Fid is my preferred choice and kinda decided to move that direction for these reasons:
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So my question is: Does anyone have any ideas about why keeping the VG account open would make sense? Am I missing anything important about VG?
I have access to all VG Index funds via Fid and I don't do anything with VG other than check the balance regularly and get my 1099.
I have some potential biases: I've worked for two of the big three firms (in IT), and have had the majority of my invested funds in the third for almost 30 years. I am intentionally cagey in revealing whom I've worked for, and should I find myself wanting to go back to full-time work I'm fairly likely to end up back at one or the other of them.
My personal investment philosophy seems to mesh the best with Vanguard's fund offerings, but their site has been the least intuitive to use, and multiple times I've had trouble getting my money back out when I bought a house and as I'm starting retirement withdrawals. They have annoyed me in other ways, too, but these ways may be particular to very few people and not widely relevant. I suspect having a credit union instead of a bank is causing some of the headaches in fund transfers. I am particularly annoyed and even offended at VG's apparent push to make every account a brokerage account, although I'm don't even know if you can get fund-only non-brokerage accounts at the others anymore.
Fidelity has always seemed to have the most intuitive site; it just takes me less time to figure stuff out there. Their general push towards active management and managed services doesn't mesh with my philosophy, but come to think of it they aren't all that pushy. I recently tried to get money out for the first time and ran into challenges with the online tools, and I haven't bothered to reach out to their customer service even though they're consistently praised for that.
I've had the least trouble with Schwab; everything just works for me, although the site's intuitive-ness falls between VG and Fid. Their corporate philosophy seems to be "your choice": they have active management, managed services, and RIA referrals and tools, but as a company the don't seem too fussed about whether you manage yourself or use them or a 3rd-party advisor; they're just thrilled to have the AUM.
My favorite all-time fund [-]is[/-] was Wellington. Someone above said you could get it at Fidelity, but I didn't think that was true. I certainly can't get it at Schwab. (I still have active accounts at all three.) I can get Wellesley, though.