Permanent Broker

[ppnewbie]

I want to set up a stock account for my kids where we auto purchase and manually purchase mostly stocks mostly VTI and reinvest dividends.

I want this to be broker that they can use forever. I’m looking for things like ease of use, customer support, on-site locations, etc, etc…

Currently I am thinking Vanguard or Fidelity although I don’t have any experience with them for my taxable accounts. And my experience with Fidelity is that the site is not the best.

Would love to hear everyone’s suggestions.

[foglifter]

I vouch for Fidelity with both hands. They offer tons of stuff including cash management account (it's a brokerage account with FDIC-insured core scattered over multiple banks and it includes debit card), HSA account where you can buy anything, good cash back credit card, excellent US-based customer service, lots of research tools, great lineup of zero-ER index funds.

There are topics about Fidelity on Bogleheads, so I won't write a long post here. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[ppnewbie]

Is it easy to see purchase history IE price paid date of purchase and current price. And are you able to sell specific shares?

The reason I ask this is - say they have been buying VTI for 25 30 years and each purchase starts a dividend reinvestment machine of its own. This will become a monster to manage at a few million dollars if it’s not a very solid interface.

I am imaging the drop down menu when they click on VTI to be thousands of entries when they are ready to retire.

[foglifter]

Is it easy to see purchase history IE price paid date of purchase and current price. And are you able to sell specific shares?

Yes, you click on the ticker in the list of positions in the account and it will open the purchase history with dates, cost basis, current value etc.



And yes, you can sell specific shares.

[dualstow]

And my experience with Fidelity is that the site is not the best.

What did you dislike about it?
I was born into using Vanguard, and for about ten years it was a good online experience.
However, whenever they ask for feedback I urge them to make their site more like Fidelity’s. This is going back several years now.

[joypog]

I use both (Vanguard for IRA's, Fidelity for taxable and HSA's). Both are fine. I think I slightly prefer the additional info on Fidelity, but nothing that would tempt me to go through the hassle of moving my vanguard accounts to Fido.

Plus I wouldn't feel particularly great if all of my investments were brokered in one institution.

HOWEVER - I'm not a power user. I go in, buy stuff, get out. Pay whatever taxes the brokerages say I should pay at the end of the year.

[vnatale]

And my experience with Fidelity is that the site is not the best.

What did you dislike about it?
I was born into using Vanguard, and for about ten years it was a good online experience.
However, whenever they ask for feedback I urge them to make their site more like Fidelity’s. This is going back several years now.

Vanguard is currently soliciting me to participate in a survey. I think I have to let them know by midnight tonight.

[barrett]

I've been with Fidelity for at least 25 years and they've been great overall. My ONLY issue with them in that time is that they will not "host" a Solo 401(k) Roth account. Wife and I are both self-employed and had to go to another firm (we choose TDA) to open those a while back.

I'm also interested to know what you don't like about the Fido website as I think it's great. Customer service over the years has been terrific... quick to answer the phone, friendly, and knowledgeable about a lot of things. Had to move the aforementioned Solo 401(k) Roth account to Etrade from TDA recently and I had call waits over an hour while sorting out that transfer.

Have seen some on Bogleheads bemoan a decline in customer service with Vanguard but have no personal experience with them.

[vnatale]

I've been with Fidelity for at least 25 years and they've been great overall. My ONLY issue with them in that time is that they will not "host" a Solo 401(k) Roth account. Wife and I are both self-employed and had to go to another firm (we choose TDA) to open those a while back.

I'm also interested to know what you don't like about the Fido website as I think it's great. Customer service over the years has been terrific... quick to answer the phone, friendly, and knowledgeable about a lot of things. Had to move the aforementioned Solo 401(k) Roth account to Etrade from TDA recently and I had call waits over an hour while sorting out that transfer.

Have seen some on Bogleheads bemoan a decline in customer service with Vanguard but have no personal experience with them.

I have a Solo 401(k) Roth account at Vanguard. However, what I recently found out was that a Solo 401(k) Roth account IS subject to the Required Minimum Distributions. That led me to transferring it to a Rollover Roth IRA account.

Vanguard's customer service has definitely declined over the last few years.

[joypog]

Vanguard's customer service has definitely declined over the last few years.

That's unsurprising given what I've heard over the past year, but a disappointing since they were great fifteen years ago when I was first getting into investing and trying to set thing sup.

[dualstow]

Vanguard is currently soliciting me to participate in a survey. I think I have to let them know by midnight tonight.

When you posted this I was thinking who cares, but I just realized I missed my chance to take the survey. Boo.

[ppnewbie]

I'm also interested to know what you don't like about the Fido website as I think it's great.

I just felt like the site was a little clunky and busy compared to other brokers like Schwab and etrade. But the customer service is excellent. I’m think Fido may be the winner and they have a lot of physical locations.

[vnatale]

Vanguard is currently soliciting me to participate in a survey. I think I have to let them know by midnight tonight.

When you posted this I was thinking who cares, but I just realized I missed my chance to take the survey. Boo.

For a lot of my emails if I'm interested in them but they will take any time to look at ... I'll put them aside for looking at later.

In the case of this one I did see "it would take 15 minutes" but, for some reason, I thought it was a live one for which I had to make an appointment. Two barriers to taking it.

Today when I finally got to the email (two days late) I saw that it was strictly an online survey, which I would have done if I had known that. They needed to have allowed more time between the invitation and the deadline.

[dualstow]

Agree. It’s just one more shitty thing about Vanguard.
Btw, I would have done it immediately, but a lot of things don’t work on the ipad so it’s best to wait for the desktop. I was on an ipad and, well, I had a cat on my lap.

[vnatale]

Agree. It’s just one more shitty thing about Vanguard.
Btw, I would have done it immediately, but a lot of things don’t work on the ipad so it’s best to wait for the desktop. I was on an ipad and, well, I had a cat on my lap.

I'll raise you right now having two rats on my lap! (But no cats in sight!)