Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Discussion of the Stock portion of the Permanent Portfolio

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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:01 am

Double checked, no MOC on regular Schwab website. Also, there was a bug which caused the fractional shares to not trade, they took care of them for me by hand the next day, at the same price. Not great, but whatever.
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InsuranceGuy
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by InsuranceGuy » Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:18 pm

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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sat Oct 12, 2019 7:43 am

1.4 cents per share ding. That sucks. Glad I found out how to do MOC. The cash thing sucks.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by InsuranceGuy » Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:15 am

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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:07 am

InsuranceGuy wrote:
Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:15 am
The average price improvement is $5.80/trade over 11 trades in the past 12 months.
What does it work out to on a per share basis? Anything like 1.4 cents per share?

Everyone going to zero commissions really starts putting the focus on smaller and smaller and finer and finer points about order flow, customer service, online user experience, do you like the cookies & coffee they serve in the local branches, etc. Here's a summary of the war in my brain. I don't know what to do. Maybe move my two actively traded accounts to Fidelity, and leave the quiet ones at Schwab. $25 hostage fee.

Screenshot 2019-10-12 at 11.31.43 AM.png
Screenshot 2019-10-12 at 11.31.43 AM.png (72.87 KiB) Viewed 16770 times
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InsuranceGuy
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by InsuranceGuy » Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:38 am

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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:27 pm

InsuranceGuy wrote:
Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:38 am
EDIT: Nice comparison chart. From my perspective: I have never been to a branch so never had a cookie (that may change now that I know), the Fidelity website seems to work well for me, I agree on the 2% Fidelity card and personally use the Alliant CU cash back card that has no ATM/foreign trans fees. I have no vested interest in any of the brokerage houses, I use Fidelity and have used E-Trade, Merrill, Schwab, and Vanguard in the past.
So the momentum strategies I use in my VP have 2.5 trades per year on average. This would imply that Schwab makes from me, on average, about $770 per year in lost price improvements. If I run around that by sending 99% of the trades through MOC, and do next-day clean-up with regular market buy orders (I sell an ETF using MOC, but only buy 98% of the replacement ETF using MOC so as not to run out of cash), they're down to 1% of that, or $7.70 per year. I can live with that. Even if it's 1.4c per share not 0.6c per share, that's $18 per year.

But I still might move!
thisisallen
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by thisisallen » Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:34 pm

Fidelity will reimburse the fee that another brokerage may charge you to transfer funds to Fidelity. Just need to show Fidelity your statement from the other company confirming the fee/charge.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:30 am

thisisallen wrote:
Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:34 pm
Fidelity will reimburse the fee that another brokerage may charge you to transfer funds to Fidelity. Just need to show Fidelity your statement from the other company confirming the fee/charge.
Where do present the statement? Online or at a branch?
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sophie
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by sophie » Sun Oct 13, 2019 9:37 am

I don't have a Schwab account so I can't speak to that brokerage's features in this area, but a few additions to the Fidelity positive list:

1) A cash account with an ATM card where you are reimbursed for all ATM fees. (disadvantage: the sweep pays almost zero interest, but on the other hand it is FDIC insured for a ridiculously large amount, like $600K).

2) A brokerage account that can be firewalled from long-term investments and that can do everything that a normal online checking account does except for ATM withdrawals - and you can set the sweep to a money market fund. Pairs well with the cash account. Elegantly gets around rules limiting savings account transactions that force you into a dual bank account structure.

3) An completely-investible HSA that neatly avoids having to deal with two institutions, logins etc.

Their website software is the one real negative of Fidelity. Glitches are common and it is often awkward to use. I hope they are planning to update it.
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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:17 am

Agree completely on the Fidelity website. It's green and mean.
thisisallen
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by thisisallen » Sun Oct 13, 2019 10:40 am

ochotona wrote:
Sun Oct 13, 2019 5:30 am
thisisallen wrote:
Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:34 pm
Fidelity will reimburse the fee that another brokerage may charge you to transfer funds to Fidelity. Just need to show Fidelity your statement from the other company confirming the fee/charge.
Where do present the statement? Online or at a branch?
Definitely online. Don’t know about the branch.

https://click.fidelityinvestments.com/? ... 9b3036dd62
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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 13, 2019 4:15 pm

Will get cookies at branch
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 13, 2019 8:51 pm

Approved for Fidelity Visa card. Had to temporarily unfreeze my credit reports.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by InsuranceGuy » Sun Oct 13, 2019 11:36 pm

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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:12 am

I have a couple no foreign currency fee cards. Costco Visa and Capital One Venture.
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sophie
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by sophie » Mon Oct 14, 2019 8:24 am

There's no card that does everything unfortunately...

My foreign travel card of choice is Capital One Visa - no fees, decent currency exchange rates, and 1.5% cash back. Be sure to always pay in local currency, because the deals you get for currency conversion at the cash register are typically poor.

Citi Double Cash is another 2% cash back card worth considering.
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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:52 am

MangoMan wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 7:52 am
ochotona wrote:
Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:12 am
I have a couple no foreign currency fee cards. Costco Visa and Capital One Venture.
Your Schwab ATM card also has no FTF.
My EDC will be Schwab debit for ATM, Fidelity Visa in the US, Capital One Visa or Costco Visa overseas... and Amex when I rent cars, they have a great flat-fee optional auto rental comp/collision policy, if you crack up a rental car, you walk away without dinging your regular insurance. It's primary, so your insurer need never know about it. It's not liability insurance, though, so if you have an at-fault accident, they'll know about it.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 20, 2019 1:05 pm

Oh... I need to swap my IAU for AAAU. 7 basis point difference in fees. $20 difference annually for me in my Fidelity HSA. This new no-fee world is going to allow everyone to migrate to the best-of-breed ETFs.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by Xan » Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:21 pm

ochotona wrote:
Sun Oct 20, 2019 1:05 pm
Oh... I need to swap my IAU for AAAU. 7 basis point difference in fees. $20 difference annually for me in my Fidelity HSA. This new no-fee world is going to allow everyone to migrate to the best-of-breed ETFs.
Are they different enough to avoid a wash sale?
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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:57 pm

Xan wrote:
Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:21 pm
ochotona wrote:
Sun Oct 20, 2019 1:05 pm
Oh... I need to swap my IAU for AAAU. 7 basis point difference in fees. $20 difference annually for me in my Fidelity HSA. This new no-fee world is going to allow everyone to migrate to the best-of-breed ETFs.
Are they different enough to avoid a wash sale?
I'm not claiming a tax loss.
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ochotona
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Sun Oct 20, 2019 10:19 pm

I don't have an opinion about AAAU v GLDM.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:45 am

Devil in the Details... Fidelity won't let me create simultaneous MOC sell and buy orders, unless I have cash available to trade to cover the buy order. Oh my. This is a snag. I can do that at Schwab. I don't think I can migrate over to Fidelity with my large account. It's a show stopper.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by ochotona » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:17 am

ochotona wrote:
Mon Oct 21, 2019 8:45 am
Devil in the Details... Fidelity won't let me create simultaneous MOC sell and buy orders, unless I have cash available to trade to cover the buy order. Oh my. This is a snag. I can do that at Schwab. I don't think I can migrate over to Fidelity with my large account. It's a show stopper.
Oh well I still am going to use the FIDELITY VISA card.
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Re: Stock and ETF brokerage costs plunge

Post by InsuranceGuy » Mon Oct 21, 2019 11:33 am

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