Vanguard launches automated regular investment feature on Personal Investor platform
Melbourne, 15 November 2021: Vanguard today launched Auto Invest, an automated regular investment feature for managed funds on its Personal Investor platform, to offer a simple automated process for investors seeking to invest regularly.
This new feature will provide investors with the ability to set up regular investment amounts from $200 either fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, into one or a range of Vanguard managed funds.
Auto Invest is an important new tool for investors as part of Vanguard’s ongoing commitment to continued enhancement of the Personal Investor platform.
“Our Personal Investor platform was built to support our investors’ long-term investment success and we think Auto Invest will become a really key aspect of the investing experience with us, supporting a sensible and proven investment strategy,” said Balaji Gopal, Vanguard’s Head of Personal Investor.
“Modelling we commissioned shows that making the choice to focus on maximising regular contributions and minimising costs can help investors achieve their financial goals without needing to adopt a riskier investment strategy in this low yield environment. The launch of Auto Invest will make this an easier choice through a simple process that automates good habits.” said Mr Gopal.
The modelling highlights the impact of controllable factors like costs and regular savings on achieving investment success, in the absence of raging bull markets and positive global economic indicators. Modelling across three individual scenarios looking at three different life goals demonstrated the benefits of compounding together with the impact of keeping costs low and maximising regular contributions.
While the scenarios had different variables, in all cases moving from the base case, assuming an annual contribution of 1% and industry average of fees 0.85%, to a higher contribution at 4% and the lower Vanguard average fee of 0.29% had a significant impact.
Over and above the total value of the higher contributions made, the lower fees and compounding investment returns through the respective investment periods delivered between 45% and 85% of the final investment values.
“The modelling illustrates that making smart choices today and sticking to them through the inevitable volatility rollercoaster ride is another pathway towards achieving a successful financial future, instead of solely relying on factors we cannot control, like market performance and economic sentiment.
“The data reinforces the time-tested investment principle of investing to capture market gains over the long term rather than trying to time the market.
“Data from Vanguard’s UK Personal Investor platform shows that more than a third of UKPI’s investors use the Auto Invest feature. We hope that since many of our clients already regularly contribute to their accounts, this automated regular investment feature will further encourage and make it easier for them to be disciplined as they build and diversify their wealth over the long-term,” said Mr Gopal.
While Auto Invest currently enables investors to invest regularly into Vanguard’s broad range of unlisted managed funds, plans are underway to add Vanguard exchange traded funds (ETFs) to the feature in the near future.
Today’s features release includes the delivery of additional access to the platform through the launch of company accounts. These improvements follow the recent Personal Investor fee changes which included the removal of the account fee for Vanguard ETFs, managed funds and cash accounts on the platform. Vanguard is also working to launch an Android version of the Vanguard mobile app this year.
“As we continue to evolve our offering, our overarching intention is to support our investors in making smart investing decisions,” said Mr Gopal.
“We want to make sure that our existing products continue to be best in class as we strategically invest in the development of new products, services and capabilities that help our clients achieve their financial goals. I look forward to announcing further feature enhancements as we broaden our service offering to meet the needs of Australian investors,” he said.
Download the document "Important Investing Choices" here.