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Old 02-03-2018, 08:08 AM   #21
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vanguard was more than a hiccup , it is some stupid policy changes that they made that all our other institutions did not , that initially prompted us to leave them .

the poor customer service was afterwards and just icing on the cake ..
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Old 02-03-2018, 08:21 AM   #22
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Gotta love these repeated Fido vs. VG threads, the answers are always the same - both have pros/cons and reports of good/bad CS so there's very little new here.

I'm keeping my portfolio in both until one of them does something dumb to make me change. Hopefully that won't happen.
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Old 02-03-2018, 08:25 AM   #23
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Way more flexibility, customer service, more investment options, and great web tools at Fidelity.
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Old 02-03-2018, 08:30 AM   #24
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Gotta love these repeated Fido vs. VG threads, the answers are always the same - both have pros/cons and reports of good/bad CS so there's very little new here.

I'm keeping my portfolio in both until one of them does something dumb to make me change. Hopefully that won't happen.
well that is what vanguard did in my mind , something dumb .

without any letter or notifying us they removed our beneficiaries from our joint accounts .

when i called and wrote them they told us that common deaths are not an issue . in the mean time we just had our son's best friends inlaws both killed by a drunk driver going out for their 40th anniversary .

they said they want you to review your needs and use a trust (they just happen to be promoting their trust services ) or split the accounts in to individual ones .

that was absurd and so we left . all our institutions from fidelity to chase have no problem with joint accounts having beneficiaries . we have no use anymore for a trust
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Old 02-03-2018, 10:29 AM   #25
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8 months ago I called VG to move my IRA from FIDO to VG. Sure, no problem, easy. Filled out the form they said I needed to fill out, sent copies of my statements. A month later they called and said I needed to get online and fill something else out. OK, filled it out. Someone else called and said the original person shouldn't have had me do it they way they did and wanted me to get back online and fill out a brokerage application. I said nope. I told them if you can't move the account with all I have done then screw it I'll leave it at FIDO. Haven't heard any more from VG.
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Old 02-03-2018, 10:51 AM   #26
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Forgot to mention it was "concierge" "service". I did say I still wanted it moved but screw doing anything else. That was the first of December and haven't heard a word. Lousy service IMHO.
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Old 02-03-2018, 11:52 AM   #27
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Gotta love these repeated Fido vs. VG threads, the answers are always the same - both have pros/cons and reports of good/bad CS so there's very little new here.
I disagree. My aforementioned surprise is because the tilt has changed from similar discussions a number of years ago.
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Old 02-03-2018, 11:57 AM   #28
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I disagree. My aforementioned surprise is because the tilt has changed from similar discussions a number of years ago.
The main changes now are that Schwab and Fidelity have a LOT of very low-fee index funds and ETFs available and Vanguard has lost much of its cost advantage. And Schwab commissioned trades are only $4.95 (ain't competition grand) -- and many ETFs are zero-commission. My largest IRA is with Schwab (been a Schwab client since 1989 and they haven't given me reason to leave) and I rebalance with commission-free ETF trades once a year.

To me the main takeaway isn't whether Fido, Schwab et al have caught up to Vanguard, but that a rising tide is lifting all boats for fee-conscious investors.

(I actually have accounts with all three, VG, Fido and Schwab.)
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Old 02-03-2018, 12:13 PM   #29
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To me the main takeaway isn't whether Fido, Schwab et al have caught up to Vanguard, but that a rising tide is lifting all boats for fee-conscious investors.
Hmmmm I can understand how what Vanguard was in the 1990s and 2000s served as a "rising tide" that lifted Fidelity's and Schwab's "boats" in the 2010s, but what is Vanguard's "rising tide" during the 2010s that Fidelity and Schwab will have to catch up with?
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Old 02-03-2018, 03:07 PM   #30
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The main changes now are that Schwab and Fidelity have a LOT of very low-fee index funds and ETFs available and Vanguard has lost much of its cost advantage. And Schwab commissioned trades are only $4.95 (ain't competition grand) -- and many ETFs are zero-commission. My largest IRA is with Schwab (been a Schwab client since 1989 and they haven't given me reason to leave) and I rebalance with commission-free ETF trades once a year.

To me the main takeaway isn't whether Fido, Schwab et al have caught up to Vanguard, but that a rising tide is lifting all boats for fee-conscious investors.

(I actually have accounts with all three, VG, Fido and Schwab.)
I think that's part of it, but Vanguard hasn't improved their administrative procedures or improved their website. It all feels very antiquated. After jumping through numerous hoops to link a checking account to Vanguard that I easily linked to Fidelity I threw in the towel and moved everything to Fidelity.

If Vanguard ever streamlines their procedures and improves their web interface I will be back in a heartbeat.
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Old 02-03-2018, 03:26 PM   #31
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I agree if you need hand holding, trust services or your ego stroked, Vanguard would not be the first choice. They are more of a no nonsense, treat all peeps the same kind of company for the simpleton, like me!

If you are trading on margin, calls and options, lots of individual stock exchanges, Vanguard would not be a good first choice.

I do all of my business with them on line and they have been helpful when I called them. I am also considering opening an account at Fido for a 2nd taxable account, but not because I am unhappy with Vanguard.
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Old 02-03-2018, 04:03 PM   #32
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Have any of you looked at some of the Vanguard vs. Fidelity online comparisons? Found this one on Nerdwallet.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/inve...d-vs-fidelity/

VanWinkle, Vanguard would have had to return my calls/emails to do any hand holding.
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Old 02-04-2018, 03:36 AM   #33
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I agree if you need hand holding, trust services or your ego stroked, Vanguard would not be the first choice. They are more of a no nonsense, treat all peeps the same kind of company for the simpleton, like me!

If you are trading on margin, calls and options, lots of individual stock exchanges, Vanguard would not be a good first choice.

I do all of my business with them on line and they have been helpful when I called them. I am also considering opening an account at Fido for a 2nd taxable account, but not because I am unhappy with Vanguard.
i find it amusing that vanguard the grand pappy of do it yourself investing , releases studies that show how do it yourself investing generally leaves investors as a group short of what managed money can add in value by having an adviser .

they then promote their money mgmt and robo services .

then they drop beneficiaries allowed on joint accounts . tell you it is because of the virtues of using a trust -then they promote their trust dept .

hmmmmmmm , anyone see a pattern ?
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Old 02-04-2018, 05:59 AM   #34
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Look at the money flows coming into or out of Vanguard and Fidelity over 2017, 2016, 2015 ... , then make a decision.
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Old 02-04-2018, 06:26 AM   #35
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Look at the money flows coming into or out of Vanguard and Fidelity over 2017, 2016, 2015 ... , then make a decision.
What the herd does is of no interest to me. I draw my own conclusions based on my experiences.

Vanguard no longer has the edge on cost. Service is inferior. I have investments in multiple locations, and I only use Vanguard because of the admiral versions of the W funds and some legacy ETFs from when they were the only provider of low cost, commission free ETFs.
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Old 02-04-2018, 06:31 AM   #36
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Look at the money flows coming into or out of Vanguard and Fidelity over 2017, 2016, 2015 ... , then make a decision.
i have to say the same thing , the herd may just not have hit a point where they are not happy or they are brand new . many boomers are retiring moving 401k money so they just move to where others tell them
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Old 02-04-2018, 06:52 AM   #37
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I'm in both. My first 401K was at Fidelity. Since I was already there at the time, I bought mutual funds for my taxable account. Time went by, I left that job and rolled my 401K over to an IRA at Fidelity because it was super-easy to do. Next job - in fact all of my next jobs until my current one also used Fidelity. So rinse-and-repeat with rollovers. Regular deposits into my taxable account there.

Time went by, we had a kid. I decided to open up a separate account at Vanguard to deposit a bonus to try them out. Time continues to go by and I make deposits into either Fidelity or Vanguard. My latest job has the 401K at Vanguard. When the time comes, it will be rolled over to Fidelity to join the IRA I already have there. We'll see how difficult it will be to do that between those two institutions.

I'm completely in Index funds in my 401K and rollover IRA. 100% index funds at Vanguard (401K and taxable account) and mostly index funds at Fidelity (100% index in rollover IRA and mostly index in taxable).

Fidelity:
IRA has mutual funds and ETFs
Taxable accounts including mutual funds and ETFs

Vanguard:
401K and taxable accounts include only mutual funds.

Overall view after having accounts in both? Meh - Yeah, they're different, but that's just it - they're different. I have seldom needed any help from anybody at either institution. For mutual funds I have, the e/r's are similar. The ETFs I use at Fidelity are all ishares which cost a little more and are a bit of a pain when buying/selling and moving back and forth to mutual funds. But that doesn't happen very often.

Overall they both have things I like and don't like. But neither come close to hitting the bar to make me change anything.
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Old 02-04-2018, 08:42 AM   #38
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VanWinkle, Vanguard would have had to return my calls/emails to do any hand holding.
Ha!! I started to type the same reply but then saw yours. Amen. I guess my ego expects people to do their job and do what they say they will do.
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Old 02-04-2018, 09:13 AM   #39
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Ha!! I started to type the same reply but then saw yours. Amen. I guess my ego expects people to do their job and do what they say they will do.
Took me over a month to get Fidelity to return my phone call. I called three times and finally used the F word(fiduciary) on Facebook to get them to call.
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Old 02-04-2018, 09:15 AM   #40
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I disagree. My aforementioned surprise is because the tilt has changed from similar discussions a number of years ago.
Cost-wise sure, others have caught up. And Fido definitely has a better website. But that doesn't change my response that both of them have pros/cons (as seen in this thread, same as all the other threads), so unless you have a bad experience with one of them there's not much different here than any other discussion. Certainly not enough for me to move money around.

If I were starting out fresh then sure, pick Fido for the better tech. If you like their website and support better, roll the 401k there.
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