Vanguard: The Disruptive Innovation Company

Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment companies, offering a large selection of low-cost mutual funds, ETFs, advice, and related services. From its start in 1975, Vanguard has stood out as a very different kind of investment firm. Vanguard was founded on a simple but revolutionary idea—that a mutual fund company should be managed in the sole interest of its fund shareholders. Founder John C. Bogle structured Vanguard as a client-owned mutual fund company with no outside owners seeking profits.

• More than $3 trillion in global assets under management, as of December 31, 2015
• About 175 U.S. funds (including variable annuity portfolios) and about 145 additional funds in markets outside the United States, as of December 31, 2015
• More than 20 million investors, in about 170 countries, as of December 31, 2015
• Average expense ratio: 0.18% (U.S. fund expenses as a percentage of 2015 average net assets)