Anyone use Smith Barney for IRA’s?

[UCGal]

[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.

I like Schwab the best of the 3 places.

[Coronita]

[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]

I actually have accounts in all 3.

Here’s my input

1)If you want just no frills index funds, go to vanguard. Index funds are passively managed and should not have that much management fees. Vanguard imho is the leader here. Also, if your holding is above a threshold, you get even reduced fees ($100k+ per fund and/or been an account holder for some time). I their fund fees are the lowest.

2)If you want more actively managed funds, Fidelity imho has a good fund selection, with reasonable fees. i wouldn’t have openned a fidelity account, but it allowed me to rollover a bunch of 401k’s from fidelity without taking selling the fund so thats why I have fidelity.

3)Schwab I use for self managed stock trading accounts and for some no-load funds that aren’t otherwise available at fidelity or vanguard without higher fees. Individual stock transactions are the cheapest versus the other two if you plan on doing this in a retirement account. I don’t have too many funds in schwab, mainly individual stocks. Commission and execution rate for stock is pretty decent.

All three companies pretty much leave me alone. Never any salesman/broker trying to give me “advice”.

[Coronita]

[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]

I actually have accounts in all 3.

Here’s my input

1)If you want just no frills index funds, go to vanguard. Index funds are passively managed and should not have that much management fees. Vanguard imho is the leader here. Also, if your holding is above a threshold, you get even reduced fees ($100k+ per fund and/or been an account holder for some time). I their fund fees are the lowest.

2)If you want more actively managed funds, Fidelity imho has a good fund selection, with reasonable fees. i wouldn’t have openned a fidelity account, but it allowed me to rollover a bunch of 401k’s from fidelity without taking selling the fund so thats why I have fidelity.

3)Schwab I use for self managed stock trading accounts and for some no-load funds that aren’t otherwise available at fidelity or vanguard without higher fees. Individual stock transactions are the cheapest versus the other two if you plan on doing this in a retirement account. I don’t have too many funds in schwab, mainly individual stocks. Commission and execution rate for stock is pretty decent.

All three companies pretty much leave me alone. Never any salesman/broker trying to give me “advice”.

[Coronita]

[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]

I actually have accounts in all 3.

Here’s my input

1)If you want just no frills index funds, go to vanguard. Index funds are passively managed and should not have that much management fees. Vanguard imho is the leader here. Also, if your holding is above a threshold, you get even reduced fees ($100k+ per fund and/or been an account holder for some time). I their fund fees are the lowest.

2)If you want more actively managed funds, Fidelity imho has a good fund selection, with reasonable fees. i wouldn’t have openned a fidelity account, but it allowed me to rollover a bunch of 401k’s from fidelity without taking selling the fund so thats why I have fidelity.

3)Schwab I use for self managed stock trading accounts and for some no-load funds that aren’t otherwise available at fidelity or vanguard without higher fees. Individual stock transactions are the cheapest versus the other two if you plan on doing this in a retirement account. I don’t have too many funds in schwab, mainly individual stocks. Commission and execution rate for stock is pretty decent.

All three companies pretty much leave me alone. Never any salesman/broker trying to give me “advice”.

[Coronita]

[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]

I actually have accounts in all 3.

Here’s my input

1)If you want just no frills index funds, go to vanguard. Index funds are passively managed and should not have that much management fees. Vanguard imho is the leader here. Also, if your holding is above a threshold, you get even reduced fees ($100k+ per fund and/or been an account holder for some time). I their fund fees are the lowest.

2)If you want more actively managed funds, Fidelity imho has a good fund selection, with reasonable fees. i wouldn’t have openned a fidelity account, but it allowed me to rollover a bunch of 401k’s from fidelity without taking selling the fund so thats why I have fidelity.

3)Schwab I use for self managed stock trading accounts and for some no-load funds that aren’t otherwise available at fidelity or vanguard without higher fees. Individual stock transactions are the cheapest versus the other two if you plan on doing this in a retirement account. I don’t have too many funds in schwab, mainly individual stocks. Commission and execution rate for stock is pretty decent.

All three companies pretty much leave me alone. Never any salesman/broker trying to give me “advice”.

[Coronita]

[quote=Nachoman]Thanks everyone! Is there much difference between Fidelity/Vanguard/Schwab? Does Vanguard have better choices?[/quote]

I actually have accounts in all 3.

Here’s my input

1)If you want just no frills index funds, go to vanguard. Index funds are passively managed and should not have that much management fees. Vanguard imho is the leader here. Also, if your holding is above a threshold, you get even reduced fees ($100k+ per fund and/or been an account holder for some time). I their fund fees are the lowest.

2)If you want more actively managed funds, Fidelity imho has a good fund selection, with reasonable fees. i wouldn’t have openned a fidelity account, but it allowed me to rollover a bunch of 401k’s from fidelity without taking selling the fund so thats why I have fidelity.

3)Schwab I use for self managed stock trading accounts and for some no-load funds that aren’t otherwise available at fidelity or vanguard without higher fees. Individual stock transactions are the cheapest versus the other two if you plan on doing this in a retirement account. I don’t have too many funds in schwab, mainly individual stocks. Commission and execution rate for stock is pretty decent.

All three companies pretty much leave me alone. Never any salesman/broker trying to give me “advice”.

[Anonymous]

I have actually been with Smith Barney for about six months now, changed over from Vanguard and have been very happy.

SB was highly recommended by a couple of friends in the investment industry so I decided to give them a shot. I really just think it depends on what your portfolio is like and what you are looking to get out of the service.

[Anonymous]

I have actually been with Smith Barney for about six months now, changed over from Vanguard and have been very happy.

SB was highly recommended by a couple of friends in the investment industry so I decided to give them a shot. I really just think it depends on what your portfolio is like and what you are looking to get out of the service.

[Anonymous]

I have actually been with Smith Barney for about six months now, changed over from Vanguard and have been very happy.

SB was highly recommended by a couple of friends in the investment industry so I decided to give them a shot. I really just think it depends on what your portfolio is like and what you are looking to get out of the service.

[Anonymous]

I have actually been with Smith Barney for about six months now, changed over from Vanguard and have been very happy.

SB was highly recommended by a couple of friends in the investment industry so I decided to give them a shot. I really just think it depends on what your portfolio is like and what you are looking to get out of the service.

[Anonymous]

I have actually been with Smith Barney for about six months now, changed over from Vanguard and have been very happy.

SB was highly recommended by a couple of friends in the investment industry so I decided to give them a shot. I really just think it depends on what your portfolio is like and what you are looking to get out of the service.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

What kind of fees for an IRA ?

I’ve had IRA accounts for about 15 years, initiaially with Jack White & CO, who were bought out by TD waterhouse, who then merged with Ameritrade to become TDAmeritrade.

What kind of fees are you talking about ?
Annual fees ?

The only fees I pay are broker fees (9.99 per trade) when I buy or sell stocks. They have a bunch of mutual funds, but I use mostly ETFs, which trade like stocks.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

What kind of fees for an IRA ?

I’ve had IRA accounts for about 15 years, initiaially with Jack White & CO, who were bought out by TD waterhouse, who then merged with Ameritrade to become TDAmeritrade.

What kind of fees are you talking about ?
Annual fees ?

The only fees I pay are broker fees (9.99 per trade) when I buy or sell stocks. They have a bunch of mutual funds, but I use mostly ETFs, which trade like stocks.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

What kind of fees for an IRA ?

I’ve had IRA accounts for about 15 years, initiaially with Jack White & CO, who were bought out by TD waterhouse, who then merged with Ameritrade to become TDAmeritrade.

What kind of fees are you talking about ?
Annual fees ?

The only fees I pay are broker fees (9.99 per trade) when I buy or sell stocks. They have a bunch of mutual funds, but I use mostly ETFs, which trade like stocks.

[(former)FormerSanDiegan]

What kind of fees for an IRA ?

I’ve had IRA accounts for about 15 years, initiaially with Jack White & CO, who were bought out by TD waterhouse, who then merged with Ameritrade to become TDAmeritrade.

What kind of fees are you talking about ?
Annual fees ?

The only fees I pay are broker fees (9.99 per trade) when I buy or sell stocks. They have a bunch of mutual funds, but I use mostly ETFs, which trade like stocks.

[Author]

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