Do you have any questions about our advisory services or this web site? Here are some of the more common questions we're often asked about our service and web site. You may find the answer you seek here. Please take a look if you have any questions. However, if you have a question not answered here or would like to share your views about Vanguard investing with us, please feel free to e-mail or telephone us at our address at the bottom of this page. We look forward to hearing from you.

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• What is the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors service?

The Independent Adviser provides independent investment advice on the Vanguard family of mutual funds. Editor Dan Wiener, a long-time advocate of consumer investors, is dedicated to assisting Vanguard shareholders in achieving higher returns, less risk and more confidence in meeting their personal financial objectives . The service gives members strictly independent and unbiased in-depth information on all of Vanguard's stock and bond fund offerings as well as their international funds, variable annuities and money markets. Included in your service is a 12-page monthly newsletter with specific "buy," "hold" and "sell" recommendations and performance returns for each of Vanguard's funds. The service also offers four different model portfolio plans (for conservative, moderate and aggressive investors) using only the finest Vanguard funds. We will also keep you up-to-date of all Vanguard news events and changes in fund management. You will also have access to fund manager interviews, fund distribution information, market updates, tax efficiency advice and many other tools to make investing easier and more profitable for you.

All membership subscriptions entitle members to automatic enrollment in the Fund Family Shareholder Association at no additional charge. Members will also receive access to FFSA's 24-hour Independent Adviser hotline.

• What is FFSA?

FFSA is the Fund Family Shareholder Association, an independent investor association providing objective financial information on mutual funds and protecting the interests of mutual fund investors. FFSA has approximately 55,000 members from all over the United States.

• Who operates The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors?

The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors and FFSA are operated in association with InvestorPlace Media LLC, a publisher specializing in providing more than one million readers with leadership and solutions to improve their wealth.

• Who is Dan Wiener?

Dan Wiener is Editor of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors. In his position as Editor, he is a four-time recipient of the Newsletter Publishers Foundation's Editorial Excellence Award and has been mentioned in Barron's, Bloomberg Personal, and the Wall Street Journal, just to name a few publications. Mr. Wiener is also the President and Chief Investment Strategist of Adviser Investment Management, Inc., an investment advisory firm in Massachusetts, and speaks on Vanguard funds on radio stations broadcast all over the country. Formerly, Mr. Wiener was a financial columnist for U.S. News and World Report, and Fortune magazine. Mr. Wiener graduated from Tufts University.

• Why does Mr. Wiener cover only Vanguard funds?

Mr. Wiener has been researching mutual funds for years. After many years of researching and reporting on the financial industry, he has concluded Vanguard is the best mutual fund company for individuals to invest in. Vanguard has a long history in offering high-quality funds to the public, without the hype and flash other fund companies find necessary in the competitive mutual fund industry. Vanguard fund operating costs are known as being the lowest in the industry, and Vanguard fund managers have long-tenures and make a crucial point of sticking to the fund's investment objective. In the conservative investing tradition created by Chairman John Bogle, and now passed to his protege John Brennan, you can have all your financial needs met at a single, great company.

• Who are most of the members who subscribe to this service?

Most members of Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors are conservative, safety-first Vanguard investors. Our members are concerned about the issues most mutual fund investors are concerned with, and certainly should be, in today's financial markets: costs, quality funds and building a retirement nest egg without undue risk.

• If Vanguard is such a great fund company already, how would a membership subscription to The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Funds benefit me?

Chances are if you have been investing at Vanguard, you and your portfolio have already done quite well. Our goal is to give you expert and unbiased information to do even better. We offer you smart ways to navigate Vanguard's rules and roadblocks and point you to the very best funds they offer according to your own personal investment objectives. And while many of Vanguard's funds are exceptional, there are, as with most fund companies, funds you should stay away from. Some Vanguard funds have poorer tax efficiencies or other drawbacks that make another Vanguard fund a better choice. Sometimes negative economic trends show you should be investing elsewhere and we'll tell you the safest places to keep your money, whether the market is up or down. We'll also fill you in on which Vanguard funds have little-publicized "loads" (although Vanguard won't ever admit any of their funds have loads!) so you can avoid paying more than you need to and have every penny of your hard-earned money working for you. This is all information Vanguard, in their best interest, would be hard pressed to share with you but because we are not affiliated with Vanguard, we can and do in every member issue.

• How long has The Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors been published?

Since January 1991.

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All computer systems are different. The most common reasons why computer users have problems printing are not enough memory on your hard drive or the wrong "plug-in" to have access to the past issues (we have the Adobe reader available to download to obtain past issues if you are a current member). The fastest way to resolve any computer problem you are experiencing is to contact your computer company's customer service department. If you are still not able to obtain access to our web site or reports, please contact us at the address below (if using our e-mail service, please be sure to include your e-mail and/or mailing address) and we will respond to your questions, thoughts and comments about this site and your experiences with Vanguard and our advisory service.

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