Losing faith in Vanguard

[Moemg]

The mistake has been corrected .My correct RMD is safely in my money market . I am glad I spoke up and did not accept Vanguard's run around .

[littleb]

I have 90% of our retirement accounts at Fidelity except a couple of accounts that are still at Vanguard. Eventually the accounts at Vanguard will be moved to Fidelity. Our banking and equity accounts are with Schwab. I had many accounts with Vanguard but have slowly moved them to Fidelity and Schwab due to customer service issues.

In my experience, Fidelity gives excellent customer service compared to Vanguard. If the rep does not know the answer they put you on hold and find someone who can help you. They also return calls. The same thing with Schwab.

Fidelity's website and tools are excellent once you learn how to use them. Vanguard's website seems outdated, basic and tired.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg The mistake has been corrected .My correct RMD is safely in my money market . I am glad I spoke up and did not accept Vanguard's run around .

I have found that with a lot of these vendors that you only get what you reasonably, assertively and persistently insist on.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I have found that with a lot of these vendors that you only get what you reasonably, assertively and persistently insist on.

+1

[Scout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen I just moved the rest of our money from Vanguard to Fidelity. I got tired of Vanguard's cumbersome procedures and clunky website. I can find my way around Fidelity's website easily. I had Fido do all the paperwork for the transfer and they gave me $2,500 for moving the money over. If Vanguard ever fixes its website and streamlines their procedures I will be back in a heartbeat.

Fidelity will pay you to transfer your money over to them?

[43210]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scout Fidelity will pay you to transfer your money over to them?

No, it appears Fidelity has stopped doing brokerage bonuses.

[friar1610]

I've never had a problem with VG (yet). But I'm curious...if I ever were to get pi$$ed off at VG and wanted to move my taxable assets to Fido, how would I do it w/o incurring large CG taxes? The only thing I can think of is to convert my VG index funds to the corresponding VG ETFs. Then transfer the VG ETFs to Fido Brokerage. But would Fido start bugging me to convert to their ETFs at some point?

[jim584672]

Quote:

Originally Posted by friar1610 I've never had a problem with VG (yet). But I'm curious...if I ever were to get pi$$ed off at VG and wanted to move my taxable assets to Fido, how would I do it w/o incurring large CG taxes? The only thing I can think of is to convert my VG index funds to the corresponding VG ETFs. Then transfer the VG ETFs to Fido Brokerage. But would Fido start bugging me to convert to their ETFs at some point?

I think you can transfer everything in kind. Check with Fidelity/Vanguard.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by friar1610 But would Fido start bugging me to convert to their ETFs at some point?

No. I've had several Vanguard ETFs in my FIDO accounts. Not a problem.

But you would have to pay a standard transaction fee (usually $4.95) to buy/sell them in a FIDO account, where you wouldn't have that fee when trading FIDO fund/ETFs.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by friar1610 I've never had a problem with VG (yet). But I'm curious...if I ever were to get pi$$ed off at VG and wanted to move my taxable assets to Fido, how would I do it w/o incurring large CG taxes? The only thing I can think of is to convert my VG index funds to the corresponding VG ETFs. Then transfer the VG ETFs to Fido Brokerage. But would Fido start bugging me to convert to their ETFs at some point?

You might have to convert Admiral shares to the Investor shares before transferring in kind. That should not be a taxable event. Vanguard Investor shares can be held at Fidelity.

Or you can convert to ETFs.

No, I don't think Fidelity will bug you to "convert" to their ETFs and there isn't a non-taxable conversion process to another Fund Family anyway. You'll pay a $5 commission when you sell Vanguard ETFs at Fidelity. You pay no commission to sell Vanguard mutual funds, but you do pay a high commission to buy.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 You might have to convert Admiral shares to the Investor shares before transferring in kind. That should not be a taxable event. Vanguard Investor shares can be held at Fidelity. Or you can convert to ETFs. No, I don't think Fidelity will bug you to "convert" to their ETFs and there isn't a non-taxable conversion process to another Fund Family anyway. You'll pay a $5 commission when you sell Vanguard ETFs at Fidelity. You pay no commission to sell Vanguard mutual funds, but you do pay a high commission to buy.

+1

They don't care. It's a standard business arrangement. Many fund companies hold house accounts of other companies product.

Folks who care about data recovery might want to consider who is the system of record for their investments.

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 You might have to convert Admiral shares to the Investor shares before transferring in kind. That should not be a taxable event. Vanguard Investor shares can be held at Fidelity. Or you can convert to ETFs. No, I don't think Fidelity will bug you to "convert" to their ETFs and there isn't a non-taxable conversion process to another Fund Family anyway. You'll pay a $5 commission when you sell Vanguard ETFs at Fidelity. You pay no commission to sell Vanguard mutual funds, but you do pay a high commission to buy.

This would be something I'd not like (red). Kind of surprised at this. What is the commision if you recall?

I find VG funds to be pretty good selections for us, particularly the bond choices. And I can always select other fund families (no commision I think) but somehow VG always wins out. Oh well, it would take a lot of VG problems for me to switch since there is a lot of setup associated with moving.

I think minor problems at VG are to be expected and tolerable.

[Moemg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I have found that with a lot of these vendors that you only get what you reasonably, assertively and persistently insist on.

I am great at that having spent many years in New Jersey .

[friar1610]

Thanks to those who responded to my question. As I noted, I haven't had any problems with VG's admin or service, so I'll just stick with them for now.

Interestingly, late in Dec, after the tax bill passed, I initiated a several-step process to make a contribution of appreciated funds to a charity. I half expected, due to the fact that I started it so late, that they wouldn't get it done by the end of 2017. But they did - good for them!

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal This would be something I'd not like (red). Kind of surprised at this. What is the commision if you recall? I find VG funds to be pretty good selections for us, particularly the bond choices. And I can always select other fund families (no commision I think) but somehow VG always wins out. Oh well, it would take a lot of VG problems for me to switch since there is a lot of setup associated with moving. I think minor problems at VG are to be expected and tolerable.

I transferred everything at Vanguard, "in kind". Most of that account was individual stocks except for Wellesley. No cost to transfer Vanguard Wellesley to Fidelity but there is a $75 commission to buy additional shares, no fee to reinvest your dividends and cap gains. I had a very small 401k from another company that I had moved as cash and invested that money in Wellesley. That's how I ended up paying the $75 fee at Fidelity. Don't know about selling. I kept Wellesley when I transferred my account from Vanguard to Fidelity because there was no equivalent @ Fidelity. My Fido rep advised me of the fee before I moved my account. She did not try to sell me a different fund.
The Fidelity office that I use has been great. I called one day last summer and my rep wasn't in the office so I left her a voice mail. Someone else from the office called me back to let me know she was out and was there anything they could help me with. I don't know if other Fidelity offices (or Vanguard) operate this way. I have nothing but praise for them.

[Lsbcal]

Thanks Splitwdw.

I should have added in my post that I'm not all that familiar with Fidelity and they may well have comparable funds to VG's offerings. So perhaps the commission for VG funds is not a real obstacle for their customers.

I personally have found over the years that avoiding a relationship with reps is good for me. Then there is absolutely no social issue with my investing. I do want decent service and do want them to be respectful of me as I am of them. Should be strictly business.

[teejayevans]

I did a IRA to HSA rollover, put the money in the MM fund, sent them paperwork with correct amount, the person who did the transfer must have use transfer all because that amount matched amount I requested, unfortunately interest was deposited in between and the amount was too much. I called Optum, they said they couldn’t do anything, I’d have to submit a request to pull out the extra, I called Vanguard, they immediately got back to me, the did a stop on check and resubmitted it. I then updated Optum who really seem confused.
In the end, 2 weeks later it all got straightened out. They screwed up, but they also quickly resolved the situation. I dont use their financial advisor services, but I’m happy with their service.

[mickeyd]

I can not recall any VG action that I am unhappy with. I always initiate all of my account activity myself online, so I am not surprised by any account activity. On occasion, I have not been able to complete the transaction so I will call my Flagship rep to get it done properly.


I always check my account to assure that it went thru properly.

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal Thanks Splitwdw. I should have added in my post that I'm not all that familiar with Fidelity and they may well have comparable funds to VG's offerings. So perhaps the commission for VG funds is not a real obstacle for their customers. I personally have found over the years that avoiding a relationship with reps is good for me. Then there is absolutely no social issue with my investing. I do want decent service and do want them to be respectful of me as I am of them. Should be strictly business.

She knows I pick my own funds and stocks and rarely makes suggestions. When it comes to questions or handling transfer she right there. She knows I don't need much hand holding. When I transferred from Vanguard to Fidelity, she set up a conference call. All I had to do was say "Yep, I want to transfer my account from Vanguard" and there were a couple of other questions but it was so easy. My work 401k is with Fidelity but thought I should try Vanguard after hearing all the praise here. I had an old IRA that I rolled over to Vanguard. It took a while for the money to show up, even though it was a electronic transfer. It always took several days for a rep to get back to me by phone or email, sometimes they never got back to me. That's when I gave up. Like I said, the Fidelity office that I deal with has been great for me.

[Texas Proud]

Just curious, does Fidelity have different levels of service like Vanguard? If so, what are the amounts needed to get there?


I have an IRA brokerage account at Vanguard and they messed up my cost basis on an investment that switched from one ticker to another... it just is missing... also, the totals at the bottom does not match the individual holdings...

Sent them a message and got back a message that basically said 'it does not affect your taxes so the cost dept will not do anything'... Read their reply this weekend and sent back a nasty message they will get tomorrow... we will see how they handle this, but if they cannot even keep up with something this easy I wonder what else they might be missing.....


I guess another question is does Fidelity keep track of the invested amounts of your IRAs? And if there is a problem do they fix it?