I keep getting hounded by Vanguard to switch my traditional mutual fund account to a brokerage account. Since I don’t want to participate in their brokerage services I’ve never taken them up on it.
Recently I pulled up the fine print regarding the proposed switch and went through the differences between the two options. It seems that the older traditional mutual fund only accounts are managed by employees of Vanguard Group Inc. and the brokerage accounts are managed by Vanguard Marketing Corporation.
So the difference turns out to be how many layers of fine print and layers of organizational bureaucracy lie between me and my investments and what the motivation might be that is driving the guy making decisions about my investments.
The traditional mutual funds are managed by the folks who share the risks themselves, but the brokerage account investments are managed by brokerage agents with no vested personal interest.
Here’s how the marketing spin-off operates: