Vanguard Lowers 'Admiral' Price Break Threshold

Vanguard is expected to announce shortly that starting May 10, it will slash fees on 63 of its funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Investors with $100,000 or more to invest will qualify for Admiral share classes, which start at nine basis points, or half the cost of other share classes. Previously, investors with balances of $150,000, or in some cases, $250,000, qualified for the Admiral price breaks.

That means $225 billion worth of investor assets at Vanguard, or roughly a quarter of its $825 billion of assets under management, will qualify for the new price breaks - in what appears to be a heating-up price war between Vanguard and Fidelity, despite protests of Vanguard Chairman Jack Brennan.

"This has been the plan for some time," Brennan told WSJ.