In the latest instance of advisor partners cutting their costs on investment vehicles and other services, Vanguard announced Monday that it was eliminating the investment minimums on 25 of its equity and bond index mutual funds' Signal Shares institutional-level share class. Previously, Signal Shares required a minimum investment of anywhere from $1 million to $5 million.
Among those 25 index funds with a Signal Share class is Vanguard's flagship Vanguard 500 Index fund and its Total Stock Market Index fund.
"Low expense ratios are the tangible benefit of investing with a client-owned company," said Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb in a statement announcing the changes. "As long as the economics permit," he said, "Vanguard will continue to seek to lower the cost of investing."