[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]
I have or have had IRA’s with all 3.
Vanguard has the lowest fees overall. But when my dad passed away – it was concurrant with the market collapsing – it took MONTHS to get control of the funds. They kept losing the death certs we were sending. They were polite, but not helpful, when we’d call to track things. I’ve since transfered everything that my dad had from Vanguard except the kids 529’s.
I’m at Schwab and Fidelity. My dad also had funds at Schwab – and the transfer of control after he died was easy and hassle free.
Just to put it in perspective. My dad died 10/2007 (peak of the market). We couldn’t access the funds at Vanguard to move it OUT of the collapsing market to cash or non-equity funds till 02/2008. That’s 4 months of loss the estate took.
It left a bad taste in my mouth for Vanguard. But they do have a good selection of funds for low fees.
