Even fund firms with significant net inflows are having to make adjustments in light of the market downturn. Morningstar's Dan Culloton reports that Vanguard has already upped expense ratios for 29 of its funds' Investor Shares, by an average of six basis points, though at least one fund got cheaper. Culloton dug the numbers out of the new prospectuses Vanguard is filing for 2009 (with more than 30 out of 110 filed so far), and notes that Vanguard could have kept the new expense ratios "secret" (at least as far as the prospectuses are concerned), since prospectuses and annual reports can be backward-looking with respect to fee disclosure.

Affected Vanguard funds include: Growth Equity, down 12 bps; High-Yield Tax-Exempt, up five bps; Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt, up five bps; Limited-Term Tax-Exempt, up five bps; Long-Term Tax Exempt, up five bps; Short-Term Tax-Exempt, up five bps; Total World Stock Index, up four bps; and U.S. Value, up nine bps. GNMA's expense ratio held steady. Culloton said ETF and Admiral Shares saw similar increases, and he expects increases for the numerous Vanguard funds without new prospectuses yet. 

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