Am I overlooking a better option?

[AreWeThereYet0]

Hi folks. Comcast subscriber here about to lose anti-virus protection. I was wondering if any brokerages offered both free tax software and anti-virus protection? I have under 1M in a Trowe Roth and under 500K in my Fidelity account. Any advice or thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Trying to save every last penny. Thank you

 

[OldShooter]

Why would you worry about thirty or forty bucks worth of software when managing a 1.5m portfolio?

 

[RobbieB]

I know.

 

[pb4uski]

+2

 

[AreWeThereYet0]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

 

[Montecfo]

Lots of good free antivirus out there. Tax software is cheap. I certainly would not choose a brokerage on that basis.

 

[pb4uski]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

Fair enough, but just remember that there is a very fine line between frugal and cheap.

 

[teejayevans]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

Then do the taxes by hand.

 

[RockyMNHiker]

I have a saying when people bother me about being cheap, and I turn the tables: "A pound here and a pound there and pretty soon you are 300 pounds."

Go ahead and find cheap or free software. I'd do the same thing.

 

[target2019]

Hi folks. Comcast subscriber here about to lose anti-virus protection. I was wondering if any brokerages offered both free tax software and anti-virus protection? I have under 1M in a Trowe Roth and under 500K in my Fidelity account. Any advice or thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Trying to save every last penny. Thank you

The topic of losing Norton AV protection through Comcast is discussed here if your interested.
https://www.early-retirement.org/fo...es-price-increases-no-free-norton-106620.html

 

[DrRoy]

The best anti-virus of 5 or so that I have used is ESET. (What I have now.)

 

[OldShooter]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

Yup. Me, too. Books I buy on Amazon are mostly used, items are mostly "Amazon Warehouse" customer returns, etc. But as a confirmed cheapskate I have sometimes burned myself by going the cheap course then found in the end that course cost me more.

Switching brokerages for a few pennies in freebies strikes me as risky. Cash sweep interest rates vary a lot, as do trading fees for various mutual funds. Advisors can be helpful or not. IMO some tiny free software savings should not wag the huge investment dog.

The other thing about the brokerage houses is that they are all bleeding from self-inflicted wounds suffered during the trading fee and expense ratio battles. As a result they are all looking for ways to increase revenue from customers. So whatever landscape you see now will probably change within the year. How often are you prepared to move your assets?

YMMV of course.

 

[Happyras]

So good old Fido has provided me TurboTax Premier for free download every year. You need to ask your rep what it would take to get it this year. The Norton Deluxe 360 for 1 year was offered for a buck, you could call India and ask.

 

[ERD50]

Sure, why not take advantage of "free" if it is available? Makes sense to me.

But I don't see any reason to tie that to a brokerage account. Look for any source.

-ERD50

 

[fh2000]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

Good for you. It reminds me of a story I heard from my father as a kid.

A young man went to see an old rich person, asking for advice how to get rich. The old man said, "good, let me turn off the light first."

 

[Time2]

I didn't accumulate that money solely on my yearly salary. Penny pinching has played a sizeable role in getting me to where I am today. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep.

That's two of us, and now that I can spend a lot more, I'm not spending it on something I can get free! I'm two full years into retirement and still working on finding where to spend money to enhance my joy of life.
I have Avast, Malwarebytes, IObit, and Microsoft security is running. I use PIA as my VPN which I pay a small amount for, $27 if you pay for 3 years.

 

[Ian S]

I use McAfee Total Protection (5 devices including phone) and it's available at Newegg now for $19.99 (1 year subscription) after promo discount. It has many useful features and you can pick and choose among them. Good savings on antivirus too. The problem with much of the freebie stuff is the constant nagging to get you to upgrade. Sometimes, the freebies are more limited in features. Anyway, YMMV.