Anonymous wrote:Watch the Frontline special, the Retirement Gamble. You will definitely learn a lot about your 401K, and you will immediately move to Vanguard!

Yes, this is an excellent documentary. Woke me up!

We have everything with Vanguard (about $925K). Just took advantage of their free financial planning service to review our portfolio (which is almost entirely in Vanguard index funds). They got our expense ratio down to .21%.

On Ameriprise - usually their funds have very high fees associated with them, on top of the 1 percent. Even a one percent fee adds up over time. What you are paying for is the sales person, and their nice voice. That is important to some people. But it's not free.
Vanguard all the way.

Vanguard is the best. Great service, cheap and more options.

Watch the Frontline special, the Retirement Gamble. You will definitely learn a lot about your 401K, and you will immediately move to Vanguard!

I have an Ameriprise broker (wealth advisor) who we've been with for many years. Over time the portfolio has been managed pretty well -- nicely diverse, gets OK returns, etc. We did not lose that much during any of the downturns and this year, for example, have averaged about 16% (unusually high of course). The fee is 1%. I am considering moving part of the non-IRA portfolio to Vanguard though because the fee would be even less (about $55,000). Is it worth it? What would I have to do-- could I transfer it or would have to sell the holdings and then transfer?

another vote for Vanguard. The best.

Vanguard. Lots of useful tools to help you manage your portfolio, very easy to transfer funds/buy and sell.

Vanguard, hands down.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thank you for your feedback.

Is there a particular Vanguard fund that is highly recommended?

It depends a little on what you are looking for, and whether you are investing in a tax-advantaged or taxable account. The bogleheads site is full of info. on these issues, and people are happy to give advice (esp. to those who read some of the wiki first)

OP here- thank you for your feedback.

Is there a particular Vanguard fund that is highly recommended?

Vanguard has low cost index funds which can save you a lot of money. If you pay an extra 1% in fund expenses, that can cut your ultimate nest egg by 25% or more over the long term (say 20+ plus years).

So VG are good funds to invest in. You don't have to invest in them at VG, but it will likely be cheaper to do so. A place like Schwab or Fidelity is going to be more service-oriented, but will likely charge you for investing in VG funds.

Vanguard. Had both, along with Muriel Siebert (a nice brokerage), TD waterhouse, Merrill Lynch.

Vanguard is the way to go for mutual funds b/c of low fees, and their business model is to provide good service and not screw customers. Opposite business model of Merrill. Fidelity is pretty good, but they've tried to upsell and collect fees.

Vanguard is a great company. The fees are lower. I have both but prefer vanguard.

I have a Fidelity account where I have my a roth, my rollover 401Ks from two previous jobs and a mutual fund account- all totally around 50,000. We plan to build the mutual fund account b/c we are planning to move in about two years and do not want the money to sit in a low interest savings account.

I see that most people on this forum recommend Vanguard- why? Are the fees lower? Should I consider moving my accounts to Vanguard?