Uncommon Cents

I have now used the Vanguard Brokerage Option in my Vanguard administered 403(b) a few times, mostly by phone, but for the first time, I’ve also used it online. It was not quite as easy as I would have expected.

I have used Vanguard’s Web site–not with the VBO–for years, mostly to check my balances but also to reallocate my assets or to switch funds in my retirement plan. The VBO is a little different.

I had, via phone, sold out of my holdings in the T. Rowe Price International DIscovery Fund about a week ago with the intention of buying into the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund. I decided to then try the online option rather than call.

To say the least, I was a bit confused. The site is not quite what I was used to with Vanguard, probably since the brokerage option is administered by a different firm. There are, unfortunately, a few issues.

First off, since I have several accounts at Vanguard, and the Vanguard Brokerage Option appears like a “fund” in my two retirement accounts. When I click on that “fund”, it leads me to another page that details all the funds in those two accounts as well as revealing the details and contents of my VBO plan. When I click “Buy & Sell”on the account, it takes me to a page with numerous options on buying and selling–but none to buy Vanguard funds. Instead, I had to click on “Buy non-Vanguard funds” in order to actually file my order! Even when there, it unfortunately did not tell me what my balances were–I had to go back and manually write down the amount I had available to buy into the fund in order to put the order in.

All that said, I still love Vanguard and their funds and I am grateful for this brokerage option; I just wish their Web site for the brokerage option was easier to use.

Tags: 401(k)s and equivalents, Investing, Mutual funds, Retirement

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