Gyroscopic Investing

I'm using an advisor right now through Merrill Lynch and trying to get out of this relationship.  He was charging me 1% fee on total assets, unlimited trades.  When I told him I wanted to be more passive and do ETFs/Index funds with annual rebalancing, he switched my fee structure to $50 annual fee with $50 trades!!!

I know this is awful, so I'm thinking of switching to Vanguard.  I think the reason it's that much of a ripoff is because I have an advisor, but I don't need or want one.  Thoughts on best brokerages?

Vanguard is great.  $7 trades, free Vanguard ETFs, etc.

As for your guy, that sounds like someone you should run from.

Don't be surprised if he stalks you.  People like that don't like being rejected.

I use both Zecco and Thinkorswim. I trade mutual funds at thinkorswim for free. I trade etf's at zecco for free. Thinkorswim also offers gainskeeper (tax tool) for free. At Zecco, I pay about $50 a year for that. If I had it to do over, I would of went with Vanguard but I'm reasonably happy with my current set up.

I was using Banc of America, which has been merged/migrated to Merrill Edge. If you can afford to keep $25k in linked accounts, they offer 30 free trades per month.

Thanks for the responses.  Does anyone know anything about Fidelity?

Have to throw in a plug for Schwab. Very good customer service. $8.95 trades, free trades on their ETFs.

Brad243480 wrote: Thanks for the responses.  Does anyone know anything about Fidelity?

I have Fidelity, not out of choice, but because my employer uses them for 401K, ESPP, and DCAP plans.  Overall they are pretty good.  $7.95 equity trades and free mutual fund trades.  They have a pretty large variety of Vanguard and Fidelity funds that are no fee funds.  I've also found they have great customer service.  For example, when I was first starting the PP I had a lot of questions about how to buy LT Treasuries.  I called and spoke with someone that was very knowledgeable and helpful on their fixed income desk.  He told me all about the risks and explained how to buy them in primary and secondary auctions.  I've never had to wait on hold for customer service, and on the few occasions where I wanted to use funds for a trade that hadn't been freed up yet from a previous trade I was always able to call someone and get the trade done.