Vanguard

[TonyDown]

Based on their reputation and a recommendation,  I moved a retirement account and later opened a brokerage account at Vanguard.

This evening I observed a third instance of an error with my brokerage account.  The first issue was eventually corrected.  The 2nd issue has a case opened to track resolution.   I have to wait until Monday to speak to Vanguard about the 3rd error.

This is unsettling to me.   I need my assets held somewhere with error free processes.  So I am considering moving out of Vanguard.

Here are two questions.

1. What other options might I consider?  Fidelity?  Somewhere else?

2. Has anyone else been displeased with Vanguard?

 

Edited December 14, 2024 by TonyDown

[Kevin Slater]

I've never used Vanguard but always had a high opinion of them, mostly around their low fee ETFs I guess.  

I've been with Fidelity for (ahem) over 30 years and have been extremely pleased.  They offer four mutual funds with truly *zero* fees and scores more with exceptionally low fees.  I get 2% cash back on everything with my Fidelity Visa.  

The other place you'd want to check out is Schwab.  

Kevin Slater

[Jim_n_NYC]

3 hours ago, Kevin Slater said:

I've never used Vanguard but always had a high opinion of them, mostly around their low fee ETFs I guess.  

I've been with Fidelity for (ahem) over 30 years and have been extremely pleased.  They offer four mutual funds with truly *zero* fees and scores more with exceptionally low fees.  I get 2% cash back on everything with my Fidelity Visa.  

The other place you'd want to check out is Schwab.  

Kevin Slater

Yea, we use both Fidelity and Schwab.  Fidelitiy for the reasons you stated, plus my airline ended up using them to hold our 401Ks at some point.  One, small, thing I like about them (that I didn't notice until I opened my Schwab account) is that if you have funds in a high yield fund (like the Fid Money Mkt Prem Class) and want to do a trade, you don't have to withdraw the funds from the money mkt account first, whereas, at Schwab you do.

Schwab is fine as long as I remember the above, but I initially opened the checking account for the no-ATM fee withdrawls world wide.  From that I ended up using them for all our checking and now non-retirement savings.

As a side note, they both know I have funds at other institutions and have had them try to convince me to move everything to them.  I tell them I'm fine the way things are.

Edited December 14, 2024 by Jim_n_NYC

[Kevin Slater]

3 hours ago, Jim_n_NYC said:

Yea, we use both Fidelity and Schwab.  Fidelitiy for the reasons you stated, plus my airline ended up using them to hold our 401Ks at some point.  One, small, thing I like about them (that I didn't notice until I opened my Schwab account) is that if you have funds in a high yield fund (like the Fid Money Mkt Prem Class) and want to do a trade, you don't have to withdraw the funds from the money mkt account first, whereas, at Schwab you do.

Schwab is fine as long as I remember the above, but I initially opened the checking account for the no-ATM fee withdrawls world wide.  From that I ended up using them for all our checking and now non-retirement savings.

As a side note, they both know I have funds at other institutions and have had them try to convince me to move everything to them.  I tell them I'm fine the way things are.

Fidelity reimburses foreign atm fees as well, although they don't come out and say so.  Not sure why they can't clearly state that policy.  

Decades ago I had accounts strewn all over and a few wanted to start having monthly fees.  I realized that if I threw all the funds into one, it would be of sufficient size to wave those fees.  So now it's just Fidelity with a couple dinky checking accounts that I just use as a passthrough between Fidelity and Venmo, CashApp, etc.  (I don't want those apps having direct access to my Fidelity.)

Kevin Slater

[handiacefailure]

I’ve been really happy with Fidelity.    No fees to wire into or out of the account.   Decent interest rate on the cash balance in your account and easy to dollar cost average with them since you can buy a certain $ of stocks instead of a number of shares.

Only thing I don’t like, and this is a really petty thing, but if you buy a $ amount of a stock it does it in two transactions.   It will do one transaction for the money you have to buy the whole shares, and then a second purchase for the fractional shares.   

[Frequentflier]

I have accounts at Vanguard, Schwab and Fidelity. Have never had an accuracy issue or problem with service or fees at Vanguard or Fidelity. There was family trust money at Schwab for a long while but the trustee moved the money, with my agreement, to Morgan Stanley because Schwab said they would handle a split and distribution to heirs basically "whenever". I actually complained to the SEC about Schwab but don't have any expectation of disciplinary action on that. I don't recommend Morgan Stanley, a representative there told our family trustee that they are used to working with people who have at least "hundreds of millions" in investments. Morgan Stanley though has handled the account properly, timely and error free.

[TonyDown]

I found this thread on the Boggleheads Website.

Seems like Fidelity and Vanguard both have a few unhappy customers.

Vanguard Customer Service Mega-thread - Page 40 - Bogleheads.org

WWW.BOGLEHEADS.ORG

[Pd1_jap]

I use Schwab. They are the best.

[+ Notor]

On 12/14/2024 at 1:33 AM, TonyDown said:

Based on their reputation and a recommendation,  I moved a retirement account and later opened a brokerage account at Vanguard.

This evening I observed a third instance of an error with my brokerage account.  The first issue was eventually corrected.  The 2nd issue has a case opened to track resolution.   I have to wait until Monday to speak to Vanguard about the 3rd error.

This is unsettling to me.   I need my assets held somewhere with error free processes.  So I am considering moving out of Vanguard.

Here are two questions.

1. What other options might I consider?  Fidelity?  Somewhere else?

2. Has anyone else been displeased with Vanguard?

 

I have had an account with Vanguard for over 45 years with no problems. They have always been very responsive to my requests.