The cost of investing
Costs matter because every pound you pay in costs eats into your future returns. What's more, just like returns, the impact of costs compounds over time.
Investing charges might not sound like big numbers. But if you're getting a return of 4% and paying 2% in charges, that's half of your returns gone.
Types of charges
When you invest you normally pay 2 broad types of charges: fund and account-level. It's just that in some cases it won't be very obvious. Our mission is to make costs as clear and as low as possible, so here's the lowdown on our low costs.
Fund-level charges:
- are designed to cover the cost of running the fund
- vary by fund – for Vanguard funds, the ongoing charges figure (OCFs) range from 0.06% to 0.80%*, which is much lower than the industry average
- for a £10,000 investment would come to just £20 a year based on our fund-range average
- will be clearly stated during the purchase process
*As at 18 July 2023
Account-level charges:
- are designed to cover the cost of running our service, including this website, the associated technology and our communications
- are set at 0.15% per year, capped at £375
- for a £10,000 investment would be just £15 each year
You don't have to pay any other charges with Vanguard. No additional ISA fee, no transfer charge, no separate trading fees, no foreign exchange charges... just the fund and account-level charges outlined above.
We're charging less so that you can keep more of your returns.
Related items
Compounding is a powerful mathematical phenomenon and, in the world of finance, it can work for you or against you.
Our three-step process will guide you as you take the first steps towards investing success.