Schwab vs. Fidelity??

[target2019]

I may go with Fidelity since I have an existing brokerage account already (hasn't been used in over 10 yrs) and I have no experience with Schwab yet. The Fidelity account has very little money in it. My one hesitation is that Schwab has an office a 15min convenient drive away for me. Closest Fidelity office is almost an hour drive.
Probably not big deal but ...

For us, Fidelity is 15 minutes away while Schwab is 30. I mentioned I'm investing at Schwab. About 10 years ago I set up a brokerage account at Schwab to receive gifted stock. The paperwork was all done in the office, and the individual was very professional.

Later I helped daughter set up an account, and we used the same office. Again, it was very quick, with encouraging words from other side of desk.

I don't really need an office, as I'm comfortable with the online interface. But the times I went their everything was cordial and efficient.

I think you'll have the same good experiences with Fidelity.

 

[Badger]

I use TD Ameritrade for my individual stocks. I guess now it will be Schwab so I won't know about how that will work out for a while. I like the people at my TD Ameritrade office and it was only a few miles away. Now they will be Schwab that is not at a convenient distance (bummer) but will be dealing with the same people that have always given excellent service. Fortunately I have left most of the stock purchases alone since I bought them and don't plan on any transactions except for maybe one more sell and to withdraw dividends. The rest will probably be left for inheritance.


Cheers!

 

[albireo13]

My plan is to consolidate with Fidelity so, I will migrate the Ameritrade assets into my existing Fido brokerage account and then also open up a Fidelity Cash Management account. I plan to someday then close my credit union and use Fido, as well as a Fido 2% credit card.

 

[Freedom56]

Could you be more specific? I trade fairly regularly in my Schwab accounts and it seems quick and easy. But I might be missing something. What do they need to update?

The trading platform on their site is primitive compared to TD Ameritrade. Their fixed income (bond) trading tools are useless requiring you to phone in to trading desk to fill orders. The site navigation is a throwback to the 90's. With over 18 financial/investment accounts held by my wife and myself, I would rank Schwab at the bottom.

 

[PatrickA5]

I've had Fido, VG, Schwab and TD over the years. Now, everything is at FIDO and love it. You probably can't go wrong with either Schwab or Fidelity. I don't trade, so I can't compare the two on that basis. Either place will try to sell their managed products, but I got more of a "pitch" from my Schwab guy than my FIDO guy. YMMV.

 

[Midpack]

I had all our taxable money with Fidelity for about 10 years and then moved to Vanguard years ago (more index funds, lower expenses at the time). My 401k, was at Schwab for many years. You really can't go wrong with any of them IME. Vanguard provides the most basic services, but everything most DIY investors would need, and maybe the lowest expenses. Between Fidelity and Schwab, as long as they have the funds you're interested in (sounds like it), I'd look at their websites to see the resources you'd have available and choose on that basis. If a brick-n-mortar location appeals to you, that would be another factor. Good luck, you can't really make a mistake IMO.

 

[stephenson]

Fidelity has been very easy. Have Vanguard, also. Fidelity better.

Fidelity oasd me to move accounts to them. Worth asking the question.

 

[smihaila]

I find Fidelity's UI so complex and counter-intuitive, that sometime I'm wondering if their own agents or worse, software developers, can navigate it.

Also the real option for customer support is calling them (at least in 401k case).

Even for this reason alone (UI) I would leave Fidelity (weren't I forced to use due to employer's 401k).

Does Schwab look like a big, unmanageable dinosaur, too?

Maybe this thread would be a good opportunity to get thoughts on other online brokerages as well (e*Trade, etc).

 

[bada bing]

The coffee is better at Schwab branches.

I have both Schwab and Fidelity, about 50% at each. Schwab is my individual stuff, Fidelity is my former mega's retirement custodian. Either would be a good choice IMO. I will consolidate at Schwab after the new year. My reason is that Schwab seems better for self employed people - I have my Solo401K at Schwab and they are ahead of Fidelity in that regard. If you don't have Schedule C concerns, then its a wash between them IMO. One thing that Fidelity has, which isn't important to me, is a very good individual HSA account. If you use or are considering their HSA, that would be a point in their favor. I have a good no-fee HSA attached to my retiree medical insurance, otherwise I'd be interested in Fidelity's HSA.

If you're just a buy-n-hold index fund investor, that's pretty hard to screw up. Even Vanguard could probably handle that for you

 

[audreyh1]

No foreign transaction fees and and all ATM fees are rebated at the end of each month. We travel enough that having foreign transaction fees would be a show-stopper. One strike and you're out.

Fidelity ATM/debt card doesn’t not charge foreign transaction fees for overseas ATM withdrawals and rebates ATM fees right away - faster than Schwab.

The poster mentioned the Fidelity credit card which charges a 1% FTF, but we have other no fee credit cards we use overseas.

 

[sengsational]

I'd consider the statements and download options. But you probably can't see those until after you sign-up. If I were king, I'd decree that all financial institutions must publish statement data in a standard format (thinking XML) and let users run that through whatever software they want to get the statement. More generally, one could say "report", because a statement is just a report with a start and end date. The standard format would be available at a consistent location on each institution's web site (so you don't have to go hunting for it). The institution could provide their own format, of course, but the XML would have all the transactions, and all of the balances.

The reason I mentioned statements is because I've never been completely satisfied with downloads or statements from any institution. I "geek out" and have automated processes that download or scrape web pages, and it's difficult to get consistent results over time (always tweaking their web sites). There. I'm done being king. Carry on.

 

[triangle]

No foreign transaction fees and and all ATM fees are rebated at the end of each month. We travel enough that having foreign transaction fees would be a show-stopper. One strike and you're out.

Schwab offers a credit card? I need to check into that.

The Fidelity (Elan) Visa charges a 1% foreign transaction fee but continues to provide 2% cash back, so there is overall a positive 1% net cashback. But I like to use my Capital One Mastercard with provides 1.5% cash back and no foreign transaction fees.

 

[triangle]

I like Fidelity overall though I have not done much in the way of buy/sell or research. But there is one thing that bothers me about their printed statements that gives me pause before moving more funds into that account. I almost started a thread here to ask what others saw.

The problem is the section "Estimated Cash Flow" and how (in)accurate the estimate is. I only have one mutual fund (Fidelity Government Money Market - SPAXX) which they control and know the current yield, but they do not use their own current numbers to generate the estimate. I don't know if they are using something like a 200 day moving average or longer, but the future income estimate is way overstated. If I had multiple funds or a more complex portfolio I might get fooled by the information presented. I also looked over their website (the old and new beta website) as well as used the search function but never found a way to run this "estimated income" report on their website. Not a deal breaker but after doing a buy/sell or seeing some companies raise/cut dividends it would be nice to see a fairly accurate view of next month's or next year's estimated income.

 

[audreyh1]

Schwab offers a credit card? I need to check into that.

The Fidelity (Elan) Visa charges a 1% foreign transaction fee but continues to provide 2% cash back, so there is overall a positive 1% net cashback. But I like to use my Capital One Mastercard with provides 1.5% cash back and no foreign transaction fees.

Schwab offers an American Express credit card that gives 1.5% cash back, no annual fee. It has a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. Or you can get the Schwab Platinum Amex credit card with a $550 annual fee and no foreign transaction fee. American Express is not well accepted in Europe, so probably not that useful overseas.

https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/accounts_products/credit_cards

 

[target2019]

I find Fidelity's UI so complex and counter-intuitive, that sometime I'm wondering if their own agents or worse, software developers, can navigate it.

Also the real option for customer support is calling them (at least in 401k case).

Even for this reason alone (UI) I would leave Fidelity (weren't I forced to use due to employer's 401k).

Does Schwab look like a big, unmanageable dinosaur, too?

Maybe this thread would be a good opportunity to get thoughts on other online brokerages as well (e*Trade, etc).

Below is the current menu system for Schwab accounts. Each menu in the top row has a larger popout with more choices. In the 2nd row are sub-choices which depend on what you've selected in top row. Of course there is much more displayed below this, like account holdings, etc.

I don't have an active Fidelity account, so can't compare. But I'd say Schwab does not look unmanageable.

 

[savory]

Our debit card/checking account is at Schwab because as others have said no international or domestic ATM fees that are not paid back. We also have a checking only account at Fido which allows us to use cash directly from our Fido account which I’ve have only used during giving season. But it provides fast, easy access to cash. The checking account at Fido is no charge including checks.

 

[gwraigty]

Schwab offers an American Express credit card that gives 1.5% cash back, no annual fee.

I don't use my Schwab Amex that often, but a short while back there was a small business promotion. If you used an Amex at a participating small business, you'd get a $5 statement credit. I used my Schwab Amex twice at a local Chinese takeout place and both times the $5 was credited promptly.

 

[audreyh1]

I don't use my Schwab Amex that often, but a short while back there was a small business promotion. If you used an Amex at a participating small business, you'd get a $5 statement credit. I used my Schwab Amex twice at a local Chinese takeout place and both times the $5 was credited promptly.

The Schwab card came out after I already had Fidelity VISA 2% cash back and Citi Costco VISA which has 3% cash back rewards on dining and travel plus changed to no FTF a couple of years later. Fidelity and Costco had just switched from American Express to VISA. Anyway, I already had too many rewards cards!

 

[carnivalday]

I had a very bad experience with Schwab yesterday, and am transferring my IRA to Fidelity today. Ive have a small account with Fidelity, so it will be easy. What I didnt like about Schwab (besides their website issues) is they dont deposit your dividends in your account on the day they are paid; they do it the next day. I know its just a day...but its my money.

Both companies have chat, which I use. With Schwab you have no idea how long you'll be waiting. You could be next in line, or 100th in line. With Fidelity, theres a counter to show you how many people are ahead of you, so you can either wait, or opt out until a less busy time.

I would probably have stayed at Schwab, even with those minor issues, if they hadnt handled yesterday so badly. I must not be alone, as Fido's transfer page has crashed today. Ill just wait until this evening to finish up.

 

[MRG]

I find Fidelity's UI so complex and counter-intuitive, that sometime I'm wondering if their own agents or worse, software developers, can navigate it.

Also the real option for customer support is calling them (at least in 401k case).

Even for this reason alone (UI) I would leave Fidelity (weren't I forced to use due to employer's 401k).

Does Schwab look like a big, unmanageable dinosaur, too?

Maybe this thread would be a good opportunity to get thoughts on other online brokerages as well (e*Trade, etc).

Most developers I worked with, in financial services, had no idea how the system they work on is really used in the wild. I remember my first big development project, CICS and S/370 assembly language. I'd poured over the existing documentation and knew every line of code. I'd walked through it with an extremely primitive debugger to make sure every logic path and every line of code executed. Then some younger women comes over to do the primitive acceptance testing, I have no idea what she did. Yeah it was my code but how she managed to get it to do what it did shocked the h*ll out of me. Oddly it worked.

 

[euro]

You can't go wrong with either. We have assets at both and are quite satisfied with their customer service (including local offices when needed). I slightly favor Fidelity's website

 

[youbet]

The trading platform on their site is primitive compared to TD Ameritrade. Their fixed income (bond) trading tools are useless requiring you to phone in to trading desk to fill orders. The site navigation is a throwback to the 90's. With over 18 financial/investment accounts held by my wife and myself, I would rank Schwab at the bottom.

Interesting. Back when they were more attractive, I purchased TIPS on the Schwab site without needing to “phone into the trading desk to fill orders.”

You and your DW do business with over 18 firms? Wow!

 

[audreyh1]

They must have multiple accounts at some firms.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

I get free wire transfers at Fidelity.

Schwab as well.

 

[sengsational]

Most developers I worked with, in financial services, had no idea how the system they work on is really used in the wild.

You were fortune. I was 3/4 of the way through my coding career before I had a test team (aka, I had to do my own testing). As to the sentiment of the post you quoted, I agree, developers subconsciously know not to do the things that break it, so they are (I was) a poor tester.

As to using the web site to decide which investment company to use, I'd say that it wise to make that a good fraction of your decision because that's where most of your dealings will be. So if you have a hard time with the web site, it would be good to avoid that company. The problem, of course, is that you can't know the companies customer web site before being a customer The best you can do, unless you're already a customer, is listen to other people that are customers of both.

Comparing Vanguard and Fidelity (yes, a bit OT)...both sites are reliable (both have had glitches, but nothing horrible). Both are stable (aren't tossing in noticable changes or re-arranging stuff often). Fidelity might be a little higher information density (which I like, but that's personal). I liked the detail, above, about the difference in chat.