Vanguard

What you will be able to do with this connection

This connection setup enables two features:

1. Visibility of total balance.
2. Route money into your account (also called “pushing” funds).

Requirements to Connect

• You have an account with Vanguard.
  • This guide focuses on Vanguard Personal investors, including personally administered retirement accounts.
  • Vanguard Retirement plan participants are not covered here as those are handled through an employer.
• You have a Sequence account.
• You will need whatever device you use Sequence on - desktop or laptop.
• You may encounter some Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). So, you may need one or more of the following:
  • Whatever device you receive text messages on
  • Whatever device you use to access the Vanguard Mobile app
  • Whatever device you use to access your preferred authenticator app

Connection Instructions

Connecting via Plaid

 🗒️ It has been noted that Vanguard has connection windows, i.e., specific times of day that the Plaid connection can be completed. If you are within a blocked time period, Plaid will notify you during the workflow with specific availability. The best time to complete the connection without interruption is outside standard trading hours.

If you’ve connected accounts using Plaid previously, you should be able to run through that section fairly quickly.

Routing and account numbers can be found via the Browser interface or the mobile app.

The following process enables a connection with Plaid that enables the display of your [Institution Name] account balance:

1. Click this link to navigate to the Sequence login page.

2. On the bottom center of your money map, click the add account button.

3. Select the Beneficiary & Investment Account

4. You should now see the Plaid connector.

   

5. Click Continue to go to the next step.

6. Enter your Phone number and click continue.

   1. Note that if you have previously used Plaid, your phone number may be autofilled.

   

7. Plaid will send you a text message with a code. Enter the code, and you should move to the institution selection screen.

   1. If you’ve used Plaid before, you may see a list of previously selected institutions.
      1. If your desired institution is listed, you may select it.
      2. Otherwise, click on “Connect a new institution” located at the bottom of the list.
   2. Otherwise, we should only see investment institutions because back in step 3 we selected “Investment account.”

8. In this case, we will select Vanguard.

   1. If you don’t see Vanguard listed in the displayed institutions, start typing Vanguard in the search field.

9. You should see the screen below directing you to login at Vanguard.

   

10. Enter your credentials and click the “Submit” button.

11. You should now see an account selection screen displayed.

    

    Specific account numbers have been blurred for security purposes.

12. Select the accounts you would like to include by checking the appropriate boxes.

13. Click Continue. Plaid will now work its connection Magic. 🪄

14. You should now see a Vanguard node(s) representing your account(s) in your Sequence money map.

⚡ Don’t be concerned if the node displays Action required. We will fix this in the next step.

Adding your Routing and Account Numbers

1. After completing the Plaid connection, you should have at least one Vanguard account node in your Sequence money map. However, it likely says ”Action Required.”

   

2. Click on the node to open the slide out view with your account details. You should see an orange colored warning about connecting your routing and account numbers.

   

3. Click on the connect icon & text on the right-hand side of the warning.

4. You should now see The “Connect Investment Account” dialogue box, where you will enter your routing and account numbers.

   

5. Currently, access to Vanguard routing and account numbers varies depending on the account type - brokerage account or cash management account.

   1. Brokerage accounts include, but are not limited to, IRAs, Brokerage, 529 Savings Plans, and UGMA/UTMA.
   2. Vanguard has one cash management account branded as the Vanguard Cash Plus Account.

   • Vanguard Investment Accounts

     Currently, Vanguard brokerage accounts have a direct deposit feature only available through the desktop browser app. Setup, as well as account and routing numbers, are not available in the Vanguard mobile app.

     • Vanguard desktop browser app

       1. Use your preferred browser to log in to Vanguard.

       2. By default, you should start on the My Dashboard view.

       3. On the right side of the upper navbar, click on the “Profile & account settings” icon.

          

       4. On the “Profile & account settings” page below the page header, select the “Banking” tab and then click “Direct deposit.”

          

       5. You should now be on the Direct deposit summary page. Click on the “Set up direct deposit” link under Brokerage accounts.

          

       6. On the “Set up direct deposit” screen, start typing sequence in “Step 1: Where’s the money coming from?” By the letter “N” in sequence you should see it on the search list. You can either select Sequence from the list or finish typing.

          

       7. In “Step 2: Would you like to name your source? (Optional),” you can add a descriptive name. This helps distinguish multiple direct deposit setups; this is especially useful if two or more come from the same named source in Step 1. This field has an eleven character limit.

          

           🗒️ Please note that the values entered in steps 6 and 7 above do not affect the generated account and routing numbers.

       8. In “Step 3: Where's the money going?” enter the percentage of the deposit you wish to transfer into each account listed.

          

          Specific account numbers have been blurred for security purposes.

          💡 For most Sequence users, one direct deposit setup with Step 3 set to 100% per Vanguard account will be most useful. This allows for full usage of all Sequence routing features and ensures that the amount determined by said Sequence rule(s) is fully sent to one and only one Vanguard account.

       9. Click the Continue button in the lower right.

       10. You should now be able to review your previous selections. If everything looks good, you can click the Submit button. If you need to edit anything, the edit link is in the description text near the top of the page.

       11. You should now be able to see your account and routing numbers. This completes step 5 overall.

       💡 If you need to find your account and routing numbers again, simply repeat steps 5.1 through 5.4 to return to the “Direct deposit summary” page. There you should see your previously cread direct deposit setups listed as toggle headers in the form <Source>-<memo>.

• • Vanguard Cash Plus Account

    Fortunately, finding account and routing numbers for a Vanguard Cash Plus Account is rather straightforward.

    • Vanguard desktop browser app

      1. Use your preferred browser to log in to Vanguard.

      2. By default, you should start on the My Dashboard view.

      3. Below the page header, select the “Holdings” tab.

      4. Scroll down to find your Cash Plus Account and click on the three vertical dots next to “More account information.”

      5. From the menu that appears, select “Account and routing numbers.”

    • Vanguard mobile app

      1. On your mobile device, open the Vanguard app and log in.
      2. Scroll down to find your Cash Pluss Account on the “My Accounts” card, then tap on it.
      3. On the next screen, directly underneath you account balance is a link entitled “Account and routing numbers.” Tap on it and your account and routing numbers should be displayed.

• Transfer the routing and account numbers obtained in the previous step to the Sequence dialogue box opened in step 4.

• Click Submit, and the orange warning should disappear.

If you would like to test your connection, you can go to your Sequence Activity Log and run a manual transfer by clicking on the “Transfer Manually” button located in the upper right of the Activity Log screen.

⚡ For faster manual transfers use money already in a pod. Transfers from pods to external accounts are 2x faster than transfers from external accounts to external accounts.