Vanguard

[Anonymous]

I was calling Vanguard today to open up a brokerage account. I was basically about to shift a big chunk of change to them (out of my 403B). But the phone wait time was more than 30 minutes.

That really turned me off.

Would Fidelity be any better ( I will mostly keep my money in Index mutual funds, but will take distributions to live on, now that I am retired.)

I don’t want to make an impulsive, emotional decision on this. If one of them is better financially. Thanks .

[Anonymous]

Why would you ever call?

I have been with Vanguard for 15+ years and I never ever called them. Everything is done online.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, this is nuts. There's nothing to say. Click-clack click-clack goes the keyboard and it's done.

The online interface is great.

[Anonymous]

Fidelity over Vanguard any day, but why call. Transfer it online and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. My independent financial advisor had suggested that I use the phone line to open the account (a new account) and then transfer money out of Schwab to them.

I assumed that she knew the best way to do it (i.e., when it is a new account and funds are being moved from one company to another).

So it sounds like only one of you favors Fidelity....but everyone suggests that I avoid phone interface ?

[Anonymous]

Are you rolling over the 403b into an IRA?

Yes, no reason to call. In fact it probably makes the chances higher that something gets entered incorrectly since someone has to enter it into their system from what you say, and words/letters can be wrong.

https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/education/how-to-roll-over-401k

(it's the same steps for a 403b)

[Anonymous]

Vanguard is long the leader of the low cost index fund and keeping expenses low overall. However, they have forced the hand of many of the others such as Fidelity and at this point the overall costs and offerings of Fidelity are comparable to Vanguard so I think it's most going to be preference.

I'm personally w/ Vanguard and like them. I agree with others, I try to avoid the phone but it isn't always possible. Since you are just a new random schlub off the street, you get triaged and had a longer wait. Once you are at 1M, you are in different tier and they are more "available":

https://investor.vanguard.com/client-benefits/voyager

If you are looking to transfer that amount or more in, you'll get faster phone service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My independent financial advisor had suggested that I use the phone line to open the account (a new account) and then transfer money out of Schwab to them.

I assumed that she knew the best way to do it (i.e., when it is a new account and funds are being moved from one company to another).

So it sounds like only one of you favors Fidelity....but everyone suggests that I avoid phone interface ?

There's nothing wrong with you wanting to call. When I set up my Fidelity account for the first time, I called. I'm the first person in my family who has ever invested in stocks or had a brokerage, so I had dumb questions. It's fine to call. It is very easy to create accounts online and now that I have an account, that's what I do.

No experience with Vanguard, but Fidelity customer service is great. That first time, the guy stayed on the phone with me for almost an hour and taught me how to look up and research stocks and funds. I don't remember the wait time, but it was worth however long it took. Another time, I started a transfer of assets and the paperwork sat on my dining room table because I was confused about whether I should send it to Fidelity or the bank from which I was transferring. After a few days of it sitting there, a Fidelity rep called me and walked me through the entire process, including waiting for me to scan in documents and statements and upload them on the Fidelity system. I know this is DCUM and people will say I'm an idiot for needing that help, but I did and they helped me. And I'm by no means super high net worth.

[Anonymous]

Schwab and Fidelity will have better customer service than Vanguard. Vanguard has some good things going for it but they do not want to talk to you—they even make it really difficult to email them.

Why are you leaving Schwab?

[Anonymous]

I have been trading online for 20 years and have never bothered calling my broker. Online all the way.

[Anonymous]

I had to call Vanguard about six months ago to understand if I could recharacterize an IRA that should have been a Roth rather than traditional. They were very helpful. I don’t remember waiting long on hold.