Our history

We first took a stand for investors in 1975. We haven't sat down since.

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Bringing value to investors

Typical investment companies are owned by outside shareholders. But when Jack Bogle founded Vanguard he made a revolutionary decision.

He structured Vanguard in the US to be owned by its own funds – which means it’s owned by its investors.

So instead of paying dividends to external shareholders, we redirected our profits to our own investors in the form of lower fees.

This unique ownership structure in the US is what sets Vanguard apart – and lets us put investors first worldwide.

A different type of investment company

Jack Bogle wasn’t a popular man on Wall Street in the 1970s. He preached a philosophy of steady investing and keeping things simple. And you don't need a high-priced broker or fund manager to do that for you.

He helped bring investing to the masses with his creation of the index fund. Index funds don’t pick individual shares or bonds to beat the market, they track the performance of the entire market. Or as he put it, 'Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!

Since then people have come round to his way of thinking. 50 million clients worldwide now trust Vanguard with their money.

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“Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!”

John C. Bogle

Founder of Vanguard

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We’re in the UK

We opened our UK office in 2009. There are now over 800 of us working behind the scenes, including our client support team and investment managers.

The less you pay, the more you keep

The more we grew, the more we lowered our fees. In fact, in the US we cut our average fund charge from 0.89% in 1975 to 0.38% in 1990 and just 0.09% today.*

And we've successfully brought low-cost investing to the UK. We're now top-rated by Which? magazine for value for money and customer satisfaction.

It all means more of your money stays invested for your future. Where it belongs. 

Our fees and charges

Source: Vanguard, as at 31 December 2022

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