Hey guys I just started a Vanguard account. Do I keep my funds

>>1032341
Get 10k and buy some admiral funds or go to the ETFs.

Trick to Vanguard is low fees

>>1032341
>Vanguard Prime Money Market Fund
Think of the money market fund as your savings account. It's for storing cash, but not for investing. It will also hold any extra cash in your account, such as from dividends, distributions, and proceeds of sale.

You can leave cash there long term, if you want. But that's no different than putting it into a savings account at your bank, and the interest you'll earn (quite low, currently) will be nearly identical.

So, yes, to actually invest in stocks and bonds you need to buy funds or ETFs and pay for them with the money in the money market fund. When you purchase a fund or ETF, just list the money market fund (it may be labelled as your "settlement fund") as the source of payment.

>>1032341
because you are asking this question I will try to explain the types of accounts.

Money Market Fund or Accounts - cash account that simply stores money with slight restrictions or no restrictions
Pros: Don't lose money
Cons: Don't gain money either

Mutual Fund - Majority of account types at vanguard. Typically a blend of many stocks or bonds on the stock market. An owner buys a "share" of all those stocks, so it's fractional stock shares which carry everything that the original share holds, just as a fractional amount.
Pros: easy to automate, just transfer money per week or month to the mutual fund and watch it grow over time
low fees
Cons: most follow the stock market and can have scary ups and downs.
Can have negative years
Usually a long term strategy, as you won't see big returns for a decade or more depending on how much you put into it.
Price is determined at closing time so if you are not automating, then you need to pick a time just before the market closes to set that price for your purchase.
May need a minimum amount of money to start, or more for admiral funds

ETF - It's like a mutual fund in that you can buy blended stocks but is more open to buying and selling any time you want.
pros:
more options
cons:
need brokerage account opened as well
can't automate
some etf need a large amount of buy in for a share

Thanks for the help guys!

>>1032479
are you a millionaire`?

>>1032479
What is a good vanguard fund for the $1000 Minimum or $3000 minimum

>>1032505
>Price is determined at closing time so if you are not automating, then you need to pick a time just before the market closes to set that price for your purchase.
Not a bad explanation overall, but I need to correct this one error. Mutual fund purchases are denominated in dollars, so you don't need to figure anything or pick any time. You need to decide how much you want to invest, and then Vanguard will execute the transaction at that day's NAV (which, as stated, is determined at the close of business that day).

You make it sound like there's some timing or guessing element, when that's not really quite accurate. While it's true that you won't know the NAV when you purchase a fund, that's pretty irrelevant for long-term purchases.

>need brokerage account opened as well
Vanguard's new main account type is a brokerage account. It can also hold traditional funds.

While Vanguard used to separate their brokerage accounts and their fund accounts, they are aggressively moving away from that due to regulatory issues.

>>1032616
>are you a millionaire`?
Yes.

>>1032621
>What is a good vanguard fund for the $1000 Minimum or $3000 minimum
If you don't have a lot of capital, but are are still committed to long-term (5, 10, 30 year) investing, then start with an all-in-one fund. At Vanguard these are called Target Retirement funds and have a minimum investment of $1000.

Ideally you will educate yourself about asset allocation strategies so that your can set your own portfolio choices in the future. I suggest a lot of reading on the bogleheads.org site, included but not limited to:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asset_allocation