65 ishare ETFs Commission Free @ Fidelity

[tjscott0]

https://www.fidelity.com/etfs/ishares

[ziggy29]

The brokerage arms race continues and investors are the winners here. Schwab and Fidelity have been trading blows for a while in terms of access to commission-free ETFs and overall commission rates, and this is perhaps the latest salvo with Fido teaming up with all the Blackrock funds to expand the availability of the iShares line.

[Animorph]

On the other hand, some of the previously commission-free iShares ETF's at Fidelity will not be commission free in the near future. EEM is one of those. And there is a new short-term trading fee of $7.95 if the shares are sold in less than 30 days.

[FUEGO]

What are the highlights of this? From a quick look there are a few interesting additions for my portfolio.

IEMG - Emerging Markets. At 0.18% expense ratio it is the same as Vanguard's VWO. But how is IEMG different from the more expensive EEM?

IEFA is also a decent option if you are buying just a little and don't want to pay $8 to buy.

IFGL looks like a great replacement for WPS in the international real estate sector. Larger assets under management and more average volume and typically lower bid ask spread means the ETF is cheaper to trade on many measures (in addition to paying no commission). VNQI from vanguard blows the pants off both of these in terms of expense ratio but $8/trade can add up if you are accumulating and buying $500 or $1000 at a time each month like I often do if I need to top off my international real estate allocation.

I'm not familiar with Ishares "Core" funds. Does Core mean anything other than "these are low expense ratio ETFs that we are lining up against our competitors?"

Does anyone have a list of the old commission free funds and the new ones? What was added and what was taken away?

Great news for us fidelity investors! Wish I knew about this before I did some new investments this morning...

[LOL!]

It seems this move is mostly to counteract TDAmeritrade which has many no-commission ETFs including ones from Vanguard.

[jerome len]

Fidelity notified me, today, of their ETF changes. I've been buying my ETF's at Vanguard, they have a ton of them which are free AND I also have hundreds of free non Vanguard ETF and stock trades as well.. My question is why should I buy anything at Fidelity, occuring trading costs while I have no fees at Vanguard.....and, my account size at both firms is about the same. Fidelity now advertises 200 free trades for a new account.....I have my account, my wife has a 2nd account and we have a joint account......all over 1 m each and I've never had a single free trade except a few ETF or mutual fund purchases......Is there something I don't know/should know....or should I remain upset with them and, maybe, move my money elsewhere.

I really would like to know what everyone thinks......THANKS!

[LOL!]

^ I think you should've moved your assets over to TDAmeritrade when they were giving away $1,000 for a move of $250,000. You seem to have enough assets to qualify. So what's better: (a) Free trades or (b) Free trades plus $1,000?

[Dimsumkid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerome len My question is why should I buy anything at Fidelity, occuring trading costs while I have no fees at Vanguard....all over 1 m each and I've never had a single free trade except a few ETF or mutual fund purchases......Is there something I don't know/should know....or should I remain upset with them and, maybe, move my money elsewhere. I really would like to know what everyone thinks......THANKS!

You need to call your Private Access rep and voice exactly what you mentioned here. I'm sure they'll do something for you. Do you keep in contact with your rep at all? You can get free trades, cash offers moving in money, free Turbotax software and free portfolio reviews but you need to ask for it. If you do keep in contact but your rep isn't doing much for you, ask to change to another rep or location if possible. I found out by accident my first rep/location did nothing for me, only due to an address change did I find out. My current rep/location has been great.