SMALL AND MIDSIZE PLANS
Proven investments
Participants want enough retirement income to support their day-to-day lives and their dreams. Our investments are built for both.
Proven investments to help maximize savings
Retirement readiness starts with the right partner.
No matter what Vanguard products you select for your plan's fund lineup, our focus is on your participants' investment success.
We’re no. 1 (really)
By working with us, you’ll be working with one of the best in the industry. Pensions & Investments ranked us as the number one largest defined contribution asset manager, as of December 31, 2023. And Barron's has rated our 10-year actively managed returns as number one for the last five years.*
* Barron’s Best Fund Families published February 29, 2024, based on data through 2023. Returns were calculated before any 12b-1 fees, fund loads, or sales charges were deducted. Index funds were excluded. Results were asset-weighted and ranked against actively managed peers in the relevant Lipper category. For more information, please see the Important Information section or visit www.barron's.com. For the 10-year period, Vanguard ranked #1 in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and ranked #3 in 2018. For 2023, Vanguard is ranked #14 for 1-year performance and #17 for 5-year. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Please see the bottom of the page for more information.
Diverse investments for everyone
No two people have the same risk tolerance. That’s why our investments are as diverse as our investors—and their needs. Our broad lineup of offerings includes both Vanguard and nonproprietary funds, providing the freedom to choose the right mix.
Plans that attract the right people
Recruiting and retaining employees requires benefit offerings with a “wow” factor. An employer that offers a retirement plan from Vanguard—with its diverse array of enduring investments—is telling the talent they want to hire: “We’re investing in a long-term relationship with you.”
Lower costs = potentially more savings
Vanguard’s costs are among the lowest in the industry.1 And that’s important for participants because every dollar they save on costs is another dollar saved for retirement.
Over the years, it's always been a source of confidence to walk through a prospect’s door knowing you’re aligned to a powerhouse like Vanguard."
Brian Menickella, Managing Partner
Beacon Financial Services
Outcomes matter—now and later
We recognize sponsors are making a big decision for the financial well-being of their participants. They want to invest with a company that thinks not only about today but also tomorrow. Vanguard’s track record with investment success speaks for itself.
No.
1
DC asset manager, as ranked by Vanguard and Morningstar, 2023
No.
1
TDF assets under managerment2
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Each fund’s performance is measured against all of the other funds in its Refinitiv Lipper category, with a percentile ranking of 100 being the highest and one the lowest. This result is then weighted by asset size, relative to the fund family’s other assets in its general classification. If a family’s biggest funds do well, that boosts its overall ranking; poor performance in its biggest funds hurts a firm’s ranking.
To be included in the ranking, a firm must have at least three funds in the general equity category, one world equity, one mixed equity (such as a balanced or target-date fund), two taxable bond funds, and one national tax-exempt bond fund.
Single-sector and country equity funds are factored into the rankings as general equity. We exclude all passive index funds, including pure index, enhanced index, and index-based, but include actively managed ETFs and so-called smart-beta ETFs, which are passively managed but created from active strategies.
Finally, the score is multiplied by the weighting of its general classification, as determined by the entire Lipper universe of funds. The category weightings for the one-year results in 2021 were general equity, 37.1%; mixed asset, 20.6%; world equity, 16.8%; taxable bond, 20.9%; and tax-exempt bond, 4.5%.
The category weightings for the five-year results were general equity, 37.3%; mixed asset, 21%; world equity, 16.5%; taxable bond, 20.8%; and tax-exempt bond, 4.4%. For the 10-year list, they were general equity, 38.6%; mixed asset, 19.2%; world equity, 16.9%; taxable bond, 20.5%; and tax-exempt bond, 4.8%.
The scoring: Say a fund in the general U.S. equity category has $500 million in assets, accounting for half of the firm’s assets in that category, and its performance lands it in the 75th percentile for the category. The first calculation would be 75 times 0.5, which comes to 37.5. That score is then multiplied by 37.1%, general equity’s overall weighting in Lipper’s universe. So it would be 37.5 times 0.371, which equals 13.9. Similar calculations are done for each fund in our study. Then the numbers are added for each category and overall. The shop with the highest total score wins. The same process is repeated to determine the five-and 10-year rankings.
Visit Barrons.com for more information about the Barron's/Lipper Top Fund Families rankings.
1Vanguard’s asset-weighted average expense ratio is less than one-fifth the industry average. Sources: Vanguard and Morningstar, Inc., as of December 31, 2023.
2 Source: Vanguard and Morningstar Target-Date Strategy Landscape 2023.
For more information about any fund, visit institutional.vanguard.com or call 800-523-1036 to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing.
All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
Retirement plan recordkeeping and administrative services are provided by The Vanguard Group, Inc. (VGI). VGI has entered into an agreement with Ascensus, Inc., to provide certain plan recordkeeping and administrative services on its behalf. Ascensus and Total Benefits Communications are not affiliated with Vanguard Marketing Corporation, The Vanguard Group, Inc., or any of its affiliates.
Ascensus is a registered trademark of Ascensus, Inc.