How to make changes to your Vanguard 401(k) portfolio

Make sure your Vanguard 401(k) is working for you

Making changes to your Vanguard 401(k) portfolio can help you make sure that your investments are in line with your unique financial situation and goals. As a general principle, financial planning experts suggest investors should be:

• more aggressive when you have a long time horizon until retirement, because you’ll be able to ride out market fluctuations to increase your potential for higher returns
• increasingly conservative as you approach retirement, to protect your returns

Before making changes, make sure you’ve considered all of the investment options in your 401(k) plan (your employer usually chooses around 20 options).

We want to make it easy for you to make changes to your Vanguard 401(k) portfolio – check out the guide below to get step-by-step instructions.

Step-by-step guide to make changes to your Vanguard 401(k) portfolio

1. Log in to Vanguard and select the account you’re looking for.
2. Click on “Manage my money” and then “Investments”.
3. Scroll down and click on “change how your money is invested”.
4. You’ll need to change the current investments in your portfolio, as well as change your investment elections for any future contributions to this account.
5. Start by changing your investment elections for any future contributions by clicking on “Change paycheck investment mix”.
6. Click on “Select new fund”.
7. Check off any funds that you want to add to your portfolio. Scroll down and continue.
8. Input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Continue to save these changes.
9. Next, you’ll need to change your current portfolio allocation. On the “Change Investments” page, click on “Change current investment mix”. 
10. Click on “Select new funds”.
11. Check off any funds that you want to add to your portfolio. Scroll down and continue.
12. Input the desired % allocation to each of the funds. Continue to save these changes.

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