Is TD Ameritrade a good starter online broker for PP ETFs?

[bigamish]

Hi all,

I am ready to start implementing my PP in the next couple of weeks & was hoping to get some input about TD Ameritrade as an online brokerage.  The biggest draw for me is that TLT, SHY, and VTI are all in their commission-free ETF listing, so the potential to manage several ETFs in one location for a minimum of expense is appealing to me.  So is this too good to be true?  Am I overlooking any hidden fees in the fine print I need to be aware of?  To my untrained eye everything looks kosher, but keep in mind that I am a complete online investing n00b.

I checked out Vanguard as that is a popular option here (and elsewhere), but the only PP-worthy ETF they offer without commission is VTI.  However, I hear their customer service is outstanding.  Just making sure I am not overlooking something as Vanguard is a well-regarded online broker.

Thoughts?

[Jan Van]

There's a long discussion on Bogleheads on this you might want to read: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61231

I'd almost want a TDAmeritrade account for the link with https://www.kapitall.com ...

[bigamish]

There's a long discussion on Bogleheads on this you might want to read: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=61231

I'd almost want a TDAmeritrade account for the link with https://www.kapitall.com ...

Great links...thanks!  Based on the information discussed, I am inclined to go forward with the TD Ameritrade account.  Any other experiences out there?

[Jan Van]

I did read something about a short term trading fee here: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/td-ameritrad ... -etfs.html

But that shouldn't be a problem anyway...

[bigamish]

I did read something about a short term trading fee here: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/td-ameritrad ... -etfs.html

But that shouldn't be a problem anyway...

I read that as well.  As you suggest such a fee would be rarely, if ever, applied when building a PP.  Even then, $20 for a once in a blue moon event isn't the end of the world.  Especially considering the money saved in commissions.

[Boeing737]

I am very happy with TD Ameritrade so far. Easy to use web with lots of research tools and I even got my $100 rebate same day I opened the account!

[MeDebtFree]

I have used them and for a PP they should be ok.

One (long) bad experience I had with them had to do with the 2008 meltdown.  They actively marketed 'The Reserve Fund' and 'The Reserve Interest Plus Fund (RYPQX, which was created/used exclusively by/for TD Ameritrade clients)'.  Both of those funds 'broke the buck' in 2008 and while other places like Schwab, etc., covered money market losses for their clients, TD Ameritrade did not (they eventually said they would cover up to 3 cents for the Reserve Fund but only after much consternation and they never made good on their RYPQX fund).  To this day, some 2-3 years later, there are still people with funds frozen in RYPQX and TD Ameritrade still won't do anything about it.  If you so choose, you can read all about the misery at

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/rypqx


Making matters worse, they were completely disorganized and left the affected investors completely in the dark for months with no official statements and their client services people could provide nothing.  Thousands of people had their accounts frozen for several months with no help and no recourse.  I don't know if any other online brokerage would have done any better but it was pretty unbelievable how out of touch they seemed and how poorly they handled the situation.  We probably would have heard much more about the story in the media but with everything else going wrong (Madoff, Stanford, etc) it became a back page story.