If Humble Dollar is supposed to be about personal finance and how to manage your money - I don't see the relevance of independent physician offices and their struggles with insurance companies.
Can we stick to the mission?
Actually a lot has changed at Vanguard - fee based personal advisors / wealth management based on a % of portfolio, private equity offerings, and loaning funds from your account??? I wonder what Mr. Bogle would think about some of these 'products'.
My experience was last year.
I am a 25+ yr investor with Vanguard and consider myself a Boglehead. All of my investments are with Vanguard. I do want to share a big issue I faced with the liquidation of my husbands accounts on his passing. He had an investment account at Vanguard and his 401k at Fidelity. With Fidelity I was transferred to an 'Estates Department' straight away. I was given the name and phone number of a representative who was obviously trained to work with grieving and distressed people. She was efficient, explained the process and scheduled a follow up call in 2 weeks to check on whether the beneficiaries had contacted Fidelity. She said she was available if I had any questions. She checked back in 2 weeks. Very impressed - white glove support.
Vanguard - not so much. And I have given my Relationship Manager this feedback - there is no department of trained individuals - you rely on the customer service line and they were not as supportive - no contact info, no follow up and they even asked the beneficiaries for death certificates which was not necessary. All beneficiaries felt Fidelity did a better job handing the process and one switched their account from Vanguard to Fidelity because they had such a bad experience.
I recommended to my Relationship Manager that they should have a dedicated department or team to handle these transactions. Disbursement of investment accounts is a certainty and for most grieving beneficiaries an experience they never thought they would have to do. There is a big opportunity for Vanguard to improve in this area.
Comments
I appreciate that Dan - I commented on it because I don't think this article would have gotten past Jonathan's desk.
Post: Overpaid?
Link to comment from January 21, 2026
If Humble Dollar is supposed to be about personal finance and how to manage your money - I don't see the relevance of independent physician offices and their struggles with insurance companies. Can we stick to the mission?
Post: Overpaid?
Link to comment from January 20, 2026
Actually a lot has changed at Vanguard - fee based personal advisors / wealth management based on a % of portfolio, private equity offerings, and loaning funds from your account??? I wonder what Mr. Bogle would think about some of these 'products'. My experience was last year.
Post: Vanguard Complaints?
Link to comment from July 20, 2025
I am a 25+ yr investor with Vanguard and consider myself a Boglehead. All of my investments are with Vanguard. I do want to share a big issue I faced with the liquidation of my husbands accounts on his passing. He had an investment account at Vanguard and his 401k at Fidelity. With Fidelity I was transferred to an 'Estates Department' straight away. I was given the name and phone number of a representative who was obviously trained to work with grieving and distressed people. She was efficient, explained the process and scheduled a follow up call in 2 weeks to check on whether the beneficiaries had contacted Fidelity. She said she was available if I had any questions. She checked back in 2 weeks. Very impressed - white glove support. Vanguard - not so much. And I have given my Relationship Manager this feedback - there is no department of trained individuals - you rely on the customer service line and they were not as supportive - no contact info, no follow up and they even asked the beneficiaries for death certificates which was not necessary. All beneficiaries felt Fidelity did a better job handing the process and one switched their account from Vanguard to Fidelity because they had such a bad experience. I recommended to my Relationship Manager that they should have a dedicated department or team to handle these transactions. Disbursement of investment accounts is a certainty and for most grieving beneficiaries an experience they never thought they would have to do. There is a big opportunity for Vanguard to improve in this area.
Post: Vanguard Complaints?
Link to comment from July 20, 2025