Editing The Vanguard Group (section)

== Company Overview ==
The Vanguard Group, Inc. is an American registered investment advisor based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about '''$7.7 trillion''' in global assets under management, as of '''April 2023'''. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the world after BlackRock's iShares. In addition, Vanguard offers brokerage services, educational account services, financial planning, asset management, and trust services. Several mutual funds managed by Vanguard are ranked at the top of the list of US mutual funds by assets under management. Along with BlackRock and State Street, Vanguard is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers that play a dominant role in corporate America

Vanguard has a unique structure for an investment management company. The company is '''owned''' by the funds; the funds are owned by the shareholders. Thus, the shareholders are the actual owners. In contrast to most other publicly-owned investment firms, Vanguard has no outside investors other than its shareholders<ref>https://www.vanguard.co.uk/professional/about-vanguard</ref>. Vanguard's structure allows the company to charge very low expenses for its funds. Due to its scope, the company has been able to reduce its expenses over the years. The average expense ratio for Vanguard funds was 0.89% in 1975, which has now fallen to 0.09% by the end of 2021<ref>https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/articles/latest-thoughts/investing-success/10-years-of-bringing-value-to-euro-etf-investors</ref>. This allows for Vanguard to avoid conflicts of interest present at other investment management firms. Publicly traded investment management firms must cater both to their shareholders and the investors in their funds.