Vanguard, a household name, offers multiple financial products like stock investing, mutual funds, and ETFs. You must be aware they also provide Certificates of Deposits(CDs) service. The CDs offered by Vanguard are, to some extent, different from CDs by other financial institutions.

Vanguard offers brokered CDs service to depositors. Brokered CDs are the rates Vanguard buys in from banks and sell out to brokerage customers at very competitive prices. Vanguard makes a profit from the buy-in price and the offer price.

Vanguard buys many rate quotes from various banks across the country, therefore offering attractive CD rates to customers. Investors intending to park their money can find it appealing to deal with Vanguard as it provides a lot of competitive CD rates to various types of clients.

What Are Vanguard CD Rates?

If you think after opening an account with Vanguard, and you can deposit your money into a CD and get things done. You may be disappointed because you may be overwhelmed with what Vanguard has offered a wide range of CD products available for you to choose from.

Before we go further, you have to know a term: APY. APY stands for annual percentage yield. It is the interest earned on the principal in percentage over a year and has compounding effects by earning the interest on additional interest. It seems confusing, but you should not be worried, as the APYs stated have already been calculated and included in the rates.

The best thing about Vanguard CD rates is you can find the best rates through specified parameters. You can even find out the CD rates suitable for you based on your criteria. A current rate table is as follows for your reference:

As you can see, the longer the periods are, the higher the interest rates are.

How Do Vanguard Brokerage CDs Work?

Vanguard offers brokered CDs through its network of 100 dealers nationwide. Some points you have to know how they work are listed below:

• You can set up multiple accounts from different banks. As you may know, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC) offers to every account holder at a bank up to US250,000. If an investor holds more than one account or the account limit is over US250,000 at a bank, full protection of the amount per account cannot be accessible. However, at Vanguard, you can set up multiple accounts from different banks and have funds fully insured by FDIC if you have funds of more than US250,000. You have all accounts from various banks at one shop – Vanguard!
• In Vanguard, you can implement the strategy of “CD laddering.” That is, you create a portfolio of CDs with different maturities and take advantage of reinvesting the proceeds with interest at the best rates from banks in one place.
• The advantage of “CD Laddering” is you can control over how to control your cash flows by determining CD maturities. However, by actively managing your CDs, you should spend some of your time examining and implementing your portfolio strategies yourself. The other option is to talk to your financial advisor and make an investment plan.  
• You can sell your CDs on the stock market and still retain the accrued interest for your own. What is more, Vanguard does not charge a commission for the sale of CDs. However, you should beware of the ups and downs of CD prices due to interest rate changes, and third parties may charge the transaction fees on the stock market.
• Finally, you should note the principal and interest will not renew automatically. The proceeds are deposited into a Vanguard market money account upon maturity. You should renew through Vanguard’s official website or its customer service hotline.

How Much Will You Earn With Vanguard CDs?

It is a good question! It depends on interest rates and time. The longer you put into a CD account in a common market situation, the higher it earns more interest. The interest difference between CD with less than 18 months(0.05%) and 10 years(1.10%) is 1.05% from the table above. If you deposit 1,000,000 into a CD, the latter yields more than 10,000 dollars per year!

You should also remember to renew expired CDs or may not maximize the profit potential as the interest from the market money account is less than CDs’ even though it may compound the interest.

How Vanguard Compares to Other Banks

Vanguard’s CD rates are lower than some competitors. The CD offers from Fidelity are similar to Vanguard’s; however, the APYs offered are lower than some by online banks like Ally Bank and Marcus by Goldman Sachs. The following table is for comparison:

What Are the Benefits of Vanguard CDs?

Vanguard is a convenience store of various CDs. Different types of CD investors find their matches in one stop. The benefits include:

1. All types of term lengths: Vanguard covers 11 kinds of maturities from one month to 10 years. Investors can choose one easily among them. 
2. Competitive interest rates: Rate offers from banks are available for investors basing their criteria.
3. Fee-free sales: One of the benefits is you can sell the CDs on the market and cash out your principal and interest earlier than maturity dates. The other is Vanguard does not charge you a commission.
4. Sophisticated app: Like other financial institutions, you can monitor your investments on the app. by Vanguard on Android, IOS, and Alexa.
5. Extensive education resources: Vanguard also provides informative resources like videos, guides, and expert advice to invest in CDs.
6. Ownership structure: Vanguard sets up different account structures like an individual or joint account to help CD savers to attain their financial goals.
7. Connect outside accounts: What makes Vanguard unique is its company structure. It is a mutual company. The clients own Vanguard, so the company is more focused on their clients than other investing companies.

Things to Consider Before Getting a Vanguard CD

• Minimum deposit: Vanguard requires initial and subsequent deposits with a minimum increment of 1,000 dollars. The other financial institutions have lower minimum requirements.
• Simple interest: Expired CDs will not renew automatically and need investors’ further calls. The proceeds of CDs park in Vanguard’s money market funds with a lower interest rate.
• Fee for secondary market transactions: Though Vanguard does not charge a commission for sale on secondary markets, it will charge other transaction fees related to the CD.
• Account service fees: There is an annual account service fee of $20 charged to the account if the minimum deposit is below $10,000; however, Vanguard will waive it if you sign up for an e-statement.
• Support: Unlike other financial institutions, Vanguard does not provide phone service beyond business hours and real-time online service.

Final Thought: Are Vanguard CDs Right for You?

Vanguard brokered CDs offer customers multiple shopping easy in one place. Investors can review quotes from different banks and make the right choice.

Besides, what is essential is investors can get full deposit protection other institutions cannot provide. They can make use of per-account and per-bank quotas to fully insure deposits of over $250,000.

Short-term investors can park their money to utilize Vanguard’s CD rates to maximize their profits as it offers various terms of CDs. Long-term investors can include them in their portfolios for further strategic investment implementation.

To maximize profits and implement investment decisions, you need insightful information and professional financial markets analysis to keep you updated. Investoralist is an online magazine providing financial knowledge and expert commentary related to stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, cryptocurrency, CDs, and investment-related information under one roof.

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