Is Vanguard Safe and Legitimate Investment Firm? Is Vanguard a Scam? Is Account Insured? Broker BBB Rating for 2020

Is Vanguard Safe?

The Vanguard Group is one of the largest mutual fund companies in the nation that owns hundreds of mutual funds, ETFs, and portfolios, including some of the top performing mutual funds that hundreds of thousands investors own. They also run Vanguard Brokerage Services for investors who want to buy individual securities such as stocks, bonds, and ETFs. Vanguard has a lofty reputation in the investing community, but the financial industry attracts a lot of fraud artists, con men, and other criminal elements who are tempted by the combination of large amounts of money and naive investors.

Any individuals who are considering investing with a brokerage firm should ask the following questions for starters before trusting their money to any company.

Is Vanguard Group a member of SIPC?

Yes. SIPC is the government organization that will return customer money in case brokerage business failure of up to $500,000 per account. This means that if Vanguard Group were to go bankrupt or fail for some reason, SIPC guarantees each account up to that limit, with $250,000 of investors cash protected within that account. This is very similar to FDIC rules. What SIPC does not guarantee that any investment will generate a positive return, so investors are always at risk for a company they own stock in to fail and render their investment worthless.

Is Vanguard Brokerage Services a member of the FDIC?

Yes. All customers of Vanguard's banking products receive full FDIC insurance coverage.

Is Vanguard Brokerage Services a member of the FINRA?

Yes. If a client believes that there was a fraud committed at the Vanguard, he or she could contact FINRA to have any stolen or lost funds returned.

Vanguard BBB Rating

Vanguard BBB (Better Business Bureau) rating is A. You could see the details under this link. There are only 18 negative Vanguard reviews at BBB website, which for an old business with millions of customers, is great.

Is Vanguard Safe Summary

Vanguard Brokerage Services is one of the ten largest brokerages in the country and is a legitimate firm that agrees to abide by the rules of its governing bodies. Nevertheless, since corporations consist of people, there is no guarantee that an unscrupulous individual won't try to defraud an investor. It's the investor's responsibility to understand fully all financial contracts, investments, account limitations, and rules pertaining to particular securities before opening an account with any brokerage firm.

Vanguard Funds

Vanguard offers over 160 funds based in the U.S. and over 80 international based funds. This large selection of funds allows any investor the opportunity to create their desired portfolio while still maintaining a proper level of diversification. Specifically, Vanguard groups their funds in several asset classes that include: Index funds, Money Market funds, Bond funds, Balanced funds, Stock funds, International funds, and sector specific funds. Each individual has their own degrees of risk and investing goals. With the multitude of funds available, each investor has no shortage in funds to choose from to build the portfolio they desire.

In addition to the available mutual funds offered at Vanguard, there are various other investment vehicles that serve the long term investor well. Most notably are the numerous retirement vehicles which include 401(k) rollovers, IRA’s, and annuities. All investors are well aware of the daunting challenge to save for their retirement. Vanguard provides clear, concise information about the pro’s and con’s of each of these retirement vehicles. Investors can comfortably make an educated decision when choosing with Vanguard retirement fund best suits their needs.

Keep in mind that Vanguard always provides free commissions when trading any of its mutual or exchange-traded funds.