Vanguard

A flight to safety that saw funds in short-term bonds and utilities add cash as coronavirus dominated headlines has given way to a vigorous rally.

“Investment allocations can differ from one fund to another, and so do the expense ratios,” an expert cautions.

The move expands the manager’s commission-free platform, which has included all mutual funds since 1977 and all ETFs since 2010.

The custodian has made three big announcements. The connection between the three may not be obvious, but together, they indicate what I think could be a brilliant strategy.

The firm commission-free platform already included all Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs as well as thousands of third-party funds.

More than half of them track the industry’s top-performing category.

Despite the exodus, all of the mutual funds and ETFs on the list posted net gains for the year.

The $1.8 billion deal is expected to close in mid-2020.

The firm has the edge in “unaided awareness”— a crucial metric in understanding a firm’s significance to the lives of potential clients.

“There’s less performance chasing than you saw in the past, and that’s a positive thing,” an expert says.

To stand out from the crowd, some issuers have embraced thematic strategies focused on niche investments that could become the next boom industry.

The success of automated advice will depend on its ability to transform from a direct-to-client platform into a bionic advisor toolkit.

Double-digit gains produced by the mutual funds and ETFs with the most AUM were not enough to best the broader market.

SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson Jr. said his office studied 15 years of data to assess how the firms utilized their power on hundreds of proposals.

Worries about the proliferation of new funds were high at the first Bogleheads conference without the company’s former leader.

CFPs aren’t excused from acting as fiduciaries — even if they work at a firm that requires them to recommend proprietary funds.

The cost savings of peer-to-peer trading could prove appealing in a world where profits are being squeezed by a race to the bottom on fees.

Deviation from the broader market has left more than half of these products with losses during a time the Dow and S&P 500 each posted double-digit gains.

Cash flow has subsided and market conditions have changed since the fund was closed to most new accounts in 2016.

The indexing giant’s pilot Digital Advisor will be priced at 15 basis points, but allocate client assets almost entirely in proprietary funds.