Vanguard IRA Fees
| Fee |
Amount |
| Vanguard IRA setup fee |
$0 |
| Vanguard annual IRA fee |
$20 |
| Vanguard annual SIMPLE IRA fee |
$25 for each mutual fund |
| Vanguard IRA termination fee |
$0 |
| Vanguard account maintenance fee |
$0 |
| Vanguard account inactivity fee |
$0 |
| Vanguard outbound full account transfer (ACAT) fee |
$0 |
| Vanguard outbound partial account transfer fee |
$0 |
Vanguard IRA Commissions
A Vanguard IRA can be opened with any balance, including a zero balance. There is no setup fee for a retirement account, and the broker does not charge anything for inactivity. There is also no fee to close an IRA.
Vanguard does have a $20 annual IRA fee. The broker also imposes another $20 fee if a Vanguard mutual fund's balance is below $10,000. Both of these charges can be avoided simply by enrolling in electronic delivery of statements.
Another fee is levied on SIMPLE IRAs that have Vanguard funds in them. For every Vanguard fund in a SIMPLE IRA, the broker charges $25. So for example, if one SIMPLE account had 4 Vanguard funds, the broker would charge the account $100 per year. This fee can also be avoided by investing at least $50,000 of an IRAs balance in Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs.
Vanguard IRA Fees Comparison
The lack of a closeout fee for an IRA is pretty unusual in the brokerage world. WellsTrade, for example, charges $95. Ally Invest is at $50, while Merrill Edge
customers must pay $49.95.
On the other hand, imposing an annual IRA fee is increasingly unpopular. Firstrade, Ally Invest, and TD Ameritrade
have eliminated yearly retirement account fees.
While many of Vanguard's fees can be avoided by enrolling in e-delivery of account documents, investors who prefer paper statements might be disappointed here.
Fidelity clients can receive paper statement with no penalties.
The Price of Trading
Vanguard's commission schedule applies to both IRAs and regular brokerage accounts. It is $0 per trade for
stocks and ETFs.
Vanguard provides over 16,000 mutual funds, many of which have no transaction fee and no load. The NTF funds do have a $50 redemption fee if they are sold in less than 2 months after purchase.
Target-date funds are available at Vanguard. These securities are intended for retirement savers. T. Rowe Price,
Vanguard, and Fidelity are some of the fund families that sponsor these retirement products. A number of these
investments will carry a transaction fee of $20. Others have no load and no transaction fee.
