Vanguard now has $2 trillion in assets while many of the other bigs in the investment community are seeing their assets going down.

By one measure, Vanguard's investment assets are up 80% over the last 36 months.  What makes them so special? What are they doing right?

Vanguard is like a co-op for investing that's owned by its shareholders, similar to how a credit union is a co-op for banking. At Vanguard, they've managed to offer better returns on money because everything they do is to hold down expenses for their customers. They charge one-fifth the management expenses of the industry average.

Vanguard's business model is an unusual one for Wall Street to stomach. Many on Wall Street brushed them off as that cutesy little place in Pennsylvania saying, "They're not really Wall Street." Well, let me tell you something. Thank goodness they're not Wall Street  because every choice they make is about you as their customer and shareholder-owner.

Editor's note: This segment originally aired July 19, 2012.