Vanguard Offers New Fund Expense Data

Oct. 22, 2003 — Vanguard Group, the nation’s second largest mutual fund company, said it has adopted a proposal by the Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose fund operating expenses in dollars and cents instead of as a percentage of assets.

Vanguard said it is providing the new expense data in its 2003 shareholder reports. The materials, the company said, include a table showing actual costs investors would incur over the course of the fund’s latest fiscal year, based on a $10,000 investment, and the fund’s actual expenses and its total return for the period.

The SEC this year said it supports proposed federal legislation to provide more information, including dollars-and-cents expense disclosure, to fund shareholders. The legislation incorporates proposals made by the SEC last year.