How do I buy some of this Vangard stuff you speak of ?

Thanks Yellowfin.

I browsed some previous threads and see discussion of mutual funds vs. ETF's.

What's an ETF, and should I consider it?

I see where someone else was trying to diversify stocks, and also have a bond fund strategy. Seems to make sense?

Are you near a brick-n-mortar Scottrade (Baton Rouge, Shreveport), or Charles Schwab? Go see them and tell them you want to buy some mutual funds (and/or ETF's) through Vanguard.

Vanguard is in Penn, NC and Ariz. But they do business everywhere

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Are you near a brick-n-mortar Scottrade (Baton Rouge, Shreveport), or Charles Schwab? Go see them and tell them you want to buy some mutual funds (and/or ETF's) through Vanguard.

Vanguard is in Penn, NC and Ariz. But they do business everywhere

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No, don't do this. Go straight to Vanguard.com. Don't pay fees to a brick and mortar brokerage.

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One other question, is it risky to put too much of one's money into one fund "company"? ie Vanguard, Fidelity, etc?

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Not really. But different families have different strengths, for example.: Vanguard is the best index funds, Fidelity and American Funds are better at activelymmanaged funds. So I've got some money in all 3.

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what happens to my ETFs if Vanguard folds?

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Unlike mutual funds, which create new shares each time an investor adds money to the fund (the fund's share price is not affected by number of shares but rather the NAV) ETF's have a finite number of shares. If the ETF's company were to go belly up, the securities inside would be liquidated and distributed to the shareholders (and the taxes would frick you in the arse)But the Fund's assets aren't collectible by creditors if the firm files for bankruptcy. Unless it's a leveraged ETF, then the fund must pay it's debts before paying share holders, in which case you could lose a chunk from your original investment.

Now, you really wouldn't have to worry about that with a firm like Vanguard, since they are client owned. Each fund in the Vanguard family is an individual separate entity that supports the parent company VGI. For VGI to go bankrupt, every fund in the Vanguard family would have to go broke. For even 1 fund to go broke, the value of every stock/bond/reit inside the fund would have to hit 0. If that happens, we all have much bigger problems than investing, better have a gun, some bottled water, and some soup.