> You can do even better by going directly through Vanguard
yes, definitely go straight to vanguard for any of their products! i should've said as much, thanks for doing so.
they're so easy to deal with there's hardly any point in purchasing any of their products elsewhere.
> and getting Admiral Shares of the corresponding mutual fund, which have much lower fees than the ETFs.
once you've saved up enough to buy into the admiral shares, that's certainly the easiest thing to do. but their ETFs are just shares of the admiral-level funds. so their expense ratios are identical.