Vanguard Fit

[unclemick]

Wellll - my left handed born again Boglehead theory - they don't do success real well - with success you have to add people - some rookies train faster than others.

And as a second to CFB's commentary - just gimme my full auto - don't Flagship me - give me free this and that stuff - doing absolutely nothing for very long stretches of time has proved extremely beneficial to my ER.

Fidelity can go eat cake! Actually had good experiences with them also on and off over thirty years - but I'm in a skins and shirts. Ford vs Chevy kind of mood today.

heh heh heh -

[FIREdreamer]

I have been investing with VG for 4 years now (most of my money is invested with them). I didn't transfer my account to VG for the customer service. I was looking for a place where I could invest my money in good quality index mutual funds with low ER, low fees and no commissions. I was looking for a place where I could DIY (no FA, no broker, no intermediaries) and in that respect I am a very satisfied customer. I used their customer service only once (Rollover IRA question). They were courteous and answered my question quickly.

I would think that if you expect a higher degree of support for your investments, there are other companies that are more customer-oriented and that can do it better. But their investment options might be more expensive as well. Somebody's gotta have to pay for the service, no?

[Texas Proud]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

Along the way I realized that vanguard not only doesnt like quick and easy, they dont like people that want to flip things around a lot or do things fast. They're more into people who buy a set of investments and then leave them alone. Thats how they get the low costs and minimize churn in their funds.

I would agree... and was even told something like this from a rep of the company. I was stupid not aware that they carried this over to their BROKERAGE accounts. Because of this I lost about $500. I had a few stocks in a brokerage in my IRA. One of them decided to issue rights that were only good for 10 or so days. When they were issued, they started to sell at about 35 cents... I figured they were not worth more than 15 cents... so I wanted to sell right away... but.. but.. NO RIGHTS were in my account... I waited and waited... it took 3 days to get them in... and it was after the market closed so in effect it was 4 days... well the price had been dropping the whole time... an email sent on day one was was ignored for days... when I could finally trade.. the price was down to 11 cents (the stock had dropped)... I put in a limit for 10 cents... and no trade... finally on the next to last day, I got the 10 cents...

My many calls along the way were basically 'we do not do brokerage well'... if you know of people who traded on day one in Ameritrade maybe you should use them Say what

SOOO, lesson learned...

[Spanky]

I am npt real happy with their speed of processing transactions, esp with their brokerage account. I actually prefer E*trade for buying and selling stocks.

[nwsteve]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

Along the way I realized that vanguard not only doesnt like quick and easy, they dont like people that want to flip things around a lot or do things fast. They're more into people who buy a set of investments and then leave them alone. Thats how they get the low costs and minimize churn in their funds.

CFB
I think you have it very well captured. If fact, I no longer have a brokerage position with V due to their ineptness. Rarely trade my Vanguard positions. Still do not see why it excuses premium service reps from being competent to handle their client needs. By definition, if Flagship client, one would expect this population to have more situations and more needs. And perhaps expecting to receive a level of service at least meeting a competency level that can accurately handle transactions fundamentals.
nwsteve

[clifp]

To echo what I think is the consensus. Vanguard givesfriendly competent services (I think they are especially good with senior citizen/less sophisticated investor i.e. Mom). However, there is a Vanguard way of doing things and it isn't fast and isn't flexible.

My experience with Schwab has varied from good to fantastic, I've seen them jump through hoops to accommodate my and my families needs.

For the most part I use ETFs through Schwab to access most Vanguard offerings, if I was a big Fidelity customer I'd do the same thing.

[Spanky]

Vanguard prides itself on being the low-cost leader, but the competition has caught up in cost and may be eating Vanguard's lunch. The processing speed of Vanguard's transactions (i.e., 401K rollover, exchanging funds, buying/selling funds) is less than desirable even though we hardly trade.

[DblDoc]

Originally Posted by Spanky

Vanguard prides itself on being the low-cost leader, but the competition has caught up in cost and may be eating Vanguard's lunch. The processing speed of Vanguard's transactions (i.e., 401K rollover, exchanging funds, buying/selling funds) is less than desirable even though we hardly trade.

They seem to be doing OK. Vanguard Gets Gold Medal for ETF Growth - Seeking Alpha. I use Scottrade however for trading in ETF's, Vanguard just manages our tax deferred accounts.

DD

[mexmeme]

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny

It also doesnt help when people make up their own facts or only want to look at the facts they like or the ones that support their predisposition...two things that are known to drive INTJ's up the wall.

Okay, back to your topic still in progress....

I've looked everywhere, but can't find the answer. What does "INTJ" mean. Thanks.

[Marquette]

Originally Posted by mexmeme

I've looked everywhere, but can't find the answer. What does "INTJ" mean. Thanks.

It's one of the Myers-Briggs personality profiles:

Portrait of an INTJ

Introvert
iNtuition
Thinking
Judging

From Wikipedia:

• How they focus their attention or get their energy (Extraversion or Introversion)
• How they perceive or take in information (Sensing or iNtuition)
• How they prefer to make decisions (Thinking or Feeling)
• How they orient themselves to the external world (Judging or Perceiving)

When my group was tested, it was amazing to see the differences in action.

Orchidflower knows quite a bit more about this and other personality tests, I'll find that old thread if I can.

Oh, I'm an INTP.