The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: Lifeblood on September 02, 2014, 05:36:02 PM
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I signed up for www.feex.com which identifies high investment fees and suggests alternatives. I specifically looked at a Roth IRA I have with American Funds (AF). My AF investments are listed below, followed by the recommendations from FeeX. I included the first recommended replacement fund, and also a Vanguard alternative:
AMCPX (to be replaced by SCHG Schwab US Large-Cap Growth ETF) (VG alt: VUG Vanguard Growth ETF)
AMRMX (to be replaced by SCHV Schwab US Large-Cap Value ETF) (VG alt: VTV Vanguard Value ETF)
ANCFX (to be replaced by SCHX Schwab US Large-Cap ETF) (VG alt: VOO Vanguard S&P 500 ETF)
AGTHX (to be replaced by SCHG Schwab US Large-Cap Growth ETF) (VG alt: VUG Vanguard Growth ETF)
AMECX (to be replaced by VBIAX Vanguard Balanced Index Adm)
SMCWX (to be replaced with VT Vanguard Total World Stock ETF)
If I follow the recommendations, the number of funds will fall from 6 to 5, though I would need to have some funds with two different companies.
The MMM community tends to point people toward Vanguard, and I assumed that Vanguard was the absolute least expensive. Yet each of the Schwab recommendations comes in cheaper, though only by a dollar or so a year. Given the similar performance and lower fee, why don't I hear more about Schwab in the forums? Am I missing something?
Generally speaking, I would love to hear thoughts and encouragement regarding this move. Would you do it? Do you think FeeX provides good advice?
See attachment for more details.
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Very interesting. I didn't know there were ETFs cheaper than Vanguard! Then as long as you have an account at Schwab.com, you can trade the Schwab ETFs for free. That's not bad at all.
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yeah if you can use schwab I don't see a reason to stay with AF. But why all those funds? I'd just use:
SCHB
SCHF
Total US and international, done. If you want a bit wider in small cap and emerging add (10% of each?)
SCHA - US SC
SCHC - Intr. SC
SCHE - emerging
Don't have bonds in Roth, put those in 401k (if you have one).
I use Schwab and like them. All ETFs here except emerging is my taxable portfolio. Their ETFs are as cheap as vanguard (although a slightly different index, if you want to get into the weeds. It's a broad market index, not total market. I have not seen difference in performance I worry about)
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Thanks for the response. So, Schwab appears to be as good as Vanguard. I kind of like the idea of having our retirement funds with two companies, rather than all in one place. I also like fewer funds. I'm wondering if you have thoughts on how the recommended mix compares to a Vanguard Fix Date Retirement Fund.