Vanguard, Fidelity or Schwab?

[FREE866]

I’m switching to Schwab after nearly 40 years at Vanguard. I had an issue with ETrade for my parents accounts that to say the least was a nightmare.

I would never subject my wife and kids to dealing with a 1 800 # if I was hit by a Bus. Likewise I if something were to happen to my wife there is no way I would want to deal with a call center. I found a good guy at Schwab. My investments changed very little. I just have to proactively manage the cash.

Smart move.
I've been with Schwab for decades, but had to deal with Vanguard when my BIL suddenly dies last year. OMFG The incompetence and aggravation I and my poor nieces had to deal with was startling, I even posted a thread about it.

 

[FREE866]

I’m switching to Schwab after nearly 40 years at Vanguard. I had an issue with ETrade for my parents accounts that to say the least was a nightmare.

I would never subject my wife and kids to dealing with a 1 800 # if I was hit by a Bus. Likewise I if something were to happen to my wife there is no way I would want to deal with a call center. I found a good guy at Schwab. My investments changed very little. I just have to proactively manage the cash.

And thx for putting it that way "I would never subject my wife and kids to dealing with a 1 800 #"
Sure, we on this board are probably pretty good at dealing with an 800# service. We know the language, etc But picture a stressed out family member, who isn't savvy at all dealing with that. Vanguard has zero store fronts. I want my beneficiaries to be able to walk in , face to face, and talk to a designated rep and hold their hand. invaluable. And Schwab offers that.

 

[Landolink]

And Schwab gave me $3,200 for moving my accounts. I will keep Vanguard ETF’s out of a sense of loyalty and for tax reasons. Jack Bogle and Vanguard had a hugely positive impact on my life. But people’s situation change.

 

[PatrickA5]

I’m switching to Schwab after nearly 40 years at Vanguard. I had an issue with ETrade for my parents accounts that to say the least was a nightmare.

I would never subject my wife and kids to dealing with a 1 800 # if I was hit by a Bus. Likewise I if something were to happen to my wife there is no way I would want to deal with a call center. I found a good guy at Schwab. My investments changed very little. I just have to proactively manage the cash.

Took forever to get a 50/50 inheritance from FIL to DW/SIL earlier this year. Multiple phone calls. Hours on the phone and a different story from each customer service rep. It should have been simple, but VG made it difficult. The whole process took 6 weeks. Meanwhile, T.Rowe Price took a total of 3 days. Maybe we just got unlucky.

 

[Texas Proud]

I will say that in 2019 when my mom passed Vanguard was not bad at the transfers..


It did take me a LONG time to get my legal docs as the lawyer was a problem... but once I got them it went OK.. not as easy as Fidelity but nothing to upset..






ON another note... I found something very minor that irks me a bit... I was looking at my Schwab stmt and there is a number for YTM... EXCEPT for some bonds... I finally found the 'y' note and it says that I have multiple buys so it will not calculate a YTM... really? Just because I bought twice lose that info It is not anywhere near a deal breaker for me but how hard is it for them to program a simple calculation...

 

[kgtest]

Just finished The Four Pillars of Investing Second Edition, and pgs 276-277 give the most concise but informative summary of the majors I've ever read - some I've heard, some I hadn't but never so clearly stated. I would love to share it word for word, but I've been correctly advised that's too close to copyright infringement. This doesn't have near the impact, but a few tidbits:

• Pay attention to the number of securities held by any fund or ETF. e.g. two similar sounding funds at differing firms one has 855 holdings while an other has 7881.
• Limit your purchases of open-end funds to those of your custodian (Vanguard, etc.)
• When this book went to press a couple months ago, the default sweep fund yield at Schwab was 0.40% vs 3.7% at Vanguard or Fidelity - in 2019 134% (not a typo) of Schwabs earning came from net interest. If you have money that sits in cash, allocation or between trades, for whatever reason...
• Fidelity offers low fees on index/passive funds to lure investors into active funds. And check fees closely, some Fido funds that sound almost the same have substantially different fees.
• The author acknowledged elsewhere "customer support at Vanguard has deteriorated." He also says "how long this free ride (customer service) at Fido and Schwab will last is anyone's guess, so enjoy it while it lasts."
• Competition among the three will only intensify, so stay tuned, as their relative advantages and disadvantages can easily change.

Again, the actual text is FAR better than my summary...

I wonder where Blackrock fits into all of this. I always here they have like a massive amount of AUM...yet they are never really listed with what I would say are the "common" 3, Fido, Schwab and VG. I am pretty naive and basically just know of a few fund names BR has under its portfoilio but not much else about them. Anywho, I haven't had to use VG customer service for a while but I was always surprised how helpful some agents were...but I did at other times get more of a sales guy but probably my own fault for fumbling the numbers in the phone system when you call.

 

[kgtest]

I had MULTIPLE massive issues with T R P. at one point and won't forget. it took them like 21 days to transfer some funds and I was OOTM (out of the market) FAR longer than it should have been. There was a system issue that cause SOME of the delay and a human error that caused another.

 

[Texas Proud]

I wonder where Blackrock fits into all of this. I always here they have like a massive amount of AUM...yet they are never really listed with what I would say are the "common" 3, Fido, Schwab and VG. I am pretty naive and basically just know of a few fund names BR has under its portfoilio but not much else about them. Anywho, I haven't had to use VG customer service for a while but I was always surprised how helpful some agents were...but I did at other times get more of a sales guy but probably my own fault for fumbling the numbers in the phone system when you call.

As far as I know Blackrock is not a brokerage firm... it just does investments such as ETFS...

 

[pb4uski]

Took forever to get a 50/50 inheritance from FIL to DW/SIL earlier this year. Multiple phone calls. Hours on the phone and a different story from each customer service rep. It should have been simple, but VG made it difficult. The whole process took 6 weeks. Meanwhile, T.Rowe Price took a total of 3 days. Maybe we just got unlucky.

No, you were not unlucky. Vanguard is incompetent for anything vaguely complicated.

 

[Badger]

I have accounts in both Vanguard and Schwab. Vanguard only has IRA accounts. I have given a bit of thought to moving them to Schwab but since I have set them up with beneficiaries and automatic RMD I am not sure if it is worth the effort to move them and/or put everything in one place.
The upside of doing that is that there would only be one place (with a personal representative in town that we have used for years) for my wife or secondary beneficiaries to deal with.
Decisions

Cheers!

 

[FREE866]

I have accounts in both Vanguard and Schwab. Vanguard only has IRA accounts. I have given a bit of thought to moving them to Schwab but since I have set them up with beneficiaries and automatic RMD I am not sure if it is worth the effort to move them and/or put everything in one place.
The upside of doing that is that there would only be one place (with a personal representative in town that we have used for years) for my wife or secondary beneficiaries to deal with.
Decisions

Cheers!

I think the second sentence answered your question. Why subject your beneficiaries to a hassle upon your demise?

 

[PatrickA5]

No, you were not unlucky. Vanguard is incompetent for anything vaguely complicated.

VG used to be great. I had the same Flagship guy for over a decade. When I called, he answered the phone and was very knowledgeable. Things went downhill quickly after he left. Subsequent reps knew basically nothing. I always felt like I was training them when I called. We left for Fidelity several years ago and have been pleased. Needless to say, the inheritance DW got from FIL's VG account was immediately moved out once she finally got the funds.

 

[Koolau]

No, you were not unlucky. Vanguard is incompetent for anything vaguely complicated.

Your experience - not mine so YMMV.

 

[pb4uski]

VG used to be great. I had the same Flagship guy for over a decade. When I called, he answered the phone and was very knowledgeable. Things went downhill quickly after he left. Subsequent reps knew basically nothing. I always felt like I was training them when I called. We left for Fidelity several years ago and have been pleased. Needless to say, the inheritance DW got from FIL's VG account was immediately moved out once she finally got the funds.

My experience as well. For many years I had a person whose picture and phone number popped up when I logged in. I would call them periodically and they seemed knowledgeable, not reading from a script. Then things changed. I tolerated it for a while but then I got fed up and left.

 

[Sunset]

Maybe I've been lucky, Vanguard works well for me. I like their Solo 401K. I don't like how they track my money when deposits/withdrawals made, seems less obvious to me, but I don't actively trade so not a big issue.
Love the high paying interest on the settlement fund, no action needed on my part to move money around to get interest.

I love the simplicity of buying auction treasuries , these don't seem available on Merrill Lynch, or Schwab (can buy resale ones, but not current auction).

 

[Koolau]

Could just be the mix of things I do at Vanguard (not a lot) but I don't see the issues others have pointed out. I AM still PO'd that they made me change to electronic-only quarterly reports. $25 for ALL of my reports would have been okay, but not $25 for EACH report. Other than that, I have relatively few complaints and more kudos than complaints, so YMMV.

 

[OldShooter]

... I love the simplicity of buying auction treasuries , these don't seem available on Merrill Lynch, or Schwab (can buy resale ones, but not current auction).

I am not much of a bond guy but I am 99% certain that I have bought bills on the auction at Schwab. Here is a bond desk phone number I have used: 800-824-4027. I suggest that you call them tomorrow to verify one way or the other.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I love the simplicity of buying auction treasuries , these don't seem available on Merrill Lynch, or Schwab (can buy resale ones, but not current auction).

You most definitely can purchase T-bills via auction on Schwab. I have done so many times over the last year. Here is a video that I used to learn how:

https://youtu.be/mPWiEDlVwsI?si=_7mLr_2wgmeuPf_b

 

[Sunset]

You most definitely can purchase T-bills via auction on Schwab. I have done so many times over the last year. Here is a video that I used to learn how:

https://youtu.be/mPWiEDlVwsI?si=_7mLr_2wgmeuPf_b

Thanks.......

Now I know how to do it on Schwab.

Same person on you tube says that Merrill Edge requires phone in , and besides the bother of phone in, there is the fine print that says they charge $30 for ones at auction (but chat person said it was free).

 

[OldShooter]

... Same person on you tube says that Merrill Edge requires phone in , and besides the bother of phone in, there is the fine print that says they charge $30 for ones at auction (but chat person said it was free).

IIRC Schwab web transactions are free but placing an order via a person sticker price is $25. I like talking to the bond guys except for the simplest transaction and they have waived the fee for me at least a couple of times in the past.

 

[AlmostThoreau]

I use Vanguard. With the for-profit boys, it's you vs them. I'm picky with who I trust my life savings to. Mutual funds are complex things.

 

[tulak]

Today's gripe with Vanguard: pop-up banners to "Partner with a Vanguard advisor."

I get these each time a login. I click through, not a problem. Today it's happened more often beyond the first time login. I clicked on the balances tab and got, "Start saving for education today."

I called them once to opt-out of these pop-ups. It seemed to go away for a while, but now they're back.

 

[Koolau]

Today's gripe with Vanguard: pop-up banners to "Partner with a Vanguard advisor."

I get these each time a login. I click through, not a problem. Today it's happened more often beyond the first time login. I clicked on the balances tab and got, "Start saving for education today."

I called them once to opt-out of these pop-ups. It seemed to go away for a while, but now they're back.

Look on the bright side. Those who sign up for the "Partner with a Vanguard advisor" will help lower YOUR costs since you won't sign up. V has to "earn" money somehow. If they make it off of someone else, you get lower costs.

 

[OldShooter]

DW has gotten three identical VG prospecting letters over the past couple of months. It's a complete puzzle how they got her contact information, especially since I have gotten nothing. Which is fine with me.

Best guess is that one of her charitable causes is selling contact information of some class of their donors.

 

[MarieIG]

DW has gotten three identical VG prospecting letters over the past couple of months. It's a complete puzzle how they got her contact information, especially since I have gotten nothing. Which is fine with me.

Best guess is that one of her charitable causes is selling contact information of some class of their donors.

I'll see you Vanguard prospecting - and raise you one Edward Jones. (They're after my DH. ) We don't know how they got his info either.