Author Topic: How to buy funds at Vanguard?  (Read 1731 times)

shmoggy

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How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« on: March 27, 2019, 11:39:48 AM »
I feel like this a very basic question that I should be able to figure out myself, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I have an inherited IRA @ Vanguard, it is now sitting in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund.  I would like to put this money into VTSAX. (If that's a dumb idea, please tell me!)

Under the buy/sell tab what do I pick?  Buy Vanguard funds?  Exchange (sell to buy) Vanguard funds?

I'm sure it's really simple, but I'm new, confused and don't wanna screw anything up.

Thanks y'all!


thatsdifferent

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Re: How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2019, 11:48:15 AM »
I did this exact thing a week ago. Give them a call and they'll change it on the spot. Vtsax is a good choice.

solon

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Re: How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2019, 11:49:02 AM »
I feel like this a very basic question that I should be able to figure out myself, but I'm going to ask anyway.

I have an inherited IRA @ Vanguard, it is now sitting in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund.  I would like to put this money into VTSAX. (If that's a dumb idea, please tell me!)

Under the buy/sell tab what do I pick?  Buy Vanguard funds?  Exchange (sell to buy) Vanguard funds?

I'm sure it's really simple, but I'm new, confused and don't wanna screw anything up.

Thanks y'all!

You want Exchange (sell to buy) Vanguard funds. It will ask you where the money is coming from and where it is going to. Pick the fund you're selling, and then the fund you want to move into.

shmoggy

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Re: How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2019, 11:54:38 AM »
I did this exact thing a week ago. Give them a call and they'll change it on the spot. Vtsax is a good choice.

Do they charge you a fee for the phone call?  I thought I read somewhere that it's $25 to do it via phone.

MustacheAndaHalf

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Re: How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2019, 07:12:44 PM »
You want Exchange (sell to buy) Vanguard funds. It will ask you where the money is coming from and where it is going to. Pick the fund you're selling, and then the fund you want to move into.
While good generic advice, in this case op has a money market fund.  Specifically, they have the fund Vanguard uses to settle transactions.  So for this specific case, you can just "Buy Vanguard funds", which will draw from the money market fund.

Further evidence of this (or showing I'm wrong) would be looking at "available balance" and seeing that it exactly matches the money in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund.  If they match, OP can just "buy" Vanguard funds.

Do they charge you a fee for the phone call?  I thought I read somewhere that it's $25 to do it via phone.
For non-Vanguard funds, they charge $50.  When making the phone call, you could confirm that you will not be charged anything for buying a Vanguard mutual fund over the phone.  Here's the overall fees:
https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/transaction-fees-commissions/mutual-funds
« Last Edit: March 27, 2019, 07:17:29 PM by MustacheAndaHalf »

shmoggy

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Re: How to buy funds at Vanguard?
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2019, 09:58:34 PM »
You want Exchange (sell to buy) Vanguard funds. It will ask you where the money is coming from and where it is going to. Pick the fund you're selling, and then the fund you want to move into.
While good generic advice, in this case op has a money market fund.  Specifically, they have the fund Vanguard uses to settle transactions.  So for this specific case, you can just "Buy Vanguard funds", which will draw from the money market fund.

Further evidence of this (or showing I'm wrong) would be looking at "available balance" and seeing that it exactly matches the money in the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund.  If they match, OP can just "buy" Vanguard funds.

Do they charge you a fee for the phone call?  I thought I read somewhere that it's $25 to do it via phone.
For non-Vanguard funds, they charge $50.  When making the phone call, you could confirm that you will not be charged anything for buying a Vanguard mutual fund over the phone.  Here's the overall fees:
https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/transaction-fees-commissions/mutual-funds

Thanks, I got it figured out today, and it worked just as you said.  Wasn't hard at all, I was just a nervous Nellie.  :)