Vanguard to Pay $106 Million to Settle SEC Charges of Misleading Investors on Retirement Fund Tax Impacts

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that asset management giant Vanguard will pay $106.41 million to resolve charges of misleading retail investors about the tax consequences tied to some of the company’s retirement fund products.
Vanguard failed to adequately inform investors of the tax implications stemming from its 2020 decision to lower the minimum investment for its Institutional Target Retirement Funds (TRFs) from $100 million to $5 million, the SEC said in a Jan. 17 press release. This policy change led many retirement plan investors to shift from the more expensive Investor TRFs to the lower-cost Institutional TRFs, the SEC said….