Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab?

[Mr._Graybeard]

IIRC Schwab web transactions are free but placing an order via a person sticker price is $25. I like talking to the bond guys except for the simplest transaction and they have waived the fee for me at least a couple of times in the past.

I found that Schwab waives a lot of transaction fees by request if you're a fat cat.

 

[target2019]

Your age, address, income estimate, and zip are public data.

 

[OldShooter]

I found that Schwab waives a lot of transaction fees by request if you're a fat cat.

I prefer "well nourished."

 

[OldShooter]

Your age, address, income estimate, and zip are public data.

Well, maybe they have some numbers wrong (happily), because we get essentially no hustles except maybe one steak dinner every month or two. Not even Fast Eddie.

 

[jazz4cash]

Your age, address, income estimate, and zip are public data.

I wonder how they estimate income. Wouldn’t be surprised if they use an average for your zip. I usually ignore requests for income info when I log into my accounts.

 

[teej1985]

I'll see you Vanguard prospecting - and raise you one Edward Jones. (They're after my DH. ) We don't know how they got his info either.

I got junk from Fisher Investments a couple years ago.

 

[MarieIG]

I got junk from Fisher Investments a couple years ago.

Yes. I'm familiar with them. Years ago my TD Ameritrade rep roped in a bunch of her clients for a dinner and brought in some Fisher reps to give a presentation. I eventually told Fisher not to contact me.

More recently they have been mailing DH so I suspect his name got on some sort of list.

 

[easysurfer]

I just got an email from Fido from my "Wealth Management Team" nudging me to make an appointment to discuss my investment strategy. I kinda don't like the idea of someone telling me how I should spend my money.

What? Now I have a Wealth Management Team ? . Sounds too much like a future sign on the dotted line offer or something. Something I didn't seek out.

 

[Koolau]

I just got an email from Fido from my "Wealth Management Team" nudging me to make an appointment to discuss my investment strategy. I kinda don't like the idea of someone telling me how I should spend my money.

What? Now I have a Wealth Management Team ? . Sounds too much like a future sign on the dotted line offer or something. Something I didn't seek out.

Yeah, I think that all the big houses will be going this way to enhance profits. YMMV of course.

 

[easysurfer]

Yeah, I think that all the big houses will be going this way to enhance profits. YMMV of course.

Of course. They are in the game of telling you how to spend your money as long as they get their cut .

 

[Texas Proud]

I just got an email from Fido from my "Wealth Management Team" nudging me to make an appointment to discuss my investment strategy. I kinda don't like the idea of someone telling me how I should spend my money.

What? Now I have a Wealth Management Team ? . Sounds too much like a future sign on the dotted line offer or something. Something I didn't seek out.

Not sure if this is one that costs, but I do know that they have free advisors... I recommended to one of my sisters to join Fidelity just for that reason...

 

[easysurfer]

Not sure if this is one that costs, but I do know that they have free advisors... I recommended to one of my sisters to join Fidelity just for that reason...

I was kind of being my cynical self .

 

[RetireIn2030]

We've had retirement assets in Schwab & Fidelity and taxable assets in Fidelity & M1. In the end we have consolidated down to just Fidelity. The fees are cheap, selections are solid and after you have enough assets you get a dedicated free financial advisor. It's been working for us.

 

[Exit 2024]

Sorry for pulling out somewhat old topic but my question is in leu of above conversation.

We have assets in all 3 brokerages, and mine 401k in the BNYMellon, but that is mute point right now.
I am ok to leave all as is and continue to manage money through all 3 of them for now and have some consolidation when I have opportunity.

I am in the process to write instructions for Spouse if something happens to me, and for Child if something happens to both of us.
So obviously as they are not much involved in all of our finances I need to provide instructions where the money, how to get them and how to consolidate all.
My initial thinking was to use Vanguard as places to move all assets what could be consolidated and that they can call them for help if any issues.

Now reading all those messages about how customer support went downhill- I am not sure if I should still keep a Vanguard as main option for the task. And News that Vanguard will charge $100 to close/ move accounts to other custodian effective July 1 make my rush to make the decision.

Fidelity is out of the questions, I had very hostile episode with them 6 years ago, they blocked my online access and all my funds with no resolution except to pay third party company around $1k which I refused to do and consider that as extortion. It took me almost 6 months to get my money out of them and as of last month they still refused to re-instate my access, so I closed my last account with them :annoyed

So alternative to Vanguard leaves Schwab. Pluses and minuses are well known and discussed here above. One bigger advantage of the Schwab - we have office in walking distances from our house that may be useful for both, the spouse and the child.
One more minus would be to move child's accounts (funded and managed by us) to the Schwab and change investments to ETFs that later on all her inheritances and accounts funded by us will be sitting separate from her own accounts. And also it will be easier for her to not mix that money with marital assets.

Question is - does that worth the trouble? Or should I leave the plan as I have it today.
Who can be a better help to uninterested heiress considering the situation, Schwab or Vanguard? Who would you choose and why?
Total assets in questions without Child's about $2.5M

Here is a current arrangements for all our accounts, all 3 401k will be moved to Vanguard Trad IRAs (or Schwab?) as soon as we stop working.
That will simplify the picture a little bit. I was planning to consolidate Schwab Roths into the Vanguard Roths (may need to do opposite), but can not move HSAs and do not want to move Brokerage from Schwab. So Vanguard brokerages can go to the Schwab.

Child has her own accounts at Fidelity and wants stay there for simplicity. I do not like it but it is her choice.
We are to select brokerage mainly for us where all her inheritance will be sitting later.

Vanguard
1. My Roth IRA
2. Sp Roth IRA
3. My Trad IRA
4. Sp Trad IRA
5. My Brokerage
6. SP Brokerage
7. Child Roth IRA (was funded and managed by us)
8. Child Brokerage (was funded and managed by us)

Fidelity
9. Sp 401k (through current employer)
10. Sp Solo 401k (no active business anymore, rolled there prev employers 401ks)
11. Child 401k (through current employer)
12. Child HSA (she funds herself)
13. Child Roth IRA (she funds herself)

Schwab
14. My Roth IRA
15. Sp Roth IRA
16. My HSA (through HSA Bank)
17. Sp HSA (through HSA Bank)
18. My brokerage

BNYMellon
19. My 401k (through current employer)

Other
20. My HSA (through current employer)
21. Sp HSA (through current employer)

 

[FREE866]

Exit 2024
To me a HUGE advantage of Schwab over Vanguard is the ability of my beneficiaries to walk into an office and sit face to face with someone who can hold their hand through the process.

 

[Retired2016]

Sorry for pulling out somewhat old topic but my question is in leu of above conversation.

We have assets in all 3 brokerages, and mine 401k in the BNYMellon, but that is mute point right now.
I am ok to leave all as is and continue to manage money through all 3 of them for now and have some consolidation when I have opportunity.

I am in the process to write instructions for Spouse if something happens to me, and for Child if something happens to both of us.
So obviously as they are not much involved in all of our finances I need to provide instructions where the money, how to get them and how to consolidate all.
My initial thinking was to use Vanguard as places to move all assets what could be consolidated and that they can call them for help if any issues.

Now reading all those messages about how customer support went downhill- I am not sure if I should still keep a Vanguard as main option for the task. And News that Vanguard will charge $100 to close/ move accounts to other custodian effective July 1 make my rush to make the decision.

Fidelity is out of the questions, I had very hostile episode with them 6 years ago, they blocked my online access and all my funds with no resolution except to pay third party company around $1k which I refused to do and consider that as extortion. It took me almost 6 months to get my money out of them and as of last month they still refused to re-instate my access, so I closed my last account with them :annoyed

So alternative to Vanguard leaves Schwab. Pluses and minuses are well known and discussed here above. One bigger advantage of the Schwab - we have office in walking distances from our house that may be useful for both, the spouse and the child.
One more minus would be to move child's accounts (funded and managed by us) to the Schwab and change investments to ETFs that later on all her inheritances and accounts funded by us will be sitting separate from her own accounts. And also it will be easier for her to not mix that money with marital assets.

Question is - does that worth the trouble? Or should I leave the plan as I have it today.
Who can be a better help to uninterested heiress considering the situation, Schwab or Vanguard? Who would you choose and why?
Total assets in questions without Child's about $2.5M

Here is a current arrangements for all our accounts, all 3 401k will be moved to Vanguard Trad IRAs (or Schwab?) as soon as we stop working.
That will simplify the picture a little bit. I was planning to consolidate Schwab Roths into the Vanguard Roths (may need to do opposite), but can not move HSAs and do not want to move Brokerage from Schwab. So Vanguard brokerages can go to the Schwab.

Child has her own accounts at Fidelity and wants stay there for simplicity. I do not like it but it is her choice.
We are to select brokerage mainly for us where all her inheritance will be sitting later.

Vanguard
1. My Roth IRA
2. Sp Roth IRA
3. My Trad IRA
4. Sp Trad IRA
5. My Brokerage
6. SP Brokerage
7. Child Roth IRA (was funded and managed by us)
8. Child Brokerage (was funded and managed by us)

Fidelity
9. Sp 401k (through current employer)
10. Sp Solo 401k (no active business anymore, rolled there prev employers 401ks)
11. Child 401k (through current employer)
12. Child HSA (she funds herself)
13. Child Roth IRA (she funds herself)

Schwab
14. My Roth IRA
15. Sp Roth IRA
16. My HSA (through HSA Bank)
17. Sp HSA (through HSA Bank)
18. My brokerage

BNYMellon
19. My 401k (through current employer)

Other
20. My HSA (through current employer)
21. Sp HSA (through current employer)

I would move it to Schwab in a heartbeat especially with a local office. That’s what I did to make it easier for my spouse/kids if I died first. They will help you to move funds over. Also, check for a bonus. We got $3500 when we moved Vanguard funds. If you have the Schwab Plat card, they will also give you a credit toward the annual fee based on how much you have invested with them.

 

[youbet]

I’ve considered transferring some assets from Vanguard to Fidelity, but I am not willing to eat a taxable event or pay any future transaction fees to do so. I can move IRAs without a problem if I’m willing to convert to Fido funds, but not taxable (all in VG funds) as far as I can tell. I either have to sell VG funds and buy similar Fido funds (huge tax hit), or accept transaction fees on my VG funds. What am I missing? Since I need almost zero hand holding, deteriorating customer service at VG hasn’t been a big issue.

I'm surprised at this, but my experience was with Schwab and not Fidelity. Schwab will accept and hold Vanguard funds. (Close to half of my Schwab holdings are Vanguard MF's.) And it's easy to negotiate zero transaction fees for Vanguard MF's held at Schwab. You just have to call and ask for a zero Vanguard transaction fee note to be attached to your accounts. I understand requests are usually successful as long as you're a substantial customer. Fidelity doesn't do this? If not, I'm surprised as Fidelity seems to be Schwab's equal in these kinds of things.

 

[LateToFIRE]

...Fidelity is out of the questions, I had very hostile episode with them 6 years ago, they blocked my online access and all my funds with no resolution except to pay third party company around $1k which I refused to do and consider that as extortion. It took me almost 6 months to get my money out of them and as of last month they still refused to re-instate my access, so I closed my last account with them...

I consolidated everything with Fido. You're making me nervous now. Can you elaborate, why they would do something so extreme?

 

[youbet]

I found that Schwab waives a lot of transaction fees by request if you're a fat cat.

I found that the transaction fee normally charged for buying Vanguard funds and the fee charged for placing trades with a broker over telephone can be negotiated. I suppose the "big players" can negotiate much more.........

 

[Texas Proud]

I thought you took everything out of FIDO....

I have money in all 3 myself... I have formed a relationship with a free FA at Schwab and if I move more money into FIDO will do so there also... Vanguard does not offer this for free and my level... maybe not at any level...

As mentioned in this thread, there are good and bad at all with trading, website and interest rate on uninvested cash... pick which you like... right now I am just living with all three...

 

[frank05]

I wonder how they estimate income. Wouldn’t be surprised if they use an average for your zip. I usually ignore requests for income info when I log into my accounts.

It does a couple times, it gives you higher credit limits if you get a credit card through them and they can move you more personal services if you have high earnings.

 

[big-papa]

Just finished The Four Pillars of Investing Second Edition, and pgs 276-277 give the most concise but informative summary of the majors I've ever read - some I've heard, some I hadn't but never so clearly stated. I would love to share it word for word, but I've been correctly advised that's too close to copyright infringement. This doesn't have near the impact, but a few tidbits:

• Pay attention to the number of securities held by any fund or ETF. e.g. two similar sounding funds at differing firms one has 855 holdings while an other has 7881.
• Limit your purchases of open-end funds to those of your custodian (Vanguard, etc.)
• When this book went to press a couple months ago, the default sweep fund yield at Schwab was 0.40% vs 3.7% at Vanguard or Fidelity - in 2019 134% (not a typo) of Schwabs earning came from net interest. If you have money that sits in cash, allocation or between trades, for whatever reason...
• Fidelity offers low fees on index/passive funds to lure investors into active funds. And check fees closely, some Fido funds that sound almost the same have substantially different fees.
• The author acknowledged elsewhere "customer support at Vanguard has deteriorated." He also says "how long this free ride (customer service) at Fido and Schwab will last is anyone's guess, so enjoy it while it lasts."
• Competition among the three will only intensify, so stay tuned, as their relative advantages and disadvantages can easily change.

Again, the actual text is FAR better than my summary...

I learned a lot from Dr. Bill at the beginning. But I've learned a lot more by everything else I've read and by my own studying and have moved away from much of what he's written about. Or at least not take it quite so literally.

- It is correct that the number of positions matter - but only to a point. There is no material difference, for example, to the long term performance of an SP500 with only 500 holdings and a Total Stock Market fund with thousands. Similarly, there's been no material difference between various Total Stock Market index funds, even when some employ sampling techniques to reduce the total number of stocks held. Of course, this is all assuming low e/r's when comparing
- I would agree about open ended mutual funds. I don't hold any, except for money market settlement funds which I keep as little as possible invested in at any given time. My true investments are all in ETFs and none of them are from the custodian where I hold my investments (Fidelity)
- I hold everything at Fidelity and I can tell you that the "lure investors into their active funds" hasn't happened to me. Not once, ever, has anybody at Fidelity tried to get me to move money into their active funds and I have quite a bit invested there. They basically leave you alone, if you ignore them. And even if they come a callin', we all have the power of "no".
- Determining whether to purchase a fund based only on its name is ill-advised. Investors really should do some homework if they're going to DIY their investments.
- Regarding the "free ride" at Fidelity and Schwab, nothing is guaranteed anywhere. I've been at all 3 of the majors over the years, but at Fidelity the longest. I'm no longer at Vanguard for a number of reasons, including employers' moving our 401Ks out of there. But even when I had a taxable account there, I wasn't all that happy with the customer service. I never had much at Schwab and closed that out years ago to consolidate.

I'm certain other's experiences are different than mine have been.

Cheers.

 

[big-papa]

But then there are fees on any transactions thereafter with those VG funds as I understand it. No? So I have to pay taxes to move the funds and convert, or pay a$75 transaction fee to Fido ever after?

If I had a Vanguard fund that I was moving over to Fidelity, I'd probably do a conversion to their equivalent ETF first and then move it in-kind. No taxes, no commissions, no fees. Of course, not all of Vanguard's funds have this option. And there are a lot of people who don't prefer ETFs for one reason or another.

Cheers.

 

[Trooper]

This probably deserves a separate post, but just yesterday Vanguard announced a $100 fee for transferring assets to another brokerage firm, unless you have $5M with VG.

Check These Before You Transfer an Account From Vanguard

 

[Exit 2024]

I consolidated everything with Fido. You're making me nervous now. Can you elaborate, why they would do something so extreme?

I have no clear explanation from them.
I was not a new customer, had 401k through employer for many years with them, had checking account and 2% credit card for at least 5 years. By that time 401k balance was zero as employer moved to other custodian, and I decided to open brokerage with them. All was good, I moved $10k into it and they locked me out as soon as money arrived.

I called CS they said that probably because of $10k moved into it and it is temporary hold, but they had no clue why I am locked out of my checking and credit card. Told to call 3 days later. This time they transferred me to some other group, and I was told that my login was compromised. Asked if it was me or not on that day and time . And yes it was me, checking if money arrived, but logged in from work PC (not for the first time). So they told me they will make records and I will receive e-mail to change my login and pw. Did not receive any emails - called again next day, was transferred multiple times and landed at some "IT Security" group.

From here all went very weird, they argued that it could not be me accessing account as their software identified it as "dark web access". They will not allow me to reset login and password till all our PCs and phones checked for viruses. And just for the records we both work for IT for 30+ years, all out pcs have updated antiviruses running all the time. Between 2 of us it is 6 computers including work ones. They refused to take any screenshots from antivirus results and insisted that we have to produces 3d party report. Said that we need to bring all computers for example to "Geek squad" that they can "clean them from viruses". That would not only be crazy and costly but also we are not allowed to get any work pcs in hands of any third party. Our explanations fell on dead ears, they just needed that 3d party paper.

Sorry for the long story, I tried to escalate it to the manager and answer was the same. I asked how I can access my money- answer was "we do not know, it is not our job". I went to search online how to resolve, and all similar cases that I found had no any other resolution.

So I used debit card to drain most of the checking (only couple dollars left), I paid credit card by check and never used it again. But could not get to the brokerage till found one case online where guy in similar situation was able to pull his account by submitting transfer request through Vanguard. I did the same and it took Vanguard almost 3 months to get my money, but they did it.

I still had checking account with small balance sitting there for 6 years, called again just about month ago - same story, they will not get me unlocked till I produce that 3d party paper. So I closed account. Spouse is still have access to employer sponsored and solo 401ks, but we will move them out as soon as we stop working.