The Huge Tax Bills That Came Out of Nowhere at Vanguard

[question everything]

4. I suppose it depends on the nature of the fiduciary

Before Vanguard changed into a "brokerage firm" we had our own contact that we really did not need but who, in November, sent an alert that we needed to pull more to satisfy the RMD.

And, from the same article

A related idea has worked well at Betterment, the online investment-advice company, says Dan Egan, the firm’s head of behavioral science. When clients were about to sell an investment that could trigger taxes, some saw a pop-up prompting them to view their estimated tax liability; others didn’t. Those who saw the pop-up were 15% less likely to enter the sell order.

Little interventions like that could make a big difference to small investors. Those were the people Vanguard’s late founder, John Bogle, championed for decades. In this situation, Vanguard failed them.