Jeff DeMaso of The Independent Vanguard Adviser - The Inside Scoop Into One of the World’s Largest Funds

Feb 18, 2025

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Today on the podcast, Rusty and Robyn are joined by Jeff DeMaso - editor and founder of The Independent Vanguard Adviser. Jeff was previously the co-editor and research director of The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors. He also served as Portfolio Manager, Director of Research and the interim CIO at Adviser Investments, LLC—a leading investment advisory firm. He has been quoted in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, InvestmentNews and Kiplinger, to name a few. Citywire named him a Rising Star of manager research in 2019. Jeff graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University with a B.A. in economics in 2006 and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Key Takeaways

[04:32] - Jeff’s professional background and how he transitioned into his full-time role at IVA
[07:27] - Learn more about The Independent Vanguard Adviser and how they hope to serve their readers
[09:20] - What is Jeff’s market outlook for the coming year?
[12:23] - Why does Vanguard have an international slant and does Jeff agree with this approach?
[14:26] - What is Jeff’s take on how the typical dollar is invested at Vanguard? How does Jeff think those dollars should be invested?
[16:41] - What are some of Jeff’s favorite Vanguard Mutual Funds or ETFs?
[18:16] - What are some underutilized Vanguard strategies in Jeff’s opinion?
[19:28] - Are there areas where Jeff thinks Vanguard could improve their active management offerings?
[20:31] - Why was Vanguard recently in the news regarding the FDIC? Was this important or not important?
[24:03] - Outside of Index Funds, what are some of Vanguard’s strengths?
[24:06] - What does Jeff think Vanguard could be doing better?
[26:07] - What steps could Vanguard take to enhance the client experience?
[27:33] - Learn about Vanguard’s new advice and wealth management division and how this can help investors?
[29:05] - Over the next 5-10 years what should Vanguard investors be keeping an eye on?
[30:57] - In closing, are there any other things that Jeff thinks advisors and investors should know about Vanguard or the broader market?
[32:17] - What is currently Jeff’s favorite investment idea?
[34:37] - How does Jeff balance the need to be informed and educated with the need to reset and tune out?

Quotes

[13:27] - “I think that as investors we need to use both our spreadsheets and…common sense a little bit, or think in the real world, and having 40% in non-US is really hard for a lot of US investors. So, I am a big fan and advocate of staying globally diversified, I just think that might be a little bit too much for most people.” ~ Jeff DeMaso

[24:16] - “As I alluded to before, I think that more important than active vs. passive is low cost vs. high cost investing, and even if you go active at Vanguard you’re still getting low cost investing.” ~ Jeff DeMaso

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