996. VNTC is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Vanguard.
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading
VAI operates under a code of ethics that complies with Rule 17j-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Rule 204A-1 of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply to all employees, incorporates Vanguard’s insider trading policy, and governs
outside employment and receipt of gifts.
Additionally, the code imposes restrictions on the personal securities trading of Vanguard employees, as well as reporting
requirements. The trading restrictions and reporting requirements are more involved for employees with access to information
about Vanguard Fund trading activity or Vanguard client trading activity and are designed to ensure Vanguard employees don’t
misuse fund or client information for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its code of ethics to any client or prospective client upon request at no charge.
Read the previous section titled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for a discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other
Vanguard entities and how those affiliations may affect VAI clients.
Brokerage practices
This section about brokerage practices applies only to Personal Investor Clients. You’ll be required to establish or use an existing
Vanguard Brokerage Account held through our affiliated broker-dealer, VMC, and you’ll agree in the Service Agreement for
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select to execute all Portfolio brokerage transactions through VMC. Transactions executed in a
Vanguard Brokerage Account will be subject to VMC’s usual and customary fees, markups, commissions, and charges, as well
as bid-ask spreads, separate and apart from the advisory fees we assess. If a Personal Investor Client holds deposits in a bank
sweep service in the Portfolio, VMC will receive a fee from program banks that accept bank sweep deposits that (i) is set by
VMC, (ii) may vary from program bank to program bank, (iii) may be changed by VMC at any time, and (iv) will affect the yield
clients receive from the bank sweep service. Personal Investor Clients who enroll in the bank sweep receive a lower yield on
deposits under the bank sweep than if VMC had not earned this fee, because program banks reduce the amount of interest they
are willing to pay depositors by the amount of the fee they pay to VMC.
For manually processed brokerage trading, it’s our practice to transmit orders to the secondary markets during normal market
hours on any business day that the markets are open for trading.
For automated brokerage trading, we typically transmit orders to the secondary markets beginning at or near 10 a.m., Eastern
time, through the close of trading on any business day the markets are open for trading. When automated trades recommend
the purchase or sale of Vanguard ETFs on behalf of VAI’s advised clients, those trades may be aggregated along with trades
recommended for clients of VNTC, an affiliate of VAI. This means the individual Vanguard ETF® trades of certain VAI and VNTC
clients may be combined for execution in the secondary market.
Trade aggregation and cross trading
We aggregate trades in Vanguard ETFs, where possible, for the purpose of minimizing transaction costs while seeking to obtain
best execution on behalf of our clients. Where we aggregate trades, except where provided below, we first seek to reduce
transaction costs by employing cross trading among the advised accounts of VAI and VNTC clients who are buying or selling
a particular Vanguard ETF capable of being cross traded on that business day. To do so, we determine the net amount of our
clients’ buys and sells that can be aggregated for a particular Vanguard ETF on that business day and match up the trades of as
many of those buyers and sellers as possible on a pro rata basis across all the clients participating in the aggregate trade.
With this practice, individual advised clients are selling their Vanguard ETFs to other advised clients and thereby avoiding having
those trades sent to the secondary markets for execution. We’ll price all crossed trades at the then prevailing market price as
determined by the midpoint between the national best bid and offer (“NBBO”). Any portion of the aggregate trade unable to
be executed through cross trading will be submitted as a residual aggregate trade to the secondary markets in an attempt to
complete any unfilled orders for that Vanguard ETF.
Where we aggregate trades, we’ll calculate an average price for all of the Vanguard ETFs bought or sold together, and clients
who participated in the aggregated trade will receive that average price for the Vanguard ETFs traded for them. The average
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price we assign to individual trades may be greater or less than the price an individual client’s order would’ve received if not
traded using aggregation and cross trading.
Further, if we’re unable to completely fill the residual aggregate trade, we’ll distribute the Vanguard ETFs purchased or the
proceeds received from such aggregate transaction to the clients who participated in the residual aggregate trade on a pro rata
basis. We’ll initiate or pause automated trading, trade aggregation, and/or crossing at our discretion at any time and for any
reason, including pausing trading when we believe that continuing trading may pose undue risk of harm to your Portfolio.
Aggregation and cross trading are not available to all account types, security types, or order types. You’ll only be able to
participate in aggregation and cross trading in certain automated trades of Vanguard ETFs submitted on your behalf from your
Vanguard Brokerage Account. Accounts that are governed by ERISA aren’t permitted to engage in cross trading.
Additionally, you won’t participate in aggregation and cross trading where:
• Your advisor has opted out of aggregation by submitting trades manually, or as market orders. Generally, the advisor might
opt-out of aggregation due to time sensitive direction from you, a manual tax loss harvesting opportunity, or dollar cost average
trading, among other reasons.
• Automated Vanguard ETF trades are submitted for an individual advised client along with an order to transact in securities that
are ineligible for aggregation and cross trading, such as the sale of an individual bond.
• Automated Vanguard ETF trades are submitted for an individual advised client along with an order to transact in securities held
in a legacy transfer agent account or legacy VBS account.
Clients who don’t participate in aggregation and cross trading might receive a different, possibly worse, price for the securities
bought and sold on their behalf.
In the event trades are processed manually, if VAI is directing the sale of an entire position in stocks or ETFs and the position
includes fractional shares, the fractional shares liquidate automatically on the settlement date at no additional cost to the client.
VMC will purchase the fractional shares from the client on a principal basis at the same price at which the whole shares executed.
Fractional share trading
Starting in June 2025, the Service will seek to utilize fractional share trading for automated trading in Vanguard ETFs. Clients may
also hold fractional shares in Vanguard Brokerage Accounts as a result of self-directed dollar-based transactions prior to enrolling
their brokerage account in the Service. The potential benefits of fractional share trading include, but are not limited to, allowing
for greater portfolio diversification by enabling Vanguard Brokerage Accounts to be allocated more closely to their target asset
allocation; participating in fractional dividend distribution; and the opportunity to reduce cash holdings. Fractional shares typically
do not trade directly in the market. When trading in fractional shares, VAI will “trade along” with Client’s fractional shares in order
to facilitate the trading (alternatively, fractional share recommendations may be offset through the aggregation and cross trading
practices described above). This means that VAI will complete a fractional order from VAI’s facilitation account inventory by adding
the proportional shares or dollars needed to make a whole share market order. In this case, the order will be routed for execution in
an agency capacity, and VAI will not be trading these orders as principal. Orders will be prioritized to fill Client orders and VAI will
absorb any residual shares or proceeds from the sale of residual shares in its facilitation account. It is not the intent of VAI to profit
while trading along with its Clients; however, VAI might realize a profit or loss in connection with trading fractional shares.
VAI’s facilitation account will be held with VMC, its affiliated broker-dealer. VMC will receive no commissions or other
compensation in connection with the trading of fractional shares.
In the event trades are processed manually, if VAI is directing the sale of your entire position in stocks or ETFs and the position
includes fractional shares, then fractional shares liquidate automatically on the settlement date at no additional cost to you. In
this case, VMC will purchase the fractional shares from you on a principal basis at the same price at which the whole shares
executed without obtaining your positive consent prior to automatic liquidation. In the event of an operational contingency during
which the trade along process above is unavailable, your consent may be required for this type of manual trade and rebalancing
your account, or withdrawals could be delayed or paused until consent is obtained.
Fractional shares cannot be transferred to another brokerage firm. In situations where a fractional share cannot be transferred,
it would need to be sold, and a taxable gain or loss incurred if such a sale occurs in a taxable account. Clients are entitled to
receive any dividends paid on their fractional share positions. The dividends payable in respect of their fractional share position
will be an amount proportionate to their ownership interests. Fractional shares will be eligible to participate in both mandatory
corporate actions (e.g., stock splits, mergers) as well as voluntary corporate actions (e.g., tender offers). However, clients may not
have voting rights for any of the fractional shares held in their accounts depending on the issuer or tabulator. Clients will only be
permitted to vote in respect of their whole share positions. Upon termination of an advisory service, fractional share positions will
remain in your Vanguard Brokerage Account until the positions are fully liquidated.
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We reserve the right, at any time in our sole discretion, and without prior notice to clients, to limit or stop trading fractional shares
or to change our policies and procedures governing fractional share trading, including, without limitation, allocation and trade
along procedures. Certain securities may be or may become ineligible for fractional share investing, as determined by us in our
discretion. If previously eligible securities become ineligible for fractional share investing, we will process a liquidation of such
fractional share positions and credit the proceeds to your account.
Periodically, we conduct due diligence to review the execution quality of any transaction services VMC provides for clients’
Portfolios, primarily to oversee VMC’s compliance with its best execution practices. VMC routes equity and options orders to
various markets. VMC uses a top-down approach to select market participants with which VMC will establish a relationship.
This approach includes a review of system availability and service quality, as well as financial and regulatory standing. The
designated market participants to which orders are routed are selected based on the consistently high quality of their executions
in one or more market segments. In analyzing quality of executions, VMC considers factors such as liquidity enhancement,
price improvement, execution speed, and overall effective price compared with the NBBO. VMC regularly conducts analysis and
reviews reports to evaluate execution quality.
Other investment advisors may not require you to direct brokerage transactions through a specified broker-dealer. By directing
brokerage transactions to VMC, we may be unable to achieve most favorable execution of your transactions, and this practice
may cost you more money.
Review of accounts
This section about the review of accounts applies to those clients who have enrolled in the ongoing advised service. Clients of
the ongoing advised service will have continuous access to their Portfolio information through our online web experience. We’ll
periodically evaluate and monitor the Portfolio through investment reviews and analyses. Each quarter, with timing determined by
your contract’s anniversary date, or otherwise agreed upon with an advisor, we’ll check your Portfolio to make sure it’s in line with
your target allocation.
We don’t perform ongoing account monitoring or offer account reviews for clients who only receive a financial plan and do not
enroll in the ongoing advised service.
Adjusting the asset allocation
This section about adjustments to your asset allocation applies to those clients who have enrolled in the ongoing advised service.
We may recommend adjusting your asset allocation as your ability to bear risk changes or to account for changes to your
investment time horizon, but we won’t change the asset allocation based on market conditions. Quarterly, we’ll review your target
allocation in relation to your investment time horizon to determine if changes to the allocation are necessary, unless you have
selected a static asset allocation where the target allocation will remain fixed throughout the life of your advised relationship. The
Portfolio’s target allocation may also change based on changes to your financial situation and investment objectives. Changes in
your asset allocation may cause us to recommend and effect the purchase or sale of securities in your Portfolio to meet the new
target asset allocation.
We don’t monitor for adjustments to the asset allocation of clients who only receive a financial plan and do not enroll in the
ongoing advised service.
Rebalancing the Portfolio
This section about periodic rebalancing applies to those clients who have enrolled in the ongoing advised service. If during
a quarterly review your Portfolio is found to deviate from the target asset allocation by more than 5% in any asset class, we’ll
initiate steps to begin rebalancing your Portfolio within the five-day review period using investment methodologies and strategies
consistent with those employed during your Portfolio’s implementation. Securities contributing to overweighted sub-asset classes
will be sold and the proceeds invested in underweighted sub-asset classes in accordance with your financial plan.
We’ll attempt to minimize the tax costs associated with rebalancing your Portfolio. If the Portfolio consists of both taxable and
tax-advantaged registrations, we’ll first attempt to rebalance within the tax-advantaged accounts to attempt to limit tax costs. In
addition, we’ll follow a tax-efficient “asset location” strategy to consider the tax implications of repositioning investments within
the taxable accounts and among the taxable and tax-advantaged accounts. This strategy will follow similar practices as those
used during implementation of your Portfolio to hold relatively tax-efficient investments, such as broad-market stock index
products, in taxable accounts while keeping relatively tax-inefficient investments, such as taxable bonds or active funds, in tax-
advantaged accounts.
If your Portfolio deviates from the target asset allocation by 5% or less in all asset classes, individual investments may still be
reviewed and sold, unless a client-directed hold exists. Additionally, we’ll use cash flows as an opportunity to adjust your holdings
to your target allocation. That is, we’ll invest your contributions or liquidate your withdrawals to adjust your overall allocation back
to your target allocation, to minimize transaction and tax costs.
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If during a rebalance the proceeds resulting from the sale of securities are designated to purchase a new Vanguard fund not
already held in a Vanguard Brokerage Account and the amount of the purchase is less than 0.50% of the total value of your
Portfolio (not to exceed $10,000), then the proceeds will be used to instead purchase additional shares of the largest existing
holding of any one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate Vanguard fund, or another diversified Vanguard Fund already held in
the account for which the purchase recommendation was generated. If the account for which the purchase recommendation
was generated does not contain an existing holding of any one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate Vanguard Fund, or another
diversified Vanguard Fund, then the proceeds will be invested in the settlement fund or bank sweep established for the account.
If, during a rebalance, the proceeds resulting from the sale of securities are designated to purchase additional shares of a
Vanguard ETF in a Vanguard Brokerage Account, the amount of the recommended purchase will be set at a minimum of $40 of
such Vanguard ETF. If the amount of the recommended purchase is less than $40, we will instead purchase additional shares
of the largest existing holding of any one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate Vanguard Fund, or another diversified Vanguard
Fund already held in the account for which the purchase recommendation was generated. If the account for which the purchase
recommendation was generated does not contain an existing holding of one of the Four Totals, or a surrogate Vanguard Fund, or
another diversified Vanguard Fund, or if the proceeds are insufficient to purchase additional shares of such existing holdings, then
the proceeds will be invested in the settlement fund or bank sweep established for the account.
Sale instructions during a rebalance will be reviewed systematically in order to facilitate efficient trade execution when there are
minimal order amounts. During any rebalance, if there is an instruction to sell 95% or more of a position in a Vanguard ETF, the
instruction will be converted to a sell-all order unless the remaining value of the ETF position is $25,000 or more. During a full or
periodic rebalance, any sales of a Vanguard ETF for less than $50 will be cancelled and the position will be maintained until the
next rebalance opportunity. During a rebalance due to fee collection or a one-time withdrawal, any sales of a security less than $1
will be rounded up to $1 if the shares remaining will be at least $1, or the sale will be converted to a sell-all order.
If, during a rebalance, the proceeds resulting from the sale of securities are designated to purchase securities worth less than
one dollar ($1.00) in a Vanguard Brokerage Account, then the proceeds will instead be invested in the settlement fund or bank
sweep established for the account.
Notwithstanding the ability to place reasonable restrictions on your Portfolio, individual investments will be evaluated during a
quarterly review and sold in certain cases if we deem it appropriate. For example, we may sell an individual security held at
a loss in taxable accounts if the only other option to properly rebalance the Portfolio is to sell another security held at a gain,
even if the security we intend to sell is subject to a reasonable restriction imposed by you. Additionally, individual securities
that initially satisfied our portfolio construction and diversification standards and were, therefore, retained in your Portfolio at
the time of initial implementation may thereafter violate those standards, which could cause us to sell the individual security
during a later rebalance. If we recommend a full liquidation with respect to securities held in a Vanguard IRA® and the security
being liquidated i) isn’t held in any other account, ii) hasn’t been authorized through Attachment A to the Service Agreement for
Vanguard Personal Advisor Select, or iii) was held as a client- directed hold, we’ll notify you at least 30 days before the change is
implemented.
We don’t perform rebalancing services for clients who only receive a financial plan and do not enroll in the ongoing advised service.
Error Correction Practices
Errors, including trade errors and operational errors, may occur in connection with our handling of client accounts. We maintain
policies and procedures that address the identification and correction of errors consistent with applicable standards of care.
In the event an error occurs, we will seek to correct the error in a fair, timely and reasonable manner and we will make an
appropriate correction or otherwise refund losses to your Portfolio resulting from the correction of errors.
We determine whether an error has occurred on a case-by-case basis, in our discretion, taking into consideration factors we
deem reasonable, including, without limitation, applicable legal and regulatory requirements, our contractual obligations to clients
and the applicable standard of care. Not all incidents will be considered errors, and not all errors will have a financial impact on
your Portfolio.
When we determine that there is an error, we may, in accordance with our policies and procedures, cancel or modify
trades prior to settlement or reallocate to our error account. Where it is not permissible or practicable to correct an error
prior to settlement, we will engage in such transactions as may be necessary to correct the error. When we determine that
compensation is appropriate, we will determine the amount in good faith and in accordance with our error correction policies
and procedures. If an error, after correction, results in a gain to a client’s account, the client account will retain the gain. Unless
prohibited by applicable laws, we may choose to net a Portfolio’s gains and losses arising from a single incident, or if there are
a series of related errors stemming from the same root cause. If an error, after correction, results in a gain to our error account,
the error account will retain the gain to net against other Vanguard losses sustained in the error account. The error account is
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most likely to experience a gain because of a correction where the market has moved positively while the trades made to satisfy
the correction are settling or when a client chooses to engage in the correction process even though the share price of the
security sold in error has decreased.
Reimbursement is limited to direct losses and does not include any amounts we determine to be speculative or uncertain,
including potential opportunity losses. In calculating any reimbursement amount, we may, but are not required to, consider tax
implications for, or the tax status of, any affected client.
Client referrals and other compensation
We don’t receive compensation or other economic benefits from persons other than clients for providing investment advice or
advisory services to our clients. We’ll run prospecting and promotional campaigns from time to time to attract new clients to the
service (“Referral Programs”). These Referral Programs may include compensating affiliates, strategic partners, or third-party
solicitors for referring the service to prospects. Compensation will include flat fees or payments based on certain performance
triggers, like scheduling an appointment with an advisor or enrolling in the service. Clients aren’t charged fees, nor do they incur
any additional costs for us running these Referral Programs. We have oversight of third parties involved in the Referral Programs,
and prospects will be informed of any such Referral Programs receiving compensation prior to becoming a client.
Note that Vanguard affiliates will also receive compensation in the form of expense ratios from Vanguard Funds and revenue
sharing with third-party funds and certain VAI supervised persons are eligible for variable compensation as discussed in the
“Fees and compensation” section above.
Custody
As owners of Vanguard Funds, VAI clients will receive or have access to communications with respect to those securities. These
communications include transaction confirmations, quarterly account statements, prospectus updates, annual and semiannual
reports, and proxy statements relating to their holdings (as appropriate), as well as general Vanguard newsletters, emails, and
other communications.
If you hold a mutual fund account directly with Vanguard, you will receive quarterly or more frequent account statements from
Vanguard, the transfer agent of the Vanguard Funds, in lieu of a qualified custodian. Vanguard will also transmit transaction
confirmations to you in connection with purchases and sales made in your Vanguard mutual fund account.
If you maintain a Vanguard Brokerage Account, VMC serves as qualified custodian and will send quarterly or more frequent
account statements directly to you. VMC will also transmit transaction confirmations to you in connection with purchases and
sales made in your Vanguard Brokerage Account (provided that VMC may furnish periodic statements of account activity in lieu of
transaction confirmations in compliance with Rule 10b-10 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934).
You should carefully review and compare all account statements and reports from Vanguard and VMC with account information
we make available and contact the appropriate entity with questions.
Investment discretion
This service is a nondiscretionary service. This section applies to those clients who have enrolled in the ongoing advised
service. In connection with the ongoing advised service, you must approve your financial plan and direct us to implement
the recommended investment strategy for your Portfolio either verbally or in writing (including email and similar electronic
communications). We’ll construct and invest your Portfolio according to your approved financial plan (“Financial Plan”), including
any reasonable restrictions you may want to impose on our investment of the Portfolio. Changes to the investment strategy set
forth in the Financial Plan will be made only with your consent. Until you approve the Financial Plan and direct its implementation,
we’ll take no action with respect to the assets held in the Portfolio. Within five business days after you approve the Financial
Plan, we’ll initiate steps to begin implementing your investment strategy as specified in the Financial Plan, unless you direct us to
implement the Financial Plan over time.
By implementing the Financial Plan, we’ll have the authority, on your behalf, to purchase, sell, exchange, or transfer assets;
rebalance and reallocate assets; and execute other necessary and appropriate transactions, including transmitting verbal, written,
or online instructions to effect transactions, at the times and according to the terms established in the Financial Plan. We may
recommend a change to the investments used to effect the investment strategy set forth in the Financial Plan, including changing
the investments used for purposes of rebalancing the Portfolio or substituting a particular investment for another investment you
previously approved. If we recommend a change to the investment strategy or recommend a security that has not been previously
approved by you, we’ll notify you at least 30 days before the change is implemented. Any notice of a proposed change in
investment strategy or new security will include the effective date of the proposed change, instructions you can follow to avoid the
proposed change, and a reminder that your failure to respond by a specified date will be deemed your consent to the proposed
change in investments. Your Financial Plan will also contain a standing instruction to reassess your asset allocation or rebalance
the Portfolio on a predetermined basis if and to the extent set forth in the Financial Plan.
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We’ll exercise this authority to fulfill your stated needs for the Portfolio or your goals-based reporting, such as when you only
want to enroll a portion of your funds or securities in the ongoing advised service or if we need to segregate your investments to
support various goals you selected.
Voting client securities
Upon request, an advisor may provide additional information about proxy votes and corporate actions for clients enrolled in the
ongoing advised service. The information may include details on the security itself, effect on the client’s Portfolio, recommended
voting by Vanguard or third parties, and the advisor’s recommendation.
We won’t vote or exercise similar rights for your securities. The exercise of all voting rights associated with any security
or other property you hold shall be your responsibility. Vanguard’s Investor Choice program is available to Personal
Advisor Select clients holding certain Vanguard U.S. equity funds. The program allows eligible clients to direct how their
proportionate share of fund-level voting power is cast by selecting from five predefined proxy-voting policies. Advisors will
not provide recommendations or influence client decisions, but they can discuss the program options with clients seeking
information. You can obtain more information on the Investor Choice program and the applicable Vanguard Funds at:
https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-choice.
We won’t advise or act for you in any legal proceedings, including bankruptcies or class actions, involving securities you hold or
previously held or the issuers of those securities. Proxies will be sent on behalf of the security issuer or its agent according to
your mailing preferences.
Financial information
We aren’t aware of any financial condition reasonably likely to impair our ability to meet contractual commitments to you.
Requirements for state-registered advisors
VAI is a federally registered investment advisor.
Investment risks
Securities recommendations and risk
Although we’ll recommend prudent and diversified investment strategies, please remember that all investments, including mutual
funds, involve some risk, including possible loss of the money you invest. Be aware that fluctuations in the financial markets and
other factors may cause declines in the value of your account(s). There’s no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix
of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a given level of income.
We make investment recommendations using historical information. There’s no guarantee that an investment strategy based
on historical information will meet your investment objectives, provide you with a given level of income, or protect against loss,
particularly when future market conditions are drastically different from the information used to create your strategy. Diversification
doesn’t ensure a profit or protect against a loss. There’s no assurance that you’ll achieve positive investment results by using our
service. We can’t guarantee the future performance of your investments. Please consult a fund’s prospectus for more information
about fund- specific risks. You should carefully consider all of your options before acting on any advice you receive.
Risks associated with algorithm usage
Our proprietary algorithms are based on Vanguard’s market assumptions and analysis. The algorithms don’t consider prevailing
market conditions when making recommendations to you. While we have standards governing the development, testing, and
monitoring of our algorithms, there’s a risk the algorithms and associated software may not perform as intended for various
reasons, including unintended consequences due to modifying the algorithms or underlying software code. The SEC has
provided further information for investors to consider when engaging digital advice services. The guidance can be found at
https://www.investor. gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins-45.
Data risk
Data risk is the chance that the Service receives inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated data. The Service relies on data provided
by vendors and clients or authorized by clients to be provided by third-party vendors. We don’t independently verify the accuracy
or completeness of provided data. If a client decides to aggregate or integrate external accounts, there’s no guarantee that
information provided by the third-party vendor regarding non-Vanguard accounts will be accurate or complete. Additionally, to
the extent our projections and calculations are based on historical market data, labor statistics, or other historical economic data,
models aren’t updated in real time, and there will be a delay in incorporating significant events into models.
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Vendor risk
The Service uses a number of vendors to provide capabilities, data, and other information that are required by VAI to deliver the
Service. An outage or interruption of, or defect in, capabilities, data, or other information provided by these vendors could adversely
impact VAI’s ability to deliver the Service. VAI’s technology and vendor oversight, management and controls may not identify these
issues that could adversely impact VAI’s ability to deliver the Service. Third-party vendors may limit their liability to Clients.
Cybersecurity risks
The increased use of technology to conduct business could subject VAI and its third-party service providers to risks associated
with cybersecurity. In general, a cybersecurity incident can occur as a result of a deliberate attack designed to gain unauthorized
access to digital systems. If the attack is successful, an unauthorized person or persons could misappropriate assets or sensitive
information, corrupt data, or cause operational disruption. A cybersecurity incident could also occur unintentionally if, for example,
an authorized person inadvertently released proprietary or confidential information.
Vanguard has developed robust technological safeguards and business continuity plans to prevent or reduce the impact of,
potential cybersecurity incidents.
Additionally, Vanguard has a process for assessing the information security and/or cybersecurity programs implemented by third-
party service providers, which helps minimize the risk of potential incidents. Despite these measures, a cybersecurity incident
still has the potential to disrupt business operations, which could negatively impact VAI and/or the Service’s Clients (including
prospective Clients).
Ownership limitations
As the Vanguard funds continue to grow, they may be increasingly impacted by ownership limitations that apply to certain
securities held by the Vanguard funds (“limited securities”). An ownership limitation restricts the amount of a security that
funds within the same fund complex, or funds advised by the same investment advisor can own. These limitations may apply
even where an external manager or different affiliate of Vanguard provides investment advisory services to a fund. Ownership
limitations restrict the amount that funds can invest in certain securities, due to either regulatory limits that apply to certain
industries (for example, banking and utilities) or mechanisms that some issuers have in place to deter takeover attempts
(for example, poison pills). These restrictions can have negative impacts on funds, including the inability of an index fund to
track its index, the inability of a fund to meet its investment objectives, negative performance impacts, and unanticipated tax
consequences. The impact of a particular ownership limitation on a Vanguard fund will vary based on several factors, including,
but not limited to, a fund’s investment strategy and its current and desired exposure to limited securities, the industry to which the
limitation applies, the country or region of a particular issuer, and the regulatory body imposing the limitation. In addition to the
impacts of specific ownership limitations, the Vanguard funds are also subject to the risk of multiple ownership limitations applying
at one time, which could increase the likelihood of a fund experiencing the negative impacts listed above. The Vanguard funds
attempt to mitigate the impacts of ownership limitations through the various methods discussed below in “Methods to address
ownership limitations.” However, it is possible that these methods will be unsuccessful and could also expose the Vanguard funds
to other potential risks and negative consequences.
Impacts of ownership limitations
When an ownership limitation applies, the Vanguard funds may need to allocate ownership of impacted securities across
impacted Vanguard funds, and a Vanguard fund may not be able to buy additional securities or continue to hold existing securities
above its allocated amounts. For index funds, this can result in tracking error if a fund cannot buy or hold the securities it needs
in order to replicate or sample its target index. For active funds, this can result in a fund not being able to take advantage of
favorable opportunities to invest in securities that are subject to limitations.
For both index and active funds, the inability to buy or hold securities could prevent a fund from being able to meet its investment
objective or invest in accordance with its investment strategy, and/or could negatively impact the fund’s performance. In addition,
the steps taken to address ownership limitations could result in additional costs and/or unanticipated tax consequences to a fund
that affect the amount, timing, and character of distributions to the fund’s shareholders. The more assets the Vanguard funds hold,
the more likely it is that ownership limitations will negatively impact Vanguard funds because they will not be able to purchase
additional shares of limited securities above their allocated amounts in order to fully invest their assets in accordance with their
investment strategy.
Methods to address ownership limitations
The Vanguard funds try to manage the negative impacts of these ownership limitations on the Vanguard funds by seeking
permission (relief) from regulators and/or issuers to purchase or hold more securities than the amount allowed by ownership
limitations. However, it is not always possible to secure relief and such relief could be revoked if the Vanguard funds are unable to
satisfy the applicable conditions, or if the regulator or issuer changes its position or policy or if the applicable legal requirements
become more restrictive. There is an increasing amount of uncertainty around how much ownership limitations relief regulators
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will grant to asset managers like Vanguard. Given this uncertainty, there is no guarantee that Vanguard or the Vanguard funds
will be able to maintain their existing relief or obtain additional relief from ownership limitations in the future. A regulator may
impose certain conditions on the Vanguard funds in connection with granting relief from an ownership limitation, including, for
example, that the funds vote in a certain way with respect to shares of the limited security that the Vanguard funds hold in excess
of the ownership limitation. In addition, the relief upon which Vanguard and the Vanguard funds currently rely, which has allowed
Vanguard to exceed certain ownership limitations, could be reduced or revoked, forcing the Vanguard funds to sell down one or
more securities to comply with the ownership limitations. If a fund has to sell securities, there could be negative impacts to fund
performance as well as unanticipated tax consequences that could impact the amount, timing, and character of distributions to the
fund’s shareholders.
When a Vanguard fund cannot buy or hold securities directly due to ownership limitations, the fund will typically try to get indirect
exposure to impacted securities. The fund does this so that it can replicate as closely as possible the returns the fund would get
if it directly owned the impacted securities. Indirect exposure can be accomplished through the use of derivatives, such as total
return swaps, or by investing in wholly-owned subsidiaries that hold the impacted securities. Both of these methods of obtaining
indirect exposure increase fund costs, and, depending on the extent to which these alternatives are used by a fund to avoid
exceeding ownership limits, the added costs could have a negative impact on the fund’s performance. With respect to an index
fund, these added costs could also result in tracking error relative to the fund’s target index. The risks associated with derivatives
use are discussed in more detail elsewhere in the prospectus.
There is no guarantee that laws and regulations always will allow that indirect exposure to limited securities may be omitted
for purposes of determining the Vanguard funds’ exposure to limited securities and compliance with the applicable ownership
limitations. In such circumstances, the Vanguard funds could not use these techniques and would be required to sell down the
indirect and/or direct holdings in the applicable limited securities.
© 2026
The Vanguard Group, Inc.
All rights reserved.
VPABROC 032026
28
Additional Brochure: VANGUARD SITUATIONAL ADVISOR BROCHURE (2026-03-30)
View Document Text
Vanguard Situational Advisor Brochure
March 30, 2026
Vanguard Advisers, Inc.
100 Vanguard Boulevard
Malvern, PA 19355
877-662-7447
vanguard.com
This brochure provides information about the qualifications and business practices of Vanguard Situational Advisor, an advisory service offered
through Vanguard Advisers, Inc. (“VAI”), (also referred to herein as “we,” “us,” and “our”). This brochure also describes how VAI is compensated
for the service provided to you. You should carefully consider this information in your evaluation of the Service. If you have any questions about
the contents of this brochure, please call us at the phone number above. The information in this brochure hasn’t been approved or verified by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or by any state securities authority.
Additional information about VAI is available on the SEC’s website at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
VAI is a registered investment advisor with the SEC. Registration doesn’t imply a certain level of skill or training.
Material Changes
This document includes updates to the brochure that have occurred since the last annual update was filed on March 28, 2025. On September 29,
2025, the brochure was amended for the following:
Information was provided within the “Disciplinary information” section of the brochure.
•
This brochure was also updated with other non-material changes, including an expanded description of the advisory business and other clarifying
changes.
Contents
Advisory business ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Fees and compensation ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management ................................................................................................................................. 5
Types of clients ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss ............................................................................................................................. 5
Disciplinary information .................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Other financial industry activities and affiliations .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading ........................................................................................ 10
Brokerage practices …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ....................... 10
Review of accounts ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Client referrals and other compensation .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Custody ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Investment discretion ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Voting client securities .................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Financial information ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Requirements for state-registered advisors .................................................................................................................................................... 11
Investment risks .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 11
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2
Advisory business
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides clients with a wide variety of investment advisory services, including the following:
• Stable Value: discretionary investment advisory services to separate accounts that are offered as investment options in state-
sponsored education savings plans (“529 Plans”);
• Vanguard Model Portfolios: Vanguard Model Portfolios: model portfolios comprised of Vanguard Funds and exchange traded
funds (ETFs) (as defined below) as well as mutual funds and ETFs managed by third party asset managers that are accessed by
third party intermediaries through third party platforms;
• Vanguard Personal Advisor Select: ongoing advised account services and point-in-time advice for retail clients;
• Vanguard Managed Account Program (“VMAP”) and POA: discretionary advisory service offered to participants in eligible
employer-sponsored retirement plans. POA is a nondiscretionary advisory service offered to participants in eligible employer-
sponsored retirement plans. VMAP and POA are subadvised by Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.;
• Vanguard Digital Advisor®: discretionary advisory service offered to retail clients and to participants of eligible employer
sponsored retirement plans; and
• Vanguard Personal Advisor: discretionary advisory service, with access to an advisor, offered to retail clients and to
participants of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans.
VAI is a Pennsylvania corporation that provides clients with a wide variety of investment advisory services. This Brochure provides
information about the Vanguard Situational Advisor (“VSA” or the “Service”) program. Information about the other investment advisory
programs and services offered by VAI is available through the SEC’s website at http://adviserinfo.sec.gov/.
VAI was incorporated in and has been in business since 1995. VAI is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Goliath is
100% owned by the Vanguard Group, Inc. (“Vanguard”). As such, VAI is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard, the sponsor
and manager of the family of mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) comprising The Vanguard Group of Investment
Companies (“Vanguard Funds”), which VAI typically recommends as investments for its investment advisory services. Please see the
section of this brochure entitled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for more information.
As an SEC-registered advisor, VAI has a fiduciary duty to act in its clients’ best interests and to abide by the duties of care and loyalty.
Vanguard Situational Advisor
VSA is an advisory service offered through VAI. The Service provides retirement plan participants with a point-in-time financial
wellness evaluation with a VAI investment adviser representative (“VSA Financial Advisor”) that may include: nondiscretionary
investment strategies for their retirement accounts based on personalized financial plans created by VAI; advice and guidance for
navigating life events while planning for achieving retirement success; and/or information that addresses specific investment-related
questions raised by the participant. During a point-in-time financial wellness evaluation, VSA Financial Advisors may also discuss non-
retirement-account-related financial needs or questions raised by the participant and may provide information about or referrals for
other Vanguard affiliated products and services for which Vanguard and its affiliates receive additional revenue. Financial wellness
evaluations may also result in VAI delivering a one-time follow-up communication with additional information regarding topics
discussed during the evaluation with the VSA Financial Advisor. VSA Financial Advisors may also refer participants to affiliated wealth
planning consultations, if available to your employer-sponsored retirement plan. These wealth planning consultations are educational
in nature and do not constitute fiduciary, legal, or tax advice.
In choosing to receive a financial plan, you’ll provide us with information relating to your financial situation, investment objectives, and
willingness and ability to tolerate risk. VAI will then formulate a financial plan for you that will recommend an asset allocation and
specific investments you can maintain in your retirement account to meet that allocation. Financial plans generated for participants will
recommend an allocation from among the investment options selected by the plan fiduciary that make up the plan’s lineup and will
typically recommend a combination of specific Vanguard Funds or collective trusts based on their low cost and broad diversification
unless the plan lineup only includes company stock or third-party mutual funds or lacks the necessary Vanguard Funds or collective
trusts needed to complete the recommended asset allocation. You’ll be able to impose reasonable restrictions on our investment
strategy, which may include the ability to accommodate non-Vanguard investments in your financial plan (read the section of this
brochure titled “Reasonable restrictions” for more information). The Service won’t consider additional limits or restrictions due to
securities law or company policies on company stock ownership, and you should consult your plan rules prior to implementing the
financial plan. Within the financial plan, we’ll also use the information you provided to us to provide goals-based forecasting and
recommendations on how to better meet your investing goals, based on your situation and goals at the time you engage the Service.
Your financial plan will be finalized after your consultation with an advisor. More information about the methodology used to create the
financial plan is provided in the sections of this brochure that follow the heading “Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk
of loss” below.
Keep in mind that if you use the Service, you’ll need to implement transactions and rebalance your retirement account on an ongoing
basis in accordance with the financial plan. We won’t monitor your retirement account or financial plan; seek to determine whether
you may have experienced material changes to your financial situation, investment objectives, and willingness and ability to take risk;
or initiate transactions in your retirement account. You’ll be solely responsible for initiating all transactions and implementing the
other recommendations provided in the financial plan.
3
Our investment recommendations for 401(k) accounts will be based on the investment options selected by the plan fiduciary as the
plan’s core lineup and will normally be limited to allocations in certain Vanguard and non-Vanguard products, including mutual
funds, collective investment trusts, or stable value funds, but excludes any investments held through any self-directed brokerage
accounts. Plans and participants will have the opportunity to provide us with additional information about the desired allocation to
company stock investments if the participant’s account is invested in, or eligible to invest in, such assets.
When considering whether to engage the Service, clients should consider the Service advisory fees and investment product fees or
expense ratios they’ll incur upon engaging the Service in light of the availability of an advisor, personalized features, and additional
services offered to clients of the Service in comparison to the lower costs and absence of such services if they instead choose to
purchase a single-fund solution, like a Vanguard Target Retirement Fund.
Read the section below titled “Reasonable restrictions” for additional information about imposing restrictions on our investment
strategy. Even in situations where your Portfolio (as defined below) contains investments you hold before engaging the Service, we
could recommend that any additional purchases in your advised Portfolio (as defined below) be made into Vanguard Funds or other
investments based on your plan’s investment lineup.
Within the financial plan, we’ll also use the information you provided to us to create goals-based forecasting and recommendations on
how to better meet your investing goals, based on your situation at the time you engage the Service. More information about the
methodology used in creating the financial plan is provided in the sections of this brochure under the heading “Methods of analysis,
investment strategies, and risk of loss” below.
Your financial plan will be finalized after a consultation with a VSA Financial Advisor.
When engaging the advised service, you’re receiving point- in-time advice and aren’t granting us authority to purchase or sell
investments on your behalf. This means that when using the Service, you’ll be solely responsible for implementing transactions and
rebalancing your retirement account on an ongoing basis in accordance with the financial plan. We won’t (i) monitor your retirement
account or financial plan, (ii) seek to determine whether you may have experienced material changes to your financial situation,
investment objectives, and willingness and ability to take risk, or (iii) initiate transactions in your retirement account.
Your financial plan will primarily focus on saving for retirement. The objective of the retirement goal is to build sufficient wealth to cover
expected income needs through retirement. Your goal may be supported by your Portfolio as well as accounts held outside of the
Portfolio.
Additional information
VAI intends the Service to be a level-fee-eligible investment advice arrangement and to comply with the conditions of the statutory
exemption for eligible investment advice arrangements under Sections 408(b)(14) and (g) of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (“ERISA”) and Sections 4975(d)(17) and (f)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”). In providing advice for assets
held in eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans as defined in Section 3(2) of ERISA, VAI will act as a fiduciary advisor as
defined under Section 408(g)(11) of ERISA and Section 4975(f)(8)(J) of the Code and, therefore, VAI must act prudently and only
with clients’ interests in mind when providing clients recommendations about investment of those assets.
Additionally, Vanguard Situational Advisor will be audited annually by an independent auditor for compliance with the requirements
of the statutory level-fee exemption and related regulation. Sponsors of eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans that make the
Service available to participants during a calendar year will also receive a copy of the most recent version of the auditor’s findings
published in the next calendar year within 60 days of our receipt of the report.
As of December 31, 2025, VAI had a total of $120,702,400,00 in discretionary client assets under management and
$223,917,200,000 in nondiscretionary assets under management.
Fees and compensation
Advisory fee
Legacy model
Participants receiving one-time advice, as authorized by their plan sponsor, will be charged a fee for the financial plan as outlined
below, unless they’re eligible for a fee waiver. Fee waivers will be applied for participants who have more than $500,000 in total
Vanguard assets or are over age 55. The financial plan fees are as follows:
• $50,000 to $500,000: $250.
• Less than $50,000: $1,000.
If payment is required, participants may pay by check.
New model
Participants receiving one-time advice or a financial plan, as authorized by their plan sponsor, will be charged a fee of $250 for the
consultation, unless a lower fee was previously agreed to with the plan sponsor.
Payment will be collected in one of three ways, as determined by your plan sponsor and disclosed to you prior to utilizing the Service.
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Payment will be made either:
• 100% paid directly by the participant from their employer plan account upon completion of the engagement with the
Vanguard Advisor; or
• 100% paid directly by the plan sponsor; or
• A combination of participant and plan sponsor payment.
Note: Enrollment in a particular model is dependent on approval from your plan sponsor. Participants can log in to their account at
vanguard.com for more information or contact Participant Services at 800-523-1188 to confirm which fee applies to them.
Fees for the consultation are in addition to the underlying fund expenses that all fund shareholders pay (including Vanguard Funds,
third-party funds, and collective trusts). You should review this information and carefully consider the impact of these fees and
compensation when evaluating the one-time advice offer before implementing any recommendations provided through the financial
plan or one-time advice offer.
Advisory fees for the financial plan are in addition to the Vanguard Fund fees, non-Vanguard fund fees, and retirement plan fees
described in the paragraphs below. You should review this information and carefully consider the effect of our advisory fees before
you implement any recommendations provided through a financial plan.
Mutual fund fees
The advice offered by VAI will include recommendations to sell, hold, or purchase Vanguard Funds.
Where you act in accordance with our advice and invest in Vanguard Funds, it’ll result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds
and to Vanguard, an affiliate of VAI. A purchase or sale of Vanguard Fund shares isn’t subject to a load, sales charge, or
commission. However, each Vanguard Fund incurs advisory, administrative, and custodial fees, as well as other fees and
expenses it pays out of its own assets. The advisory, administrative, custodial, and other costs make up the Vanguard Funds’
expense ratios. Also, some Vanguard Funds and third-party funds impose purchase and redemption fees.
Participants who invest in Vanguard Funds and third-party funds are subject to the applicable expense ratios and to any purchase and
redemption fees. Please consult the prospectus for information about a specific fund’s expense ratio and any fees assessed by that
fund.
Account fees
You may also incur account service fees, commission charges, and other account charges and processing fees in connection with
establishing accounts with VAI affiliates. You should review the terms of your account- opening documents or any plan fee disclosure
notices for details about fees that may be assessed in connection with these accounts.
Retirement plan fees
Participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans may also directly or indirectly bear the fees assessed by Vanguard, for
recordkeeping services provided by Vanguard to a retirement plan. In connection with its services, Vanguard receives fees separate
from, and in addition to, any advisory fees assessed by VAI. Thus, retirement plan participants who receive advice from VAI may
directly or indirectly bear the fees assessed by Vanguard in connection with its services to the plan, in addition to any advisory fees
assessed by VAI. You should review any plan fee disclosure notices for details about fees that may be assessed on your plan
account. Participants in employer- sponsored retirement plans for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping or investment services
may be permitted to invest in collective trusts, company stock funds, or certain customized investment options for which Vanguard
Fiduciary Trust Company, an affiliate of VAI, provides services and receives compensation. Because advice provided by VAI may
include recommendations to hold or purchase these investment options, acting in accordance with such advice may result in the
payment of fees to Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company.
Participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans for which Vanguard provides recordkeeping services are often permitted to invest
in non-Vanguard mutual funds. Because the advice provided by VAI may include recommendations to transact in non-Vanguard mutual
funds, acting in accordance with such advice may result in payments to Vanguard or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries as
compensation for participant level recordkeeping and administrative services provided by Vanguard for such funds. This payment may
be made by the fund company sponsoring the non-Vanguard mutual fund or an affiliate, by the plan sponsor, by the participants investing
in the non-Vanguard mutual fund, or by some combination thereof.
Advice not affected by fees
The advice provided by our advisors won’t take into consideration whether Vanguard or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries will
receive fees from its recommendation to purchase, hold, or sell Vanguard Funds or non-Vanguard investments. Advisory fees
received by VAI and compensation paid to its employees, agents, and registered advisors doesn’t vary on the basis of any
investment options selected, and the advisors who deliver advice aren’t compensated for or on the basis of any recommendation or
sales of specific securities.
Advisor compensation
VSA Financial Advisors who deliver advice to VSA clients are paid base compensation (either salary/exempt or hourly/non-exempt
wages) and are eligible for an annual payment from an enterprise-wide compensation plan. This plan is made available to
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qualifying employees of Vanguard, not just to VSA Financial Advisors. Payments from the plan are determined based on an
employee’s level in the organization as well as the overall investment performance of Vanguard funds and overall company
performance of Vanguard during the prior three years. Accordingly, payments from the plan do not create a conflict of interest
between you and VSA or its advisors.
VSA Financial Advisors who are exempt employees of Vanguard are also eligible to receive an annual discretionary bonus. The
annual discretionary bonus program is based on both Vanguard’s company performance over the prior year and an employee’s
performance over the prior year. It is also based on an employee’s level and position in the organization. In assessing the
performance of a VSA Financial Advisor, Vanguard considers discretionary factors including: (i) participant action rates from
consultations (e.g., adding a beneficiary, changing your 401(k) contribution amount, adjusting asset allocations to better align with
Vanguard methodology to reach your goals, staying the course making no asset allocation changes as recommended by the
advisor, etc.), (ii) risk measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy procedures, compliance with regulatory
standards and avoidance of trading errors), (iii) implementation of key business initiatives, (iv) an advisor’s demonstration of employee
competencies as established by Human Resources, such as corporate citizenship, subject matter proficiency and expertise, and
contributions to the advisor’s team and Vanguard, (v) the advisor’s overall utilization (productivity) rate; and (vi) client satisfaction.
Additionally, VSA Financial Advisors who are both exempt and non-exempt employees are eligible for annual merit increases to their
base compensation determined, in part, on the same discretionary factors used to measure discretionary bonus compensation.
Some of these factors create conflicts of interest due to the incentives they create for both the advisor and VAI. Specifically, factors (i)
and (vi) in the paragraph above give a VSA Financial Advisor and VAI an incentive to recommend an increase in contributions or an
allocation adjustment, which could benefit VAI and/or an affiliate of Vanguard. Additionally, VAI and its affiliates benefit through receipt
of additional compensation when clients enroll in a Vanguard advisory service or program.
VAI addresses these conflicts of interest by maintaining policies and procedures requiring that our VSA Financial Advisors act in your
best interest, reasonably supervising their activities, providing advisors with training and disclosing these conflicts so that you can
make informed decisions. Additionally, the annual discretionary bonus program includes performance measures designed to mitigate
the conflicts of interest caused by the program, including requirements for VSA Financial Advisors to identify and elevate client
complaints and feedback on the service and abide by risk measures (such as adherence to supervisory, security and privacy
procedures, compliance with regulatory standards and avoidance of trading errors). The annual discretionary bonus and enterprise-
wide compensation plan payments to advisors do not increase the advisory fees paid by clients.
Performance-based fees and side-by-side management
VAI and its advisors don’t receive any fees for advisory services provided to you based on a share of capital gains on or capital
appreciation of your investments.
Types of clients
Legacy model
Participants in eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans whose employers have approved the Service are eligible to receive
advice or a one-time financial plan. Control Persons may receive advice or a one-time financial plan; however, such advice or plan
won’t take into consideration the Control Person’s status or restrictions that may apply to their security trading. Clients are
generally required to maintain permanent residence in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Clients that are temporarily abroad, such as those in the military or on government duty, may be eligible under consideration of
additional information.
New model
Participants in eligible employer-sponsored retirement plans whose employers have approved the Service are eligible to receive
advice. Control Persons may receive advice or a one-time financial plan; however, such advice or plan won’t take into
consideration the Control Person’s status or restrictions that may apply to their security trading. Clients are generally required to
maintain permanent residence in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Clients that are temporarily
abroad, such as those in the military or on government duty, may be eligible under consideration of additional information.
Note: Participants in Puerto Rico or Puerto Rico-based plans may schedule a consultation; however, they will not receive a written
financial plan. Any advice provided during the consultation will not take into consideration the Puerto Rico tax code and will exclude
cash flow projections.
Methods of analysis, investment strategies, and risk of loss
VAI’s investment methodology incorporates our investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs,
diversification, and indexing. Our methodology, which is approved and periodically reviewed by senior Vanguard management, is
based on Vanguard’s fundamental research, as well as research obtained from a wide variety of external sources, public and private.
Our methodology is driven by long-term financial goals, not by market-timing or short-term investment performance.
Rather than attempting to predict which investments will provide superior performance at any given time, VAI believes it can provide
the best opportunity for success by maintaining a broadly diversified financial plan—including investments from a variety of market
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sectors and asset classes.
Investment strategy for the financial plan
VAI’s investment strategies are designed with a disciplined, long-term approach focused on managing risk through appropriate asset
allocation and diversification. Our methodology uses a strategic approach by first focusing on the mix of asset classes (i.e., stocks,
bonds, and cash) that align with your willingness and ability to take risk and are appropriate to meet your financial goals over time.
The methodology is designed then to recommend specific investments for your financial plan.
We rely on information you provide and on certain assumptions based on our analysis about future financial factors, such as rates of
return on certain types of investments, inflation rates, client rate of savings, percentage of income needed in retirement, withdrawals,
tax rates, taxable capital gains and losses, and market returns, to develop an investment strategy for you. All assumptions are
estimates based on historical data and proprietary forecasts that, in our opinion, serve as a useful and reasonable foundation on which
to develop financial strategies.
Developing an asset allocation
First, we’ll gather information through the use of a risk quiz or risk questionnaire, an investor profile, and consultation with an advisor to
understand your financial objectives, such as your age, risk tolerance, specific financial goals, investment time horizon, current
investments, tax status, other assets and sources of income, investment preferences, and planned spending from the accounts
covered by the financial plan. A proprietary algorithm uses this data to recommend a particular investing track and corresponding glide
path that embodies the risk tolerance, asset allocation, and time horizon suitable for your goals. The investing tracks range from very
conservative to conservative, moderate, aggressive, and very aggressive, and the glide paths within each track are designed to change
over time to adjust your risk exposure and asset allocation to match the time remaining for each of your specified goals. Your
investment strategy may include separate asset allocation strategies tailored to each of your financial goals. If you use multiple
accounts to support a goal, the asset mix of any single account may vary, but collectively the accounts will achieve the target asset
allocation for the goal. We’ll rely on the information you provide to formulate the financial plan.
Inaccuracies in the information you provide us could affect our recommendations and your financial plan.
When recommending, setting, and adjusting your asset allocation, we weigh “shortfall risk”—the possibility that a financial plan will
fail to meet longer- term financial goals—against “market risk,” or the chance that a financial plan’s value will fluctuate based on the
market’s ups and downs. An investment strategy that’s too conservative raises the risk that inflation will erode the purchasing power of
a long-term portfolio. Appropriate asset allocations may range from 100% stock to 100% short-term reserves based on the risk
tolerance and remaining investment time horizon for a particular financial goal. Investment strategies for different goals may reflect
different trade-offs between shortfall and market risk.
Diversifying the Portfolio asset allocation across a variety of sub-asset classes
We seek to provide adequate diversification within each asset class. We recommend investing across different market segments
to ensure sub-asset class diversification. We’ll establish allowable sub-asset class ranges. The Service will adjust your Portfolio
to position sub-asset classes within our allowable ranges.
Our equity methodology seeks to diversify across different market segments (e.g., domestic and international; large-, mid-, and
small-capitalization; and growth and value). While investing in equity securities can help grow your wealth over the long term, stock
markets are also volatile, and you may lose money in a sharp downturn that can occur without warning. The financial plan will
generally diversify the domestic and international stock positions across market capitalizations within those segments in similar
proportion to their long-term market weight. In addition, we seek to balance growth and value investment styles when constructing a
financial plan. We examine the industry segments represented in the financial plan to ensure the financial plan isn’t too heavily
concentrated in one or more industry sectors, countries, or market segments. Read the “Investment risks” section of this brochure
below for further discussion of risks.
Our bond methodology emphasizes broad diversification across the bond market, both domestic and international, and maintains an
interest rate risk exposure in line with the broad bond market. Investments in bonds are subject to multiple risks, including interest rate,
credit, and inflation risk. Diversification across the domestic and global bond markets, as well as across market segments, issuers, and
the yield curve, helps mitigate these risks. Our lead bond recommendation builds diversified financial plans across short, intermediate-,
and long-maturity bond funds and seeks to maintain an intermediate-term duration. An intermediate term duration generally means
your financial plan stays in the middle of the spectrum when measuring its sensitivity to interest rate changes while maintaining
exposure to all areas of the maturity range. We also recommend a broad exposure to investment-grade bond funds (both corporate
and Treasury bonds). We’ll seek to build a high-credit-quality financial plan of bond funds, including funds that hold corporate,
Treasury, agency, and mortgage-backed bonds. Depending on your tax bracket, we may recommend tax-exempt bond funds for your
taxable account(s). Bond portfolios may incorporate a mix of domestic and foreign bond funds. As with equities, we examine bond
sector exposure to ensure a financial plan isn’t concentrated in a single segment, which could expose the financial plan to a higher
level of risk. Read the “Investment recommendations and risk,” “Risks associated with algorithm usage,” and “Investment risks”
sections of this brochure below for further discussion of risks.
Diverse investments, primarily consisting of low-cost Vanguard Funds and collective trusts
After determining the overall asset mix and your stock and bond sub-allocations, our algorithm will then recommend appropriate
investments for your financial plan. We approach fund selection with a long-term, buy-and-hold approach and discourage switching
strategies based solely on recent performance.
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Reasonable restrictions
When requesting a financial plan, you’ll have the ability to impose reasonable restrictions on the investments recommended for the
financial plan. Specifically, you can request that certain alternate Vanguard Funds and certain non-Vanguard funds be held as part of
the financial plan, provided those investments meet certain standards imposed by VAI, including our portfolio construction and
diversification standards established by us for such holdings. You will also have the ability to designate certain investments that
shouldn’t be recommended for the financial plan or that shouldn’t be sold if held in the account.
If you request reasonable restrictions in the financial plan, we’ll analyze whether the requested investments fit into the overall stock or
bond allocations recommended for the financial plan. When analyzing investments, we’ll rely on Vanguard’s asset classification
assessments based on information received from third-party data providers to categorize these investments.
Any restriction you want to impose is subject to our review and approval. Restrictions will be allowed as long as they aren’t
inconsistent with our methodology. The financial plan will remain diversified by asset class and within each asset class to ensure no
class of investments will impose an unreasonable level of risk. We won’t be responsible, however, for performing due diligence on any
investment included in your financial plan as a result of a requested restriction. If your desired restrictions are unreasonable or if we
believe the restrictions are inappropriate for you, we’ll notify you that, unless the instructions are modified, we’ll remove particular
investments from the financial plan.
Certain investments you may request, and other Vanguard or non-Vanguard funds, may not offer the same degree of
diversification, liquidity, or performance consistency available with the Vanguard Funds we normally recommend.
Goals forecasting
We’ll also provide you a projection to help you assess your ability to achieve your personalized financial goals. To cover a broad
range of outcomes, our forecast will generate 10,000 scenarios to measure your likelihood of success of reaching your goal. The
projections use forecasted index returns for equities, bonds, and cash, which are used to represent the hypothetical returns of
the asset classes in your financial plan. These forecasted index returns as well as inflation rates are provided through the
Vanguard Capital Markets Model® which is discussed in more detail later.
Projections may be based on accounts included within the financial plan or on accounts held outside of the financial plan. Our
goals-forecasting model uses the same index returns to represent the returns of the asset classes in all your accounts supporting
your goals in your financial plan or Portfolio. Index returns for fixed income and equity products are reduced by 0.50% annually,
and index returns for money market/cash/short-term reserves are reduced by 0.30% annually to account for hypothetical
expenses and advisory fees. Inflation is modeled based on historical data from 1960 through the most recent year-end and
simulated going forward.
The likelihood-of-success projection forecast for your goal doesn’t attempt to predict or portray the future performance of any
securities held in accounts supporting your goals. The forecasts are hypothetical projections based on statistical modeling of
current and historical data. They aren’t a guarantee of future results or a guarantee of the success rate of the simulated outcomes.
Although we believe the forecasts may reasonably project your likelihood of reaching your goal as supported by accounts
invested in a diversified portfolio of Vanguard Funds or collective trusts, such projection may not correlate well to other assets
you hold in any accounts that aren’t invested in accordance with our lead advice methodology. Accordingly, your actual
investment results may vary significantly from our projection.
Outside accounts and cost assumptions used in goal forecasting
For any accounts held outside of the financial plan, we’ll assume the asset allocation held in those outside accounts is the same
as in the accounts held within the financial plan. Accordingly, we’ll use the same index returns noted in the section above titled
“Goals forecasting” for the forecasting model to project your likelihood of success based on both outside accounts and accounts
held in the financial plan or Portfolio. If your outside accounts aren’t invested in a similar manner as the accounts in your financial
plan, your actual investment results may vary significantly from our likelihood-of success projections. A variance in the actual
asset allocation of your accounts held outside of the financial plan could significantly affect your likelihood of reaching a goal
within the indicated time frame.
Any forecasted goals using accounts held outside of the financial plan (including other Vanguard accounts) are calculated based
solely on the information you provide us with respect to the dollar amount of securities held in those accounts and your rate of
contributions to those accounts.
Retirement goals forecasting
We project your lifetime cash flows—inflows from investment income and other sources and outflows from spending—to assess
whether your investments can adequately support your retirement income needs over your lifetime. We evaluate many factors in
assessing your current and future cash flows, including:
• Projected and known expenses, including annual living expenses and other periodic expenses you identify.
• The effect of adjusting your annual living expenses based on inflation or our dynamic spending model (discussed below).
• Projected income, including employment, Social Security, pension, and income from investments.
• The effect of variables, such as inflation and income taxes.
• The effect of different market scenarios on the rates of return used to project the likelihood of success of reaching your
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retirement goal.
It’s important that the accounts supporting your retirement goal be able to endure a variety of market conditions. To assess your ability
to meet your expenses throughout retirement and through variable market conditions, our cash flow analysis shows how your accounts
supporting this goal would perform under various hypothetical scenarios. We simulate your expected inflows and outflows each year
through your expected planning horizon, and, using each individual scenario’s unique forecasted return and inflation assumptions, we
project your likelihood of reaching your retirement goal.
As part of your outflows, your annual expenses are projected each year using a “dollar plus inflation” approach. “Dollar plus inflation”
means that each year we’ll take your projected annual expenses in dollars and adjust that value to account for expected inflation in
each year.
The overall likelihood-of-success measure for your retirement goal represents the percentage of the 10,000 hypothetical scenarios in
which the balance in your retirement accounts is at least $1 at the end of your planning horizon, which is usually set to age 100 as our
default.
Goals forecasting for accumulator goals
A custom goal is one in which you’re currently saving for a future event. Custom goals can focus on saving for a single lump-sum
distribution (such as saving for a home) or on saving a sum to be drawn down over an extended period (such as saving for
retirement). We’ll illustrate the process using an accumulator goal with an extended drawdown.
The first step involves estimating the amount of assets you’ll need to accumulate at the beginning of the spending phase. To do
so, you’ll need to inform us of the annual amount you expect to spend, the year in which you expect spending to begin, the
number of years during which you expect to spend, and any sources of income you’ll have during the spending phase. After
adjusting for inflation, we’ll arrive at the estimated sum needed at the beginning of the spending phase by running the VCMM
Monte Carlo simulations using the underlying asset allocation assumption for the goal. Read the section below titled “Vanguard
Capital Markets Model” for more information about the Monte Carlo simulations. The calculations will be performed with the aim
of estimating a sum that will allow you to meet your spending needs in 85% of the Monte Carlo simulations (meaning we estimate
that in 85% of the hypothetical scenarios projected, you’ll have at least $1 left at the end of the spending phase).
The second step involves determining whether you’re on track in the accumulation phase to meet your overall goal of arriving at the
sum needed at the outset of the drawdown phase. To model the accumulation phase, you must provide us with the current amount of
assets you have in support of the goal and the amount you intend to save annually until the start of the drawdown phase. Using the
underlying asset allocation for the goal, we’ll run the VCMM Monte Carlo simulations and calculate what percentage of scenarios
had an ending balance, without considering any taxes, greater than or equal to your target amount at the outset of the spending
phase.
We’ll quantify the ability to meet a goal using a success rate. A successful outcome is defined as one in which the projected ending
account balance, without considering any taxes, either meets or exceeds the target balance by the target goal year. For example, if
a goal has a success rate of 80%, then 80% of the simulations resulted in a projected ending balance that met or exceeded the
target goal amount.
Vanguard Capital Markets Model
IMPORTANT: The projections and other information generated by the Vanguard Capital Markets Model® (VCMM) regarding the
likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees
of future results. VCMM results will vary with each use and over time.
The VCMM projections are based on a statistical analysis of historical data. Future returns may behave differently from the historical
patterns captured in the VCMM. More importantly, the VCMM may be underestimating extreme negative scenarios unobserved in the
historical period on which the model estimation is based.
The VCMM is a proprietary financial simulation tool developed and maintained by Vanguard’s primary investment research and
advice teams. The model forecasts distributions of future returns for a wide array of broad asset classes. Those asset classes include
U.S. and international equity markets, several maturities of the U.S. Treasury and corporate fixed income markets, international fixed
income markets, U.S. money markets, U.S. municipal bonds, commodities, and certain alternative investment strategies. The
theoretical and empirical foundation for the VCMM is that the returns of various asset classes reflect the compensation investors
require for bearing different types of systematic risk (beta). At the core of the model are estimates of the dynamic statistical
relationship between risk factors and asset returns, obtained from statistical analysis based on available monthly financial and
economic data from as early as 1960. Inflation is modeled based on historical data from 1990 through the most recent year-end and
simulated going forward. Using a system of estimated equations, the model then applies a Monte Carlo simulation method to project
the estimated interrelationships among risk factors and asset classes as well as uncertainty and randomness over time. The model
generates a large set of simulated outcomes for each asset class over time. Forecasts represent the distribution of geometric returns
over different time horizons. Results produced by the tool will vary with each use and over time.
The primary value of the VCMM is in its application to analyzing potential client portfolios. VCMM asset-class forecasts—comprising
distributions of expected returns, volatilities, and correlations—are key to the evaluation of potential downside risks, various risk-
return trade-offs, and the diversification benefits of various asset classes. Although central tendencies are generated in any return
distribution, Vanguard stresses that focusing on the full range of potential outcomes for the assets considered, such as the data
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presented in this paper, is the most effective way to use VCMM output.
The VCMM seeks to represent the uncertainty in the forecast by generating a wide range of potential outcomes. It is important to
recognize that the VCMM does not impose “normality” on the return distributions but rather is influenced by the so-called fat tails and
skewness in the empirical distribution of modeled asset-class returns. Within the range of outcomes, individual experiences can be
quite different, underscoring the varied nature of potential future paths. Indeed, this is a key reason why we approach asset-return
outlooks in a distributional framework.
Limitations of the quantitative analysis
Projections generated by the VCMM are based both on estimated historical relationships and on assumptions about the risk
characteristics of various asset classes. As a result, the accuracy of VCMM forecasts depends on the relevance of the historical
sample in simulating future events. The projections are hypothetical in nature, don’t reflect actual investment results, and aren’t
guarantees of future results.
Disciplinary information
VAI resolved an investigation by the SEC on August 29, 2025. In the matter, which involved a VAI advisory offer separate
from Vanguard Situational Advisor, the SEC found that VAI violated certain provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of
1940 (“Advisers Act”), and the rules thereunder, because VAI made misstatements and failed to adequately disclose
conflicts of interest in connection with its recommendation to prospects and clients to enroll in the legacy Personal Advisor
Services (“PAS”) offer. PAS now operates as Personal Advisor Select.
VAI cooperated immediately and fully with the SEC’s investigation, and, without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, in a
settled proceeding agreed to a censure, to cease and desist from committing or causing any violations and any future
violations of Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder, and to pay a $19.5 million
penalty.
In its Order, the SEC found that from August 2020 through December 2023, PAS’ employee performance review system
considered metrics that incentivized PAS advisors to enroll and retain clients in PAS. A PAS advisor’s performance on these
metrics factored into their year-end performance rating, which in turn determined the advisor’s annual discretionary bonus
and/or pay increases alongside a number of qualitative factors including sharing expertise with and assisting colleagues,
contributing to an inclusive and collaborative work environment, communicating openly with colleagues, building subject
matter expertise and industry knowledge, understanding Vanguard’s business model and financials, deepening investment
acumen, and staying current with technological trends. The metrics and qualitative criteria were also factors considered in
PAS advisor promotions.
In its Order, the SEC found that while the PAS Brochure disclosed that some advisors were eligible for the discretionary
bonus and that the employee performance review process created a financial incentive for advisors to recommend PAS over
other advisory programs and other brokerage services offered by VAI and its affiliates, VAI’s Form CRS and Supplement to
the PAS Brochure contained contradictory disclosures that PAS advisors received no additional compensation. Additionally,
the SEC also found that VAI’s marketing materials contained related misleading statements regarding PAS advisors’
conflicts of interest and that VAI failed to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent it from
making misleading statements to clients regarding incentive compensation or to ensure that it fully disclosed the conflicts of
interest created by its compensation structure.
Please see the “Fees and compensation” and “Advisor compensation” sections above for detailed information about how
VSA Financial Advisors are currently compensated.
Other financial industry activities and affiliations
The Vanguard Group, Inc.
Vanguard Advisers, Inc. is 100% owned by Goliath, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which is wholly owned by The Vanguard
Group, Inc. Vanguard, also a registered investment advisor, provides a range of investment advisory and administrative
services to the Vanguard Funds.
When giving advice to clients, we’ll recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds serviced by our corporate parent, Vanguard.
We address the competing interests that arise between us and our clients as a result of recommending proprietary funds by
relying on our time- tested investment philosophies and beliefs, such as the benefits of low costs, diversification, and indexing,
when formulating target allocations for clients. We disclose to prospective clients that we recommend Vanguard Funds prior to,
or at the establishment of, the advisory relationship. Acting in accordance with our advice to purchase Vanguard’s proprietary
funds will result in the payment of fees to the Vanguard Funds that are separate from, and in addition to, any advisory fees
assessed by us.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation
Shares of the Vanguard Funds are marketed and distributed by Vanguard Marketing Corporation (“VMC”). VMC’s marketing and
distribution services are conducted in accordance with the terms and conditions of a 1981 exemptive order from the SEC, which
permits Vanguard Funds to internalize and jointly finance such activities. Each Vanguard Fund (other than a fund of funds) or each
share class of a fund (in the case of a fund with multiple share classes) pays its allocated share of VMC’s marketing costs. VMC
doesn’t receive transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds. When giving advice to
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clients, we’ll recommend the purchase of Vanguard Funds distributed by our affiliate, VMC. Since VMC doesn’t receive
transaction-based compensation in connection with the distribution of the Vanguard Funds, the competing interests that arise from
our affiliation with VMC in its role as distributor of the Vanguard Funds are mitigated.
Certain members of our management and our advisors are registered representatives of, or are affiliated with, VMC. Please refer
to the Supplement to the Vanguard Situational Advisor Brochure for further information.
Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company
We’re also affiliated with Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company (“VFTC”), a limited-purpose trust company incorporated under the
banking laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanguard. VFTC serves as trustee and
investment advisor for certain collective investment trusts offered by Vanguard as eligible investment options by some retirement
plans. We may recommend the purchase of Vanguard collective investment trusts serviced by VFTC. Additionally, VFTC serves as
directed trustee for certain employer-sponsored retirement plans covering participants. VFTC also serves as custodian for traditional
IRAs, SEP-IRAs, and Roth IRAs (collectively referred to as “Vanguard IRAs”). VFTC may charge reasonable custodial fees with
respect to the establishment and maintenance of your Vanguard IRAs at any time during the calendar year. You should consult the
Disclosure Statement and Custodial Account Agreement governing your Vanguard IRAs, or your Annual Plan Fee Disclosure Notice,
for more information about VFTC’s fees and services provided.
Vanguard National Trust Company
Vanguard National Trust Company (“VNTC”) is a federally chartered, limited-purpose trust company regulated by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, which provides corporate trustee services and investment advisory services to its high-net-worth client
base. VNTC’s investment advisory services use the Vanguard Personal Advisor Services brand but are provided separately from VAI’s
Personal Advisor Services. VNTC was chartered in 2001, but its business has been in operation since 1996. VNTC is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Vanguard.
Code of ethics, participation or interest in client transactions, and personal trading
VAI operates under a code of ethics that complies with Rule 17j-1 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Rule 204A- 1 of the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The code sets forth fiduciary standards that apply to all employees, incorporates Vanguard’s insider trading policy, and governs
outside employment and receipt of gifts.
Additionally, the code imposes restrictions on the personal securities trading of Vanguard employees, as well as reporting
requirements. The trading restrictions and reporting requirements are more involved for employees with access to information about
Vanguard Fund trading activity or Vanguard client trading activity and are designed to ensure Vanguard employees don’t misuse fund
or client information for their own benefit.
Vanguard will provide a copy of its code of ethics to any client or prospective client upon request at no charge.
Read the previous section titled “Other financial industry activities and affiliations” for a discussion of VAI’s affiliations with other
Vanguard entities and how those affiliations may affect VAI clients.
Brokerage practices
This Service doesn’t generally recommend transactions in individual securities and has no discretion over individual security
accounts. Where a recommendation might be provided involving individual securities, the Service won’t select or recommend a
broker-dealer through which such transactions should be executed.
Review of accounts
This Service is a point-in-time advice service and doesn’t provide ongoing monitoring, review, or rebalancing of the Portfolio. You
should revisit your risk tolerance and financial situation at least annually.
Client referrals and other compensation
We don’t receive compensation or other economic benefits from persons other than clients for providing investment advice or
advisory services to our clients. We’ll run prospecting and promotional campaigns from time to time to attract new clients to the
Service (“Referral Programs”). These Referral Programs may include compensating affiliates, strategic partners, or third-party
solicitors for referring the Service to prospects.
Compensation will include flat fees or payments based on certain performance triggers, like scheduling an appointment with an
advisor or enrolling in the Service. Clients aren’t charged any fee nor do they incur any additional costs for us running these
Referral Programs. We have oversight of third parties involved in the Referral Programs, and prospects will be informed of any
such Referral Programs receiving compensation prior to becoming a client.
Note that Vanguard affiliates will also receive compensation in the form of expense ratios from Vanguard Funds and revenue
sharing with third-party funds as discussed in the “Fees and compensation” section above.
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Custody
VAI does not have custody of your assets through the Service.
Investment discretion
Vanguard Situational Advisor doesn’t have investment discretion over client accounts.
Voting client securities
The responsibility for the exercise of all voting or similar rights associated with any investment held in your plan account will be
outlined by your plan. Proxies related to plan holdings will be delivered directly by the security’s issuer, the custodian, or its agent.
Financial information
We aren’t aware of any financial condition reasonably likely to impair our ability to meet contractual commitments to you.
Requirements for state-registered advisors
VAI is a federally registered investment advisor.
Investment risks
Securities recommendations and risk
Our lead advice approach recommends investments in Vanguard Funds or collective trusts. Although we’ll recommend prudent and
diversified investment strategies, please remember that all investments, including mutual funds, involve some risk, including possible
loss of the money you invest. Be aware that fluctuations in the financial markets and other factors may cause declines in the value of
your account(s).
There’s no guarantee that any particular asset allocation or mix of funds will meet your investment objectives or provide you with a
given level of income. We make investment recommendations using historical information. There’s no guarantee that an investment
strategy based on historical information will meet your investment objectives, provide you with a given level of income, or protect
against loss, particularly when future market conditions are drastically different from the information used to create your strategy.
Diversification doesn’t ensure a profit or protect against a loss. There’s no assurance that you’ll achieve positive investment results by
using our Service. We can’t guarantee the future performance of your investments. Please consult a fund’s prospectus for more
information about fund-specific risks. You should carefully consider all your options before acting on any advice you receive.
Risks associated with algorithm usage
Our proprietary algorithms are based on Vanguard’s market assumptions and analysis. The algorithms don’t consider prevailing
market conditions when making recommendations to you. While we have standards governing the development, testing, and
monitoring of our algorithms, there’s a risk the algorithms and associated software may not perform as intended for various reasons,
including unintended consequences due to modifying the algorithms or underlying software code. The SEC has provided further
information for investors to consider when engaging digital advice services. The guidance can be found at https://www.investor.
gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/ alertsbulletins/investor-bulletins-45.
Data risk
Data risk is the chance that the Service receives inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated data. The Service relies on data provided by
vendors and clients or authorized by clients to be provided by third-party vendors. We don’t independently verify the accuracy or
completeness of provided data. If a client decides to aggregate or integrate external accounts, there’s no guarantee that
information provided by the third-party vendor regarding non-Vanguard accounts will be accurate or complete. Additionally, to the
extent our projections and calculations are based on historical market data, labor statistics, or other historical economic data,
models aren’t updated real-time, and there will be a delay in incorporating significant events into models.
Vendor Risk
The Service uses a number of vendors to provide capabilities that are required by VAI to deliver the Service. An outage or
interruption of, or defect in, a capability provided by these vendors could adversely impact VAI's ability to deliver the Service. Third-
party vendors may limit their liability to Clients.
Cybersecurity risks
The increased use of technology to conduct business could subject VAI and its third-party service providers to risks associated with
cybersecurity. In general, a cybersecurity incident can occur as a result of a deliberate attack designed to gain unauthorized
access to digital systems. If the attack is successful, an unauthorized person or persons could misappropriate assets or sensitive
information, corrupt data, or cause operational disruption. A cybersecurity incident could also occur unintentionally if, for
example, an authorized person inadvertently released proprietary or confidential information. Vanguard has developed robust
technological safeguards and business continuity plans to prevent, or reduce the impact of, potential cybersecurity incidents.
Additionally, Vanguard has a process for assessing the information security and/or cybersecurity programs implemented by third-
party service providers, which helps minimize the risk of potential incidents.
Despite these measures, a cybersecurity incident still has the potential to disrupt business operations, which could negatively
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impact VAI and/or the Service’s Clients (including prospective Clients).
The following summarizes the risks associated with the mutual funds, collective investment trusts and other pooled investments
(these investments are collectively referred to herein as “funds”) recommended by the Service:
Discretionary manager risk
It is possible that poor security selection or focus on securities in a particular sector, category, or group of companies will cause a
fund to underperform relevant benchmarks or other funds with a similar investment objective.
Index sampling risk
There is the chance that the securities selected for a fund, in the aggregate, won’t provide investment performance matching the fund’s
target index.
Stock market risk
Funds that invest in stocks are subject to the chance that stock prices overall will decline. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with
periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.
Asset concentration risk
Funds that invest a high percentage of their assets in few companies are subject to the chance that their performance may be hurt
disproportionately by the poor performance of relatively few investments.
Sector risk
Funds that invest all or substantially all of their assets in a particular sector are subject to the chance that significant problems will
affect a particular sector or that returns from that sector will trail returns from the overall stock market. Daily fluctuations in specific
market sectors are often more extreme than fluctuations in the overall market. If a fund invests all or substantially all of its assets in
a particular sector, the fund’s performance largely depends—for better or for worse—on the general condition of that sector.
Company stock funds
Funds that are invested exclusively in a single stock are concentrated and therefore considered riskier than diversified stock funds.
Investment-style risk
Funds that invest in companies based on their level of capitalization are subject to the chance that returns from large-, mid-, and
small-capitalization stocks will trail returns from the overall stock market. Large- and mid-cap stocks each tend to go through cycles of
doing better—or worse—than other segments of the stock market or the stock market in general. These periods have, in the past,
lasted for as long as several years. Historically, mid- and small-cap stocks have been more volatile in price than large-cap stocks.
The stock prices of mid and small-size companies tend to experience greater volatility because, among other things, these
companies tend to be more sensitive to changing economic conditions.
International risk or country/regional risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance that world events—such as political upheaval, financial troubles,
or natural disasters—will adversely affect the value of securities issued by companies in foreign countries or regions. If a fund invests a
large portion of its assets in securities of companies located in any one country or region, including emerging markets, its performance
may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of its investments in that area.
Country/regional risk is especially high in emerging markets.
Emerging markets risk
Funds that invest in securities of companies that are located in developing nations are subject to the chance that the prices of these
securities will be substantially more volatile, and substantially less liquid, than the securities of companies located in more developed
foreign markets.
Currency risk
Funds that invest in international securities are subject to the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S.
dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging
markets.
Call risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that, during periods of falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call
(redeem) securities with higher coupons or interest rates before their maturity dates. The fund would then lose any potential price
appreciation above the bond’s call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting
in a decline in the fund’s income.
Call risk is generally low for short-term bond funds, moderate for intermediate-term bond funds, high for long-term bond funds, and
high for high- yield bond funds.
Prepayment risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that, during periods of falling interest rates, homeowners will refinance their
mortgages before their maturity dates, resulting in prepayment of mortgage-backed securities held by the fund. The fund would
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then lose any price appreciation above the mortgage’s principal and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at
lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the fund’s income.
Extension risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that, during periods of rising interest rates, certain debt securities will be paid
off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated, and the value of those securities may fall. This will lengthen the duration or
average life of those securities and delay a fund’s ability to reinvest proceeds at higher interest rates, making a fund more
sensitive to changes in interest rates. For funds that invest in mortgage-backed securities, extension risk is the chance that during
periods of rising interest rates, homeowners will repay their mortgages at slower rates.
Credit risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the issuer of a convertible security will fail to pay interest or dividends
and principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of
that security to decline.
Income risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund’s income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income
risk is generally high for short-term bond funds, low for long-term bond funds, and high for limited- term bond funds.
Interest rate risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that bond and loan prices overall will decline because of rising interest rates.
State-specific risk
Funds that invest in bonds from a specific state or municipality are subject to the chance that developments in that state or municipality
will adversely affect the securities held by the fund. Because the fund invests primarily in securities issued by the state and its
municipalities, it’s more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in the state than are funds that invest in municipal securities of many
states. Unfavorable developments in any economic sector may have far- reaching ramifications on the overall state municipal market.
Liquidity risk
Funds that invest in bonds are subject to the chance that the fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired
price. Liquidity risk is generally low for short-term bond funds, moderate for intermediate-term bond funds, and high for long-term bond
funds.
Currency-hedging risk
Funds that invest in bond funds are subject to the risk that the currency-hedging transactions entered into by a fund may not perfectly offset
the fund’s foreign currency exposure.
Ownership Limitations and Regulatory Relief
As the Vanguard funds continue to grow, they may be increasingly impacted by ownership limitations that apply to certain securities held by the
Vanguard funds (“limited securities”). An ownership limitation restricts the amount of a security that funds within the same fund complex, or
funds advised by the same investment advisor can own. These limitations may apply even where an external manager or different affiliate of
Vanguard provides investment advisory services to a fund. Ownership limitations restrict the amount that funds can invest in certain securities,
due to either regulatory limits that apply to certain industries (for example, banking and utilities) or mechanisms that some issuers have in place
to deter takeover attempts (for example, poison pills). These restrictions can have negative impacts on funds, including the inability of an index
fund to track its index, the inability of a fund to meet its investment objectives, negative performance impacts, and unanticipated tax
consequences. The impact of a particular ownership limitation on a Vanguard fund will vary based on several factors, including, but not limited
to, a fund’s investment strategy and its current and desired exposure to limited securities, the industry to which the limitation applies, the country
or region of a particular issuer, and the regulatory body imposing the limitation. In addition to the impacts of specific ownership limitations, the
Vanguard funds are also subject to the risk of multiple ownership limitations applying at one time, which could increase the likelihood of a fund
experiencing the negative impacts listed above. The Vanguard funds attempt to mitigate the impacts of ownership limitations through the various
methods discussed below in “Methods to address ownership limitations.” However, it is possible that these methods will be unsuccessful and
could also expose the Vanguard funds to other potential risks and negative consequences.
Impacts of ownership limitations
When an ownership limitation applies, the Vanguard funds may need to allocate ownership of impacted securities across impacted Vanguard
funds, and a Vanguard fund may not be able to buy additional securities or continue to hold existing securities above its allocated amounts. For
index funds, this can result in tracking error if a fund cannot buy or hold the securities it needs in order to replicate or sample its target index. For
active funds, this can result in a fund not being able to take advantage of favorable opportunities to invest in securities that are subject to
limitations. For both index and active funds, the inability to buy or hold securities could prevent a fund from being able to meet its investment
objective or invest in accordance with its investment strategy, and/or could negatively impact the fund’s performance. In addition, the steps taken
to address ownership limitations could result in additional costs and/or unanticipated tax consequences to a fund that affect the amount, timing,
and character of distributions to the fund’s shareholders. The more assets the Vanguard funds hold, the more likely it is that ownership
limitations will negatively impact Vanguard funds because they will not be able to purchase additional shares of limited securities above their
allocated amounts in order to fully invest their assets in accordance with their investment strategy.
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Methods to address ownership limitations
The Vanguard funds try to manage the negative impacts of these ownership limitations on the Vanguard funds by seeking permission (relief)
from regulators and/or issuers to purchase or hold more securities than the amount allowed by ownership limitations. However, it is not always
possible to secure relief, and such relief could be revoked if the Vanguard funds are unable to satisfy the applicable conditions, or if the regulator
or issuer changes its position or policy or if the applicable legal requirements become more restrictive. There is an increasing amount of
uncertainty around how much ownership limitations relief regulators will grant to asset managers like Vanguard. Given this uncertainty, there is
no guarantee that Vanguard or the Vanguard funds will be able to maintain their existing relief or obtain additional relief from ownership
limitations in the future. A regulator may impose certain conditions on the Vanguard funds in connection with granting relief from an ownership
limitation, including, for example, that the funds vote in a certain way with respect to shares of the limited security that the Vanguard funds hold
in excess of the ownership limitation. In addition, the relief upon which Vanguard and the Vanguard funds currently rely, which has allowed
Vanguard to exceed certain ownership limitations, could be reduced or revoked, forcing the Vanguard funds to sell down one or more securities
to comply with the ownership limitations. If a fund has to sell securities, there could be negative impacts to fund performance as well as
unanticipated tax consequences that could impact the amount, timing, and character of distributions to the fund’s shareholders.
When a Vanguard fund cannot buy or hold securities directly due to ownership limitations, the fund will typically try to get indirect exposure to
impacted securities. The fund does this so that it can replicate as closely as possible the returns the fund would get if it directly owned the
impacted securities. Indirect exposure can be accomplished through the use of derivatives, such as total return swaps, or by investing in wholly-
owned subsidiaries that hold the impacted securities. Both methods of obtaining indirect exposure increase fund costs, and, depending on the
extent to which these alternatives are used by a fund to avoid exceeding ownership limits, the added costs could have a negative impact on the
fund’s performance. With respect to an index fund, these added costs could also result in tracking error relative to the fund’s target index. The
risks associated with derivatives use are discussed in more detail elsewhere in the prospectus.
There is no guarantee that laws and regulations always will allow that indirect exposure to limited securities may be omitted for purposes of
determining the Vanguard funds’ exposure to limited securities and compliance with the applicable ownership limitations. In such circumstances,
the Vanguard funds could not use these techniques and would be required to sell down the indirect and/or direct holdings in the applicable
limited securities.
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