Vanguard survey reveals advisor engagement opportunity on proxy voting

New data reveals that proxy voting choice programs offer advisors chances to engage with their clients. A recent Vanguard survey of more than 700 advisors indicates they anticipate limited interest from investors in these programs, but results from an investor survey show otherwise.

Survey results reveal different perspectives between advisors and investors

Vanguard surveyed financial advisors across multiple channels in March to understand their perspectives on proxy voting choice programs, which enable investors to help direct how their equity index funds vote at company shareholder meetings.¹ This study follows our recent research outlining investor perspectives on proxy voting.

Together, the studies revealed a clear opportunity for advisors to connect with clients over proxy voting choice. Data from our individual investor survey on proxy voting, conducted in February 2025, found that investors have a strong interest in participating in the proxy voting process. Results from our March advisor survey suggest this might be a preference advisors didn’t expect.

The survey sample is obtained from the most recent Discovery Data databases of registered representatives and RIAs. Databases are analyzed to determine the current distribution of advisors by assets under management, channel, tenure, gender, and region. Quotas are then established to produce a final set of respondents that is truly reflective of the advisor population. As a final step, a weighting formula is applied based on the aforementioned demographic variables.

Views also differed among advisors and individual investors regarding shareholder preferences for voting decisions and how offering a proxy voting choice affects fund attractiveness.

Half of the individual investors surveyed agreed that it is “extremely” or “very” important for asset managers to consider investor preferences when casting votes for their equity funds, and more than half (58%) said they would be more likely to invest in a fund if they could influence the fund’s proxy voting decisions. This differs from advisor expectations, as shown in the charts below.

These findings highlight that proxy voting choice can be a good way for advisors to enhance their value proposition, as it helps incorporate clients’ preferences into proxy voting decisions.

Benefits and motivations for adopting programs

Roughly 70% of advisors identified ways their businesses would benefit by adopting proxy voting choice programs. Close to half (47%) of advisors believe that doing so would add value by enabling their clients’ preferences to be represented in fund voting decisions.

Despite different expectations of client interest in a proxy voting choice offer, advisors named ease of use, cost to implement, and client demand as the top three motivating factors to adopt these programs in their practices. As our individual investor proxy voting survey shows, demand is strong.

Advisors and investors are aligned on certain governance topics

As in the individual investor survey, advisors were asked to select the governance topics they consider most important to their clients. Issuing dividends and executive pay were identified as the top two proxy voting matters by both advisors (60% and 49%, respectively) and individual investors (41% and 44%, respectively). However, only about one in five advisors identified approaches to social issues and environmental matters (21% and 20%, respectively) as proxy voting matters their clients would want to weigh in on, while a slightly higher percentage of individual investors (29% and 24%, respectively) viewed these matters as important.

Financial advisors and their firms play a crucial role in helping clients select investments most appropriate for them. By representing their clients’ preferences in the proxy voting process, financial advisors can further enhance the value they provide.

Advisors can uniquely enable the voice of index fund investors

The different perspectives observed in our surveys highlight an opportunity for advisors to talk with their clients about voting choice, as individual investors have expressed strong interest in engaging in proxy voting choice programs.

Since 2023, Vanguard has been providing ways for millions of individual investors, advisors, and retirement plan sponsors to have greater control of how their participating equity index funds vote on proxy ballot items at the companies held in the funds. Vanguard Investor Choice provides investors with a simple, single policy election that helps direct Vanguard how to vote underlying corporate proxies for each participating investor’s pro rata share of an eligible fund or ETF. Please read more about Vanguard Investor Choice here so you can start the conversation with your clients.

Related links
Investors report strong interest in proxy voting choice
(article, issued April 2025)

Vanguard Investor Choice: Empowering more index fund investors
(article, issued March 2025)

Vanguard Investor Choice: Empowering everyday investors through voting choice (webpage)

Notes:

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