Vanguard or Fidelity

[Anonymous]

I have accounts in both. I would like thoughts on which company is more responsive to personal investors in terms on taking phone calls, customer service issues, and so forth. Vanguard went through a period of terrible personal investor service in 2021, and I am hoping they have emerged from that in better shape.

I am not looking for which offers superior products; just service.

[Anonymous]

I don't have personal experience with Vanguard or Fidelity. However, I have been dealing with TD Ameritrade for the last few months regarding my dad's estate, primarily an account with stocks and very impressed with their customer service. They have provided me with valuable feedback without being pushy. I just opened an investment account with them.

[Anonymous]

I don't have experience with Vanguard, but I love Fidelity, have a great advisor I can meet with on Zoom or in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have accounts in both. I would like thoughts on which company is more responsive to personal investors in terms on taking phone calls, customer service issues, and so forth. Vanguard went through a period of terrible personal investor service in 2021, and I am hoping they have emerged from that in better shape.

I am not looking for which offers superior products; just service.

What kind of things are you calling them about? It really shouldn't matter who you pick. Pick a handful of funds and check with them in 30 years, then make a call to them.

[Anonymous]

I know you don't care about products but the fidelity website is 100x better and more user friendly than the vanguard website. Things have probably changed because this was a while ago but at the time, fidelity offered a lot more NTF mutual funds than vanguard. If you're just trading VTI/VOO then it probably doesn't matter. I ended up moving my stuff out of vanguard and have no regrets. Haven't had to really interact with customer service at either place beyond the account rollovers which went smoothly on both ends, so can't speak to that.

[Anonymous]

As with so many things, it depends. Fidelity's advantages for some people include both the presence of physical offices clients can visit for transactions and assistance, and 24/7 telephone support. Vanguard offers neither, but provides comparable products at lower cost, usually resulting in slightly superior returns. As might be expected, with both very large firms the quality of the support one receives from customer support representatives varies with the representative.

It also depends in some cases on the type of client you are. If you have managed accounts of sufficient size, both companies will assign you a specific financial advisor, which tends to smooth out transactions and inquiries as compared to just calling in and speaking with a random representative.

I have accounts at both, and have had generally good experiences with both.

[Anonymous]

I prefer Fidelity website over Vanguards so much that if my companies 401K was not in Vanguard, I would not be there.

[Anonymous]

I have had recent experiences with both and frankly they both did the job needed BUT Fidelity was a more pleasant experience in that the person I talked to was very friendly. That was the only difference.

[Anonymous]

I prefer Fidelity for their excellent no fee mutual funds and ETF’s. Terrific customer service and easy to use interface. Vanguard was not as easy.

[Anonymous]

No experience with Vanguard. Have used Fidelity for over 25 years. Fidelity has a great website and service is pretty good as long as it's an easy enough request. They do screw up or don't know the answer when the issue is complicated. Same is the case with TD and eTrade where I also have accounts.

[Anonymous]

I have both, but my money is in Fidelity because of the better website.

[Anonymous]

I have had call to customer service at Fidelity one time in the past 10 years. They were responsive.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thank you for all your answers and thoughts. Very helpful. You are making me lean toward Fidelity, I think.😀

[Anonymous]

I certainly wouldn't base my decision soley on customer service or website design. I do have to admit that Vanguards website is fugly. Vanguard funds have lower expense ratios, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars in the long run. They are also owned by their investors. How often will you be dealing with customer service? Buying ETFs or mutual funds is super simple. I think I called Vanguard once in 20 years.