I don't know what age I was, but my parents had Vanguard mail come in somewhat frequently, so I knew of their existence, just not what they were about. I guess my first real exposure was selecting where to put the money in my employer's 401k. I read about them briefly and went with a TR fund. After a few weeks of weighing my options (Vanguard, Betterment, WiseBanyan), I opened a RothIRA account with them earlier this month, and I am rolling over that 401k to an IRA now. I will start a brokerage account with them soon, after the money from the stocks sale is deposited to my savings.