New ERs on Schwab Index Funds

[GalaxyBoy]

FYI,

I haven't seen anyone else mention that starting on March 1, 2017, Schwab will be lowering the expense ratios on some of their index funds. Their total stock market and S&P 500 funds will go from 0.09% to 0.03%, their international fund from 0.19% to 0.07%, plus a few others. As a long-time Schwab customer who owns some of these funds, this is good news to me.

See this web page for more information and a complete list.

 

[euro]

FYI,

I haven't seen anyone else mention that starting on March 1, 2017, Schwab will be lowering the expense ratios on some of their index funds. Their total stock market and S&P 500 funds will go from 0.09% to 0.03%, their international fund from 0.19% to 0.07%, plus a few others. As a long-time Schwab customer who owns some of these funds, this is good news to me.

See this web page for more information and a complete list.

Yes, good news. In general, I think Schwab tends to be underrated/ underappreciated relative to Vanguard and Fido. I do have some accounts a Schwab and I'm happy with their products and customer service.

 

[Whisper66]

Wow - that's really amazing, thanks for posting. I love what competition is doing in the industry for folks like us!

 

[DrRoy]

Wow - that's really amazing, thanks for posting. I love what competition is doing in the industry for folks like us!

+1

 

[target2019]

Based on experience with Vanguard and Schwab, probably going with the latter when moving 401k. Even lower expenses is icing on the cake. I've been reluctant to give up low fees in institutional funds in 401k. No excuses now.

 

[exnavynuke]

Wow - that's really amazing, thanks for posting. I love what competition is doing in the industry for folks like us!

+1 too!

 

[EastWest Gal]

Thank you posting this. DS is opening a Roth IRA and trying to decide between Vanguard and Schwab. I've happy with Schwab for 23 years, so the news should help.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I should have mentioned they've recently gone to $6.95 stock trades. I don't trade much, so that has little impact on me.

I've been with Schwab since 1990 and have always been happy. I sometimes think I "should" be with Vanguard since you can't get Admiral shares in a Schwab account, but I like the Schwab web site, especially the billpay that's part of the checking account. The lower ERs close that gap for me.

OTOH, with VG one gets certain perks after reaching the $1M level. Not sure I need them, but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing.

I haven't walked into a brick-and-mortar bank for years, nor have I felt the need to. Heck, the closest Schwab branch is 2 hours away, and I don't miss it.

(Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack my own thread and turn it into a commercial.)

 

[NW-Bound]

Schwab has several index funds with lower expense ratios than Vanguard's. And there is no trading fees with their ETFs and those of their affiliated institutions. I don't know what the connection is here, just that the trades are free and the price quotes are the same as at other brokerages that I have.

About special privileges, I have 100 free trades/month for any ETFs and stocks with another brokerage (need to have a big balance), else would put all my money into Schwab. I have had accounts with Schwab going back more than 20 years.

 

[kaudrey]

I did see this - I have been a Schwab client for over 25 years. I have my brokerage, IRA and Roth with them. I have found they have great customer service, and I do own some of these index funds as well. YAY!

 

[rodi]

I love Schwab... this makes me love them even more. My dad had funds at both Vanguard and Schwab when he died - my sister and I were beneficiaries. Vanguard was **horrible** with their customer service in getting it transfered to us. (They "lost" multiple copies of the death certificate... my sister had to keep sending new copies.) Schwab was flawless and friendly. My sister rolled all of her funds to Schwab as soon as Vanguard finally (5 months later) gave her access as beneficiary. I stayed with Vanguard for another year - but was displeased any time I needed to ask a question. I followed my sister to schwab the next year.

This is wonderful news that the ERs are going even lower.

 

[braumeister]

I like Schwab, mainly because their customer service is second to none.

I've had an account with them for some time, mostly just in SCHD (US Dividend Equity ETF) which has been a very solid performer.

 

[SpinDr]

That is good to hear. I have funds split between Schwab, Vanguard, and T-Rowe and have found Schwab very easy to work with. Luckily I have an office close by which is convenient and found the office extremely helpful when setting up accounts for my kids. My daughter was setting up a $500 Roth account and the the branch representative spent a very generous amount of time helping us out.

 

[SecondCor521]

Schwab is friendlier to teenagers starting out with Roth IRAs...the minimum required amount to open an account is very low...either $100 or even zero, I can't remember which. Vanguard requires $1K for some funds and $3K for many others. So although my parents and I are mostly with Vanguard, when my kids went to open Roths, they ended up at Schwab.

@GalaxyBoy, the benefits at Vanguard above $1M are not worthwhile in my opinion. You get a dedicated account representative and can call him/her directly. But whenever I have called (to help my parents with something), he is busy helping someone else. I can either wait for him, set up an appointment, or press a number to get someone else; I always do the latter. The one benefit that is worthwhile to me is that you get a different phone number to call, so hold times are never very long, and the representatives at that number seem to be more capable than the average Vanguard rep.

Oh, you also do get a free number of trades, after which they are pretty cheap - $2 or $5 or something. My Dad doesn't trade very much, so not a big deal for him.

You did used to get TurboTax free at that level also, but VG discontinued that a while back.

 

[MRG]

I love Schwab... this makes me love them even more. My dad had funds at both Vanguard and Schwab when he died - my sister and I were beneficiaries. Vanguard was **horrible** with their customer service in getting it transfered to us. (They "lost" multiple copies of the death certificate... my sister had to keep sending new copies.) Schwab was flawless and friendly. My sister rolled all of her funds to Schwab as soon as Vanguard finally (5 months later) gave her access as beneficiary. I stayed with Vanguard for another year - but was displeased any time I needed to ask a question. I followed my sister to schwab the next year.

This is wonderful news that the ERs are going even lower.

Losing death certs is very, very common among ALL fund companies. I wish I was paid a bonus for every time I listened to that issue.

Problem is they come in and have to be back sorted from the mail room back to the client. That's not what mail centers are optimized for. There's better technology today, but it's still a pia.

Competition is great. The average cost keeps going lower. The big three seem to be engaged in a race to the bottom. I'll be happy to allow that.