Admiralty Shares Invitation

[clifp]

I held Vanguard GNMA in my Schwab account for several years, but they didn't allow Admiral share conversions. Two+ years ago I finally got the bright to move the money over to Vanguard. The process was pretty smooth the shares got transfered in kind to Vanguard. Vanguard converted them to Admiral shares, and avoid paying even the modest capital gains that would have occurred with sales and repurchase at Vanguard.

I figure it saves me a couple hundred each year in fees, well worth the small amount of trouble.

I expect that I'll be moving more money to Vanguard in the coming years, because when you factor everything in generally admiral funds are cheaper than ETFs. I still am a big fan of Schwab service the commissions are down $8.95 and are often cheaper for things like bonds and options than most other name discount brokerages.

Unfortunately,Schwab's mutual funds which used be merely mediocre have really gone down hill. For example the Schwab Yield Plus fund (ultra short term bond fund) has just collapse the last year, and its Morningstar rating has plummeted from 5* to 1* as its NAV has dropped from 9.60 to 6.60...

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Wow. Pretty darn amazing losing that much on an ultrashort.

Also a good example of why morningstar fund ratings arent very good predictors of the future.

[redduck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifp I held Vanguard GNMA in my Schwab account for several years, but they didn't allow Admiral share conversions. Two+ years ago I finally got the bright to move the money over to Vanguard. The process was pretty smooth the shares got transfered in kind to Vanguard. Vanguard converted them to Admiral shares, and avoid paying even the modest capital gains that would have occurred with sales and repurchase at Vanguard. I figure it saves me a couple hundred each year in fees, well worth the small amount of trouble. I expect that I'll be moving more money to Vanguard in the coming years, because when you factor everything in generally admiral funds are cheaper than ETFs. I still am a big fan of Schwab service the commissions are down $8.95 and are often cheaper for things like bonds and options than most other name discount brokerages. Unfortunately,Schwab's mutual funds which used be merely mediocre have really gone down hill. For example the Schwab Yield Plus fund (ultra short term bond fund) has just collapse the last year, and its Morningstar rating has plummeted from 5* to 1* as its NAV has dropped from 9.60 to 6.60...

I also plan on moving my Keogh over to Vanguard eventually, but, for now, I gotta stay with Schwab. I'd also like to save a few hundred a year on mutual fund investments and I figure Charles Schwab himself is rich enough as it is. Do you think he's still in the accumulation stage or is he drawing out his 4%?

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifp I held Vanguard GNMA in my Schwab account for several years, but they didn't allow Admiral share conversions. Two+ years ago I finally got the bright to move the money over to Vanguard. The process was pretty smooth the shares got transfered in kind to Vanguard. Vanguard converted them to Admiral shares, and avoid paying even the modest capital gains that would have occurred with sales and repurchase at Vanguard. I figure it saves me a couple hundred each year in fees, well worth the small amount of trouble. I expect that I'll be moving more money to Vanguard in the coming years, because when you factor everything in generally admiral funds are cheaper than ETFs. I still am a big fan of Schwab service the commissions are down $8.95 and are often cheaper for things like bonds and options than most other name discount brokerages. Unfortunately,Schwab's mutual funds which used be merely mediocre have really gone down hill. For example the Schwab Yield Plus fund (ultra short term bond fund) has just collapse the last year, and its Morningstar rating has plummeted from 5* to 1* as its NAV has dropped from 9.60 to 6.60...

Interesting inputs...... I've thought about moving my VTSMX to a Vanguard account. My only hesitation is that DW needs financial arrangements to be as simple and straight forward as possible and, if I wasn't around, a convenient walk-in office would be extremely beneficial. It's really just my VTSMX being unconvertible to VTSAX while It's at Schwab that's the problem. And moving just that position to Vanguard might make sense since.

I admit to dragging my feet because it seems that one of our current presidential candidates would like to increase the LT cap gain rates. If that's going to happen, I suppose I'd just sell the VTSMX and buy VTI and go ahead and pay the (substantial) cap gains tax while it's still 15%.

Ref Schwab - Agree on Schwab branded funds. I own small positions in two (both four star rated) but generally don't think Schwab is competitive in MF's. But they do offer a long list of non-Schwab MF's you can buy with no commission (sadly Vanguard and Fidelity not on the no-commission list) and, of course, ETF's are available. As a brokerage house, they're great. Cheap, convenient local office I visit a few times a year, quality folks answering the phone when you have a question, good web site, good cap gains tracking and good end-of-year reporting of tax info. Just that nagging problem of paying commissions to buy Vanguard or Fidelity funds and Admiral Shares not available.