Vanguard Group made investment errors in the accounts of customers participating in Nevada's 529 college savings plan, the asset manager confirmed in a statement.
Some portfolios in the plan managed by Vanguard were given higher allocations to equities than intended, said Charles Kurtz, a Vanguard spokesman.
The errors occurred in October 2020 as Nevada's $26.8 billion 529 plan transitioned to target-enrollment portfolios from age-based portfolios, according to Mr. Kurtz.
The mistakes, he said, were due to an implementation error as the plan transitioned to the new portfolios and have since been corrected. "The glide path design and methodology has been and remains sound," Mr. Kurtz said.
Vanguard did not comment on what the errors meant for participants.
After being notified of Vanguard's error on March 19, the Nevada State Treasurer's Office immediately worked with Vanguard to remedy the asset allocation, which was finalized for all plan participants on March 24, said Kirsten Van Ry, senior deputy treasurer for southern Nevada, in an email.
"We will perform a thorough review of this situation to ensure that any plan participants that were negatively impacted are made whole by Vanguard on a case-by-case basis," she said. "We are committed to working with Vanguard to ensure an error like this does not happen again."
