Vanguard recent announced that it has reduced expense ratios across 53 funds, amounting to nearly $250 million in fee reductions for 2026. The cost cuts affect 84 mutual fund and ETF share classes, resulting in an average fee cut of 27% for the funds involved. This follows a previous round in 2025 where Vanguard lowered $350 million in expense ratios, impacting 43% of its U.S.-based mutual fund and ETF share classes. The firm says the last two years' reductions total almost $600 million, its largest two-year cost cut to date. Vanguard CEO Salim Ramji stated that as an investor‑owned firm, the company has no outside stockholders, and these fee reductions—delivering more than half a billion dollars in savings over 2025 and 2026—are a clear expression of its purpose and commitment to clients as owners. When investors keep more of what they earn, the benefits compound over the long term, helping clients achieve their most important financial goals. A Morningstar research paper last year found that over the past decade the cheapest stock and bond funds in their categories delivered average returns of 10.3%, about 2 percentage points higher than the most expensive funds. However, asset managers have slowed fee‑cutting recently, with the average fund fee declining only two basis points in 2024. Vanguard still held the lowest average fee at 0.007%, compared with the equal‑weighted average of 0.34% in 2024, before the recent reductions. According to Daniel Sotiroff, senior manager research analyst at Morningstar, “Lower fees are always good, but these cuts won’t dramatically improve clients’ returns. The median expense ratio of this group was just 0.06% before the announcement, while the median reduction was 0.01%.” Sotiroff added that even small fee reductions result in bigger savings over time and will pressure other asset managers to cut fees on their ETFs and mutual funds. The current reductions will impact Vanguard’s equity 9‑box funds, including its flagship Growth ETF (VUG) and Value ETF (VTV), its FTSE Emerging Market ETF (VWO), its Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG) and its High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM), among others. Vanguard’s investment products now carry an average expense ratio of 0.06%, with over three‑quarters of its ETFs (85%) priced in the lowest decile for their category.