My Personal Finance Odyssey

T Rowe Price versus Vanguard April 13, 2007

In my monthly net worth update for March, I had mentioned that I wanted to do some research on Vanguard to see if they might be a better “home” for my portfolio. Mainly, my interest was whether or not the lower expenses translated into better overall returns.

I must admit, I was not looking forward to this. The main reason is that I thought it would be very time consuming (I am a bit lazy). Also, (you aren’t going to believe this) I had this uneasy feeling that I would indeed find that it made more sense and would have to go through a whole process of switching my assets out of T Rowe Price to Vanguard. Isn’t that ridiculous?

So, why the “uneasy feeling”? Essentially, I have been investing with T Rowe Price for some years now and have become very familiar with their mutual fund products, tools, etc. Essentially, my unease was due to the fact I would have to spend time “learning the ropes” at Vanguard and leave my “comfort zone” at T Rowe Price. Yes, I realize this is silly. I suspect it has similar origins to why people don’t easily change their phone (not cell) or insurance company…you just don’t feel like messing with it. Also, of course, the inertia or lazy factor is ever present. Anyway, I overcame my irrational behavior and lazy tendencies and did it.

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