Cheez-It Guy wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 5:11 am
Interesting that despite the vaunted technical prowess of Fidelity and Schwab, what seems to be driving the new crop of Bogleheads into their open arms is "free" paper.
Or, in my case, $25 worth of paper annually to stay. I'm happy to stay and pay that sum.
I'm actually pretty tech-savvy and (as I said in my previous post) download and save PDFs as well. Belt and suspenders.
Like others, I prefer a passive stance with regards to statements (and invoices, bills, etc.) and an easy method for my adult kids and executor to access stuff as it comes in. Email is no more reliable than the US Mail, and worse, requires a password or other authentication that kids/ executors may or may not have (yes, I have a death book with a 27-page list of passwords, but I'm not perfect and don't print that out monthly... and sometimes passwords get changed) The mail "just shows up".
With "paperless" billing and statements, I have to:
wait to be notified (or worse, set up my own reminders)
log in ("sorry, the site is down for maintenance")
download (did I also download last month? can't remember, oops, duplicate file, ugh, save it with a V2 or trash?)
print for a file (this is optional and I suppose "paperless" folks don't do this) at
my expense of ink & paper
"Is that really a chore, Harry?" Well, no, not if it was just Vanguard. But for me, it's:
Vanguard
Etrade
Marcus/ Goldman
mortgage
HELOC
vacation property HOA statement*
checking
cable bill
vacation property internet bill
cell phone bill
electric bill
property tax bill
EZpass
... and on and on.
I'm the customer. I'm the receiver: you send me paper, and I act on it. That's my role. Vanguard works for me.
Please do some work, Vanguard. I don't have countless hours each week to log in to dozens of websites, see if there is something outstanding, and pay or take action (such as reconciling a checkbook or my Vanguard holdings) Paper in the PO box makes it easy: it's a notification, a reminder to act (open an envelope and see) and a record, all in one. If I'm busy with work or travel, there is a stack of action to take on my desk when I return.
Sure, lots of people here have automated everything. Not me. I'm set in my ways, prefer paper, and am willing to pay $25 per year for it. Will I be happy paying $25 per month, if Vanguard starts charging that in 2025? Maybe... but probably not. That might be a pain point that gets me to move to Schwab or Fidelity, and enjoy the $2K or $3K in bonuses they might offer me.
The bottom line for me is, while it seems petty (to me) on the part of Vanguard, I'm willing to play along for now...
Cheers
* our HOA quarterly bill is particularly galling: the board fired our in-house bookkeeper, who would send a monthly PDF in your email, and replaced her with an outside company that neither sends bills, nor notifies you that a payment is due. I set up a monthly Google reminder email to myself to "log in, check if I owe the HOA anything, download a statement" It's mind-blowing that they can't even send an email that says "you have a new statement"...