Author Topic: Sick of Etrade Fees  (Read 7216 times)

boarder42

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Sick of Etrade Fees
« on: June 17, 2014, 08:03:50 AM »
So i put 700-1000 a month into etrade and then purchase shares of VTI with it ... they charge me 10 bucks for each purchase every month which is already costing me 1% or more if i dont put the full 1k in ... this is highway robbery. 

So where should i move my money.

Requirements:
1. Easily accessible - this is partially a rainy day fund and a trip fund and a taxable retirement fund.  - so i need to be able to get my money out within a month to pay off a CC bill for a trip we planned to take or for an unexpected expense.
2. obv. much lower fees
3. easy to put money in
4. VTI or comprable available
5. good internet interface.

NumberCruncher

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2014, 08:33:29 AM »
VTI is Vanguard Total Stock Market...why aren't you already on Vanguard? Should be no fees.

brewer12345

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2014, 08:46:23 AM »
Schwab or Fido both offer what you are looking for and allow commission-free trades of low cost ETFs.

boarder42

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2014, 08:49:49 AM »
i'm already with vanguard for my Roth accounts. Is it easy to move money in an out of a standard vanguard taxable account?  It was difficult just to switch mutual fund allocation in my roth

NumberCruncher

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2014, 09:46:50 AM »
i'm already with vanguard for my Roth accounts. Is it easy to move money in an out of a standard vanguard taxable account?  It was difficult just to switch mutual fund allocation in my roth

I don't have their ETFs (because admiral index shares VTSAX has same expense ratio and I can automate it), but I think it should only be a matter of a few days for funds to transfer to their brokerage account, then you should be able to make investments immediately.

I'm surprised to hear you say it was difficult to change allocation in your Roth, as that's something I just did through Vanguard. Did it take a long time for the changes to be enacted?

If your measure of "easily accessible" is <30 days, you should have no problem. Any transaction should take <7 days, unless I'm missing something.

dragoncar

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2014, 10:28:32 AM »
Yeah that sucks.  Go to almost any other place with good commission free ETFs (looked at eTrade's and it looks like they are wierd https://us.etrade.com/e/t/estation/help?id=1204000003)

I've purchased VTI (or equivalent), commission free, from Fidelity and TDAmeritrade. 

I think it should only be a matter of a few days for funds to transfer to their brokerage account, then you should be able to make investments immediately.

Should be really easy.  You can also transfer your shares out of eTrade without selling (ACATS transfer) -- check the fees first but it was free for me to do a partial transfer out of Fidelity to another brokerage. 
« Last Edit: June 17, 2014, 10:30:46 AM by dragoncar »

FIreDrill

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #6 on: June 17, 2014, 10:41:50 AM »
I've purchased VTI from my Vanguard brokerage account and there is really nothing to it... It usually takes 2-3 days for the funds to transfer from my credit union checking account into the Vanguard brokerage money market account and from there you go ahead and buy however many shares you want, that order will settle in a couple days.  If you are just going to be investing in Vanguard funds I would just stick with them and keep everything simple and in one place.

little_owl

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2014, 04:57:38 PM »
i'm already with vanguard for my Roth accounts. Is it easy to move money in an out of a standard vanguard taxable account?  It was difficult just to switch mutual fund allocation in my roth

I don't know if I am interpreting your question right, however it is very easy to move money in and out of a standard taxable vanguard account.  You simply link a bank (or a few banks if need be) to your vanguard account.  Then, you can easily transfer funds in online with a few clicks.  The money transfers into a money market account, clears for trading after a few days, and then you can trade away.

If you use Vanguard already, it is a NO BRAINER to switch right away.  You are tossing money out the window paying for trades today!  Not mustachian at all,my friend!

Plus, as you have more money in Vanguard, you can qualify for additional services.  Check out their available service levels online.  Once you hit $500k in total assets, you can get free financial advice,as an example.

Good luck, and close that etrade account!!!

chasesfish

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2014, 05:48:42 PM »
Why not buy once a quarter?

I'm a fidelity guy, it's $8 there.


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ampersand

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2014, 06:06:20 PM »
I use optionhouse, which is $4 a trade, though I'm starting to look at betterment.com. There it's free trading and they automatically set up your asset allocation and rebalance for like .25% a year using vanguard funds.


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electriceagle

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Re: Sick of Etrade Fees
« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2014, 06:09:25 PM »
The easiest thing to do is buy less frequently. In the long run, it wont matter much whether you buy shares every month, every 3 months or every 6 months.