If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

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Horton
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If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Horton »

With all the recent threads about Schwab and TDA’s announcement of free trades, along with a general trend of support for these companies and others like Fidelity, I’m interested to hear from folks who have the bulk of their assets at Vanguard and do not plan to leave in the near future.

My wife and I have all of our non-employer retirement funds at Vanguard. We don’t trade often. With the exception of a couple ETFs, we still use the Vanguard mutual fund shares rather than ETFs. We haven’t had to contact customer support for anything in the past. For us right now there isn’t a “burning platform” and wouldn’t be worth the time to transfer assets and ensure that cost basis for the taxable accounts transfers properly.

I’ve thought about changing to Schwab or Fidelity in the past, but for the above reasons there just hasn’t been an impetus to change.

Interested to hear other perspectives.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by cadreamer2015 »

We have essentially all our assets with Vanguard. I see no reason to switch. Of course we rarely trade.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by indexfundfan »

VBS has the best yielding sweep money market fund.
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oneleaf
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by oneleaf »

Still got some Vanguard mutual funds in taxable that I can't exactly move anywhere. However, that said, I see no reason to switch. No other brokerage has interest on their cash settlement account nearly as good as Vanguard's. And we got all the main things we need: free ETF trades, pretty good cost basis selection (or at least I'm used to it).
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UpsetRaptor
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by UpsetRaptor »

If you're a Vanguard fund holder, your trades were already free at Vanguard, so why does it matter?
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by mhc »

Here is why I stay:

1. I like their website. It is so easy to use.
2. I like their low cost index funds.
3. It links well to Vanguard Charitable.
4. Inertia. (taxable brokerage, 2 IRA, 2 Roth, 3 Coverdell, 3 529)
5. I like their ownership structure.

Why I might change:
1. Inertia will go down once kids are done with college and I stop working. (taxable brokerage, 2 Roth)
2. A cash management account sounds like something I might want some day.
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asif408
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by asif408 »

What the other companies are offering with free ETF trades for my purposes is exactly the same as what I already have with Vanguard. Personally, I don't do much with my accounts as far as trading, and my needs are low with brokerage accounts, so for me I started with them and see no compelling reason to leave them.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by RickBoglehead »

There are numerous threads discussing this. No new points have been raised until Schwab dropping trading fees this week.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=279555

That's just one of them.

I don't pay Vanguard to trade anything. All of my holdings are at Vanguard, in Vanguard funds, except for one stock and some CDs, my tiny HSA (at Fidelity), and my wife's retirement accounts that are at Fidelity. Our Fidelity experience was continually awful, as I've documented on this forum.

There is zero reason for us to consider leaving Vanguard.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Clever_Username »

Other companies are offering for free what I already get for free. Why would I move?

Pretty much all my investments are in one of three places: Vanguard (personally held, plus a former employer plan there with great share classes), Fidelity (current employer plan), and Treasury Direct.

My only complaint, if it could even be called that, is that my employer plan has some proprietary funds that I can't seem to set up in the "outside investment" tracker, so Vanguard doesn't know my actual asset mix. This is a little tough because I'll be heavy in bonds at Vanguard and heavy in stocks at my employer plan (domestic stock index at 0.005% ER, but "not a mutual fund" and doesn't have a ticker I can use to list).

But I don't think moving would make it better, and this is a minor complaint that I solve with a small spreadsheet.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by leonidas »

If your at Vanguard I would just stay there especially if you use their mutual funds for witch there still is a fee for at Schwab. I am grandfathered into WellsTrade which gives 100 free trades including Vanguard MF's so I am not going to move to Schwab. I use Schwab investor checking for my banking needs which is an excellent product.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by arf30 »

Vanguard is still king for mutual fund investors - they just automatically invest on a schedule from my checking account without me thinking about it, and we store extra cash in their money market funds. I never got the hype with ETFs - seems like a lot of extra work for no reason.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by SGM »

I am satisfied with Vanguard. I would be concerned that the basis might be harder to keep track of if I moved any funds from one brokerage to another. Everything is running smoothly in retirement so why make any changes? I do have some other accounts with another brokerage and I don't think it is any better than Vanguard. I don't need any handholding. Our plan is to continue to hold funds in two different brokerage companies. At one time I had a Fidelity account and discontinued it when I made my last Roth conversion. Three or more brokerages gets too complicated.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by jebmke »

cadreamer2015 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:20 am We have essentially all our assets with Vanguard. I see no reason to switch. Of course we rarely trade.
Same here; Other than a few TLH bond fund swaps about a year ago, I haven't traded in a few years. Have not gotten out of balance in a long time. I don't pay for trades anyway so it doesn't matter.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Vanguard Fan 1367 »

This reminds me of the days of railroads where a railroad would put in cheap freights long enough to drive other railroads out of business then raise the rates again. I really appreciate John Bogle and his emphasis on keeping fees low and letting the investor keep more of his money. The other companies are lowering their fees because they have to. I really don't like zero er funds because I think it is important for investment companies to not go bankrupt like some have. I think they should make a reasonable profit and not offer loss leaders to gain business.

So I stay with Vanguard and appreciate their low fees and their pioneering of the low fees.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by cheezit »

1) My 401(k) is with them, and it's more convenient to have the 401(k) and Roths (and taxable, if our family income grows) in the same spot
2) I already trade everything I want to trade for free
3) The website is easy enough to use
4) While I am sort of suspicious of Vanguard in the wake of some of their recent marketing pushes, I am an order of magnitude more suspicious of Fido and Schwab
5) I like holding one of my assets per account in a VG mutual fund so that I don't have loose change left in the sweep account after I buy ETF shares each month, and Vanguard remains the best place to buy VG mutual funds
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

One of the reasons I stick with Vanguard is they are the drivers forcing others into lowering their fees/ERs and such. The current total dollar figure squeezed out of investor costs must be staggering by now, compared to the beginning of Mr Bogle's efforts. Many other fund families are late comers to cost reductions. They are in survival mode. Meanwhile, back at Vanguard, my investment costs have steadily dropped.

I need very little hand-holding; our retirement portfolios are all on the brokerage platform, giving us a unified view of our bond MFs, our equity ETFs, our annuity, and the 529 plans for the grandchildren. Not to mention the external accounts I have added via Yodlee, much convenience with one sign-on.

In short, Vanguard works well for us, and we are enjoying the benefits of low-cost investing. I prefer the Walmart model, not the Nordstrom model. I don't need free TurboTax, free portfolio reviews, CMA accounts, or a litany of other benefits that cost Vanguard $$$ to provide. I will confess I do use the free trades, but I certainly wouldn't care all that much if I lost that benefit.

Looking at the funds flow reports, it is pretty evident that plenty of other folks feel as I do, as Vanguard continues to hoover up new money.

Many of Vanguard's efforts/investment offerings are no interest to me, BUT I do like the fact Vanguard is going after the higher ER investments at other brokerages. It certainly doesn't upset me that Vanguard seeks to be a player in investments others obviously desire to hold. Why should I care? I can't think of any reason, myself. I don't like cookies and cream ice cream, but so long as I can get my butter pecan ice cream should I care if Publix offers ice cream in flavors I don't like? I honestly cannot understand why so many posters have so much angst about Vanguard offering investments they DON'T have to buy, but others DO want to purchase. :confused

The one place I would consider as another brokerage home if ever the need arises would be Charles Schwab. I think over time they have pursued many of the things that keeps me at Vanguard. Unfortunately their only office in my general location is pretty far from me.

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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Big Dog »

1) Have 2/3rds of all assets in mutual funds, which trade for zero cost.
2) the other 1/3 are equities handed down from grandma prior to her death so no step up. (Holding these until death for step up. If the market crashes, I'll sell them off on a guesstimated basis. As a Flagship I think I get 20 free trades a year. Even if I have to pay a few $4.95 for a few more transactions that is chicken feed relative to the TLH.)

Finally, I have not made a trade for ~4 years. I am a buy-and-hold investor. Just don't care about no stinkin' trade fees.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

Big Dog wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:23 pm 1) Have 2/3rds of all assets in mutual funds, which trade for zero cost.
2) the other 1/3 are equities handed down from grandma prior to her death so no step up. (Holding these until death for step up. If the market crashes, I'll sell them off on a guesstimated basis. As a Flagship I think I get 20 free trades a year. Even if I have to pay a few $4.95 for a few more transactions that is chicken feed relative to the TLH.)

Finally, I have not made a trade for ~4 years. I am a buy-and-hold investor. Just don't care about no stinkin' trade fees.
Actually each Flagship account holder gets 25 free trades, and subsequent trades are only $2.00. I have never used all the free ones I am given each year, and DW has never used a single one, as I am her agent and Papa doesn't play with her money! Nope. :D

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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by retired@50 »

I stay at Vanguard because of the ownership structure. It's what led me there to begin with. If you go anywhere else, you have to worry about how they are going to try and make a buck off of the fact that you want to be an investor. If you actually believe in the Bogle philosophy, then frequent trading isn't part of the plan anyway, so the price of a trade isn't important. To me, since I use my credit cards responsibly, I don't care what the interest rate is, since I'll never pay it anyway. So 10 free trades, or 20 free trades, who cares. I don't use more than 2 or 3 per year anyway.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Big Dog »

Broken Man 1999 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:34 pm
Big Dog wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:23 pm 1) Have 2/3rds of all assets in mutual funds, which trade for zero cost.
2) the other 1/3 are equities handed down from grandma prior to her death so no step up. (Holding these until death for step up. If the market crashes, I'll sell them off on a guesstimated basis. As a Flagship I think I get 20 free trades a year. Even if I have to pay a few $4.95 for a few more transactions that is chicken feed relative to the TLH.)

Finally, I have not made a trade for ~4 years. I am a buy-and-hold investor. Just don't care about no stinkin' trade fees.
Actually each Flagship account holder gets 25 free trades, and subsequent trades are only $2.00. I have never used all the free ones I am given each year, and DW has never used a single one, as I am her agent and Papa doesn't play with her money! Nope. :D

Broken Man 1999
:oops:
I paid $4.95/trade the last time I made one, so you can guess how long ago that was,
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by TomatoTomahto »

If you are willing to include the opinions of Vanguard Mutual Fund Only account holders, we stay because we are perfectly happy with Vanguard. We also have a Fidelity account (for employer 401k), and I prefer VG’s. I don’t spend much time on either account. Staying seems to be the default position, so why would I bother moving? As it is, I’d have to move “in kind” or suffer the LTCG tax impact.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by HomeStretch »

I stay for all the reasons stated above. But I have ventured over to Fidelity to open accounts where Fidelity’s offerings suit me better, which are a Solo 401k, CMA and DAF.

If Fidelity offered a Treasury money market fund with a return similar to Vanguard and a Roth Solo 401k, I would move some more money to Fidelity. But the bulk will stay at Vanguard.
Last edited by HomeStretch on Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by jebmke »

Broken Man 1999 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:34 pm Actually each Flagship account holder gets 25 free trades, and subsequent trades are only $2.00. I have never used all the free ones I am given each year, and DW has never used a single one, as I am her agent and Papa doesn't play with her money! Nope. :D
Plus I think Treasury trades are free so one can do bond buying and selling at no cost - I don't think there is a limit. Good for ladder building and maintenance.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by tesuzuki2002 »

Horton wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:14 am With all the recent threads about Schwab and TDA’s announcement of free trades, along with a general trend of support for these companies and others like Fidelity, I’m interested to hear from folks who have the bulk of their assets at Vanguard and do not plan to leave in the near future.

My wife and I have all of our non-employer retirement funds at Vanguard. We don’t trade often. With the exception of a couple ETFs, we still use the Vanguard mutual fund shares rather than ETFs. We haven’t had to contact customer support for anything in the past. For us right now there isn’t a “burning platform” and wouldn’t be worth the time to transfer assets and ensure that cost basis for the taxable accounts transfers properly.

I’ve thought about changing to Schwab or Fidelity in the past, but for the above reasons there just hasn’t been an impetus to change.

Interested to hear other perspectives.
If you have enough assets at Vanguard your trades are free any way... so what is the issue??
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by bondsr4me »

tesuzuki2002 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:39 pm
Horton wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:14 am With all the recent threads about Schwab and TDA’s announcement of free trades, along with a general trend of support for these companies and others like Fidelity, I’m interested to hear from folks who have the bulk of their assets at Vanguard and do not plan to leave in the near future.

My wife and I have all of our non-employer retirement funds at Vanguard. We don’t trade often. With the exception of a couple ETFs, we still use the Vanguard mutual fund shares rather than ETFs. We haven’t had to contact customer support for anything in the past. For us right now there isn’t a “burning platform” and wouldn’t be worth the time to transfer assets and ensure that cost basis for the taxable accounts transfers properly.

I’ve thought about changing to Schwab or Fidelity in the past, but for the above reasons there just hasn’t been an impetus to change.

Interested to hear other perspectives.
If you have enough assets at Vanguard your trades are free any way... so what is the issue??
The "issue" is an "issue" for those that don't qualify for free trades at VG, that what the issue is.
Free trades do resonate with many of us.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by lukestuckenhymer »

Vanguard offers the most tax-efficient index funds, as well as the highest yielding money market funds. For taxable, they win.

Fidelity has lower ERs, which I wouldn't be opposed to switching for tax deferred, but I have serious doubts their ZERO funds will best Vanguard's returns by much. I think tracking error alone will put Fidelity ZERO & comparable Vanguard index funds in virtually identical positions after 10 years.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Rudedog »

I use Vanguard Brokerage to buy and trade Vanguard funds, have also bought some CDs when rates were good. I use TD Ameritrade to trade equities, but I keep that money separate from my Vanguard money. If Vanguard offered free trades, I'd probably move all my money to Vanguard. I'm sure they are considering it.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by BuddyJet »

Clever_Username wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:38 am My only complaint, if it could even be called that, is that my employer plan has some proprietary funds that I can't seem to set up in the "outside investment" tracker, so Vanguard doesn't know my actual asset mix. This is a little tough because I'll be heavy in bonds at Vanguard and heavy in stocks at my employer plan (domestic stock index at 0.005% ER, but "not a mutual fund" and doesn't have a ticker I can use to list).
While not exactly correct, if you substitute the same dollar value of another etf/fund that tracks the same index as your employer plan holdings, the tracking will be pretty close.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Clever_Username »

BuddyJet wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 5:39 pm
Clever_Username wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:38 am My only complaint, if it could even be called that, is that my employer plan has some proprietary funds that I can't seem to set up in the "outside investment" tracker, so Vanguard doesn't know my actual asset mix. This is a little tough because I'll be heavy in bonds at Vanguard and heavy in stocks at my employer plan (domestic stock index at 0.005% ER, but "not a mutual fund" and doesn't have a ticker I can use to list).
While not exactly correct, if you substitute the same dollar value of another etf/fund that tracks the same index as your employer plan holdings, the tracking will be pretty close.
That's brilliant, thank you! Yeah, it tracks the Russell 3000 tobacco-free index. I can't imagine it's the only one, and even if it were, the Russell 3000 "even with tobacco" index is probably close enough.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by JoMoney »

Because I don't really need or use brokerage services, I would actually have preferred to not have a brokerage account and kept my directly held mutual fund account.

Vanguard has some of the best (lowest cost) money market funds.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by rossington »

Broken Man 1999 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:14 pm
In short, Vanguard works well for us, and we are enjoying the benefits of low-cost investing.
+1

I don't like cookies and cream ice cream, but so long as I can get my butter pecan ice cream should I care if Publix offers ice cream in flavors I don't like?
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by frugaltigris »

Till Vanguard has tax efficient MFs it is difficult to argue why leave Vanguard. When Vanguard patent expires and if Fidelity offers tax efficient funds I would switch.

For MF investors in taxable accounts, Vanguard wins.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Random Musings »

I have free trades, never even got close to the max. Great money market rates, tax efficient index funds.

IMHO, these free trade deals won't work well for the average investor (not savvy Bogleheads). Free trades will result in more portfolio turnover, most likely with poorer long term returns. Plus cash drag on the MM.

Plus, once they got you I'm sure they will market other products with higher margins than those already low commissions they were charging. Schwab is a public company and ultimately they are trying to improve their bottom line via acquiring assets from competitors, other product/services revenues and lower interest rates in sweep accounts.

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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by pyld76 »

I stay only because of the zero capital gain taxable mutual funds courtesy of the heartbeat trades the ETF share class game facilitates and the MM yields.

If Fido had mutual funds that were as tax efficient and kept their MM expense ratios down about 20-25bps, I’d be gone.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by $musicman$ »

Love Vanguard
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by JamesSFO »

So historically I trade stocks 1-2x/year and the Vanguard site is fine for that (I also have Fidelity.)

With that low frequency it’s sort of a rounding error whether I paid a commission (don’t because Flagship and get 25 free), or not.

My guess is these changes are much more attractive to folks who trade daily/weekly at which point the commissions could add up.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by smectym »

Broken Man 1999 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:34 pm
Big Dog wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 1:23 pm 1) Have 2/3rds of all assets in mutual funds, which trade for zero cost.
2) the other 1/3 are equities handed down from grandma prior to her death so no step up. (Holding these until death for step up. If the market crashes, I'll sell them off on a guesstimated basis. As a Flagship I think I get 20 free trades a year. Even if I have to pay a few $4.95 for a few more transactions that is chicken feed relative to the TLH.)

Finally, I have not made a trade for ~4 years. I am a buy-and-hold investor. Just don't care about no stinkin' trade fees.
Actually each Flagship account holder gets 25 free trades, and subsequent trades are only $2.00. I have never used all the free ones I am given each year, and DW has never used a single one, as I am her agent and Papa doesn't play with her money! Nope. :D

Broken Man 1999
Broken Man’s point is the big one—25 free trades and most of us don’t trade a whole lot. And on top of 25 free stock trades, all Vanguard ETF trades, as well as a large and expanding list of non-Vanguard ETF’s, are commission-free as well. So the question isn’t “Why stay at Vanguard Brokerage?” but rather “”Why switch?” Though indeed, many on this forum already also hold brokerage accounts at Fidelity, Schwab &c. for one reason or another. Picking a brokerage is not like joining a gang
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by criticalmass »

Horton wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:14 am With all the recent threads about Schwab and TDA’s announcement of free trades, along with a general trend of support for these companies and others like Fidelity, I’m interested to hear from folks who have the bulk of their assets at Vanguard and do not plan to leave in the near future.
The question is asking why would I stay. I've already chosen Vanguard. Why would I change?

I don't come close to using the 25 or so free equity trades each year at Vanguard ($2 each if I did), and mutual fund/ETF transactions are always free anyway.
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by tesuzuki2002 »

bondsr4me wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:46 pm
tesuzuki2002 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:39 pm
Horton wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 9:14 am With all the recent threads about Schwab and TDA’s announcement of free trades, along with a general trend of support for these companies and others like Fidelity, I’m interested to hear from folks who have the bulk of their assets at Vanguard and do not plan to leave in the near future.

My wife and I have all of our non-employer retirement funds at Vanguard. We don’t trade often. With the exception of a couple ETFs, we still use the Vanguard mutual fund shares rather than ETFs. We haven’t had to contact customer support for anything in the past. For us right now there isn’t a “burning platform” and wouldn’t be worth the time to transfer assets and ensure that cost basis for the taxable accounts transfers properly.

I’ve thought about changing to Schwab or Fidelity in the past, but for the above reasons there just hasn’t been an impetus to change.

Interested to hear other perspectives.
If you have enough assets at Vanguard your trades are free any way... so what is the issue??
The "issue" is an "issue" for those that don't qualify for free trades at VG, that what the issue is.
Free trades do resonate with many of us.
I understand not everyone qualifies... It is a tiered system and Voyager Select gets the privilege of $2 trades which isn't bad.

At then end of everything, I didn't think trading was really a Boglehead principle anyway...
usagi
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by usagi »

I have sins to atone for so I simply consider Vanguard my personal purgatory.

Actually though I do consider it purgatory, I am stuck because I have a large taxable holding in
Vanguard International Growth Fund and you cannot convert it to an etf in order to hold it elsewhere, so I am stuck.
Silence Dogood
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Silence Dogood »

I don't have a need for brokerage services. I'm invested in an all-in-one mutual fund.

Having said that, I'm not really happy with the direction Vanguard is going in. Despite their lackluster customer service and clunky website, I thought that at least compared to other fund companies, Vanguard is client-owned and won't try to push me to take action that is against my best interests. Unfortunately, with current Vanguard leadership, this seems to be no longer the case. Take a look at the Vanguard website and imagine that you are just starting out. The website is filled with aggressive marketing for active management, ETFs over mutual funds, and advisory services. When I started out 10 years ago, this was not the case.

I used to have a 401k account with Fidelity (previous employer). I can confidently say that I was less aggressively pushed toward active management/advisory services/etc. at Fidelity than I am now at Vanguard. It seems like over the past couple of years Fidelity has become more "Boglehead-like" while Vanguard has moved away from Bogle.

I'm hoping for a change at Vanguard. I have no plans to leave because I'm invested in one of their Target Retirement funds (which I think are great). My portfolio is extremely simple. As long as they continue to let me invest this way, I will probably stay.
UpperNwGuy
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by UpperNwGuy »

I stay at Vanguard because that's where I hold my Vanguard mutual funds. There's no place better to hold Vanguard mutual funds.

Also, Vanguard's Prime Money Market Fund and their six national municipal bond funds are far better than the equivalent funds at Schwab, Fidelity, or anyplace else.

I also have accounts at Schwab and Fidelity, and I like them, too.

I don't own ETFs, individual stocks, or individual bonds.
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nisiprius
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by nisiprius »

Image
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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dwickenh
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by dwickenh »

nisiprius wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 7:23 am Image

This ^^
The market is the most efficient mechanism anywhere in the world for transferring wealth from impatient people to patient people.” | — Warren Buffett
EddyB
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by EddyB »

Finding their annual mistakes (e.g., unauthorized changes to tax basis elections or the mischaracterization of rollovers) keeps me sharp.
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Quercus Palustris
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Quercus Palustris »

I like VG's ownership structure but I realize that's highly theoretical in terms of benefits.

Fido and Schwab (and somewhat TDA) have sites that are light years better than VG. Just try the fund screeners for MFs or ETFs; Schwab and Fidelity are fantastic, intuitive, and helpful. Calling VG's screener a joke would be a kindness. And yeah, for an experienced bogleheads, who cares? You know what funds you want. But for someone starting out, being able to filter down to commission & load free, sort by net ER% is super helpful.

I'll probably keep my IRAs at VG because I already have direct deposit set up, know how to backdoor roth, and they have been commission free for the iShares ETFs I use. But I'll keep complaining about the clunky site :beer
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Lee_WSP
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Lee_WSP »

I have very little reason to move the existing money in my vanguard accounts, however, come the beginning of the year, I will probably no longer be contributing to my Vanguard accounts. (I'm banking on Fidelity going to zero commissions on Vanguard ETF's). That said, I could also just keep my target AA by moving the already deposited funds around. Not sure yet.
averagedude
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by averagedude »

They offer everything I want or need, and all of their offerings are at rock bottom costs. I also am happy to give my business to someone that had changed the industry for the good of all investors.
Wyodoc
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Wyodoc »

Today I was unable to view my cost basis for my funds so could not tax loss harvest. Called Vanguard and they said it was a known issue site wide. Still not fixed at 350pm. Starting to wonder why I still use Vanguard... :oops:
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Lee_WSP
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Re: If you use Vanguard (Brokerage), why do you stay?

Post by Lee_WSP »

Wyodoc wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:49 pm Today I was unable to view my cost basis for my funds so could not tax loss harvest. Called Vanguard and they said it was a known issue site wide. Still not fixed at 350pm. Starting to wonder why I still use Vanguard... :oops:
I had to switch my cost basis back and forth just to get the thing to show the correct cost basis.
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