Vanguard’s $4.3 billion acquisition of Altruist raises new questions about how the company plans to position itself across the retirement and wealth management markets. Altruist gives Vanguard a modern digital custody and technology platform that can support independent advisors while expanding its reach to mass-affluent investors and retirement plan participants. Combined with Vanguard’s strong brand, target-date funds, indexing business and workplace retirement assets, the acquisition could significantly strengthen its ability to connect retirement and wealth services.
The bigger question for retirement plan advisors is whether Vanguard intends to become a stronger partner or a greater competitor. As wealth and retirement continue to converge in the workplace, Vanguard has more tools to either help advisors retain and grow participant relationships or capture those assets directly. Its historically unconventional approach to the 401(k) industry makes its long-term strategy difficult to predict.
Read more: Why Vanguard is Still an Enigma to the 401(k) Industry
