Discount Brokers Free Services

[green night]

Background -- I use Etrade and TD for various brokerage and retirement accounts ... most of my $ is with Etrade (maybe $1.2MM) but i have $50K with TD. I had switched most of my Etrade $ from TD a couple years ago and took advantage of $1K promotional deal.

With both companies i have a personal account mgr that i call, email and send forms directly to and they channel and make sure they don't get lost and that i filled out correctly. I've used them to run retirement reports for me and in an one instance E Trade mgr set up an account for my friend (without much $), and got a direct deposit going, etc. without going through the normal channels. My lazy and impatient friend would never have went on the site to fill everything out ... so this was of value to me.

I was talking to my TD guy a few days ago and he was offering that they can help me with differing trading and risk management techniques for free ... one example was having me talk to one of their experts on how i can set up bond ladders. I know his interest is getting some that $ back from ETrade but it got me thinking... What are the "valuable" services that you find valuable that i could be getting from Etrade or TD Ameritrade?

I really do like the personal direct contact that i send all my forms through etc. E Trade has proactively given me promotional money for deposits and reduced commissions all without me asking.

What free services or heavily discounted services have you received from discount brokers?

 

[LOL!]

I expect everything to be free at all my discount brokers, so I was trying to come up with something for you.

Finally, I thought of a difference in my brokers:

I want the dividends paid by my shares in some accounts to be automatically sent to my external checking account without me having to do anything once that is set up. That is, I want my cash-sweep account to always be $0.00.

I found a way to do that at Fidelity, but I have not found a way to do that at TDAmeritrade. So I have to manually ACH dividends from TDAmeritrade to my checking account. The plus though is that I can get TDAmerirade dividends to my checking account one day faster than Fidelity can do it automatically for me.

 

[Lakedog]

TDA does free wire transfers (both directions) and has sometimes provided a few free trades. Most of the Vanguard ETFs I use are commission free at TDA - they do charge a fee if you sell one of these ETFs within 30 days (did that once but they reimbursed my account when I inquired and claimed ignorance).

 

[DrRoy]

I have a free, personal advisor at Fidelity.

 

[CaliKid]

I have a free, personal advisor at Fidelity.

What does this person do? I have had personal advisors at E and TD and not been overly impressed thus far.

 

[frayne]

I'm like the guy in the car commercials that doesn't want any human interaction when it comes to my finances. Unless of course I want or need to talk to a human biological life form.

Years ago my original FIDO handler wanted me to divest into about thirty different mutual funds and I told him, no thanks and I'll take care of it myself.

 

[green night]

I expect everything to be free at all my discount brokers, so I was trying to come up with something for you.

Finally, I thought of a difference in my brokers:

I want the dividends paid by my shares in some accounts to be automatically sent to my external checking account without me having to do anything once that is set up. That is, I want my cash-sweep account to always be $0.00.

I found a way to do that at Fidelity, but I have not found a way to do that at TDAmeritrade. So I have to manually ACH dividends from TDAmeritrade to my checking account. The plus though is that I can get TDAmerirade dividends to my checking account one day faster than Fidelity can do it automatically for me.

Good idea ... i'll see if i can get E Trade to sweep my $ auto into my checking account. I like that idea.

 

[green night]

Anyone have a good free checking account with E Trade or TD? I think i should get rid of my comerica account.

 

[LOL!]

My no-commission broker is WellsTrade and I have great free checking account with them plus many other perks.

Years ago, TDWaterhouse brokerage was still connected to TDWaterhouse bank and that was our bank, but the two split when Ameritrade bought the brokerage. Otherwise, we would still be banking at TDWaterhouse.

 

[COcheesehead]

What does this person do? I have had personal advisors at E and TD and not been overly impressed thus far.

Mine offers tax advisement tips, lower fee investment recommendations, helped to set up a trust and a tax savings deferred annuity. I find my FIDO rep very helpful.

 

[DrRoy]

What does this person do? I have had personal advisors at E and TD and not been overly impressed thus far.

So far I have not needed much assistance. At our last meeting though, he gave guidance on Roth conversions, and when I want to do that he would help with the calcuations, as well as determining RMS's from tax sheltered accounts. We also discussed specifics on non-equity investments.

 

[Lakedog]

Anyone have a good free checking account with E Trade or TD? I think i should get rid of my comerica account.

I use the TD Ameritrade sweep account as a checking account - no fees, free checks. TDA still has a connection with TD Bank - when you put funds in "savings" at TDA, that is held at TD Bank. TDA also has a Visa card (1.5% for all purchases or 1.65% if the rewards are deposited to your TDA account) - the card is through TD Bank.

 

[Car-Guy]

I've had accounts at several brokerages over the years and I have closed all of them except Schwab. Never really had a problem with any of them but Schwab services always seemed to be a "cut above" in my experience. I have had the same FA with Schwab for years but he knows I prefer to self direct/manage so he leaves me alone but is always there if I have a question or need something. Usually, if I have a question I just call the main Schwab number and get to a live person (that speaks native English) and can usually answer my question in a few minutes. Their website is intuitive, fast and accurate with more free features than I'll probably ever use.

 

[green night]

I use the TD Ameritrade sweep account as a checking account - no fees, free checks. TDA still has a connection with TD Bank - when you put funds in "savings" at TDA, that is held at TD Bank. TDA also has a Visa card (1.5% for all purchases or 1.65% if the rewards are deposited to your TDA account) - the card is through TD Bank.

Good to know ... i might follow this one. No ATM fees from either bank? Do they reimburse you for the ATM that you are receiving $s from? thanks!

 

[Lakedog]

Good to know ... i might follow this one. No ATM fees from either bank? Do they reimburse you for the ATM that you are receiving $s from? thanks!

No ATM fees with TDA - they reimburse fees, although I have only used TD Bank ATMs. I do not have an account directly with TD Bank (other than the Visa), only TDA.